Recap / Odd Squad S 3 E 5 Orlas Birthday Jeremy

Uh-oh, someone just found out that their mobile home is gone.

Orla's Birthday

Airdate: February 20, 2020 ^note PBS Kids premiere

Omar and Oswald have plans to surprise Orla with her 500th birthday surprise.

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Tropes:

• Aesop Amnesia: This is one of many, many episodes where the Aesop of "don't rush into things" from "Portalandia" is completely forgotten by Orla.
• The Alleged House: Invoked by the world of the show itself. During the Great Balloon Catastrophe, various buildings — many of which were sturdy — turned rubbery and loose, and as a result, they were swept up by winds and never returned to their proper places.
• Answer Cut: Oswald suggests that he and Omar get an ancient Odd Squad shield that Orla would love to have as a decoration for her party. Omar agrees, and asks where it is, only for Oswald to give a nervous chuckle. Cut to the Odd Squad Library in Chicago, where Omar and Oswald are forced to interact with Oceana once again.
• Bad Liar: Every "fake" villain is one of these. They hesitate briefly when coming up with other fake villains (which Opal expresses worry over), and yet, Orla buys what they're saying every time due to her Leeroy Jenkins nature.
• Beyond the Impossible: Somehow, Timmy Takestuff was able to reach behind Opal's back and pull out a gadget of hers from Hammerspace. Even Opal herself has to ask how he did it.
• Big "NO!": Oswald gives one to Omar in response when he asks him if Orla will like the cake he got for her birthday, which the red-haired agent then throws onto the ground.
• Birthday Episode: For Orla, natch — she's turning 500.
• Bizarre Taste in Food: True to her status as an ancient warrior, Orla enjoys eating scorpion pie and not traditional cake.
  • Invisible Ingrid also apparently likes scorpion pie, as she's shown eating it at the end of the episode.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: When Omar stops Oswald from launching into his third Flashback, Oswald tells him that he's missing out on beautiful imagery.
• Call-Back: This is the second episode to feature a Surprise Party revolving around a birthday, with the first one being "O is Not For Old". It's also the third episode to feature a Surprise Party of any sort, with the last one being "Dr. O: Party Time, Excellent".
• Comical Overreacting: Instead of simply telling Omar that what he thinks are good decorations for Orla are terrible, Oswald takes the time to destroy whatever he brings out — he spills the cake onto the floor, pops the large balloon, and whacks the socks that Omar is holding out of his grip, and then he tells him why those things are a bad idea.
• Continuity Nod: The Flashback Cut of the Great Cake Wars shows agents jumping out of a Trojan Horse cake. "Odds and Ends" also showed a Trojan Horse cake, although it was used for stealth purposes and not as a means of attack.
• Contrived Coincidence: What are the odds that every single villain made up on the spot happens to be real? Higher than you'd think.
  Opal: How are all these people real?!
  • Similarly, Orla doesn't hear Opal or the villain she's conversing with, despite them making absolutely no effort whatsoever to be quiet.
• Creepy Child: Oceana definitely comes off as one of these, what with her manner of typing and The Un-Smile that she consistently wears on her face. However, she isn't antagonistic, and is actually very friendly despite her creepiness.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Oswald informs Omar about Orla's dislikes when it comes to party-related things like cake and balloons due to past events she experienced and was apparently traumatized by, which bears great resemblance to her having some form of PTSD from those events.
• The Drag-Along: Opal serves as this as she's paired with Orla and has to keep her from finding out about her surprise party.
• Dreadful Musician: Gladys Plaidys is not skilled at playing the bagpipes. At all.
• Faster Than They Look: Orla is an ancient warrior who is centuries old, and it has been implied before that she has been feeling her age for a long while. However, when it comes to hiking, she moves incredibly fast — faster than Opal even, who is far younger than she is, being 10 years old.
  Omar: Opal and Orla went on a hike so they shouldn't be back for a while.
  Oswald: Have you seen Orla hike?
  Omar: You're right. We'd better hurry.
  [cut to the forest, where Opal and Orla are hiking]
  Opal: [out of breath] So...you don't really believe in...slow and steady, huh?
