Bill takes the term "first date" very seriously.
Date NightCricket and Gabriella attend their first date together as a couple, but when Bill volunteers as their chaperone, it does not go as they expected.
"Date Night" contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny:
- Gabriella admits near the end even though Bill changed her date plans with Cricket, she loved it and it was the greatest thing she ever experienced, and calls Bill the best chaperone ever and wants him to chaperone all the time, Cricket adding under the condition he just drops them off and picks them up.
- One of the people Cricket and Gabriella prank takes the joke pretty well.
- Bittersweet Ending: Cricket and Gabriella end up having to clean the restaurant for the mess caused, thus they miss the movie. However, they still had a fun first date and Bill proves to be a good chaperone indeed.
- Break the Cutie: Cricket and Gabriella are reduced to a near depressive state when their date flies off the handle thanks to Bill's chaperoning. It is the moment when Bill sees Cricket's really sad face coated with spaghetti that he realizes he went against their wishes and wants to make up for it.
- Brick Joke: "That face he always makes."
- The Bus Came Back: After six months since her last appearance, Gabriella comes back from her Montreal vacation.
- Call-Back:
- Cricket mentions this is not the first time he destroyed a restaurant; thankfully, he isn't banned for it.
- Nor is this the first time Cricket is disturbed by constant smooching and such.
- Car Radio Dispute: Cricket tries to talk to Gabriella about their favorite America Rat movie, but Bill chooses that moment to play a sappy love song on the radio, which drowns out Cricket's talking. He tries to turn it off, but every time Bill turns it back on.
- Centrifugal Farce: For the final prank, Cricket tries to turn the speed of the revolving restaurant at its highest speed (which is labeled "Are You Crazy?"), but Bill stops him. When he realizes Cricket is miserable, Bill decides to pull the lever, making the restaurant turn so fast everyone is pressed against the windows.
- Character Development: Cricket no longer spazzes and fawns around Gabriella.
- Continuity Nod:
- Cricket and Gabriella are still a couple.
- America Rat is mentioned again.
- The first rich person pranked by Cricket and Gabriella is the Remingtons' blue stout neighbor.
- Epic Fail: When Bill is getting Cricket ready to pick up Gabriella, he accidentally puts breath cologne in his hair and hairspray in his mouth, instead of the other way around.
- Establishing Character Moment: Gabriella plotting to get back at Bill for changing her date plans with Cricket by pranking the snooty rich folk is what officially establishes her as Cricket's Distaff Counterpart.
- Fainting: By Cricket when he sees all the exaggerated romance in Three60.
- Funny Background Event: After Cricket tells Bill that Gabriella is his girlfriend, as Cricket is looking in the fridge, Bill is freaking out in the background.
- Insistent Terminology: This is NOT a date!
- Ironic Echo: Both Cricket and later Bill have their opinions on the opposite, the former for the latter's sultry look, the latter for the former's depression, complete with the same exact quote.Cricket / Bill: He always makes this weird face when he (inserts specific detail here). [Opposite person shows said face] AGH! THE FACE!
- It's the Best Whatever, Ever!:
- Bill makes it his mission to give Cricket "the best first date ever".
- Near the end, Gabriella calls Bill "the best chaperone ever" for a change of plans and even that wild spin.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Bill's reaction when he realizes he ruined Cricket and Gabriella's date and vows to fix it.
- Nightmare Face: Seen on Cricket and Gabriella as they are about to prank the rich folk.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Hit hard by Bill. He was so insistent on giving Cricket and Gabriella a proper date that the completely reduces them to a depressive mess. It is that moment he sees Cricket's frowning spaghetti-drenched face that he realizes it all went wrong and is determined to make up for it.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Cricket and Gabriella when they witness the interior of Three60, realizing their date is not going as planned.
- Both of them had the biggest one when Bill eats his car keys when he makes them have a perfect date. See here.
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- Pranking Montage: Cricket and Gabriella pranking the rich restaurant folk as payback for Bill changing their date plans.
- Recycled Soundtrack: The music played as Cricket and Gabriella are pranking the rich folk is the same tune from "Uncaged" as he and Tilly were hanging out with Nancy.
- Shipper on Deck: Bill is excited about Cricket and Gabriella being boyfriend and girlfriend, and decides to make their first date as romantic as possible, even though it's against their wishes.
- Shout-Out:
- During Cricket and Gabriella's pranking spree, one customer shouts "Somebody touch-a my spaghette!"
- When Gramma hears Cricket has a girlfriend, she shouts, "Ernest, I'm comin' for ya! I'm comin' for ya!!"
- Slasher Smile:
- Both Cricket and Gabriella have one just before pranking the rich folk, similar to that face Cricket had in "Shark Objects".
