Recap / Odd Squad S 1 E 32 Not So Splash By The Book

Winter is coming...in the middle of summer?

Not So Splash

Airdates: October 5, 2015 / October 13, 2015 ^note PBS Kids premiere; aired early on October 5 as Part 4 of "Odd Squad: Against the Odds", August 9, 2015 ^note ICI Radio-Canada premiere

In the middle of summer, Olive and Otto investigate why parts of town are turning snowy and cold.

---

Tropes:

• Abnormal Ammo: The Cold Open client's refrigerator shoots confetti into the air accompanied by a bright flash of light, much to Otto's excitement. On that note, so does one of his milk cartons.
  Man: Hey, is this still good to drink?
• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: Hilariously subverted when Olive and Otto wonder about the sudden weather change.
  Olive: But...who would want to change the weather? (gasps) The weatherman!
  Otto: A cat!
  Olive: Did you say "cat?"
  Otto: [covering his tracks] Nooooo, I said the weatherman.
  [cue confused look from Olive]
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Sven couldn't wait to play in the snow, so he made some parts of town (read: those with hills and lakes) frozen in order to ice-skate and ski year-round. This manages to confuse the weatherman and drive a wedge into Ms. O's plans to swim in her friend's pool — not to mention there are some ski resorts that are open in the summertime, as well as indoor ice-skating rinks.
• Bad Liar: Sven attempts to cover his tracks by remarking how awful all the snow in the middle of summertime is. Naturally, Olive and Otto don't buy it.
• Big "WHAT?!": Olive's reaction to Otto informing her that Ms. O flooded Headquarters.
• Butt-Monkey: Oscar gets it bad in this episode as he attempts to calm Ms. O down and support her. Unfortunately for him, she's not having it, and by the end of the episode, he looks incredibly worn-down from her antics.
• The Chase: Olive and Otto give chase after Sven when the athlete remarks that he'll just make another gadget to keep doing what he's been doing. While Olive is hot on his tail, Otto slips and falls on the snow and ice and lags behind for a bit. Even at Sven's relatively low speed, Olive and Otto can't catch him and have to resort to freezing a nearby puddle that he's about to step into in order to get him to stay still.
• Cheerful Child: Olive dips into this when she meets Frank Tudesco and Sven Jorgenson (a local sports newscaster and professional athlete, respectively) in person. And once again, she looks absolutely adorable doing it.
  Olive: [gasps] It's true! I watch your sports recaps every night!!
  Sven: And I'm Sven Jorgenson!
  Olive: Of course!! ^note She doesn't have any idea who Sven is, but at this point, she's too excited to care.
• Compressed Vice: It's revealed that swimming is a sort of Living Emotional Crutch for Ms. O, and if she doesn't get to do it, she will go to extremes in order to be able to do it. However, Ms. O has never displayed any love or hatred of swimming before this episode.
• Continuity Nod: This isn't the first time someone has name-dropped the Olympics. Funny enough, this episode aired after "The O Games", which established Odd Squad having a different take on the sporting events. (Maybe the Olympics and the O Games co-exist in the show's universe...)
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: The man in the Cold Open explains to Olive and Otto that he wants to work at a bank instead of as a professional dancer. The problem is that he has no experience working at a bank. Otto advises that it's a risk...but one worth taking.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: While the Mathroom's name has been used as a Toilet Humor pun before, this episode takes that trope a bit further (though not necessarily up to eleven) with Olive and Otto entering the Mathroom while Orchid is occupying it. When they greet her, she asks if they've ever heard of knocking before entering, with Olive responding that they didn't know she was in the Mathroom. The entire exchange is an equivalent of the partner pair walking in on Orchid in a one-toilet bathroom while she's using it.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Sven Jorgenson, an athlete and part-time inventor being interviewed by a sports newscaster, is revealed to have been the person behind the bizarre weather in the town, using his skills as an inventor to create a gadget in order to make various spots cold so he can ski and skate year-round.
• E = MC Hammer: Shockingly enough for a show whose primary educational Aesop is mathematics, this trope is played straight when the Mathroom shows Orchid a range of complex math equations, as well as a wheel with seven of the twelve Western Zodiac signs (Gemini, Cancer, Aries, Aquarius, Sagittarius, Taurus and what appears to be Leo) and a complex geometrical shape in the middle of it.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: In this case, it's more Heat/Ice Juxtaposition — nonetheless, Olive and Otto traveling to different sides of Ms. O's friend's pool indicates each of their personalities: Olive going to the warmer side (passionate but serious, sometimes foul-tempered), and Otto going to the cooler side (laid-back and chill, often joking around).
• Food Slap: Ms. O throws her water at Oscar upon him advising her to take a drink. Twice.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the scene where Olive and Otto are walking down a hallway with a woman, a whiteboard is shown with "Meeting with Sheila @ 4PM" written on it.
