Recap / Big City Greens S 1 E 9

He's not a tourist, but that doesn't mean he has to order what the locals get.

Fill Bill

During a visit to a seafood diner, Bill tries to prove to the waiter he's a Big City local while Cricket and Tilly try to release an octopus.

"Fill Bill" contains examples of:

• All There in the Script: Press releases list the snobby waiter's name as Ted.
• Artistic License: All the food served at Sea Fusïon is completely unrealistic and the restaurant would've been shut down if a health inspector sees this, and the waiter would've been arrested or fired for the way he treated Bill.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Greens get banned from Sea Fusïon for life, but at least Bill got to embrace who he truly is. And it doesn't matter to them as they didn't like that place anyway.
• Book Ends: The episode begins with the Greens arriving at Sea Fusïon for dinner and ends with them getting kicked out.
• Bottle Episode: The entire episode is set at the seafood restaurant.
• City People Eat Sushi: Bill's idea of a "city" restaurant is a fancy seafood place, whose menu includes sushi (or similar raw fish). The waiter takes advantage of Bill's assumption, implying he's nothing but a tourist if he doesn't order an enormous meal (and eat his sushi with chopsticks).
• Free the Frogs: Cricket and Tilly attempt to free the octopi the restaurant serves.
• Get Out!: The host screams this to Bill when the Greens are banned from Sea Fusïon forever because of their antics.
• Green Around the Gills: Seen briefly on Bill as he is eating the "Spaghett-eel", which also serves as the first visible sign that he's not used to the outlandish seafood
• Haute Cuisine Is Weird: Sea Fusïon has some rather bizarre seafood dishes, like sashimi made of bitter sea jellies, whole fish on a taco, and live octopus on a bun.
• I Ate WHAT?!: As seen above, Bill does not take Sea Fusïon's food rather well that it causes him to pass out.
• Idiot Houdini: Cricket and Gramma's blundering with the fish tank and trident floods the restaurant and possibly kills the waiter by washing him out to sea. They aren't made to pay for the damages, or even their meals, and their only punishment is being banned from a restaurant they don't like. Gramma even keeps the trident despite realizing it's not the one she lost, thus basically stealing it.
• Irony: While most of the seafood is rather bizarre and unique such as whole fish tacos, seaweed spaghetti and a live octopus in a burger, Tilly got the most mundane meal — seahorse salad — which is just a normal vegetable salad with seahorse-shaped sprinkles. Thus she was the only one who actually liked her dinner, and thus got the only meal she could handle eating.
• Jerkass: The waiter. He refuses to believe Bill when he says he's not a tourist, and talks him into ordering the biggest and most exotic meal on the menu, so he can watch Bill try to stomach it all and eventually get sick from it (which makes it very satisfying when he gets caught in the flood the octopi tank breaks, washing him out to the docks outside).
• Joke and Receive: When the waiter takes their orders Gramma sarcastically remarks that she'll have the phony baloney, only to be told it comes with 2 sides.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The waiter gets his comeuppance for his attitude toward Bill and the Greens by getting washed out to sea to parts unknown.
• No Sympathy: The waiter shows no remorse or care over Bill becoming unwell from the seafood.
• No True Scotsman: The waiter assumes the Greens are tourists, and insists that only real Big City folk would like certain foods. While this was partly a way to get Bill to spend more, he clearly relishes belittling Bill and watching him choke down food that disgusts him. When Bill proudly admits he doesn't like any of it, the waiter calls him a bumpkin who couldn't appreciate fine dining.
• Only Sane Man: Unsurprisingly, Tilly is the only one shown to actually like her meal — seahorse salad, which is sprinkles that look like seahorses in a salad bowl, which stands out from most other literal seafood plates.
• Persona Non Grata: The Greens are banned from Sea Fusion after Tilly and Cricket release all the octopi into the ocean, Gramma starts a fight with the chefs, and all of them accidentally smash open a fish tank. None of them care, as they'd decided they didn't like the place anyway.
• Prongs of Poseidon: Gramma used to fish with a trident, and assumes the one hanging on a seafood restaurant's wall is the same one she lost.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Bill gives one to the waiter as he confronts him for giving him the seafood to prove he's not a tourist and announces he won't care what he thinks of him and is proud to be himself.
  Bill: Excuse me, waiter? I've got a bone to pick with you! I came here wanting to try new things, but instead I got treated like I don't belong! And that felt like a slap in the face. I don't need to change who I am to fit in to Big City, 'cause I already fit in! So I'm proud to finally come clean and tell you: I don't like the food here! And I won't be finishin' my dessert! Because it's gross.
  Waiter: Well, GOOD RIDDANCE! The intricacies of Sea Fusïon are wasted on a country bumpkin like you!
• Slobs vs. Snobs: The slob in this case being Bill, with the waiter as the snob.
• Trust Password: To prove he's not a tourist, Bill decides to order what the locals get — a twelve-course meal. He doesn't even care if he starts to get sick from it.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: A very minor one, but the Greens getting kicked out of the restaurant didn't mind to them, as they hated that place anyway and they're lucky they don't have to go in there again. Bill in particular couldn't feel more proud of himself, and no longer has to see that mean waiter.
• Twisted Echo Cut: Bill's "Reason You Suck" Speech against the waiter has a few in a row.
  Bill: I came here wanting to try new things, but instead I got treated like I don't belong!
  Tilly: (cut; she frees an octopus) Okay, fella... Back to where you belong.
  Bill: And that felt like a slap in the face.
  (Cut; the octopus slaps Cricket in the face)
• Shout-Out: Bill's dream spoofs The Little Mermaid (1989).
• Special Guest: Jim Rash as the snobby waiter.
• Uncertain Doom: The fate of the snobby waiter remains unknown.
• "YEAH!" Shot: The Greens do one at the end.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: The blue fish to Bill during his dream sequence.

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What's more important: Critterball or Paris?

Critterball Crisis

Cricket loses all the balls for his Critterball game over the fence to Big Coffee and Gloria refuses to return them.

"Critterball Crisis" contains examples of:

• Bottle Episode: Most of the episode takes place in Big Coffee, with occasional scenes of the Greens' front yard.
• Break the Haughty: Cricket's obsession for Critterball immediately diminishes when he realizes Gloria's desire for Paris is just as important as his.
  Cricket: Oh, my gosh! PARIS AND CRITTERBALL ARE THE SAME THING!
• Calvinball: The kids invented "Critterball", which appears to be kickball with the animals incorporated into it. A man watching them admits to not knowing what's going on despite watching for an hour.
• Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: Ms. Cho removes Gloria's hat as she fires her.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Gloria's reaction when her Eiffel Tower model is destroyed and when Ms. Cho appears.
  • Cricket has a really big one when he realizes Gloria's dream to go to Paris is just as important as the Critterball game.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: After Tilly and Remy get eliminated by Gloria, they are completely absent for the rest of the episode, not even showing up for Cricket's apology and him getting a job.
• Staggered Zoom: After the Wham Line below.
• The Unintelligible: Ms. Cho only speaks through muffled grunts, but Gloria has no problem understanding her.
• We Need a Distraction: Cricket needs a distraction while he retrieves the balls from Gloria's locker. Tilly and Remy then act out a melodramatic breakup scene in the café.
• Wham Episode: Cricket ends up getting a job at Big Coffee, and becomes Gloria's partner.
• Wham Line:
  Gloria: No, please! You can't fire me, I need this job! Without it, I'll never make it to Paris!
• Work Off the Debt: Cricket gets a job at Big Coffee to pay for the damages caused during the Critterball match.

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