Recap / Odd Squad S 2 E 30 The Deposit Slip Up Villains Always Win

Building a replica of a vault? Believable.
Building a replica of the entirety of Toronto? Not so much.

The Deposit Slip-Up

Airdates: June 18, 2018 ^note PBS Kids premiere, February 4, 2018 ^note TVO Kids premiere

Odd Squad builds an exact replica of the villain's vault to intercept a jetpack.

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Tropes:

• Aesop Amnesia: Both Olympia and Otis have completely forgotten about the mathematical Aesop regarding the horizonal line of symmetry, which the former taught the latter, as well as Owen and Ohio, in "The O Team".
• Bringing in the Expert: Played for laughs with Oxley calling Olympia various "experts" in things: first a "key expert", then a "paint-spert" (a paint expert), then a "hero-spert".
• The Bus Came Back: Symmetric Al, who hasn't been seen since "The O Team", returns in this episode. He is Put on a Bus after this episode, however, and isn't seen again.
• Comically Missing the Point: Ozlyn doesn't get where a fake cloud should go in a Fake Town. Luckily, Owen sets her straight.
  Ozlyn: Hey, Owen, where should I put this cloud?
  Owen: In the sky, Ozlyn.
  Ozlyn: That's why you're the boss.
  • Moments later, she comes up to Owen with a tree branch and asks him where to put that.
  Ozlyn: Owen, where should I put these tree branches?
  Owen: On the trees.
  Ozlyn: Got it!
• Continuity Nod: Ozlyn returns in this episode, having been promoted to a full-fledged Security agent.
• Deadpan Snarker: Defied by Oxley, as he has to keep reminding Olympia that him calling her "experts" in various things isn't meant to be snark.
• The Ditz: Ohlm is well-established as this as it is, but it gets to such an extent that Olympia is able to immediately deduce why the photo of the painting in the Villains' Vault is half-covered up.
  Olympia: Why is only half of [the painting] done?
  Ozlyn: We don't know what the other half of it looks like. The agent that took the picture of the real painting had his thumb over the lens.
  Olympia: Was it Ohlm?
  Ozlyn: It was Ohlm.
  Olympia: Mmm.
• Dynamic Entry: Ms. O exposes her and the rest of the precinct to Symmetric Al by knocking down part of the wall that secures the fake vault.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows: As part of the Fake Town gambit, Owen asks Security agents to cue up a rainbow to stall Al. While it's executed successfully, Owen laments that he didn't see it.
  • The end of the episode has Ozlyn creating a million rainbows in the Fake Town while Owen and the Main 3 are Watching the Sunset.
• Evil Twin: The owner of the Villains' Vault looks almost exactly like Delivery Doug, which allows the latter to dress up as the former to fool Al. However, Doug doesn't see the similarity, even after he puts the vault owner's clothes on.
• Fake Town: Owen and the other Security agents build a fake replica of Toronto in order to fool Symmetric Al. It's taken up to eleven when even the weather and the sky is altered, allowing Ms. O, Olympia, Otis and Owen to watch the sun set even though it's 3 in the afternoon.
• Forced into Their Sunday Best: Olympia is forced to take and wear clothes that belong to Oxley's family as gifts. The only reason that she can't take them off is because it would be rude to do so (for both Oxley and his family), and because of it, she ends up wearing the ensemble of a gold-colored jacket and a captain's hat (but not the sparkly red shoes) throughout the episode.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: Oxley gives Olympia an oversized gold-colored jacket that belongs to his grandfather.
• Hates Small Talk: Ms. O ends up saying the problem outright to Olympia and Otis mere seconds after they get back, skipping over part of her Catchphrase. When they look at her in confusion, she states that she's trying to "cut the small talk".
• I Heard That: Ozlyn insults Oxley by giving an Aside Comment to Olympia that he takes a good long while to make a single key. Oxley takes offense to it.
  Ozlyn: Uh, this is Agent Oxley. He makes the keys. [whispering to Olympia] It takes him forever to make one.
  Oxley: Key-making is an art, and not to be rushed.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: When Otis relays the plan to Doug, he says that he has it under control. Come the time when the plan is executed, and it's clear that Doug has it anything but under control.
