Sly Sludge steals an experimental garbage-eating microbe in order to get quick cash in France during a garbage strike, but it evolves into a monster threatening the city.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- The Assimilator: The blobs will eat anything, adding to its mass. It threatens to crush the city and absorb it into itself before repeating the process all over the world.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: By the climax, all the garbage-eating blobs have fused into one giant blob.
- Blob Monster: The garbage eaters evolve into blob-like organisms that grow out of control.
- Did Not Think This Through: Sly Sludge was too short-sighted and impatient to wait until Dr. Helix worked out the bugs in his microbe before stealing some samples to use. He winds up creating a monster that endangered Paris.
- French Cuisine Is Haughty: Andre the French cuisine chef refuses to cook french fries because it is beneath him.
- Gone Horribly Right: Thanks to the garbage-eating microbes, the city of Paris is cleaned of its trash. Unfortunately, the blobs go overboard and began destroying anything to eat it up. They don't have a mind and can't distinguish between things thrown away and things still in use.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After seeing what the garbage eaters have done to the city of Paris, Dr. Helix blames himself, lamenting that in trying to save the planet, he instead became its executioner. The Planeteers disagree, saying it was Sly Sludge's fault for releasing them in the first place.
- Non-Indicative Name: Wheeler is oblivious to the fact that French fries aren't actually French.
- No-Sell: Ma-Ti's Heart power doesn't have any effect on the blob monster, because it doesn't really have a mind.
- Properly Paranoid: Gaia sends the Planeteers to Paris to investigate the garbage eaters. Even though they (initially) are cleaning up the city of trash due to a garbage strike, Gaia is worried as their origins were unknown and worries that they might grow out of control. Turned out she was right.
- Save the Villain: Sly Sludge, thanks to his releasing the garbage-eating microbe too soon, ends up nearly being trapped by the resulting Blob Monster. He only survives the episode thanks to Wheeler rescuing him.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The garbage eaters will eat anything except glass. Captain Planet manages to trap the giant garbage eater in a giant glass test tube.
