Mordecai’s Relationship Problems (A recap):

Mordecai is one of the main characters from the Cartoon Network show, Regular Show. He works at the Park with his best friend Rigby and under his hot headed boss Benson. The 2 are notorious for frequently slacking off in their jobs and occasionally causing mayhem around the park, usually in attempts to not get fired by Benson, get out of work, or help their friends. Compared to Rigby, Mordecai is known for being more levelheaded and mature, usually being the one to doubt Rigby’s ideas, yet still going along with them as well as bailing Rigby out of a problem he may find himself in. A major subplot that is present in the series revolves around Mordecai’s relationship problems with other women. This troop is famously known in the show as “pulling a Mordecai,” which involves his awkwardness & inability to control his hands,

The Park Crew Mocking Mordecai

something of which he is frequently mocked for.

Margaret Smith:

Since the beginning of the show, Margaret has been shown to be Mordecai’s primary love interest, with Mordecai actively pursuing her for a very long time. However in the beginning of the show, while Margaret remains good friends with Mordecai, she either remains ignorant of Mordecai’s feelings for her or is dating other people. Often she can be seen with another man in almost every episode though her relationships never last and Mordecai still remains in pursuit. At one point, she even broke off a date due to a solid for Eileen to hang out with Rigby and Mordecai. Unintentionally, Margaret often even takes advantage of Mordecai’s feelings for her, which, like most episodes, often results in him and Rigby being put in danger, with one time Mordecai’s jealousy caused him to accidentally kill Rigby (though this act was quickly undone). By season 3, it would appear that Margaret was beginning to reciprocate his feelings. This was hinted at in TGI Tuesdays, where she was embarrassed over something she said to Mordecai over the phone. In another episode, she saves an embarrassing voicemail Mordecai left on her phone as a personal ringtone for her. Another clue was when Margaret was noticeably jealous of Mordecai’s budding relationship with CJ. In that same episode, Mordecai saw what looked like someone proposing to Margaret and was thrown into depression for days. However, it later turned out that the man was actually her cousin, not her fiancé, who was showing off his prosthetic leg. The 2 originally had their first kiss in the finale “Bad Kiss”; however, Margaret was put off by Mordecai’s bad breath from a chilli dog he had eaten earlier, and aired out her feelings, making Mordecai go through extreme lengths to spare his embarrassment such as time traveling eventually Mordecai just doesn’t kiss Maragret altogether erasing the timeline in the process. Eventually tired of seeing Mordecai playing the long game, Rigby and Muscle Man ultimately dare Mordecai to kiss her by the next day, having him wear a diaper if he fails. However, Margaret eventually caught on to the bet and, as punishment, intentionally fails to kiss Mordecai, forcing him to wear a diaper though Mordecai is happy that Margaret still had a great time during their date and must be interested in him. Eventually, by Picking Up Margaret, the 2 actually have their first kiss after Mordecai gets her to the airport in time for her flight, and she kisses him on the lips in gratitude before departing. However in the weeks following Rigby had noted that due Mordecai’s inability to bring up his feelings and define his relationship with Margaret, this left Margaret to assume that they were just friends thus being friend zoned in the process however with encouragement from Rigby and the Guardian of the Friendzone, Mordecai decides to stop hesitating ultimately goes for it finally initiating the kiss to Margaret and having the 2 become a couple soon after frequently going on many dates following with Mordecai even meeting Margaret’s family and impressing her father with his courage. Margaret herself admitted that she knew the relationship could actually go somewhere. However, during Steak Me Amedeaus when Mordecai finally asked Margaret to be in a real relationship with him, Margaret sadly turned him down admitting that while she likes him she ultimately got into her dream school and wishes to focus on her studies before her relationship before sadly leaving the restaurant leaving Mordecai extremely heartbroken and depressed with it taking a long time for him to truly heal from his emotional wounds. His unresolved feelings for Margaret had even caused a nasty rift between him and his new girlfriend at the time, CJ, when the 2 accidentally kissed at Eileen’s New Year’s party and again when Margaret admitted she still had feelings for him, resulting in Mordecai’s indecisiveness and him making a complete fool of himself by dumping CJ at Muscle Man’s own wedding. Despite all, the 2 remain friends and agree that it would be best for both of them to leave their relationship in the past when shown a glimpse of their future, with Mordecai choosing to focus on himself and take a break from dating. However, Margaret still holds a place in Mordecai’s heart, as shown through his abstract art sometime after leaving the park. By the end of the show, the 2 would remain great friends with Margaret still in contact with Mordecai as the 2 are much happier now.