• Hidden Depths: It's revealed that Ms. O loves to swim on her free time, as it helps her feel calm. She loves it to the point where she would flood her own workplace if she didn't have a place to swim.
  • If her time spent in the Mathroom is any indication, Orchid may also be a mathematical genius, surpassing even Odd Todd at the subject.
  • The Mathroom isn't just good for equations; she can also bring up basic profiles of various people.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": The weatherman's name is just that: Weatherman.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Sven is defeated with his own gadget, in the possession of Olive.
• If I Do Not Return: Subverted when Orchid hands Olive a letter and asks her to deliver it to her brother if she doesn't make it back. Orchid then remarks that of course she'll make it back because she's awesome, and takes the letter back from Olive before leaving.
• Implied Death Threat: Ms. O delivers one to Olive and Otto in the form of her pool noodle being ripped in half. Both agents are quick to pull a simultaneous Screw This, I'm Outta Here and book it down the stairs in fear.
• Look Behind You: Olive feigns interest in seeing a snowflake on the ground. When Sven bends down to look at it, Olive rips his hat from his head and grabs his temperature-changing machine.
  Sven: Ah! Nooo... [Olive takes out the machine from his hat] Ahh, how did you...
  Olive: It's the only reason you'd wear a hat like this.
• Losing Horns: The Party Pooper gadget makes this sound when activated.
• Noodle Implements: Orchid is apparently going on a perilous journey that for some reason involves a lot of complex equations and involves a great risk of her dying during it. We never hear any details surrounding the journey or what it entails.
• Old-Timey Bathing Suit: Ms. O wears one — arm floaties, pool noodle and bathing cap included.
• Pool Scene: The episode's ending shows that Ms. O got impatient enough to flood the bullpen in order to create a pool for her to swim in.
• Rapid-Fire Interrupting: Occurs when Olive and Otto encounter Ms. O in her bathing suit.
  Ms. O: There you two are!
  Otto: Aww man, is it Bring Your Bathing Suit to Work Day-
  Ms. O: No.
  Olive: Then why are you wearing the ba-
  Ms. O: When I'm not working, I like to do one thing: swim. It takes me to a happy place.
• Riddle for the Ages: Exactly who is Ms. O's friend, and why does Ms. O prefer swimming in her pool versus going to the Odd Squad Pool?
• Serious Business: Swimming seems to be this for Ms. O. If she is unable to swim, her mood immediately sours to the point where she isn't above giving Implied Death Threats to her agents.
• Snow Means Cold: The freezing side of Ms. O's friend's pool is visualized by a blanket of snow and lightly howling winds, which Otto is subject to (keep in mind, he's not in his winter wear).
• Thermal Dissonance: Played with; some parts of the town are covered in snow, and are reasonably cold. Similarly, the parts of town that are hot are of a reasonable temperature to be hot (i.e., Olive's side of Ms. O's friend's pool measures at 100 degrees Fahrenheit, while Otto's is 20 degrees Fahrenheit).
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Played for Laughs when Ms. O looks up with a wistful stare after explaining to Olive and Otto that swimming takes her to a happy place (complete with fitting BGM). The latter has no idea what's going on, but when the former attempts to snap her out of it, Ms. O does so on her own, leading to some pretty bizarre reactions.
• Tranquil Fury: Ms. O is furious when Olive and Otto meet up with her, and it manifests in this way, especially when Otto accidentally pushes her Berserk Button.
  Ms. O: Something very odd has happened to my friend's pool. I need you to fix it so I can swim, or else I will get very grumpy.
  Otto: Was that you being not grumpy?
  [Ms. O pulls out her pool noodle]
  Otto: Ohh no.
  [she rips the pool noodle in half; Olive gasps]
  [Olive and Otto flee downstairs in a panic]
  • At the end of the episode, Oscar looks about ready to snap at Ms. O for flooding the bullpen and her repeated splashing of him.
• Unexplained Accent: Sven Jorgenson speaks with a German accent despite the show taking place in Canada. Unlike the Noisemaker, who also has a German accent, this example may be justified by the fact that Sven is a championship skier and skater and may have competed in many other countries, or may have been born outside of the country.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: This episode marks the final appearance of the Mathroom in the show, and she isn't brought up or mentioned ever again, nor is there any explanation for her sudden disappearance. As of Season 2, her primary function of drawing out equations and such has been replaced with smartwatches that do virtually the same thing, and are much more modern.

---

"We know one of you did it."
"Wasn't me."

By the Book

Airdates: October 5, 2015 / October 13, 2015 ^note  PBS Kids premiere; aired early on October 5 as Part 5 of "Odd Squad: Against the Odds", August 9, 2015 ^note  ICI Radio-Canada premiere

Olive and Otto interrogate two suspects to figure out which one is innocent and which one is guilty of committing an odd crime. However, they must do it within a 20-minute time frame.

