Recap / Odd Squad S 1 E 33 O Vs The Ballcano Assistants Creed

Row row row your boat, gently down the stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, this is not a dream.

O vs. the Ballcano

Airdates: November 25, 2015 ^note PBS Kids premiere, August 16, 2015 ^note ICI Radio-Canada premiere

When Odd Todd causes the Odd Squad Ball Room to malfunction, headquarters is slowly flooded by plastic balls. It's up to Olive, Otto, and Ms. O to save the day.

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Tropes:

• All for Nothing: The trope is defied for Olive and Otto, but played straight for Ms. O, who is implied to believe this of the partner pair for their efforts in attempting to stop the flooding. When Otto tells Ms. O that they're close to balancing the scales, the Director tells them that "close isn't good enough".
• Ambiguous Time Period: While it is revealed in the Season 1 finale that the entire season takes place in the span of a year, this episode reveals that Olive and Otto have been working at Odd Squad together for less than a year. It's not made clear when the episode takes place, though, unlike with "Best Seats in the House" when the month and the year were given.
• And You Were There: Inverted when Sven begins relaying the events of "Not So Splash" to Olive and Otto. Otto remarks that they know what happened; they were there and helped to stop him.
• The Cameo: Surprisingly, Odd Todd cameos in this episode as the cause behind the flooding of Headquarters. He doesn't make any onscreen appearances in the episode other than in a pre-recorded video message.
• Chekhov's Gun: When Otto falters upon telling Ms. O that he and Olive won't let him down, Ms. O remarks that she's going to need a bigger juice box, and pulls one out that's about as tall as her. As it turns out, the enlarged juice boxes are what is needed to balance out two of the scales.
• Companion Cube: Played with; Odd Todd apparently made friends with three differently-colored plastic balls found in the Ball Pit Control Room, whom he says "really get me." Whether this is meant as more of a witty threat or if the balls are actually sentient, though, is up for interpretation.
• Continuity Nod: Sven Jorgenson makes an appearance in the episode as the client featured in the Cold Open, and it's clear that neither Olive nor Otto are in the mood to forgive him or forget what he's done anytime soon.
  • Olive and Otto perform their Secret Handshake (and recite Otto's Catchphrase) once again when the first scale is balanced.
  • A more melancholy version of The Potato Song plays when a potato Olaf was attempting to retrieve sinks underwater in the sea of balls.
  • This isn't the first time there's been a Shout-Out to George Washington crossing the Delaware.
• Determinator: Inverted for Ms. O, who immediately begins getting set to bail when Headquarters begins to flood (and has done it before), but played straight for Olive and Otto, who try and resolve the situation before Headquarters becomes completely flooded. Their perseverance — as well as Ms. O having a change of heart and becoming a Determinator at the climax — turns out to be the key to saving their own Headquarters. The trope is also played straight for O'Donahue, who attempted to convince Ms. O to try and turn their Headquarters back to normal, but his words fell on deaf ears.
• The Great Flood: The premise of the episode. The trope is parodied, as the substance isn't water, but rather, it's plastic balls. Nonetheless, the balls are treated with the same threat level as water.
• Happy Dance: Otto starts to do this when the second scale becomes balanced before Ms. O cuts him off.
• High-Five Left Hanging: O'Donahue is subject to this when he tells Ms. O that they can save the Squad.
• Homage: There are quite a few to Titanic, such as Ms. O going around in an Odd Squad-branded boat rescuing those trapped underwater by the balls.
• Lampshade Hanging: Olive questions where the snowballs being thrown at Sven are coming from.
  • Ms. O admits that the design of three scales needing to be balanced in order to keep the Ball Room steady isn't clever.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Olive and Otto have a lot of fun tormenting Sven when it comes to his problem of having snowballs thrown at him every time he says "snowball". While they say the word accidentally the first few times, the final time is completely intentional on Olive's part. It's hilarious karma given to him for his villainous misdeeds.
  Olive: Set it [the gadget] for "rainball".
