Recap / Odd Squad S 3 E 22 Box Trot O For A Day

They're a whole bunch of villains short of a full Villain Network. But they'll get the job done.

Box Trot

Airdate: July 13, 2021 ^note PBS Kids premiere, August 10, 2021 ^note  TVO Kids premiere, October 13, 2021 ^note CBBC premiere

The Mobile Unit tries to get rid of a box containing villain powers.

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Tropes:

• Badass Fingersnap: The Form-Changer activates her Voluntary Shapeshifting abilities like this, using fingersnaps to change into and out of various forms.
• Batman Gambit: The villains lure Omar and Oswald out of the bullpen by catering to their likes — Omar's Big Eater tendencies and love of food, and Oswald's love of dancing. The Form-Changer also attempts to mimic the personalities of the agents she shapeshifts into, and it ends up working (although she stumbles a bit on Omar, she copies Oswald and his personality to a near-T).
• Birthday Episode: Downplayed, as the plot of the episode doesn't revolve around her birthday, but the Form-Changer remarks how today is her birthday at the end of the episode, being the first customer of Lady Bread, Monsieur Papier-Mache, and Star Wipe's new party-planning business.
• Bizarre Taste in Food: At the beginning of the episode, Orla asks the waiter for a sekanjabin for her, Omar, Osmerelda and Oswald. Everyone gives her confused looks until she explains that a sekanjabin is a drink made of sweet vinegar. Omar ends up ordering four waters instead.
• Call-Back: The episode revolves around the Mobile Unit dealing with a box that contains villain powers — the same box that Olizabeth used for her plan in "End of the Road", as a matter of fact. Three villains who lost their powers during the ordeal are now seeking to get it back so they can re-gain their powers, with help from a villain who still has their powers.
  • Also from "End of the Road": Monsieur Papier-Mache is among the villains wanting his powers back. That episode had him inadvertently causing the purple tornado in the climax by way of Nice Job Breaking It, Rivals! with Confetti Betty, playing tug-of-war with the box before it fell out of their grasp — making this some pretty funny Irony.
  • The Form-Changer is revealed to still have her powers. Considering she didn't appear in "End of the Road" and didn't get her powers taken (only appearing in "16-and-a-Half Blocks"), it's a clever bit of continuity.
  • Attributes are the main mathematic Aesop of the episode, and are presented in a similar vein to "Good Egg Bad Egg".
• Chekhov's Gun: Orla and Osmerelda are shown extensively discussing high-fives throughout the episode. No points as to what ends up exposing the Form-Changer and the other three villains.
• Chicken Joke: Omar attempts to teach Orla the classic "why did the chicken cross the road" joke. She fails to understand the punchline nor what makes it funny.
• Continuity Nod: Orla once again repeats her "Wait one tiny little notch on the sundial" phrase from "Train of Thoughts". Seems that it's becoming a Catchphrase for her.
  • She also refers to her brain as a "memory ball" when discussing high-fiving techniques with Osmerelda, something she previously did in "Odd Beginnings: Part 2".
  • At one point, Lady Bread remarks how handy her hands are and appears to have gotten used to them, following up from "End of the Road" when loss of her odd powers caused her bread hands to revert to normal human hands and she angrily asks what she's supposed to do with them. Her realizing how great her human hands are facilitates her Heel–Face Turn.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: While riding to the location of the black hole, Osmerelda asks Orla for a high-five. Orla reaches her right hand back, but Osmerelda extends her left hand instead of her right one. Orla complains about how she's making the high-five difficult, and Osmerelda explains how she always uses her left hand (presumably her dominant hand) for high-fives.