---

Tropes:

• Accidental Misnaming: Olive refers to Gooey Randall as "Filthy Paul" at the beginning of the episode. Apparently, a lot of people refer to him as Paul.
• Aesop Amnesia: Otto doesn't remember the mathematical Aesop about time that he learned in "6:00 to 6:05".
• Almighty Janitor: Janitor Jerry is one, who provides an essential clue to help Olive and Otto figure out who vandalized City Hall (albeit neither he nor Olive know it). He's apparently very dedicated to his work and despises litterbugs.
  Olive: Do you know what [the suspect] looked like?
  Jerry: No. But I can say I'm glad to see that Odd Squad is finally cracking down on litterbugs.
  Olive: [sighs in exasperation and walks away]
  Jerry: Hey, don't forget to recycle!
  Olive: [groans]
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Both Gus and Randall have dark-pink skin tones, and the same color of clothing to match. Despite having the same color, however, no one has any issue telling them apart.
• Bedsheet Ghost: Goopy Gus dresses up as one of these to go trick-or-treating around HQ. Gooey Randall, on the other hand, looks more like a well-dressed vampire.
• Big "NO!": Otto shouts one when Ms. O tells him to begin worrying about seconds left in the interrogation instead of minutes.
• Big "WHAT?!": Otto and Ms. O give one in unison upon Olive informing them that her search turned up nothing.
• Bothering by the Book: The title of the episode aside, Olive and Otto are forced to adhere to the Odd Squad rulebook when interrogating Goopy Gus and Gooey Randall. However, the rules are very lax when it comes to how the suspects are treated (getting smoothies, spa treatments, etc.), and by the end of the episode, Ms. O herself admits the rules are flawed and promises to rewrite them.
  • Gooey Randall and Goopy Gus also have a rulebook of their own where two of the rules are not to rat each other out, and fix what damage they've done.
• The Bus Came Back: Delivery Debbie is back, having been absent for 12 episodes (19, if counting by singles) since her last appearance in "Mystic Egg Pizza".
• Chekhov's Classroom: When Ms. O is teaching Olive and Otto about time and the latter asks about the red hand on the clock, she explains that it keeps track of seconds, but they don't need to worry about it. As it turns out, said red hand becomes vital at the climax of the episode.
• Continuity Nod: One of the pictures seen when Olive is asking Owen for Security footage includes the same zebra with eight legs seen in "Soundcheck".
  • Sven Jorgenson, from last episode, is also seen amongst the pictures cycled through.
  • Octavia's and the Feline Ambassador's chairs are included in the rulebook for Randall and Gus to sit in, as "the best chairs in Odd Squad Headquarters."
• Covered in Gunge: Goopy Gus and Gooey Randall are both covered in pink goo, and also cover things in goo.
• Derailed Train of Thought: Olive, of all people, goes off on a conversation about misnaming with Randall. Lucky for her, Otto's there to help her get back on track.
  • Gooey Randall attempts to invoke the trope at one point by asking Otto who told him about his horses (in response to Otto saying "hold your horses" when asking about the time). It fails, however, as Ms. O tells Otto not to be fooled as Randall is stalling for time.
• Description Cut: When Goopy Gus explains to Olive and Otto that they can hold the two villains for 20 minutes before they are allowed to walk scot-free, Otto remarks that can't be right. Cut to Ms. O meeting the two agents outside of the interrogation room, explaining how Gus is right.
• The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Otto remarks that he and Olive will have to interrogate the two villains the hard way, which involves staying at Headquarters overnight until someone admits it.
• Fair-Play Whodunnit: Zig-zagged, as it takes quite a few Freeze-Frame Bonuses of Randall and Gus and some smart thinking to figure out the clues. Many of them aren't blatantly obvious (blue eyes, candy on the ground, etc., which aren't shown in any scenes unless viewers have good eyes).
• Flashback: The clues, and by extension the culprit in the act of vandalism, is revealed in this way by Otto.
• Force Feeding: Implied with Ms. O, whose idea of a fast smoothie involves squeezing two oranges into two glasses of water, placing the oranges in the water, and ordering Randall and Gus to take them. Both suspects are looking skeptical of the drinks, but it's unclear if they drank them or not.
• Foreshadowing: A blink-and-you'll-miss-it bit — one of the pictures shown during the scene when Owen goes through Security footage is of Olive enjoying a performance from Soundcheck. Come "Disorder in the Court", there is a reveal of Olive having a change of heart when it comes to her opinions on the band.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Some of the still frames Owen cycles through include Soundcheck performing at a local library, a skier, and an agent battling the Shapeshifter among others (see the Continuity Nod entry for more).
• Giftedly Bad: Debbie's painting of City Hall when it was vandalized looks more like the painting of a grade-school child, and Olive is unable to tell who is who in the picture. Despite this, however, she takes Olive's statements regarding her stick figures ("That white smudge with two blue dots on it?") as insults. It gets to the point where Debbie allows Olive to take her painting back to Headquarters...if the agent tells her that she has talent.
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: This episode puts a spin on the usual Batman-style transitions by replacing the Odd Squad seal with a clock showing how much time has passed (indicated by the red area), how much time remains (indicated by the green area and separated into 5-minute chunks), and the current time.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Olive quotes the trope nearly verbatim when she directs Otto to the two suspects while she goes to find Security footage of City Hall.
• Literal-Minded: When Olive asks Owen if he can get closer to the image of the vandalized City Hall, his response is to get up and move himself closer to the image. Olive clarifies that she wanted him to maximize the image to make it clearer. He then starts to do the same thing again when Olive asks the same question before she catches herself.
• Mood-Swinger: Ms. O goes from tough and firm, to hard as steel, to sweet and innocent, and back again in the span of just a few seconds — enough to effectively terrorize both Goopy Gus and Gooey Randall.
  Ms. O: There's nothing in the rulebook that says [the smoothies] have to be good. [harder tone of voice] Now take these.
  [she hands Randall and Gus their glasses]
  Ms. O: [sweeter] And enjoy your smoothies!

