The episode starts with the eighth graders learning about nuclear power in class, where Jeremie tries and fails to question his teacher about virtualizing atomic particles in the real world. Good news manifests after the lesson, however; the principal, Jean Pierre, lets Odd begin casting for a traditional rock band, named the 'Pop Rock Progressives'. They need a drummer, and several try out for the position, including Nicholas. He turns out to be the best, but Odd doesn't want anything to do with him, preferring a pretty girl who is not really good at drumming.
Meanwhile, XANA tries to overload a nuclear power plant by storing electricity in a transformer and unleashing it on the plant all at once. Unsure if they can stop such an event, the group votes and, by a three to one vote, they decide to tell the authorities (since Aelita never wishes to see millions of people die just to save her). While Yumi goes to inform them the others stay behind to deal with XANA — they must deactivate the tower before the city is turned into a nuclear wasteland. Not only that, but they also have to do so before the authorities find out about the supercomputer. In the end, the tower is deactivated and after a return to the past Nicholas and Jim are added to the Pop Rock Progressives.
This episode contains examples of:
- Achievements in Ignorance: While throwing a rock into a "pool", Odd discovers the surface layer of the "oasis", hence allowing him, Ulrich, and Aelita to find the activated tower on a lower plateau.
- Adults Are Useless: Combined with a Cliffhanger Copout, no less; Yumi runs to warn the principal and the head of the nuclear plant about the impending fallout, but her later phone call to Jeremie states that they didn't believe her. Her trying to persuade the police doesn't amount to anything either.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Only Odd wants Naomi, whose drumming can only barely be called as such, as part of the band, rationalizing that they're not likely to find anyone better. Neither Yumi nor Ulrich are on board with it.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The fact that the team even discusses the idea of revealing Lyoko to the police feels downright bizarre considering how vehemently against it they would become in later episodes whenever it's brought up.
- Graceful Loser: Mike isn't at all broken up when the Pop Rock Progressives reject his heavy metal-style of drumming; he just smiles with a shrug before Naomi comes in.
- Hidden Depths: Nicholas is adept at the drums. Jim can also play the trombone fairly well.
- Serial Escalation: X.A.N.A. goes from using a giant teddy bear to straight-up nuclear fallout in only the second episode. It helps give the audience exactly what kind of enemy the Lyoko kids are dealing with.
- Surfer Dude: Mike's got the voice in the English dub.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: When the team is looking for a drummer. The only one that is competent is Nicolas, one of Sissi's underlings. To be fair, the only genuinely bad one was Naomi. Mike's heavy metal drumming wasn't terrible per se; it just wasn't the style that the team was going for.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: X.A.N.A.'s plan to nuke the city of Paris, France via overloading the nuclear reactor with electricity would've killed far more people than just the Lyoko Warriors, and Yumi is quick to point out such to the others. And with Paris being highly populated and filled with tourists, it would have been devastating if it's plan succeeded.note