Starla Gutsmandottir-Sorrenstein:

Mordecai briefly dated Muscle Man’s (ex at the time) girlfriend, Starla, who was instantly swayed by Mordecai’s sweet talk about feelings. Mordecai, of course, did not feel the same way, finding Starla repulsive and basically a female version of Muscle Man. However, Rigby convinced him to date her in order to break her heart so she could get back with Muscle Man, who was going through depression and refused to work, forcing Mordecai and Rigby to do all of his more complicated jobs as well as their own. The 2 had gone on a few dates, though Starla remains blissfully unaware that Mordecai doesn’t even feel the same way as she does, somehow, she remained happy with him. Eventually, Mordecai finally rips the band-aid off and (cruelly) tells her he doesn’t even like her. This proves to be a horrible mistake however as while Starla was saddened over their “breakup” she ultimately loses it and begins to rage out against Mordecai (and Rigby by proxy) obsessing over killing Mordecai and creating a lot of damage to the coffee shop and park as a result with her freakishly superhuman strength and speed a local newscaster and camera man in a helicopter even being a casualty to her rage when they tried to film the incident making Mordecai indirectly responsible for that. Eventually, she corners Mordecai with the intent to murder him and Rigby in revenge. Fortunately, Muscle Man finally comes back and convinces Starla to stop her rampage, finally admitting his feelings towards Starla and allowing her to calm down as the 2 embrace and leave while the park remains in ruins and Mordecai & Rigby are traumatized over the ordeal. Despite previously wanting to kill him, Starla remained on amicable terms with Mordecai addressing him politely at times and accompanying him, Rigby, and Muscle Man on group dates though she does occasionally give him a hard time such as teasing him about his failure to get out of the friend zone with Margaret and later physically wounding him and Rigby during mud wrestling being unwilling to give Mordecai the satisfaction of potentially winning the event and was also extremely annoyed with Mordecai for briefly disrupting her and Muscle Man’s wedding with his speech and later awkwardly breaking up with CJ in the process.

Tracy Hashtag:

Tracy was a girl Mordecai had briefly dated when he asked her out to the New Year's Masquerade party at the ballroom. While the 2 seemed to find each other attractive, it’s later shown that they have virtually nothing in common, with her even calling Mordecai weird behind his back. She later reveals she was only dating him in order to make her ex Tommy jealous. Ironically, despite her date with Mordecai going poorly, it would also set the stage for Mordecai’s next relationship with CJ (see below).

Cloudy J:

The 2 had met in “Yes Dude Yes” after Mordecai had fallen into a depressive state due to a misunderstanding, believing that his crush, Margaret, was getting married. In order to get him out of the house and move on with his life, Rigby signs him up on the online dating website Couples Corral, where 12 women, including CJ, have already responded to his profile. After several failures, CJ & Mordecai finally meet. CJ immediately suspected Mordecai was not into the date as she originally believed, and Mordecai confessed that he wasn’t looking for a relationship and merely needed to get out of the house. CJ immediately understood and agreed not to rush things, instead just being friends. Almost immediately, the 2 begin to hit it off with the 2 sharing a lot in common, CJ even managing to make Mordecai feel better about himself, and later being invited out to a movie he was originally going to take Margaret to. CJ then begins to develop feelings for Mordecai and misinterprets the invite as him returning them. However, she later spots Mordecai walking to the coffee shop and tries to say hi, but catches him inviting Margaret to the same movie he invited her to, causing her to transform into a thunderstorm state in anger. Mordecai later apologizes for leading her on and she calms down but remains bitter about the fact that Mordecai did not tell her what was going on and leaves unwilling to resolve her friendship with Mordecai at the time. The 2 would meet again over a year later when Mordecai bumps into CJ at the masquerade party, and the 2 kiss as soon as the clock hits 12. Once they remove the mask, the 2 were shocked to see each other again, and CJ takes leave, completely embarrassed over their past. The 2 would then meet again during a dodgeball tournament, where they finally address their feelings and reveal they harbor no anger towards each other, agreeing to start over as friends. As the season progresses Mordecai begins to build his relationship with CJ with the 2 harboring unspoken feelings for each other however Mordecai was still insecure and worried that he might hurt CJ again (especially since he was still hungover Margaret at the time) so he tries to remain just friends with CJ to avoid confronting his feelings before being convinced to move on and take his relationship with CJ to the next level. Compared to Margaret, CJ actually liked Mordecai for who he is from the get-go, respecting his quirks and genuinely being a cool character who got along with many of Mordecai’s friends and family, not at all being weirded out by Mordecai’s mom, and Mordecai even helped patch things up with CJ’s father. Their relationship remained stable, and CJ was even gifted a brooch, which later saved his life. However, things began to take a turn when Margaret returned after graduating from school and continuing her career back home, the 2 would formally meet during Eileen’s Christmas Party, where, due to their unresolved feelings for each other, Mordecai and Margaret would lose themselves in the moment and winded up kissing each other which CJ catches them on creating a rift between them. Sometime afterwards, after giving Mordecai the cold shoulder for a while, she would finally forgive him after having an honest conversation with him, but still remained uncomfortable around Margaret, only trying to remain affable for Mordecai & Eileen’s sake. After another misunderstanding when she believed Mordecai was again cheating on her, which turned out to be false, as well as the fact that she put innocent people in danger after losing her temper. Remorsefully, she tried to squash things with Margaret and become friends, attempting to double date; however, it quickly fell through when Margaret revealed she lied to them about having a boyfriend, with CJ quickly & correctly deducing she did so because she still harbored feelings for Mordecai, which Margaret confirms, shocking Mordecai as an exasperated CJ takes leave. This revelation ultimately had consequences for Mordecai as his unresolved feelings for Margaret had began to affect his relationship with CJ and later this correlated to Mordecai making a complete fool of himself by admitting at Muscle Man’s own wedding that he doesn’t know who his soulmate is which CJ tearfully took as him trying to break up with him and sadly calls him out for it convinced he no longer cares about her. Though the 2 can be spotted hugging and seeing each other off, as Mordecai says that they’re taking a break. The breakup still had lasting repercussions on Mordecai as he returned to his depression and ultimately disappeared into dump town since the incident before being brought back to his senses by Rigby, who convinced him to take a break from dating and focus on what’s best for Mordecai. It has been stated that CJ no longer keeps contact with Mordecai, suggesting that their relationship is now broken beyond repair, which is understandable due to the many chances CJ gave Mordecai in order to redeem himself, only to wind up completely humiliated and embarrassed at the end. She does seem to still harbor some care for Mordecai, being shocked when she witnessed the park blasting off into space (although it was intended for her to roll her eyes in indifference. Despite their nasty breakup, CJ clearly still holds a place in Mordecai’s heart, as shown through an abstract piece Mordecai had made in the future.

Stef:

Mordecai’s wife, while not much is known about her, it can be inferred that the 2 clearly love each other, having met while signing autographs while showing off their artwork. Despite not having any lines, it can be inferred that the 2 retain a deep bond, which was likely influenced by their talent and love for art. Eventually, they married and had kids. Their relationship was still held strong by the 25 year reunion when their family came to the park for Mordecai to reconnect with his old friends/coworkers.