Airdate: November 8, 2022 note
"The Story of the Story Knife"note : Willow, a Yup'ik exchange student, comes to Qyah.
"The Story of the Story Knife" contains the following tropes:
- Binocular Shot: At one point, we get a binocular shot of Willow looking at an eagle.
- Character Tics: Willow tends to raise her eyebrows instead of talking. This is actually a Yup'ik cultural thing, speaking with your facial expressions.
- Culture Clash: Molly doesn't understand Willow's facial expressions, which are a Yup'ik way of talking.
- Facial Dialogue: Willow tends to use facial expressions to communicate, such as lowering her eyebrows and scrunching her nose to say "no."
- Flower Motifs: Willow is associated with willow trees. It's for this reason that Molly carves a willow tree on her new story knife.
- Foreign Exchange Student: Played with. Molly's school has an exchange student program, but it's for different Alaska Native tribes. Even though everyone is Alaska Native, they have different ways of doing things.
- Good-Times Montage: In the episode, there's a montage of Molly, Willow, and the others doing fun things together such as birdwatching.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Molly plans a welcome party for Willow's stay in Qyah, but the balloons pop, the banner rips, and the confetti drops too early, leaving Willow with a bad impression.
- Lost Toy Grievance: Willow loses her beloved story knife
, which is a Yup'ik girl's toy used to tell stories. Molly helps make a new one for her. Eventually, Willow finds her old knife, and gives it to Molly. - Shrinking Violet: Willow gets shy when she meets new people. She spent the entire flight saying "it's nice to meet you," then forgets everything the moment she lands.
"Raven Saves the Birthday Party": Oscar wants to be a storyteller.
"Raven Saves the Birthday Party" contains the following tropes:
- An Aesop: Uncle Jack's raven tale has the Aesop of "not thinking with your tummy." The raven's gluttony got him into a sticky situation and rendered him unable to give his big speech.
- Birthday Episode: In this episode, it's Auntie Midge's birthday.
- Call-Back: Aunt Merna still has the hat she caught at Tooey's throw party.
- Imagine Spot: When Uncle Jack tells a raven story to Oscar, he imagines it in his head so that he can remember it.
- Large Ham: Uncle Jack gets very animated when playing the part of Raven.
- Rounded Character: Discussed. Jack points out that in some stories, a raven helps people, and in others, he tricks people. When Oscar asks if he's a good guy or a bad guy, Jack says that he's a little of both. He's complicated, just like real people.
- Shout-Out: Midge says that she hasn't since Uncle Jack and Aunt Merna since Superman was a boy.
- Sticky Situation: In Jack's story, the raven sees a big bucket of what he thinks is ooligan grease, but it was actually spruce pitch, which gets his head stuck inside the bucket. When he finally gets out of it, it seals his beak shut.
- The Storyteller: Jack tells stories to Molly and Oscar. This inspires Oscar to create his own story, one about a raven saving a birthday party.