• Jet Pack: Ms. O has one that Symmetric Al has gotten ahold of, which he is apparently going to share with other villains so they can achieve the power of Flight in addition to himself.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Delivery Doug mentions that he always wanted to be an actor, saying that he used to do theater before he got into the egg salad business. Ali Hassan, who plays him, is an actor and comedian in Real Life.
• Literal-Minded: When Otis assures Doug that he looks exactly like the vault owner (who is represented in a picture), Doug says that they aren't exactly the same, since the "owner" is a piece of paper and he is a human being.
• Locked Out of the Loop: However knowledgeable Olympia is, she still doesn't know about Oxley, a Maintenance worker in the realm of Odenbacker who is an expert in making keys.
• Lured into a Trap: Though he had to take a level in dumbass to do so, Al becomes lured into giving Ms. O her jetpack back by way of making a fake vault and a Fake Town.
• Performance Anxiety: When Al enters the fake vault and asks "Pete" (the vault owner, played by Doug) for the key to his storage unit, Doug freezes up and is unable to speak. Otis tries to help set him back on track, but it only grows worse when Key 8 isn't found to be Al's key, leading Doug to start Holding the Floor.
• Running Gag: Oxley giving Olympia various pieces of clothing that once belonged to his family, followed by him saying "that's exactly what he/she would have said" when Olympia comments on the gift. By the third go-around, Olympia tells him to get on with it, give her a piece of clothing from his family, and make a key for the third storage unit.
• Serious Business: According to Oxley, key-making is an art, and absolutely cannot be rushed.
• Shout-Out: The red shoes that Oxley gives Olympia is reminiscent of the Ruby Slippers.
• Stealth Insult: When Olympia and Otis see the fake vault being built, Olympia figures out Odd Squad's plan: build a fake vault to lure Symmetric Al into coming to that vault instead of the real one. Ms. O's response implies that she doesn't think too highly of Olympia's intelligence.
  Ms. O: Yes. You got that way faster than I thought. I hired a special agent to explain the whole thing to you. I guess he can leave now.
• Tempting Fate: Olympia asks Ms. O how hard it can be to get the Jet Pack back. Ms. O responds in kind by telling her it will be very hard, and relays Al's plan to her and Otis.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: "Clutching the Idiot Ball" doesn't even begin to describe Symmetric Al in this episode, let alone Precinct 13579's agents. The entire plot hinges on him walking through a Fake Town to get to a fake vault that he will store Ms. O's stolen Jet Pack in. However, in order to make sure the plan goes off without a hitch, Odd Squad agents build a replica of the vault inside Headquarters as well as a Fake Town (although the town looks real enough to fool anyone), meaning that Al would have to be seriously distracted in order for the plan to work — specifically, he'd have to be distracted even when his surroundings change. Even during the Flashback Cut where Ms. O explains Al's plan to Olympia and Otis, he is shown being generally aware of his surroundings — and to make matters worse, he designed the vault itself and has a good idea of what it looks like. Of course, true to the status quo, the plan succeeds despite a few hindrances, and Ms. O is able to get her Jet Pack back while Al is caught by the rest of the agents.
• Villains Out Shopping: This episode introduces the Villains' Vault, a place designed by Symmetric Al where villains can go to store things important. It functions as a sort of hybrid between a storage unit and a bank vault — villains get a key from the vault's security guard, who opens the vault so they can place their item in one of nine storage units. The episode revolves around Odd Squad attempting to re-build the Villains' Vault so when Symmetric Al places Ms. O's jetpack in a storage unit, it will fall into the hands of Odd Squad.
• Watching the Sunset: The Main 3 and Owen do this at the end of the episode, in the Fake Town.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: When Al remarks that Key 8 isn't his key, Doug is forced to stall until the agents figure out the right key to give him: Key 3. Though it was a hindrance in The Plan, it works out in the agents' favor.