  Sven: It's "snowball"! [cries out in pain as he gets pelted by snowballs] Ahh. That one was on purpose, wasn't it?
  Olive: A little bit.
  Otto: Couldn't resist.
• Men Are the Expendable Gender: Played for Laughs when Ms. O orders that the first ones on her boat are women and children. Owen points out that there are no women inside Headquarters, just children. Ms. O calls a Touché and throws Owen a life ring.
• Overly Long Gag: O'Donahue's Big "NO!" definitely counts as one of these.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is a reference to the film Joe Versus the Volcano.
• Reveal Shot: After the Cold Open, the episode shows Olive and Otto in the Breakroom as the former is telling the latter to keep his hands steady as he crosses "the red one over and through the blue". It's played up as a suspenseful scene and a Race Against the Clock, but before Olive stops the timer, the camera cuts out to reveal that it's just Otto tying his shoelaces and attempting to beat his old record of how fast he can tie them.
• Scales of Justice: The pan balances in the Odd Squad Ball Pit Control Room look like these — fitting, considering that it's later revealed the organization has a court system, and follows a few police procedurals.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Ms. O initially pulls one of these when Headquarters begins to flood with plastic balls. It's revealed that she's done this multiple times, costing her many a Headquarters. However, she later has a change of heart and works together with Olive and Otto to restore their Headquarters.
• Series Continuity Error: Odd Todd reveals that he broke into Headquarters in order to alter the scales in the Ball Pit Control Room and make Headquarters flood. However, there are booby traps in place specifically designed to prevent villain break-ins, and he never should have gotten past the Trophy Room — however, it's possible that he either found out the code to shut off the booby traps, or somehow figured out the patterns to avoid getting hit by said traps (he is an Evil Genius, after all).
• Shout-Out: Ms. O taking front and center stage looking heroic while Olive and Otto row the boat across the plastic balls is a direct reference to the painting of George Washington and his crew crossing the Delaware.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: Olaf is found in the bullpen struggling to stay afloat...and attempting to save a potato. Ms. O manages to grab his attention using another potato, which allows her to toss a life ring to him, while the first potato sinks underwater.
• Split Screen: One is used when Ms. O explains how the scales work to Olive and Otto (and by extension, the audience).
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: Owen, Ms. O and Olive all demonstrate this — Ms. O and Olive moreso, since they are still able to talk underwater without having trouble breathing. May be justified, as the substance used is plastic balls instead of water, but ultimately zig-zagged as the flood of balls is treated as though it's a flood of water (not to mention that Olive and Ms. O are both shown wearing thick life jackets and should be buoyant like Otto).
• This Is No Time to Panic: Ms. O, being surprisingly calm when her Headquarters is about to be destroyed, commands Owen to give the order for everyone to leave in a calm and orderly manner. She doesn't even get to finish her sentence before Owen grabs a megaphone from Hammerspace and begins shouting for everyone to get out of the place.
• Trash of the Titans: Otto tells Olive that his Odd Squad locker is full of six years' worth of trash. To put this statistic in perspective: he and Olive have been working at the precinct for less than a year. Olive is rightfully surprised at this, and Otto makes it clear that "six years' worth of junk" is no exaggeration.
• We Only Have One Chance: Parodied and then played straight during this exchange with the Main 3.
  Olive: Ms. O, we can't just let Odd Todd destroy Headquarters!
  Otto: Please, just give us six chances to fix this.
  Olive: [with a confused look] Six?
  Otto: Yeah, I just wanted to start off high.
  Ms. O: You guys are getting one chance.

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An assistant of the boss yearning for adventure finding their boss's secret tube entrance. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Assistant's Creed

Airdates: November 25, 2015 ^note PBS Kids premiere, August 16, 2015 ^note ICI Radio-Canada premiere

Two of Ms. O's assistants accidentally find themselves on a mission to stop a villain who turns teddy bears into evil robots.