• Dance Party Ending: The episode ends on all four villains and all four Mobile Unit agents dancing with each other at the Form-Changer's birthday party.
• Evolving Credits: Following the Title-Only Opening from the previous episode, there is a new opening theme that accompanies the second half of Season 3, marking the third and final time the opening credits change for the rest of the season, and the final time the opening credits change overall for the rest of the series.
  • Orla handles narration duties in place of Opal following the latter's departure.
  • New clips from episodes such as "Odd Off the Press" replace ones from previous episodes such as "Odd Squad in the Shadows" and "Oswald in the Machine". In addition, there are also new clips from upcoming episodes such as "H2 Oh No".
  • The Character in the Logo shot is updated to remove the Big O and Opal and replace them with Little O and Osmerelda Kim, respectively. The "Who do we work for?" line is also re-inserted after having been removed in "Odd Beginnings: Part One", completing the "Who do we work for? We work for Odd Squad" saying that has been spoken in every opening theme since the very first one in "Zero Effect".
  • In regards to the Episode Title Card, Orpita takes over the duty of reading the episode title from Oprah, who has read every single one since the first episode of the show. However, it's still Oprah's hand opening up the manila folder and not Orpita's.
• Heel–Face Turn: All four villains end up doing this when they realize how much their new careers have benefited them, and realize that getting their odd powers back will prevent them from continuing to thrive in said new careers. Monsieur Papier-Mache, Star Wipe and Lady Bread end up joining forces to start a party-planning business together, with the Form-Changer as their first customer.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: The Form-Changer, disguised as Osmerelda, high-fives Orla with her right hand instead of her left. This is the final nail in the coffin that confirms Orla's suspicions about something strange happening, as she and Osmerelda had been discussing high-fives and Osmerelda has a dominant left hand that she uses to high-five with, not right.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The second half of the season seems to be very keen on spoiling "End of the Road", casually bringing up The Shadow's real name (Olizabeth) and the fact that she's Opal's younger sister every time she's mentioned. The previous episode had Omar talking to a Reporter-ville reporter about Opal's whereabouts and how she's with her sister fixing up Australia and other countries, and this episode has the Little O explaining The Shadow's box and what it did to Osmerelda.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Osmerelda is unfamiliar with the box of villain powers, as she wasn't present when the Mobile Unit went to stop Olizabeth, and so she is brought up to speed by the Little O.
• No Sense of Humor: Being from ancient times, Orla has no idea that comedy has long since evolved, and because of it, she doesn't find Omar's Chicken Joke to be funny in the slightest, instead offering up other reasons that the chicken crossed the road. Apparently, she has a "Ye Olde Joke Book" on hand.
• Obviously Evil: Inverted. Orla doesn't like for her and her teammates to be out in the open where villains can spot them easily. However, one look around the dining area and it's easy to see that while everyone else is dressed casually, the agents, as well as the Little O, are all in their uniforms — so naturally, it would be easy for a villain to spot them (never mind the fact that they're the only kids in the area whereas everyone else is an adult). And as it turns out, Lady Bread already has spotted them by the time they leave.