• Flashback Cut: Three are shown that describe life back in the ancient times. The third one is defied by Omar.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Of a sort — every villain Opal comes across respectfully helps her in keeping Orla's Surprise Party a secret, and Gladys even offers to provide music for it.
• Holding the Floor: Opal is forced to do this, stalling Orla until Omar and Oswald can return to their campsite with supplies for Orla's party.
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: The endcap of a bookcase in the Odd Squad Library is used as a transition wipe at one point.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Omar instructs Opal to make sure Orla doesn't find out that the van is gone. Not even a second after Opal hangs up and Orla does a Wild Take as she gives a cry of, "THE VAN IS GONE!!"
  • While searching for Gladys Plaidys, Orla tells Opal that she feels they are close to finding out who (presumably) took the van. Opal starts to say that maybe Timmy lied to them and that Gladys isn't a real villain, until Gladys herself appears right behind them, causing Opal to say in surprise, "Wow, you're a real villain!"
• Leeroy Jenkins: Par for the course for Orla — she sees a villain whom she believes took her van, and she speeds after them like a bullet, not bothering to listen to Opal, who is helping to keep the secret of the ancient warrior's Surprise Party.
• Medium-Shift Gag: The Flashback Cuts, which are shown as Oswald describes what Orla has lived through, are told in animated stills.
• My New Gift Is Lame: Defied by Oswald, who suggests that Omar not give socks to Orla as a gift because socks are a terrible gift to give.
• No Name Given: The blonde-haired villain isn't named in the credits, and is only referred to as "Blond Villain".
• Noodle Incident: The Great Cake Wars and the Great Balloon Catastrophe are only told via animated stills, but what actually happened isn't shown.
• No Sense of Direction: Even though it helps pedal the episode's Aesop, Omar and Oswald need a map to go no more than a few steps, both on the streets of Chicago and in the Odd Squad Library situated in the city.
• Priceless Paperweight: An ancient, pock-marked Odd Squad shield is used for nothing more than a decoration for a birthday party.
• Purely Aesthetic Glasses: The blond-haired villain that Opal meets has a small pair of glasses that rests on his chin and quite obviously serve no purpose.
• Series Continuity Error: Oswald states that Orla doesn't like cake, and it's strongly implied that she harbors a fear for it. However, "Slides and Ladders" showed her being around a cake with no issue (although it may be justified since we don't see her eat any cake).
• Sticky Fingers: The aptly-named Timmy Takestuff is often stealing various things, whether they're something as small as flowers or as big as a table set up for a cookout.
• Supreme Chef: Sir Chocolate Mousse and the Sprinkle Queen, natch.
  • Omar and Oswald may also qualify, if the pie they made is any indication.
• Surprise Party: The entire premise of the episode.
• invoked Technology Marches On: Averted in-universe for the Odd Squad Library in Chicago — Oceana's computer is arguably one of the most low-tech things seen in this show (modern times considering), and it looks straight out of the 90s. It also runs incredibly slow.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: The episode has two plotlines — one with Opal and Orla (with the former keeping the latter from finding out about the party), and one with Omar and Oswald (with them getting things Orla will like for her party).
• The Un-Smile: Oceana gives off a very unnerving one while her computer loads up a pie recipe from a no-cake cookbook.
• Visible Invisibility: Invisible Ingrid is shown digging a fork into Orla's scorpion pie, but other than that, she is completely invisible.
• Worldbuilding: It's implied that there are Odd Squad Libraries all around the world, where those in the Library department of the organization work.
• World Tour: Omar and Oswald go to Chicago to find things for Opal's party. Opal and Orla, however, are situated in a campsite near the city.
• "X" Marks the Spot: Omar's and Oswald's library map, as well as their map to where the ancient game is hidden, have "X's" on them.

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He may not have spoken in class today, but he's one knowledgeable Odd Squad fan.

Jeremy

Airdate: February 20, 2020 ^note  PBS Kids premiere

The team accidentally get locked out of the van and need the help of their Odd Squad fan, Jeremy.

