Written & storyboarded by Deena Beck & Angel Lorenzana
J.P. finds a fossil in the Creek which quickly causes the landscape to change.
Tropes:
- 10-Minute Retirement: Jason quits being a Forest Scout since he's not getting respect from the kids, throwing away his sash and driving the other Scouts away. He reconsiders when Craig asks him why he became a Forest Scout in the first place.Kelsey: He's gone rogue!
- All for Nothing: The fossil J.P. found is actually a gift shop replica, so the whole fossil rush was for nothing.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Craig asks Jason if he joined the Junior Forest Scouts to help people or to get attention.
- Artistic License – Paleontology:
- Tony claims trilobites are crustaceans. Trilobites are actually arachnomorphs, which are a sister group to crustaceans.
- Jason is baffled why they can't find a Tyrannosaurus rex at the creek, not even in soil dating to the Cretaceous period. Since the creek is in Maryland and T. rex lived on the other side of the continent (it was divided by a great inland sea during the late Cretaceous), it's no wonder they're not having any luck.
- Ascended to Carnivorism: As Wildernessa explains that the food chain will start over due to the creek drying up, she’s associated with the image of a grizzly bear getting attacked by a man who’s getting attacked by a rabbit.
- Big Dam Plot: The Junior Forest Scouts dam up the creek in order to find more fossils. Craig tries to destroy the dam so the creek can flow again.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Jason's motivation for finding fossils is to get the respect of the kids.
- Everyone Has Standards: Boris and Tony don't agree with Jason's behavior.
- Green Aesop: The episode demonstrates environmental impacts of dams. Not only the Junior Forest Scouts damming up the creek doesn't do any favors for the kids there, it is also taking a toll on the wildlife since animals and plants need water to survive.
- Heel Realization: Jason seems to have one after Craig's Armor-Piercing Question, that he helps Craig save Kelsey and J.P. from being swept away and later returns his Choco-Rolls when he drops them.
- Sanity Slippage: Jason as he becomes more and more determined to find a fossil to earn everyone's respect. It gets to the point where he dams the creek, quits the Junior Forest Scouts, and chases away Boris and Tony.
- Serious Business: J.P. supposedly discovering a trilobite fossil triggers the titular fossil rush in the entire creek. Perfectly understandable as fossils are extremely valuable (only they're being paid with Choco-Rolls instead of money).
- Shatterpoint Tap: The Scouts tied up the dam using strong knots, but Craig discovers that one of them used a weaker shoelace knot, and plans to untie it and cause the dam to break. Subverted when he does and find that a branch is intertwined with the ropes, preventing the dam from breaking.
- Ship Tease: This episode greatly implies Kelsey has a crush on Wildernessa.
- Shown Their Work: After the Scouts' failure in finding a Tyrannosaurus, Tony suggests they should look for fossils from the Triassic period instead and dig deeper for them. This alludes to the geological time scale, plus the fact Tyrannosaurus lived in the Cretaceous period.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Scouts end up changing the landscape and endangering the aquatic wildlife by damming up the creek to look for more fossils.
- Villainous Breakdown: More like "Antagonistic Breakdown", which Jason has when he quits being a Forest Scout and later confronts Craig on the dam.
- Wham Line:Boris: Boris and Tony were just trying to help out. Forest Scouts always help out.
Jason: Well, not me! What's the point of helping out if none of these jerks appreciate it? Getting this fossil is finally gonna give me the respect I deserve!
Tony: With all due respect, sir. That's not what being a Forest Scout is about at all.
Jason: (beat) Well... then I'm not a Forest Scout anymore!
