Big Time Jobs is an episode from Season 1 from Big Time Rush.
Tropes:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: C.A.L., the coffee machine that Carlos messed around with pumps lots of foam out deliberately to spite the human race.
- Blatant Lies: Right when Griffin catches Gustavo going on a batter-up rampage in the records studio destroying priceless antiques with Carlos's baseball bat.Griffin: Gustavo, what did I tell you about breaking things?
Gustavo: I didn't break anything.
Griffin: (visibly offended by Gustavo calling him a liar) You have a BAT. In your hand. - Broken Record: When C.A.L. starts making foam nonstop, it repeatedly says, "More foam! More foam! More foam! More foam! More foam! More foam! More foam! More foam! More foam!"
- Bullying a Dragon: Gustavo invokes Griffin's wrath by destroying a lot of priceless antiques (apparently owned by Griffin), and then Gustavo insults his intelligence by denying the obvious truth that he's on a destructive rampage when Griffin points it out. The punishment? Griffin sticks him with a bill for $14,089.
- Bystander Syndrome: When Gustavo goes on a rampage destroying priceless items, a huge group of people consisting of the Boys, Katie, Kelly, Freight Train, Bitters and every other person that is owed money do nothing but stand there and groan in discomfort and shock. The Boys and Kelly pay the penalty for NOT doing anything by letting their higher-ranking boss Griffin clean up this mess.
- Call-Forward: The song Gustavo is practicing is "This Is Our Someday".
- Continuity Nod: The Ziggle Zaggles return as a distraction for the kids.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Sure, the children were naturally quite cruel to them, but Kendall and Logan eventually retaliate by forcing them to wash cars by themselves while the two boys just refuse to help and get all the money for themselves. Needless to say, Kendall and Logan had it coming when they are fined for their actions and forced to partake in car washes.
- Downer Ending: BTR never get out of their debt, they only land in bigger debt as part of their efforts to earn money and now Gustavo and Kelly also fall in debt to Griffin and join the boys in raising money at a car wash. And at $15 per wash, it seems their combined debt of over $28,000 isn't going away anytime soon.
- Epic Fail: As part of being his personal assistant, Carlos is asked by Gustavo to sharpen his pencil. He puts it in the pencil sharpener, and he crushes it in his hand as he's holding it in his grip.
- Et Tu, Brute?: James gives this look to Katie for injecting Gustavo with a bill for James' wardrobe and styling to prep him for the magazine shoot even after Katie claimed she would help get James out of debt.Katie: (sheepishly) I might have mentioned that Gustavo's paying for... everything.
- Evil Is Petty: C.A.L. decides to mock Kelly for being a girl, leading her to join Carlos in destroying it.
- Fun with Acronyms: C.A.L. (Coffee Assistant Liaison).
- Got Me Doing It: At the beginning, Gustavo is reprimanding the boys for their stupidly destructive ways. Then at the end, Gustavo goes on a destructive rampage himself out of anger at the boys doing a lot of stupid crap that got them into deeper debt. ("What did I tell you dogs about breaking things?!")
- Got Volunteered: When telling the boys that they need to get jobs for money, Gustavo asks the boys which one of them would like to be his personal assistant. The boys sans Carlos immediately step back, leaving him to get the job.
- Heartbreak and Ice Cream: James at first tries to get money by being the new face profile for Cuda man spray, but he backs out when he is intimidated by the other rivals trying out for the part. This leaves him to sulk in the Palm Woods lobby drinking a milkshake. It takes Katie to snap him out of it with another job offer.
- Here We Go Again!: BTR racks up their debt from $2000 to over $14,000 since their "jobs" were really them doing a lot of damage, crimes and impulse spending to generate income and now get stuck with washing cars. Looks like no one learned a lesson about responsibility.
- Hope Spot:
- Yay! It looks like the boys paid off their debts to Gustavo! Only now they have to deal with the angry people demanding payment for Carlos destroying an expensive coffee machine worth $8000, Logan and Kendall violate child labor laws and ran an illegal daycare center and James forgot to pay a bill for his makeover that Katie tried peddling down to Gustavo.
- When C.A.L. starts to go haywire, Carlos tries unplugging it and shutting it down... then it switches to reserve power and works without an outlet.
- When the kids start to go rowdy in the apartment, Kendall fixes this by yelling "NAP TIME!" causing them to stop. Smash Cut to five minutes later, where the kids are going mad again and torturing Kendall and Logan.
- Ignoring by Singing: Gustavo briefly goes into this when the boys complain to him.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Gustavo forces The Boys to pay him back the $2,000 that he paid to for their damages. But as Gustavo mentioned, The Boys continuously damaged property, which Gustavo subsequently paid for, so naturally, there would be consequences for The Boys. Doubly-so when causing damage needs to stop, especially when it costs too much of their money.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Logan and Kendall exploited illegal child labor to wash cars to rake in money. At the end, they're stuck washing cars themselves to pay up legal fees and likely restitution to the children and their families.
- The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: Parodied when James "talks" with his mirror reflection.Katie: Now, we need new headshots, new clothes, a personal stylist, and...you have got to stop talking to a mirror!
- Misblamed: In-Universe, Carlos is blamed for the destruction of the coffee machine even though he only did it because to stop the machine from causing more damage then it already was (yes he did try unplugging it).
- To a lesser extent, James' debt was caused by Katie charging to Gustavo without either one's knowledge or consent.
- Noodle Incident: Griffin mentions Gustavo has gone on a rampage breaking things before, which doesn't come off as surprising given Gustavo's anger problems.
- Running Gag:
- Someone holding up a sign, whether it's "(Insert job and money here)", or a weird saying like "YOU'RE FIRED" or "NO POOL".
- Also the kids going nuisance.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Gustavo goes on one after getting several bills the boys accrued for him as penalty for violating some laws, causing damages to private/public property and in Katie and James's case, incur fees for wardrobe and styling. He starts smashing everything in sight with a baseball bat, right before Griffin shows up and catches Gustavo deliberately destroying property.
- Shockingly Expensive Bill: The boys first get a bill for $2,000 for their destruction. Then during their hassle hustling to get money from elsewhere sources besides their main jobs as singers, they only rack up their debt to $14,089. And then Griffin doubles it.
- Shout-Out: Carlos's subplot is a parody of 2001: A Space Odyssey going up against a coffee machine named C.A.L. (a play on HAL-9000).
- Straw Misogynist: C.A.L. nitpicks on Kelly's refusal to destroy him because of how expensive he is by teasing, "KELLY IS DUMB. WOMEN ARE WEAK". Kelly angrily asks what did he say. C.A.L. replies, "YOU HEARD ME CUPCAKE." Kelly pulls a Carlos (with Carlos present) as they battle cry "OH IT'S ON!!!!"
- Work Off the Debt: The main plot of the episode.
