Recap / Big City Greens S 2 E 22

For the record, it's not her house.

'Rent Control

Having settled in with the Greens, Gloria finds her parents are visiting and pretends she's had a successful life to impress them.

"'Rent Control" contains examples of:

• As You Know: The episode begins with Gloria ranting to herself about how she lost her job twice and had to move in with the Greens.
• Bittersweet Ending: Although Gloria apologizes to her parents for lying to them and they appreciate her trying her best, Big Coffee still remains vacant, and she and Cricket are still jobless.
• Breather Episode: After all the intensity and dark nature of the previous episode, this episode resumes the usual lighthearted family comedy and focuses on Gloria settling in to her new life with the Greens.
• Brick Joke: Cricket and Tilly begin the episode singing to Gloria in banana costumes. Halfway through the episode, Remy arrives wearing a banana costume and is told they already did that bit.
• Call-Back:
  • The episode starts out with Gloria recounting the events of the two previous episodes.
  • Bill is gardening in a plantation saved from the now-destroyed rooftop garden.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Gloria decides to end the lying when she thinks all her parents care about is having something to brag about. While Mr. and Mrs. Sato do want Gloria to succeed because they want her to be happy and they love her regardless of what she does, they eventually realize they should've done a better job of expressing that.
• Continuity Nod: Gloria is still living with the Greens since she lost her apartment in "Chipocalypse Now".
• A Day in the Limelight: For Gloria.
• Droste Image: Gloria paints a picture of herself screaming in agony, with the same image inside her mouth repeating infinitely.
• Evolving Credits: The theme song sequence changes slightly to reflect how the Big Coffee space is now vacant, and Gloria now lives with the Greens. (The zooms at the beginning and end show the vacancy next door, and the scene that shows Gloria working at Big Coffee is replaced with one showing her living in the Green's basement.)
• Given Name Reveal: Gloria's last name Sato is revealed.
• Innocently Insensitive: Gloria's parents repeatedly talk about her much more successful cousin Emily, though they had no idea how much the comparisons kept hurting Gloria when they thought she'd be inspired by Emily's example.
• Internal Reveal: This is the episode Gloria finds out Remy is rich and has a luxurious mansion.
• Maintain the Lie: Gloria has been telling her parents that she's successful and living in a house in the city. When they decide to drop by, Gloria has to pretend that the Green's home is hers. Tilly and Cricket help with the deception, and when Bill drops by, they convince him to play along. They're not as successful with Alice, however, and she throws them out, with Gloria claiming she's her maid. The Satos are not pleased with the arrangement, however, and when Remy comes along, Gloria convinces him to pretend that his mansion is Gloria's second home. This manages to fool the Satos, but then she realizes they never never told her they were proud of her before then and confesses. The Satos then say that they were always proud of her no matter what but hadn't done the best job of communicating it to her.
• Never Trust a Title: Despite the title, it's nothing about Gloria paying her rent, but refers to her trying to deceive her parents. According to Shane Houghton, the apostrophe before "rent" makes it short for "parent", so the actual episode is called "Parent Control".
• The Picture Came with the Frame: When the Satos find a photo of the Green kids in what is supposed to be Gloria's home, she claims the photo came with the frame. Later, when she pretends the Remington mansion is also hers, Gloria says the same thing about a wall-sized portrait of the Remingtons.
• Pooled Funds: Remy has a swimming pool full of coins. Gloria tries to dive into it, but Remy warns her that she can't swim in metal coins and she ends up slamming hard.
• Say My Name: "EMILYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!"
• So Proud of You: Mrs. Sato says this to Gloria near the end.
• Shout-Out:
  • The scene of Cricket and Tilly dancing in banana suits and playing maracas is reminiscent of "Peanut Butter Jelly Time".
  • Gloria attempts to swim in the Remingtons' money just like Scrooge McDuck.
• Walking Spoiler: Big Coffee is shut down.

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Is this the best pool in Big City?

Pool's Gold

Convinced that the community pool is not the best in Big City, Cricket sets out to find the best one, unknowingly ruining the fun of his family in the process. Meanwhile, Bill saves a child's life and is hailed a hero.

"Pool's Gold" contains examples of:

• Air-Vent Passageway: Unable to use the elevator to reach the hotel pool, Cricket leads the girls to crawl through the air vents to reach the top floor. Needless to say, it's not a pleasant experience for the others.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Bill's gifts finally cause his raft to sink, Mark comes out of nowhere and saves him.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Gregly returns since "Cricket's Tickets".
  • Mark the hero from "Skunked" shows up last-minute to save Bill.
• Cannot Spit It Out: A lot of trouble for Bill would've been avoided if he just simply asked the poolgoers to stop giving him gifts.
• Evolving Credits: As with the opening, there's a slight change. The Big Coffee shot in the ending with the cleanup sandwich board is replaced with... one in the now-closed Big Coffee, with a Don & Dawn sandwich board advertising the space.
• 15 Minutes of Fame: After rescuing a drowning child, Bill becomes praised by all the poolgoers and is showered with an endless array of gifts. However, he quickly loses it all when he begins drowning himself, and is rescued by Mark leaving all attention to go to him instead.
• The Last Straw: Everyone piles on gifts on Bill's raft, including multiple beverages, after saving the little boy. The boy then gives him a Gigantic Gulp that causes the raft to start sinking.
• Man-Made House Flood: After being locked in an utility closet at the hotel, Cricket decides to open the sink faucet and turn the room into their own pool.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Cricket's obsession with finding the best pool in Big City results on his family having a horrible time and missing all the fun.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Gregly only appears in one scene at the start, but he is the main reason for Cricket wanting to find the best pool in Big City.
• Truth in Television: Larger pools generally require guests to shower before swimming.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The episode basically happens because Cricket hears Gregly criticizing the community pool and claim it's "not the best".

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