  Ms. O: [after cracking Randall's back] How's your back now?
  Randall: My back? Feels wonderful, you fixed it!
  Ms. O: Great! Now sit down.
• Mystery Episode: Of a sort. The episode revolves around two suspects accused of committing the crime of vandalizing City Hall; one is guilty and the other is innocent. Olive and Otto, with the help of Ms. O, must figure out who is the real suspect and who is innocent, and they must do it within 20 minutes as per a rulebook.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Ms. O becomes one in this episode as she tells Olive and Otto to go by Odd Squad rules when interrogating Gus and Randall. She does have good intentions, however, and does help Otto out later.
• Off-the-Shelf FX: One Freeze-Frame Bonus that occurs when Ms. O opens the rulebook shows that said rulebook used is a dictionary (or an encyclopedia), just with an Odd Squad-branded back and cover.
• Oh, My Gods!: Gooey Randall screams "Zeus's beard" when Ms. O cracks his back.
• Race Against the Clock: Olive and Otto have 20 minutes to prove that either Randall or Gus committed vandalism, or both will be let go.
• Riddle for the Ages: A woman who was attacked by Randall asks Olive and Otto if they live inside of Headquarters. The show staff have deliberately avoided discussing the characters' home lives in order to keep up the theme of equality (since where someone lives can determine their financial status, overall health, etc.), and none of the Season 1 Main 4's homes are revealed — however, since Season 2, the writers seem to have since thrown away the policy, and have shown various characters' houses (Olympia's, Ohlm's, and potentially Todd's) as well as their families (Ohlm's parents, as well as Jeremy's in Season 3).
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Gooey Randall attempts to invoke this trope by threatening to leave if he doesn't get what the rulebook states he should get. However, he fails, as Ms. O refuses to let them leave.
• Sickening "Crunch!": One is heard very audibly when Gooey Randall complains of his back killing him, only for Ms. O to put on another sweet facade, shake his hand, then twist his wrist hard enough for his spine to crack. It's accompanied with a subtle Screen Shake to show just how powerful the Director can be when she wants to.
• Spoiled Brat: Randall and Gus both become this. They're both known villains, and yet are given all sorts of luxuries, such as spa treatments and comfy chairs, and attempt to leave when something doesn't suit their needs (luckily, Ms. O stops them every time they try). It doesn't help that luxuries being given to interrogated suspects, villains or not, is an Odd Squad rule that agents are forced to follow lest they face consequences, and the Main 3 realize that the treatment might encourage villains to commit odd crimes and that the rulebook should be rewritten.
• Staring Contest: Otto does this with Goopy Gus as per the Odd Squad rules, where he takes the opportunity to bluff and tell him that Randall already admitted it was Gus. The bluffing ends up failing, however, as the two suspects are right next to each other.
• invoked That One Rule: In-universe; the Odd Squad rules state that agents can only interrogate a suspect for 20 minutes, and if they can't prove them guilty, they are forced to let the suspect go.
• Title Drop:
  Ms. O: Goopy Gus is right. You have to do this one by the book.
• Two Dun It: Subverted. While both Gus and Randall play innocent, it's revealed that Gus is the one who vandalized City Hall, while Randall is completely innocent. However, the latter remarks that he might as well go commit a crime just so he can get the good treatment he received throughout the episode.
• We Are Not Going Through That Again: Otto remarks that he doesn't want to follow the rulebook again at the end of the episode.

---