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The most rigged game show on television.

Villains Always Win

Airdates: June 18, 2018 ^note  PBS Kids premiere, February 4, 2018 ^note  TVO Kids premiere

Olympia must compete on a game show where villains always win in order to retrieve a stolen gadget.

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Tropes:

• Bait-and-Switch: Double-subverted. When Hank whispers into Gary's ear, Gary announces "Well you're not gonna believe what I just heard!" Since this comes after Oona exposes herself and Otis to Hank, one would think that Gary is announcing their captures...but he makes an announcement about his tea being room temperature. Then Hank whispers into his ear again and Gary announces the agents' captures.
• Blatant Lies: Oona gives these to Hank, Game Show Gary's assistant, who believes her...up until she turns into a Bad Liar and can't make excuses for every single older cousin that Otis turns into.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Otis and Olympia are captured by Gary's assistant Hank and forced to watch Villains Always Win, but they aren't Bound and Gagged by rope or anything; they just have Hank keeping a watchful eye on them. May be justified by the fact that Game Show Gary is more of a Troll kind of villain than anything else.
• Brick Joke: When Olympia correctly answers a question of Ms. O's, she states that the agent is correct and imitates the "ding-ding-ding" of a "correct" bell, then throws confetti at her. Then, when she tells Olympia and Otis that the heating system is broken and explains the plan on the latter's and Oona's side in depth, Otis relays it to Ms. O, who states that he's correct and goes to throw confetti at him...except she can't, because she's out of confetti.
• Buffy Speak: When Olympia says that she'll simply go on the game show and get the gadget back from Game Show Gary, she says it'll be easy-peasy. Ms. O snarks back with its polar opposite: hardy-wardy.
• Butt-Monkey: The writers take a break from having Otis usually be in this role and put Olympia through the wringer this time around. She just can't seem to grasp how Villains Always Win is rigged.
• Calvinball: The eponymous game show has absolutely no set rules, the scoring is arbitrary and favors the villains more than the heroes, and it's nigh impossible for anyone who's not a villain to win.
• The Cameo: Evil Teddy makes a cameo appearance as a painting hanging up on the wall.
• Cheerful Child: Just look at how excited Olympia is when she wins Villains Always Win!
• Chekhov's Volcano: Downplayed. The final round of Villains Always Win involves the three contestants needing to place a bucket of water into the "Volcano of Doom", which is smoking, but never erupts.
• Chirping Crickets: In contrast to The Utensiler and Evil Landscaper, whose introductions are met with applause, Olympia's introduction is met with these.
  Game Show Gary: Cricket city.
  [Studio Audience yawns]
• Confetti Drop: Gary attempts to defy the trope when Olympia wins the game. It doesn't go over well.
• Determinator: Averted for Olympia at the climax of the episode when she immediately assumes she's going to lose in the final round, as the Utensiler and Evil Landscaper have found ways to transport water to the Volcano of Doom. She later plays it straight (natch) when Otis tells her that she'll take home some freeze pops, giving her an idea.
• Diegetic Switch: Played with. Studio Audience conjures up some "game show suspense music" as part of his powers that plays as BGM.
• Does Not Like Spam: Game Show Gary doesn't like waffles. When the Utensiler also shows her dislike of them, Gary awards her 5,000 points.
• Don't Celebrate Just Yet: A Played for Laughs variant. Ms. O tells Olympia that she's going to be on a game show. Olympia begins to grow excited...until Ms. O tells her that it's a villain game show. Cue her face falling in sheer disappointment.
• Epic Fail: Though Olympia is rather intelligent, she still manages to get every single question on the game show wrong. Justified, as Game Show Gary is a villain himself and the show is rigged in the villains' favor.
• Evil Eyebrows: The second competition in the game show is growing a pair of these (which seems to be an Informed Ability in the show's universe). The Utensiler and Evil Landscaper sprout a pair of bushy ones with minimal effort. Olympia, however, is unable to, for good reason.
• Evil Laugh: One of the competitions in Villains Always Win involves who can do a better evil laugh. Evil Landscaper's and the Utensiler's are bad enough, but Olympia, being an Odd Squad agent with not an ounce of evil in her body, can only muster up a bit of Mirthless Laughter that nearly delves into being an Overly Long Gag.
• Fingerless Hands: The Utensiler has a pair of tongs and a whisk as hands, and can switch between other untensils like spoons and ladles as needed.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Otis and Oona do this when outside the studio, as the latter shows the former her Older-Cousin-inator.
  Otis: Is that the gadget that-
  Oona: Can turn you into one of my older cousins? [chuckling] Yes. Yes it is.
• For the Evulz: The sole reason why Gary invited Olympia onto his game show is so he can watch her lose in spectacular fashion. And when she does, he and the other competing villains get a lot of mileage out of it, especially when Otis and Oona get captured.