• Priceless Paperweight: The Little O explains that Olizabeth's box of villain powers can't be kept at one of the Big Offices anymore. Orla worriedly asks if someone attempted to steal it, and Little O replies that it's "way worse". The scene then shifts to a couple Odd Squad employees using the box as a pinata, with one agent attempting to whack it with a stick.
• Pun-Based Title: The episode title is a pun on "fox trot", a kind of dance.
• Rank Up: Played with. It's never specified, but Omar refers to Oxley — the Food and Beverage worker last seen in "Substitute Agents" — as Chef Oxley, and it's implied that he has received a promotion of sorts to being a personal chef for the Mobile Unit as opposed to simply bringing deliveries of groceries and other such food to the van once a week. Oxley never makes an appearance in the episode proper, so it's unknown whether he actually did get promoted or not.
• Sequel Episode: To "End of the Road", as it revolves around the Mobile Unit disposing of Olizabeth's box from that episode, and also has villains who lost their powers when her Evil Plan was being set into motion attempting to get their powers back.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Unlike her sister, the Form-Changer can only change into something or someone exactly once. In this case, she can shapeshift into all four agents of the Mobile Unit, but cannot turn back into them once she turns back to her Shapeshifter Default Form.
• Shoe Phone: Lady Bread has a sandwich phone, which she uses to call the other villains and let them know where the Mobile Unit is heading.
• Stronger Than They Look: When meeting up with the other villains, Lady Bread reveals the Form-Changer, who is disguised as her handbag. Even though, when the Form-Changer shapeshifts back into her original form, Lady Bread is shown having trouble holding her (thereby averting the trope), considering that she has the same abilities as the Shapeshifter (where she can't change her weight when turned into a person or object), it's an impressive feat for Lady Bread to be holding a handbag that's the same weight.
• The Nose Knows: When Orla notices that her tablet is missing from the bullpen, she gives a couple sniffs, then immediately becomes suspicious and decides to check the security cameras to see if the Super-Safe Room (where the box is being kept) is intact. It is (for the time being, anyway), but Orla continues to be suspicious.
• Unrealistic Black Hole: The Mobile Unit is tasked with throwing the Villain Network box into one of these, located at the other side of town. It's left ambiguous as to whether they actually did it or not, though.
• Verbal Backspace: After talking with the other villains, Lady Bread remarks that "once again, evil will rise!" A man nearby manages to overhear her, which startles her. She then revises her statement by saying that yeast will rise.
• Villains Out Shopping: Since the villains don't have their odd powers, Monsieur Papier-Mache and Star Wipe are forced to find something else to do. As a result, they've ended up getting jobs — Monsieur Papier-Mache as a professional DJ, and Star Wipe as a party decorator. They end up using their careers as part of a Batman Gambit to lure Oswald out of the bullpen.
• Villain Team-Up: The Form-Changer, Monsieur Papier-Mache, Lady Bread, and Star Wipe all work together in order to retrieve Olizabeth's box full of villain powers.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Being the Shapeshifter's sister, the Form-Changer naturally has this ability. Like her sister she can also use it inversely, turning other objects and people into various things, both living and inanimate. She uses this ability in order to turn a rock into a chicken that stops the Mobile Unit van for long enough that the villains can enter it.