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Tropes:

• Amusing Injuries: Orla charges at the van, and gets knocked to the ground by the van's invisible forcefield.
  Orla: That was not pleasant...
• An Aesop: It's okay to make mistakes, even if it's in front of someone who looks up to you.
• Anime Hair: Monsieur Papier-Mache appears to have white paper wrapped in curls for hair, which reflect on the rest of his costume (which is also made of paper).
• Art Attacker: Monsieur Papier-Mache is a villain who attacks by using paintbrushes dipped in glue, then flinging the glue at his enemies, which traps them in a paper-mache blob.
• Ascended Fanboy: Opal recommends Jeremy to the Odd Squad Academy at the end of the episode.
• Audience Surrogate: Jeremy is meant to represent the primary demographic of the show (mainly the older kids, but also younger kids as well) who might want to join Odd Squad, but are often enthusiastic about the show and its characters to over-the-top extremes. He even gets a recommendation to the Academy at the end of the episode.
• Bad Liar: Opal, boy howdy. She gives a lot of Blatant Lies to Jeremy, which he buys, but the rest of the Mobile Unit doesn't. The first time she lies, she interrupts Oswald as he was in the middle of telling Jeremy the truth in order to lie to the Loony Fan.
  • When Orla confronts Opal about the fact that she is afraid to admit that Mistakes Are Not the End of the World, Opal immediately fires back with, "This isn't about me! It's about a kid who looks up to us!"
• Borrowed Catchphrase: When interacting on the phone, Jeremy uses the same "go for [name]" Catchphrase that is used by Olive, Otis, and Opal.
• Broken Pedestal: Deconstructed. Opal's primary motivation in the episode is to avert the trope as hard as she can and not let Jeremy's hopes down, since he views her and the rest of the Mobile Unit as his heroes and is easily impressed by them. As a result, she is not happy when her teammates forget the password to open the van and it ends up becoming locked as a result, and tries to keep Jeremy away from the van so he won't see that they aren't the so-called perfect, flawless team he believes they are. At the climax of the episode, Jeremy admits that he didn't care if the Mobile Unit made a mistake or not, and he still looks up to them anyway despite what mistakes they make, which allows him to help in the agents' battle against Monsieur Papier-Mache.
• Button Mashing: Omar, ever The Ditz, decides to say "screw it" with inputting what is presumed to be the correct code over and over, and just presses random buttons until he lands on the correct one.
• Call-Back: This isn't the first episode where The Perfectionist is deconstructed as an archetype. Nor is it the second. Bonus points for the fact that Opal is an Expy of Olympia.
• The Cameo: Olive, Otto, Olympia and Otis all make cameos as drawn pictures.
• Catchphrase: One is introduced for Omar when he answers the phone: "Omar's House of Friendship".
• Caught Monologuing: Monsieur Papier-Mache invokes this on himself as he begins to explain what paper-mache is to Orla, but manages to stop himself before he can get very far and begins to attack. He later does it again with Opal when she asks the same question, but he stops himself even quicker.
• Character Focus: On Opal, as she attempts to impress Jeremy and keep his hopes up. It also performs a Deconstruction of one of her Fatal Flaws: her need to have the Mobile Unit be the best team in existence, with absolutely no flaws whatsoever.
• Character Title
• Cheap Costume: Jeremy's outfit is pretty much a low-tech, more casual-looking version of the outfits that Investigation agents wear.
• Cheerful Child: As much of a Loony Fan as he is, Jeremy is adorable, and never loses his positive demeanor.
• Chekhov's Gunman: As it turns out, Jeremy, as well as his vast knowledge of Odd Squad, is what is needed to unlock the van.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Even Omar comes to a realization that Jeremy should be told about the van after a while. Unfortunately, Opal refuses to listen to him.
• Company Cross References: The primary setting for this episode is the invoked Recycled Set from Endlings, which is also produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment.
• Continuity Nod: One of the security questions Oswald and Orla must answer involves the Hat-inator and the Flip-Flop-inator.
