Recap / I Carly S 02 Ep 09 I Give Away A Car

iGive Away a Car is the 9th episode in the 2nd season of iCarly.

When iCarly holds a contest where the first viewer who sends in the answer to a brain buster wins a new car from Flanken Motors, their winner turns out to be none other than Nevel. But when the gang discovers Nevel set the whole thing up and threatens to report them for fraud, they must come together.

Meanwhile, Spencer wins a prop from Galaxy Wars but is disappointed to find out it's a replica.

Tropes:

• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: When Sam and Spencer are sitting on the couch frustrated, the former wonders how the iCarly gang can get Nevel a new car, and the latter complains about not knowing what to do with his space pod replica that he doesn't like anymore. There's a Beat, as they look at each other and wonder aloud if they're thinking the same thing. Spencer asks her if she figured out a solution to both their problems, but a surprised Sam revealed that she was instead thinking about fried chicken.
• Broken Record: Nevel's dialogue is redundant, mainly repeatedly reminding the iCarly trio about the contest they're not keeping their end of the promise of and "Tick tock! Tick tock!" when he gives them a 48-hour deadline.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Nevel responds this way when Carly accuses him of a gambit, which was probably him pretending to not know to troll her.
  Carly: You set this whole thing up! That Jeffrey guy, or whatever his real name is! You sent him to us, didn't you?!
  Nevel: (teasingly) Oh, I don't know. I send a lot of guys to a lot of places.
  Carly: (in disbelief) You evil, evil little elf.
• Clue, Evidence, and a Smoking Gun: Spencer wins the space pod prop in the contest, and thinks it was actually used in the filming of Galaxy Wars. But Freddie points out to him that the prop has one exhaust port while the original had two, the blasters are round while the original had octagonal ones, and then finally points out there's a sign on the side of the prop that says "Not an actual prop from the movie Galaxy Wars."
• Could Say It, But...: Nevel never actually confesses to setting iCarly up (since he'd be the one in legal trouble if he did), only smugly telling them that they can't prove what they're accusing him of while he can prove they owe him a car.
• Digital Destruction: In the HD version of this episode, the graphics during the webcasts are missing for unknown reasons. Their sound effects are still heard, however.
• The Dragon: Jeffrey turned out to be a minion of Nevel's, tricking the iCarly trio into promising a car they do not possess for the winner of a contest.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: The winner of the "new car" contest is Trickster206. Three guesses to who the big trickster is...
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: When telling the iCarly's (once again) that they will rue the day, Nevel points his finger dramatically at Carly. She takes the opportunity to bite the tip of his finger, much to his shock.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While Nevel sank to a new low in setting the iCarly team up, he was completely right that they did foolishly promise a car on their website, and failure to deliver on their promise would be legitimate fraud. Also, he's right that they can't actually prove it was him who set up the fake deal, even if they know for certain that he did. Later on, Mr. Bullock confirms his complaint about the team attempting to give him a used car to fulfill the deal is valid, as they specifically said they were giving away a new car.
• Karma Houdini: While the iCarly gang gets their revenge on Nevel, Jeffrey never gets any comeuppance for his involvement in Nevel's ploy to get iCarly shut down.
• Punny Name: Spencer's friend Socko has an uncle named Otto who sells used cars.
• Shower of Angst: Carly is revealed to take these when depressed. The one she has here lasts for many hours.
• Sir Verb-a-Lot: Spencer offers Freddie a view of his new space replica, and he accepts, but after looking at it, he reveals it's fake. Spencer at first thinks he's lying and calls him "Larry Lies-A-Lot."
• Spiteful Spoiler: When Spencer hires the movers to bring his couch back, they up the price because they had to miss their book club meeting for this. When Spencer tells him he doesn't have enough money, they bring the couch back with them, much to his frustration. In retaliation, Spencer yells at them what happens in the ending of the book they're discussing, and locks the door for good measure.
• Suspiciously Prescient Planning: The iCarly crew realizes Nevel set them up after he produces a printout of the law that states any US website that engages in fraud will be terminated. The only reason he'd have that on his person would be if he knew there was going to be a problem with the group getting him the car which he could then use as an excuse to get the site shut down.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Flanken claims his daughters are these. When Sam and Freddie ask where his son is who promised the car for their contest, Flanken says he only has two daughters, but one of them is trying to be masculine. This is a foreshadowing that the contest was actually a setup by Nevel.
• Wham Line:
  • The iCarlys discover Nevel set the contest up.
    Carly: Why do you have that printed out?
    Nevel: Because I like to print things.
    Freddie: No, you'd only print that out if you knew you were gonna need it.
    Sam: Yeah. How did you know there was gonna be a problem getting you the car?
  • And earlier when they meet Don Flanken, the car salesmen, who doesn't seem to know about their contest.
    Flanken: I don't have a son, just two daughters.
• Xanatos Gambit: Attempted by Nevel. Either he gets iCarly shut down for fraud, or he gets a new car from them.