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Tropes:

• Argument of Contradictions: Olympia and Ozric get into a couple arguments when it comes to who was in the possession of various gadgets last. The second time around, it's interrupted by a near-miss from one of Evil Teddy's teddy bears.
• Big "NO!": Done Rule of Three-style as a Running Gag in the episode by Olympia and Ozric when Hopkins, Delivery Doug and Evil Teddy suggest they call Ms. O.
• Blatant Lies: Olympia tells a repeated lie to Delivery Doug, Hopkins, and Evil Teddy that she and Ozric are Investigation agents and not assistants of Ms. O. This is despite the fact that she and Ozric aren't dressed in Investigation uniforms and have sweatbands that agents do not have. Nonetheless, all three adults buy the lie.
• The Bus Came Back: Delivery Doug, who hasn't been seen since "Mystic Egg Pizza", returns in this episode.
• Cleanup Crew: Ms. O leaves Olive and Otto in charge of capturing Evil Teddy and fixing the damage she caused, which earns her some Hall of Fame-worthy What the Hell, Hero? reactions from the two senior agents.
• The Coats Are Off: Downplayed; Ms. O doesn't have her coat off, but does have the buttons on them undone, showing the effort she put in to find her two assistants.
• Comical Overreacting: When Ms. O calls for Olympia and Ozric and none of them respond, she believes that they're playing a game of hide and seek. How she plays the game is something that is taken up to eleven — she begins tearing her entire office apart, including the carpet. She even goes so far as to tear out electrical wires and disassemble the workplace's plumbing just to find them.
• Continuity Nod: Olympia uses the knowledge she gained from Oscar's Training Videos to stop the teddy bear tornado.
  • Among the gadgets that Olympia produces from Hammerspace are the Jacket-inator and the Sandwich-inator.
  • The Running Gag of the Eggmobile makes a resurgence after its use in "Mystic Egg Pizza".
• Defiant Stone Throw: Ozric throws a ball in order to distract the teddy bears in Evil Teddy's army. It ends up working for a short time while he and Olympia figure out how to defeat them.
• Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: Olympia and Ozric encounter a tornado made out of teddy bears. While it does blow papers around, it doesn't suck anyone in.
• The Drag-Along: Ozric is this, and serves as the sane voice of reason between him and Olympia, encouraging her not to go and break the rules. However, his words fall on deaf ears, and he's forced to go with Olympia to keep her in line.
• Epic Fail: It's made painfully clear that Olympia knows very little in the ways of Investigation agents, such as when she fails to find the tube entrance and ends up smacking into a wall, creating an awkward moment between her, Ozric, and Hopkins.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Ms. O refers to Olympia and Ozric as "Assistant", and not by their actual names. Similarly, at the end of the episode, she refers to them as "agents".
• Fur and Loathing: Evil Teddy wears a long cape with various stripes of fur. Whether the fur is real or fake, however, is left ambiguous.
• Girlish Pigtails: Olympia has her hair styled like this.
• Hammerspace: It's revealed that, like most other employees of Odd Squad, assistants have this ability as well. However, unlike most other employees, neither Olympia nor Ozric can master it.
• Here We Go Again!: Olive and Otto end up chasing Evil Teddy at the end of the episode, when they've been attempting to capture her for the entire day (and when they ended up being foiled in their efforts by Olympia and Ozric the first time).
• Heroic Sacrifice: Parodied when Hopkins shields Olympia and Ozric from the teddy bear tornado. As a result, he is immediately hit by a teddy bear and does a non-lethal Wall Slump.
• I Can Explain: When Ms. O finds her two assistants in Evil Teddy's lair, Olympia responds with this phrase. Ms. O doesn't give them a chance to.
• I Knew There Was Something About You: When Olive reveals to Evil Teddy that Olympia and Ozric are two of Ms. O's assistants and not agents, the villainess remarks that the purple sweatbands on their heads were a dead giveaway.