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When you're an Odd Squad Director, you don't get to relax.

O for a Day

Airdate: July 13, 2021 ^note PBS Kids premiere, August 10, 2021 ^note  TVO Kids premiere, October 14, 2021 ^note CBBC premiere

The Mobile Unit is called in to help when Seattle Mr. O accidentally turns himself into a creature.

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Tropes:

• All for Nothing: Oswald and Osmerelda risk their lives being chased, tormented and attacked by numerous lethal oddities under the guise of the latter wanting both of them to get braver, only to end up right back where they started. For Osmerelda, it's good news for her, but for Oswald, it's anything but — he points out that "we did all those terrifying things for nothing!"
• Ambiguously Gay: More than a few fans have noted that Seattle Mr. O is this, considering that he likes to tell things in song, has incredibly long purple eyelashes, and has a slightly effeminate voice. It's unknown whether he's canonically supposed to be gay, and/or if his actor, Niko Ceci, is gay.
• An Aesop: Being the boss of a company is not an easy task. When faced with a difficult decision among employees, try to find a compromise that will benefit everyone involved and won't lead to chaos.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: While walking in the Even Odder Woods, Osmerelda and Oswald are attacked by odd vines with large mouths, giant glowing bats...and a herd of flying tricycles.
• Batman Gambit: Osmerelda leads Oswald in a circle around the Even Odder Woods in order to invoke all sorts of emotions in him that would drive away his fear: upset, exhaustion, and uncleanliness. According to her, the gambit was also executed on herself to invoke a similar reaction to when she became too scared to play her flute in front of her instructor, but after she played the flute in front of a bunch of people, playing it in front of one person didn't seem so scary — since both of them faced down a vast number of oddities, facing one scary creature isn't so bad.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Downplayed. Oswald is far messier than Osmerelda is by the time he realizes that the two of them have been Going in Circles.
• Blatant Lies: Osmerelda and Oswald har a roar, and they flinch in fear. She asks him if he's scared, only for him to deny it, and she does the same. A second later and Seattle Mr. O appears right in front of them, causing them to scream in terror.
• Body Horror: Little O shows the Mobile Unit exactly how Seattle Mr. O turned into an odd creature with a timelapse akin to a Match Cut.
• Call-Back: This isn't the first time the Mobile Unit has gotten involved in leadership conflict, only this time it's between Orla and Omar rather than the entire group.
  • It's also not the first time Omar has been the leader of something — "Odd Squad in the Shadows" had him become the Shadow King of the Shadow League in the Pinehurst Odd Squad precinct.
  • Little O brings up the Odd Woods and how the Mobile Unit went there, then says that the woods where Seattle Dr. O escaped to are the "Even Odder Woods".
  • Albeit temporary ones, Orla and Omar are co-Directors who are also partners, similar to Olive and Otto in "O is Not For Over" onwards.
  • The Odd Squad precinct locale makes its first appearance since it was last seen in "Sample of New York".
  • The whole premise of voting on something that agents want, complete with the Aesop of tally marks, is very similar to "Captain Fun".
• Can't See a Damn Thing: Orla is shown playing mini-golf and attempting to putt while wearing a Sleep Mask. She ends up getting a hole-in-one and even calls it before the ball is in the hole, much to the amazement of Omar, Osmerelda and Oswald.
• Clueless Boss: Omar volunteers him and Orla to be the new temporary Directors of the Seattle Odd Squad precinct, because he worked at the Arctic Odd Squad precinct while Orla worked in an ancient Odd Squad Headquarters in the Amazon. However, neither one of them have worked in leadership positions (although Orla was the guardian of the 44-leaf clover, which is something akin to a leadership position), and neither one of them has worked in the Management department in any capacity. Naturally, this leads to disaster when Orla and Omar have trouble preventing agents in various departments from quitting and become incredibly stressed in the process, having thought being a Director would be easygoing.
• Conflict Ball: Despite having been partners for a long while and having worked together as co-Directors up until that point, Orla and Omar end up getting into an argument with each other when each Director wants the other to change their vote on the paper debate. Eventually, the heads of the Science and Creature Care departments start arguing as well, and the argument goes on for long enough that the heads of the Security and Medical departments get in on it. The only one who doesn't join in is Agent Office Supplies, who doesn't like the sight of them arguing in the slightest.
• Continuity Nod: At the beginning of the episode, Orla is shown playing mini-golf. Omar's Agent Interview featured him and Opal teaching Orla the game of mini-golf, and the beginning of "Slides and Ladders" had Orla playing the game. This time around, however, she has an eye mask on.