  Gary: Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special surprise twist on today's show, because we have two captured Odd Squad agents. They were trying to sneak in and steal the grand prize.
  Studio Audience: [groans]
  Gary: No, settle down, Studio Audience. It just means these Odd Squadders will have a front-row seat to watch their friend lose!
• Game Show Appearance: The premise of the episode is about Olympia competing on the eponymously-titled game show against a villainess named The Utensiler as well as Evil Landscaper. True to its name, it is incredibly rigged in the villains' favor, which isn't helped by the host himself being a villain.
• Game Show Host: Game Show Gary is a villainous version.
• Here We Go Again!: Olympia decides to keep playing Villains Always Win despite there being a viable chance to get the gadget back from Game Show Gary and the other villains. Olympia's and Otis' reactions are nothing shy of What the Hell, Hero?.
• Holding the Floor: The Plan to get the Super-Strength-inator gadget back from Game Show Gary involves Olympia talking incessantly while Otis and Oona get the gadget back.
• Idiot Ball: Olympia has an All or Nothing choice on her hands: she can walk out with the Super-Strength-inator, or she can keep playing and risk it all. Instead of making the wiser choice to take the gadget and go, Olympia decides to keep playing. Keep in mind that the game show itself is rigged against the villains and she doesn't have much of a chance to win to begin with. Cue What the Hell, Hero? reactions from Otis and Oona.
• Ill-Timed Sneeze: Since sneezing is what causes Oona's older cousin disguises to wear off, every sneeze Otis gives inevitably causes problems.
• It's a Long Story: When Olympia asks Oona and Otis what happened to them to get them captured, Oona responds with "Long story" before giving a few brief snippets.
• Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: Otis and Oona get into the studio where the game show is hosted by disguising themselves as adult repairpeople who are at the studio to fix its heating system.
• Literal-Minded: Gary tells Hank he wants his tea at room temperature. Hank took that to mean making it in a room that is hot or cold — specifically, he chose the boiler room, which was too hot.
• Loophole Abuse: For how rigged Villains Always Win is, despite it having no rules aside from the final round, Olympia still manages to win it, score 1 million points, and win the game simply by freezing the water inside of her bucket and dipping it inside of the volcano.
• Losing Horns: Frequently played during the show.
• Lovely Assistant: A gender-inverted example — Hank is male and is Game Show Gary's assistant. He also isn't very intelligent.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Oona has a lot of older cousins, to such an extent that she made a gadget based on them.
• Meaningful Name: Lampshaded by Ms. O, who asks Olympia why the game is called Villains Always Win. When Olympia gets it right, Ms. O deems her correct and throws confetti at her.
• Motor Mouth: Invoked by Ms. O and exploited by Olympia, as the latter is supposed to talk as much as possible while Otis and Oona get the Super-Strength-inator gadget. It ends up working for a time as she manages to recite 409 facts about pandas, but the game ends up continuing anyway. Eventually, Otis and Oona manage to get caught.
• National Anthem: The Utensiler and Evil Landscaper make up a villain national anthem as part of the game show. While they initially stumble at first, they both manage to sing in unison. Even Olympia calls them out on how made-up it sounds.
  Olympia: What?!
  Gary: 30,000 points.
  Olympia: I feel like they just made that up.
  Gary: I feel like you're interrupting me when I was awarding them 30,000 points.
  [canned boos from audience]
• Offscreen Teleportation: Oona appears onscreen milliseconds after Ms. O relays the plan to Otis and Olympia.
• Overnight Age-Up: Oona's Older-Cousin-inator allows any child to become any one of Oona's older cousins, which in turn makes them an adult. Unfortunately, it has the side effect of wearing off if the person the gadget is used on happens to sneeze. In addition, no person can become the same older cousin twice.
• Pepper Sneeze: One of Otis's Ill Timed Sneezes involves him inhaling pepper due to Gary's tea being pepper tea. Since sneezing wears the older cousin disguise off, this spells trouble for him and Oona, who also gets one of these when she sniffs the tea and ends up exposing her and Otis as a result.
• Studio Audience: Parodied — instead of Villains Always Win being shown to a live audience, there's no audience at all, and the only person present is a person named Studio Audience, who provides canned applause and cheers.
• Terrible Artist: Averted — Ms. O is shown to be an incredible painter.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Whoo boy, do Otis and Oona have a load of this to give Olympia when she decides to keep playing Villains Always Win at the end of the episode. And rightfully so!
• "YEAH!" Shot: Combined with Freeze-Frame Ending to end the episode.

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