- Gabriella gets one of her own when planning to get back at Bill for changing her date plans with Cricket.
- Staggered Zoom: Used when Cricket and Gabriella are seeing the interior of Three60, just before the former's faint.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Although Cricket and Gabriella are a couple, they're not quite used to all that rather gushy-mushy stuff yet, given their age (as shown when Cricket reacted to Kiss of Death). When Bill apologizes during the Centrifugal Farce, Cricket mentions said description completely spot-on.Cricket: I'm just a kid right now and I wanna have fun, not worry about date stuff.
- Valentine's Day Episode: The second one, after "Valentine's Dance". Funny enough, both episodes are the 25th of their respective seasons.
Can these two siblings learn to get along in a snug lil' room?
The RoomWhen Tilly closes up the secret passageway in the kids' bedroom, this results in a huge fight between herself and Cricket, being viewed as reality TV-like entertainment for Gloria and Gramma.
"The Room" contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: It is unknown if Gloria plans for Alice to intervene for the sake of the drama or she's being genuine with the whole voted off scheme.
- Animation Bump: Camera movements are more complex, in keeping up with the reality show theme, such as quick zooms and bokeh focus. There are also a few rack focuses which have more blurry unfocused shots, as well as blurred candlelight during close-ups during the eviction ceremony.
- Apple of Discord: Sealing up the secret passage in the kids' room is what initiates the reality show-esque feud between the Green kids, and it gets even worse thanks to Gloria and Gramma's meddling.
- Big "NO!": Gloria screams this when Alice gives her a Sadistic Choice to allow both Cricket and Tilly to live in the basement together.
- Bottle Episode: The entire episode is set at the Green house.
- Confession Cam: Gloria and Alice has Cricket and Tilly do them as part of making their squabble into a reality show. In the first one, Cricket comments on how weird the concept is.
- Did Not Think This Through: To get Cricket and Tilly to stop fighting, Gloria tries to choose one of them to leave the room. Then Alice points out that the one who leaves has to move into the basement with Gloria. Needless to say, Gloria is mortified, especially when both kids want to move in with her.
- Dissension Remorse: Cricket and Tilly quickly stop their feud when Gloria forces one of the two to leave like in her TV drama.
- Everyone Has Standards: Alice is okay with exploiting her grandchildren's disagreement for her entertainment, but draws the line when they start destroying her house.
- Feud Episode: Though Cricket and Tilly have had conflicts before, this marks their first real fight.
- Fun with Subtitles: A variation. During the Confession Cam moment, Cricket, Tilly, Alice, and Gloria have their own title.
- Cricket: Smells like milk.
- Tilly: Sleep dancer
- Alice: Makes soup in the tub
- Gloria: Wakes up crying
- Laser-Guided Karma: For manipulating both Cricket and Tilly to fight each other, both Alice and Gloria got their comeuppance.
- For Alice, both Cricket and Tilly, after splitting everything in half, they unknowingly begins to wreck the entire house which horrifies Alice.
- For Gloria, she choose to continue the entire charade and is incredibly apathetic with the destruction around the house even going so far to try and get both Cricket and Tilly voted off so they will move out of the house until Alice intervenes and gives her a Sadistic Choice: no matter who gets voted off, the one who loses must live with her in the basement.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Alice is not too happy when she realized that she has gone too far with the entire charade that she fixes it by making both Cricket and Tilly, if they get voted off, to live in the basement with Gloria
- Oh, Crap!:
- Alice is horrified when her grandkids begins to destroy her house that she decided to call off the entire reality tv show scheme.
- Cricket and Tilly are beyond terrified when Gloria reveals one of them has to leave the house, causing them to call off their feud and reconcile.
- Out of Focus: Bill only appears in three scenes and has nothing to do with the main story.
- Pass the Popcorn: With the cable out, Gloria and Alice take to watching Cricket and Tilly fight while eating popcorn.
- Shoe Slap: Tilly throws both her shoes at Cricket. Cricket brags that she's out of ammo, and then Tilly throws a third shoe.
- Shout-Out: The episode pokes fun of reality shows in general, but contains specific references to The Real World (the show Gloria and Alice are watching, which is about young people shacked together in a small house), Survivor (Gloria talks about one of the kids getting voted "off the island") and The Bachelor (the rose ceremony when one of the kids is voted out of the room).
- This Is My Side: Tilly and Cricket predictably split the room in half, but with a twist; instead of dividing it left and right (which Cricket points out change depending on which way you're facing), they split it up and down, with Tilly getting the up and Cricket the down. They then proceed to divide the rest of the house this way, including Gloria and Alice.