  • Like in "Odd Squad in the Shadows", Orla decides to use her scorpions to settle the "pens versus pencils" and "lined paper versus blank paper" debate, only for Omar to stop her before she can even open the box. In the case of the latter debate, she also has a box of tie-breaking scorpions, which Omar immediately takes out of her grasp.
  • The head of the Medical department wears a hat while she votes on whether she and her department want pens or pencils — the same one that O'Terry produced with the Fancy-Hat-inator gadget in "Oscar Strikes Back".
• Cowardly Lion: While it's well-known that Oswald is this, it's implied that Osmerelda has shades of being one as well. May be justfied, however, as she's a new employee of Odd Squad and isn't used to the many oddities of the organization yet.
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Nylan Parthipan, who plays the head of the Security department for the Seattle Odd Squad precinct, has muscular dystrophy and is in a wheelchair, which would imply that his character also has muscular dystrophy (however, it's never stated what disability he has).
• Double Take: As Osmerelda and Oswald are walking along a bridge, Osmerelda begins looking around. She looks to her left, then to her right, then immediately looks back to her left as she spots vines coming at her and Oswald.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: The Fearly is a creature whose fur is so sparkly it's almost blinding.
  • Seattle Mr. O dons a performer outfit at the end of the episode that's very sparkly.
• Finish Dialogue in Unison: Subverted when Orla and Omar attempt to break the tie of the paper debate.
  Orla: Omar and I will vote, and everything will return back to normal. And we shall go with... [in unison with Omar] Blank paper.
  Omar: [in unison with Orla] Lined paper.
  [both Directors shoot each other Disapproving Looks]
• Going in Circles: Osmerelda invokes this, as she leads Oswald throughout the Even Odder Woods in an attempt to be braver and cheers when they end up right back where they started.
• "I Am" Song: "Same Old O", a song sung by Seattle Mr. O as he describes life as an odd creature and how he's much more happy being an Odd Squad Director.
• Illness Blanket: While not necessarily ill, Seattle Mr. O returns to his Headquarters draped in a Mobile-Unit-department-branded cloak.
• Insane Troll Logic: All the heads of the departments in the Seattle Precinct quit due to huge leaps in logic that they take.
  • The head of the Medical department, and by extension the other Odd Squad Doctors, quit. Her reason? Because she believes that both Orla and Omar think they won't write things correctly the first time, and take it as an insult.
  • The head of the Security department quits on behalf of the entirety of the department because he believes that with pens, there's no room for error, and that can put a huge amount of pressure on someone. It's such a mundane reason that Omar even calls him out on it.
  • The head of the Science department quits because they don't like blank paper — without lines, there aren't any rules in general.
  • The head of the Creature department quits for a similar reason, only they don't like lined paper because with lines, there's no general freedom.
• Ironic Fear: Fearlies are afraid of fear, and will run if someone shows fear in its presence. Since Osmerelda and Oswald aren't necessarily the two bravest agents in Odd Squad history, this makes it harder to catch Seattle Mr. O when he's turned into one.
• It Has Been an Honor: The head of the Medical department says this when handing in her resignation.
• Meaningful Name: "Office Supplies" may be a bit of an out-there name for an agent, but it does reflect the fact that her job at the Seattle Odd Squad precinct is to order office supplies.
• Mister Muffykins: Implied to be the case with the Seattle precinct's pet hamster, which is incredibly spoiled and saps up a very large majority of the precinct's budget.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Little O shows everyone Seattle Mr. O as an absolutely hideous odd creature. Omar, Osmerelda and Oswald all get shocked and scared reactions. Orla's reaction, on the other hand, is to find it adorable and give a heartfelt "Aww!" A second after everyone gives her shocked looks, she promptly changes her reaction to fit everyone else's. Justified, as she's from ancient times.
• Nothing Personal: When Seattle Mr. O gives the order to have lined paper be ordered and not blank, the heads of the Science and Creature Care departments bury the hatchet with each other, with the latter telling the former that there's no hard feelings. Likewise, Orla and Omar also bury the hatchet with each other and don't rebel against the Seattle Director's word.
  • Earlier, the head of the Medical Department doesn't hold the result of the "pencils or pens" debate against the head of the Security department when pencils end up winning, citing that "fair is fair".
• No Time to Explain: When Osmerelda and Oswald are walking along a bridge on their way to whatever the former has planned to help them be more brave, Oswald asks if they're looking for an odd plant or some magic armor, but is cut short by his partner saying there's no time to explain, as odd vines come after them.
• Performance Anxiety: Osmerelda was too afraid to play her flute in front of her flute teacher, so she worked up the nerve to play in front of a whole crowd of people in order to gain the confidence to play in front of one person.
