Now loading Recap for Operation: F.L.A.V.O.R.:
Lost
Ancient
Variety
Of
Refreshment
Writing Operatives: Mo Willems & Mr. Warburton
Storyboard Operative: Guy Moore & Quack Leard
Date of Mission: November 7, 2003
Mission Report:
The DCFDTL send Numbuh 5 to find a mystical ice cream flavor.The episode opens with Numbuh 5 giving a speech at a museum on Ice Cream. Through use of pretty pictures, she summarizes the three pure flavors of ice cream- Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. She also explains the legend of a mysterious orange fourth flavor- one so delicious it's creators were afraid everyone would try to steal it, leading them to lock it away forever in a hidden temple, leaving behind a mythical golden scoop that would allow access to those capable of answering a riddle. Said golden scoop is on display at this museum. Unfortunately, her audience is distracted by the gift shop, leaving Numbuh 5 alone with the DCFDTL who mock her belief briefly about believing in myths before walking off. She disregards their ice-cream expertise- after all, they put sprinkles on their ice cream!
Cue Ice-Cream men in a van breaking into the museum and trying to steal the scoop. After some creative dodging with a window and a banner, Numbuh 5 is ultimately captured, along with the golden scoop. Cut to an unknown amount of time later, Numbuh 5 has been locked in the back of an ice-cream van and gets pulled out to learn that the Ice-Cream men have found the Temple of the Fourth Flavor.It soon becomes apparent that the DCFDTL are running the operation, and that despite their best attempts no one has been able to answer the legendary riddle and gain access to the temple's inner chambers. The DCFDTL convince Numbuh 5 to help them get to the Fourth Flavor, knowing that if she fails the temple's defenses will choclify-her.
- Numbuh 5: The flavor of the day is... Sunday!DCFDTL: Sunday? Oh for the love of- that is the stupidest thing I have ever- Gasp!Numbuh 5: So long, suckers!
A chase ensues, parodying Indiana Jones to the point where they even include the same music. Eventually Numbuh 5 manages to lose the Ice Cream Men behind a rolling bolder of ice cream. From there she finds her way to another chamber and riddle:
- Only with the scoop of gold/ And tastebuds pure/ Shall you find the cave of cold/ And taste the flavor's sweet allure.
But not all is well. The DCFDTL have managed to catch up to Numbuh 5 and capture her, so that they can hand it over for the adults (minus themselves, of course). The DCFDTL mock Numbuh 5 by deciding to have the first taste of the Fourth Flavor in front of her, with "Jimmys", of course. Number 5 pleads for them to stop, but they ignore her and proceed to cover their ice-cream, triggering a storm of lightning and earthquakes.
As the Ice Cream Men run for their lives, the DCFDTL are quick to accuse Numbuh 5 of tricking them, but she explains that toppings are meant to make bad ice cream taste better, so you're not supposed to put anything on good ice cream. And they're called sprinkles, not Jimmys! As the DCFDTL flee Numbuh 5 begins to go after them but turns back when she realizes that she'll never get another chance to taste the mythical Fourth Flavor, opting to climb onto the falling giant ice-cream cone and shimmy her way to victory.
Unfortunately lightning strikes the spot just in front of her, and Numbuh 5 falls to the bottom of the ravine. She mourns her loss after waking up, before noticing a tiny drop of ice cream sticking to her hat! At last! Number 5 tastes victory, and gets a call from Numbuh 1 just before she can exposit to the audience what the Fourth Flavor tastes like. The screen goes black as she arranges to get a lift home.
Now loading tropes:
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: The DCFDTL to Numbuh 5. She double-crosses them before they can do so to her, but they were counting on that anyways.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: As the temple is collapsing, Numbuh 5's first course of action is to...chew the DCFDTL out for using the term "Jimmys" to refer to sprinkles (even though it actually is a real term used in Boston and Philadelphia).
- Brain Freeze: The Ice Cream Men start eating through the ice cream boulder only to suddenly reel in pain. The Delightful Children think the ice cream is poisoned... but the men just got a major brain-freeze from eating too quickly.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Presumably why the DCFDTL keep Numbuh 5 locked up instead of getting rid of her, as she's the only person they have skilled in exploring sugar-themed ancient ruins.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The DCFDTL are horrified when it appears that the Ice Cream Men have consumed poisonous ice cream. Their horror and concern turns to annoyance when they realize that their henchmen simply had brain freezes.
- Insistent Terminology: The Delightful Children call sprinkles "jimmies".
- I Warned You: When the Delightful Children decide to put sprinkles on their scoops of the fourth flavor, Numbuh 5 begs them not to do it. They dismiss her warnings, but once the sprinkles touch the ice cream, the whole temple starts to collapse around them. When they accuse her of tricking them, she promptly calls them out for it.Numbuh 5: I tried to warn you! You’re not supposed to put anything on GOOD ice cream!
- Mooks: The Ice Cream Men to the DCFDTL.
- Never My Fault: The Delightful Children accuse Numbuh 5 of deceiving them into putting sprinkles on the fourth flavor and instigating the sacrilege-induced earthquake when it was their own decision to do so and Numbuh 5 actually warned them against it. Numbuh 5 immediately called them out on this.
- The Not-So-Harmless Punishment: Double Subverted. The ice-cream boulder seems to be only there for the theme, but it turns out to be poisoned ice cream. Except it's not poisoned, the Ice Cream Men just have brain freeze all at the same time.
- Only the Worthy May Pass: Trying to put sprinkles on the fourth flavor causes the temple to collapse.
- Pun: What the riddle turns out to be.Numbuh 5: The flavor of the day is...Sundae!
- Raiders of the Lost Parody: The first of these to form a whole episode's plot. The most obvious lifts, of course, are the giant ice-cream boulder and the ancient temple that instantly and painfully punishes those who answer its riddle wrong.
- Serious Business: The Fourth Flavor is said to be so good, that it's forbidden to add toppings on it. The Delightfuls add sprinkles to a scoop, which triggers a trap that destroys the temple.
- Taken for Granite: The Ice Cream Men who get the statue's Flavor of the Day riddle wrong end up being encased in frozen chocolate.
- Tempting Fate: A more positive version of this; Numbuh 5 believes her taste buds weren't good enough to taste the fourth flavor. When she finds her hat, there's a small dollop of it.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Numbuh 5 gets to have a small taste of the legendary fourth flavor when a dollop of it lands on her hat.
- The Un-Reveal: Whatever the fourth flavor tastes like. Numbuh 5 is interrupted by a call from Numbuh 1 before she can describe the flavor in the end.
- We only ever discover what the taste might be in the Operation: Z.E.R.O movie, where Numbuh Zero offhandedly remarks that "blurpleberry" is the closest thing to it he's had.
- Villain Has a Point: It doesn't negate all the other crap they pulled throughout the episode, but the DCFDTL point out that "ice cream rules" which treat putting sprinkles on ice cream that's already good as an earthquake-inducing heresy are pretty stupid.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: After watching several Ice Cream Men fail to solve the flavor of the day riddle, the DCFDTL are quite exasperated when Numbuh 5 gives "Sundae" as the answer. They also have this reaction when they learn that adding "Jimmys" to the fourth flavor is what caused the storm and earthquake.
