Ring-a-ding-ding.
Airdates: December 1, 2014 note , December 22, 2014 note
In this Christmas-themed episode, Olive and Otto help Santa track down his missing reindeer. Also, Oscar helps Ms. O get off Santa’s naughty list.
Tropes:
- Affection-Hating Kid: Ms. O doesn't give any affection to her agents due to being a Bad Boss, to the point where she has to be instructed by Oscar how to act, and ends up being awkward at every attempt she makes.Ms. O: OCTAVIAAAAAA!!!Octavia: [as papers fly everywhere] Ah! What did I do? Am I fired?! I’ll pack my things.Ms. O: No, I just came by to say I, um, uh...uhh, think you’re great! (gives an awkward smile)
- Batman Gambit: In order to have Ms. O do a nice thing for the nice list, Oscar decides to let Olaf have a juice box, saying that Ms. O wants to share one with him. The savvy Director immediately interjects, claiming that she doesn't have any left, only for Oscar — who knew that Ms. O wasn't going to give up her juice that easily — to expose Olaf to Ms. O's juice bar, hidden behind a wall. Needless to say, while he was victorious, Ms. O is not a happy camper.
- Bear Hug: When Ms. O hugs Octavia, she returns the favor with one of these that's strong enough to injure Ms. O. Oscar joins in with one of his own as well.Octavia: [as Ms. O is hugging her] I didn't know you were a hugger!Ms. O: Well I wouldn't say I'm a-Octavia: Bring it in! [she hugs Ms. O tighter]Ms. O: [muffled] Oww.Oscar: I love Christmas! [he hugs both Octavia and Ms. O]
- Brick Joke: When Olive and Otto meet Santa in the lab, Oscar wheels out a spaghetti-covered bicycle, which is a present that a kid had requested. Olive is the one who delivers the bike to the kid at the climax, and she's ecstatic to receive it.
- Chekhov's Gift: In a rush, Santa Claus gives Olive a baseball mitt — an early Christmas gift — in order to help catch Rudolph. She manages to catch him successfully.
- Christmas Elves: Santa has one, Lloyd, who is considered his right-hand elf.
- Odd Squad themselves could be considered elves in a similar manner, since they make odd toys that kids often request.
- Christmas Episode: Has two plot lines — one revolves around Olive and Otto finding Santa's missing reindeer, while the other revolves around Oscar and Ms. O, with the former helping the latter get on the nice list.
- The Coats Are Off: Downplayed for both Olive and Otto, who at one point open the buttons of their jackets but leave them on (with Olive's tie partially zipped down), but played straight for Ms. O, who takes her jacket off completely when delivering her batch of presents.
- *Cough* Snark *Cough*: Oscar does this when directing Ms. O to eat the worm cake.
- Fury-Fueled Foolishness: Ms. O is so upset over being on the naughty list that she can't recall the "greater than", "less than" and equal signs.
- Girls with Moustaches: Olive ends up with a real beard after being transformed into a Santa Claus.
- The Glomp: Otto glomps Santa upon seeing him for the first time.
- Gratuitous French: Olive speaks fluent French while on the phone with Agent Ouellette in France twice.
- "Rassure ce chemin, Ouelette. Cette information doit etre correcte, car je l’ai verifiee plusieurs fois" roughly translates to, "I'm sure they're there, Ouellette. This information must be correct because I have checked it several times."
- "Qu’est-ce que c’est?" translates to "What is it?"
- Greed: Ms. O has a juice bar in her office that is only for her. Anyone that lays a finger on it or its contents is liable to receive a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- The Hedonist: One of the nice things Ms. O does is give herself a pedicure, including painting her toenails. Oscar is doubtful about this, especially since she had been selfish for most of the episode, until she reminds him that "it's important we do nice things for ourselves."
- Hypocritical Humor: Ms. O asks how she ended up on the naughty list. Santa points out that she raises her voice a lot. Ms. O angrily asks him when she's ever raised her voice...in a loud, echoing voice.Oscar: Sorry to interrupt, I couldn't help but overhear Ms. O raising her voice.Ms. O: Oscar? [makes a "shut up" gesture with her hand]
- Implied Death Threat: Ms. O rips open a pillow to let Oscar know that for exposing her personal juice box collection to an agent, she's going to kill him. And she could very well do so, considering she is far and away the strongest person in the precinct who has no qualms about giving anyone who crosses her path, ally or enemy, a taste of Unstoppable Rage.