• Prim and Proper Bun: The head of the Science department wears one on the top of her head.
• Rank Up: While it's not necessarily a promotion, Orla and Omar move up the ranks from the Mobile Unit department (the lowest-ranking department) to the Management department, becoming co-Directors of the Seattle precinct.
• Rebuilt Set: Since Orpita is now in charge as the Little O, she has redone the Big O's office to such an extent where it looks vastly different than it was previously. One of the major changes is the open back wall, which features a small desktop monitor, some feathers, and a small plant, among other features. In terms of the front desk, it now has a lot more office supplies on it (sticky notes, a calculator, etc.), whereas the desk Oprah had was bare-thin.
• Resign in Protest: The head of the Medical, Science, Security and Creature Care departments all threaten to quit if they don't receive a certain writing utensil or paper type.
• Running Gag: Each department quitting due to not wanting a writing utensil or kind of paper becomes such a norm that right after Omar decides to get lined paper to prevent the Science department from quitting, he and Orla look out the door expecting another department head to walk up and resign.
• Scary Scorpions: Orla keeps boxes of them on her person to settle disagreements or be tiebreakers. Considering how much oddness is in abundance in the world of the show, it's only justified that others would be absolutely afraid of them. She's so eager to let them loose that she gets very upset when Omar refuses to let her open her box of tie-breaking ones, yanking the box from his grasp when he takes it from her.
• Serious Business: Agents in the Seattle precinct take their writing utensils and paper very seriously, to the point that they end up quitting their jobs over it. Even Orla and Omar get in on it, with them arguing over which kind of paper is better.
• Sickly Green Glow: There are giant bats in the Even Odder Woods that glow a bright green and swarm Osmerelda and Oswald.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Orla and Omar are forced to fill in for Seattle Mr. O as co-Directors. They're not officially promoted to the Management department and still work in the Mobile Unit department (the lowest-ranking department of the organization), but they still develop inflated egos and treat being in the position as though they're a king and queen on a throne, feeling that being co-Directors is a very relaxing job. This, of course, comes to bite them in the butt when they nearly end up losing all of their medics, and any semblance of egotism they have goes clear out the window.
• Sudden Musical Ending: At the end of the episode, Seattle Mr. O delivers his own Aesop via an "I Am" Song.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Orla and Omar initially believe that being co-Directors is an easy job before continuously being proven wrong, with multiple departments threatening to quit. By the end of the episode, they admit to Seattle Mr. O that they thought being a Director would be easy, but every decision they made led to more chaos. Being the manager of a company branch is most certainly not an easy task, especially when dealing with numerous departments, and in most cases, there is very little time for relaxation.
• Take a Third Option: Defied by Agent Office Supplies when Orla and Omar agree on ordering both pens and pencils, and both regular paper and lined paper. She tells them that there's not enough money in the precinct's budget to order both — it's one or the other.
• Talking to Plants: The Little O does this with her cactus, which has a wig on (and a hair dec). It talks back, reciting Oprah's catchphrase.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: Seattle Mr. O accidentally ate odd mustard, which turned him into a Fearly.
• Tempting Fate: Orla mentions how being an Odd Squad Director has been a carefree job so far. A second later and an agent by the name of Office Supplies comes up to them asking them to vote on something.
  • After the vote on pens and pencils is decided, Omar hopes that the rest of the day is smooth sailing. Sure enough, here comes Agent Office Supplies to ask them if they want blank paper or lined paper for the precinct.
• Twinkle in the Eye: After singing his "I Am" Song, Seattle Mr. O gets one that also makes his purple eyelashes glow briefly for some reason (an editing error, perhaps).
• Vocal Evolution: Like with Orla and Omar, the Van Computer's voice is deeper than in previous appearances.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The creature that Seattle Mr. O turned into is a Fearly, which is afraid of fear.
• Worldbuilding: The Even Odder Woods is introduced, which is implied to be somewhere near Seattle (or at least in the state of Washington).
  • The Seattle Odd Squad precinct is also introduced. By the number of votes Omar and Orla tally up, there's roughly 50 agents employed. The episode also implies that there are head agents for each department, which speak on behalf of others in said departments, although it's unknown if this is the norm elsewhere or if it's just for the Seattle precinct.
• World Tour: The Mobile Unit visits Seattle for this episode.
• You Are in Command Now: Omar and Orla are forced to fill in for Seattle Mr. O while Oswald and Osmerelda attempt to turn him back to normal, becoming co-Directors.

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