Moving to the 3rd episode of the season; and Renee finds herself in the midst of her first crush.
After opening song “Give Me a Shot”; the kids race to the counter on their break to get a look at Riley’s latest “invention”: The Scoopomatic (essentially a toy dump truck doubling as an ice cream scoop); leading to Riley being the target of some good-natured ribbing. However, Renee is clearly in her own word, seemingly spaced out. We soon see why when a boy named Jules (guest star Curt Cornelius; later best known for the voice of Nolan Stross in the Dead Space series of video games) walks into the P*lace asking for Renee’s help on their English assignment - and who Renee happens to be smitten with; setting up “Crush on You”.
The others continue wondering what was going on with Renee (with Stacy, noting when she asked their mom what was going on with Renee that their mom described it as adolescence, only for Stacy to butcher it as “add-o-lessons” when Ryan (noting that “The symptoms are starting to sound familiar”) prepares to announce that the love bug has struck Renee, only for Gloria to beat him to the punch due to her finding a note Renee had written. Renee then arrives; only for Kid and Stacy to begin teasing her, which Renee angrily storming off; setting up “There’ll Be Sad Songs”. Gloria then shows up, Renee’s note in hand, and then tries to encourage her to try talking with Jules, leading to “How Will I Know”note .
The others, back at the P*lace, view Riley’s “minor adjustments” when Kid and Stacy apologize to Renee for their teasing (Ryan then notes how their lovestruck bandmate was so in her own world she had been walking into walls and eating her ice cream with a fork) before “coach” Gloria sends Renee out to Jules’ table (while Kid and Ryan do some play-by-play and color commentary) - upon which Renee offers to help Jules with his homework, which Jules thanks her for with a quick peck on the cheek; setting up closing song “You Can’t Hurry Love”.
Songs performed in this episode:
- “Give Me a Shot” (Kids Incorporated original; lead vocals by Gloria)
- “Crush on You” (The Jets cover; lead vocals by Gloria and Kid)
- “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” (Billy Ocean cover; lead vocals by Renee)
- “How Will I Know” (Whitney Houston cover; lead vocals by Gloria and Renee)note
- “You Can’t Hurry Love” (The Supremes cover; lead vocals by Gloria, Renee, Stacy and Kid)note
Tropes associated with this episode:
- Bungling Inventor: Riley’s latest invention, the Scoopomatic, is nothing but a toy dump truck used to scoop ice cream.
- Imagine Spot: “How Will I Know” takes place in a classroom of sorts involving lessons on handling a crush.
- Malaproper: Stacy’s mangling of adolescence as “add-o-lessons”.
- Title Drop: The Jets’ “Crush on You” doubles as the episode title.