• Jumped at the Call: Olympia is an impatient assistant who can't wait to be an agent, and vents about not being able to go out into the field like agents do, saying that just because she and Ozric are of a lower status doesn't mean they can't have fun. She decides to break the rules and take a ride in Ms. O's tube entrance to go on an adventure, much to Ozric's chagrin.
• Killer Teddy Bear: The teddy bears that Evil Teddy brings to life count as these; they can fire beams from their paws that turn things into small teddy bears. However, they are terrible at following directions and have the aim of Stormtroopers.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Implied with Ms. O, who states that, despite Olympia and Ozric getting promoted, they aren't off the hook for using her personal tube entrance without asking her. What punishment they do receive, however, is left unknown.
• Lower-Deck Episode: The episode centers on two of Ms. O's assistants, who venture out to solve a case on their own.
• Oh, Crap!: Olympia and Ozric have a collective one when Ms. O manages to find them in Evil Teddy's lair.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is a reference to the Assassin's Creed series.
• Promotion, Not Punishment: Played with; Ms. O promotes Olympia and Ozric straight to agents at the end of the episode after witnessing what they've done. However, she states that they aren't off the hook for using her tube entrance without permission.
• Riddle for the Ages: The episode has sparked discussion on where a Director's assistant falls into the Odd Squad hierarchy (it's implied that they are of low ranking, but it's unknown whether they're lower than Transportation/Management, the lowest known ranking at the time), and whether being an assistant to a Director serves as a type of internship for those willing to get into the Odd Squad Academy, or if there is a placement test to get in the Academy where those who fail are selected to do assistant work as pre-training. It's not expanded on in the episode.
• Serious Business: Ms. O treats the game of hide-and-seek she believes she's playing as this, to the point where, when she informs Olive and Otto about it (interrupting the former as she's telling her boss that they can't find the villain), they understand the seriousness of it completely and immediately hang up.
• Subverted Catchphrase: Ms. O begins to say her "well, what are you waiting for, go" catchphrase, but after asking "what are you waiting for", Olive and Otto answer that they're waiting on her. She then changes the catchphrase to "Well, what are we waiting for? Go!"
• This Cannot Be!: A heroic example; Ozric remarks that he "can't believe this is happening" when Olympia suggests the two assistants follow Evil Teddy.
• The Un-Reveal: Subverted; Ms. O is shown walking back into her office telling her assistants to pull up a file on...someone, but we don't know who until the climax of the episode.
• Turn in Your Badge: Ultimately subverted when Ms. O pulls a Bait-and-Switch on Olympia and Ozric and tells them to take off and surrender their headbands...before giving them badges and promotions in exchange.
• Villains Want Mercy: Evil Teddy surrenders to Olympia and Ozric the second after they defeat her teddy bear army...mere seconds before Olive and Otto arrive and order her to stop, at which point she informs them that she surrendered to the two assistants already and doesn't even try to pick a fight with the more experienced agents.
• What Are Records?: When Doug explains to Ozric and Olympia about Evil Teddy stealing the batteries out of his cassette player, Ozric looks at the machine and asks, "That thing plays music?"
• You and What Army?: Ozric states a variant of this, when he mentions to Olympia that he wouldn't call one teddy bear an army. It turns out to be Tempting Fate, however, as Evil Teddy has two more teddy bears that she sends out to attack the two assistants. Nonetheless, Ozric doesn't buy it, and Olympia mentions that it's more of a Terrible Trio.
• You Are in Command Now: Olympia lying to various adults about being an agent instead of an assistant backfires on her terribly when she and Ozric are forced to stand in for Olive and Otto and solve odd situations they have no idea how to solve.
• You, Get Me Coffee: Ms. O has Olympia and Ozric fetch her a juice box and a file folder, respectively.

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