- She also tells Oscar to never imitate an alligator eating again in a low, threatening voice.
- Interpol Special Agent: It's revealed that Odd Squad is stationed internationally, but the most we see are agents going solo (both with no headquarters and no partners) and capturing the reindeer that fly to their countries.
- Last-Second Word Swap: Oscar asks Ms. O if he can have a juice box, and she begins to yell "no" before quickly fighting the urge and reverting to a "yes".
- Masochist's Meal: O'Shea's "Christmas cake" looks like it's made from a deceased smoker's organs, with black tar-like ooze to boot. It's really comprised of six different types of worms, which Ms. O is unable to stomach. Oscar, on the other hand, doesn't mind eating a small sample and even identifies one of the types of worms used.
- Multi-Part Episode: The series' first, which also introduced its own To Be Continued cards involving the jackalope in the Droste Image logo saying the iconic words.
- Not So Above It All: Olive, known for being a cynical Jerk with a Heart of Gold, gushes over getting a chance to deliver presents with Santa while dressed as a Santa Claus herself.
- Obsessed with Food: While it's no secret that Otto's a Big Eater, he seems to be taking it much further than his pasta feast in "The Confalones", eating eggnog, gingerbread, and half of Santa's workshop. And that's not even half of it.
- Peking Duck Christmas: Olive, Otto, Santa and Lloyd all chow down on Chinese food at one point while trying to find Santa's reindeer.
- Percussive Therapy: Ms. O grows enraged enough to deliver a mighty kick to her full wastebasket when she can't come up with ideas on how to be nice, and rip open a pillow when Oscar forces her to allow Olaf one of her juiceboxes.
- Preemptive "Shut Up": Defied twice by Santa.Santa: Now, the number of naughty things you’ve done, 60, is actually greater than the number of nice things you’ve done, 53. And that's why-Ms. O: Don't say it!Santa: You're not getting any presents.Ms. O: [sighs] He said it.Santa: Without my reindeer, I can't deliver my presents! And, well, without my presents-Olive and Otto: Don't even say it!Santa: Christmas will be ruined.Olive and Otto: He said it.
- Running Gag: Otto brings out eggnog and gingerbread after finding reindeer. The first two times, it's pre-celebratory, but by the third time around it's a worthy reward.
- Saving Christmas: The episode is a mix of the "Visit the North Pole" and "Santa Needs Children's Faith" plots, with some differences — not only does Santa need help finding his reindeer, but he also needs help delivering presents by Christmas morning after the fact. The Main 4 all collectively help by splitting half of the presents up among each pair — Olive and Otto (who deliver their presents by hand) and Ms. O and Oscar (who deliver theirs by Tube Travel).
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Olive likes to make a "ding" noise when she finds a coordinate. She says "ring-a-ding-ding" later on.
- Shout-Out: The episode title is based on the 2000 action thriller of the same name.
- May be unintentional, but Ms. O refers to Santa as "Big Red" one one occasion, the nickname of Clifford in Clifford the Big Red Dog.
- Status Quo Is God: Lampshaded by Oscar at the end of the episode.Oscar: You know you don’t have to be nice anymore...right?Ms. O: I know. Merry Christmas.
- Stock Phrases: When Olive and Otto call Ms. O and hurriedly recap the events for her, she interrupts them with this:Ms. O: Stop moving your mouth. You had me at "Santa."
- True Meaning of Christmas: In order to get on the nice list, Ms. O is forced to do nice things for her agents, much to her chagrin. She gives agents her time and compassion, which culminates to her abandoning the nice list entirely in exchange for helping Santa deliver presents. By the end of the episode, she realizes that it is better to give love and kindness than to receive it, and scores a spot on the nice list as well as a present of her own.Ms. O: This isn't about me anymore. It's about Christmas!
- Vomit Discretion Shot: When Ms. O finds out that the cake she's eating is made of worms, she immediately drops the spoon and runs off to throw up, asking for a bucket.
- Another one closes out the episode, with the screen smashing to black as Ms. O sounds like she's about to throw up from drinking her eggnog-flavored juice.
- Waxing Lyrical: Both Santa and Lloyd recite the words to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" when describing the titular reindeer and perform a Title Drop along with it. Olive lampshades it.Olive: Are you just saying the words to the song?Santa: We- yes. We don’t really know him that well.Lloyd: Rudolph keeps to himself.Santa: Yeah, very reclusive.