  • Another security question that Opal and Jeremy answer involves two agents of the Mobile Unit getting sucked into a portal.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: This episode deconstructs The Perfectionist archetype for Opal. She holds the Mobile Unit in very high regard, and as such, she doesn't believe in them making mistakes, wanting them to be a flawless team. This presents a problem when the van becomes locked down because none of the agents can remember the code to open it, and as a result, Opal jumps through hoops and tells many Blatant Lies in order to keep Jeremy, a Loony Fan who looks up to the group, from finding out about it. Eventually, Opal tells the truth to him, and he realizes that they didn't want to let him down, but tells her that they could never let him down because they're Odd Squad. As such, he decides to help the agents in their fight against Monsieur Papier-Mache.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Opal handing her phone to Jeremy for him to play with while she and Omar deal with something else is very reminiscent of a parent handing an electronic device to their child for them to play with while they're busy.
• Dwindling Party: Each of the Main 4 becomes trapped by Monsieur Papier-Mache's attacks — Oswald and Orla are defeated fairly quickly, while Omar takes a little while to go down, and Opal is also defeated quickly. Jeremy, who is not trapped, decides to make a run for it and grab the Un-Papier-Mache-inator inside the van.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: In stark contrast to Orla, who is Unaffected by Spice, Oswald can't handle even the mildest of peppers — he takes a small bite of one, and he doesn't even get a chance to chew before freaking out and dropping the remote he has in his hand, which in turn causes the van to lock.
• Gem-Encrusted: Monsieur Papier-Mache's outfit is studded with various gems.
• Gratuitous French: Monsieur Papier-Mache likes to pepper his dialogue with French.
• Huddle Shot: Seen as Opal is discussing with the rest of the Main 4 about Jeremy finding out about their van. Directly after they settle on a course of action, Jeremy himself joins the huddle.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Omar may be an absolute Pollyanna of a ditz, being not too bright and having a generally positive attitude, but he is incredibly skilled at dodging to such a point where he can leave a villain gasping for air.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Once again, the Main 4 are split up into pairs — Opal and Omar leave with Jeremy to distract him, while Oswald and Orla figure out how to open the van.
• The Lightfooted: Omar is incredibly speedy and agile, and manages to distract Monsieur Papier-Mache from attacking Opal and Jeremy, dodging his attacks with ease. It gets to such a point where he has to stop to catch his breath as Omar is dodging, because the agent is too fast for him. The only thing that manages to stop him is Opal and Jeremy calling out his name, which distracts him long enough for Monsieur Papier-Mache to make his move.
  • Similarly, Jeremy himself is also very agile, and manages to dodge all of Monsieur Papier-Mache's attacks and get into the van to grab the Un-Papier-Mache-inator.
• Loony Fan: Jeremy, although he's not as extreme as most examples of the trope since he's clearly meant to be an Audience Surrogate for the primary demographic of the show.
• Mirthless Laughter: When Jeremy asks the Main 4 if they're locked out of their van, Opal breaks free of the huddle she and the other Main 4 were in and gives a loud, hearty "HA!!" as she tells yet another lie about how the van is fine.
• Mistakes Are Not the End of the World: Orla tries to invoke this in order to have Opal admit that everyone makes mistakes, but it falls flat. Eventually, Opal does learn the Aesop.
• My Car Hates Me: None of the Main 4 can input the correct code to unlock the van, and as a result, the vehicle believes that a villain is attempting to break in and protects itself, meaning that no one can get in unless a security question is answered correctly.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: At one point, the van gets locked by Oswald dropping the remote upon eating a mild red pepper.
• No Antagonist: Subverted. The episode appears to have no villain driving the plot in any way, instead focusing on the Main 4 and Jeremy and the locked van...that is, up until Monsieur Papier-Mache makes his debut, at which point a battle ensues.
• Not Quite Flight: With the aid of a gadget that Omar fires, Opal is able to hover a little ways into the air.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Jeremy's French-Canadian accent manages to slip when he shows Opal and Omar the different spoons he uses for eating.
• Overly Long Gag: Opal says that one day, Jeremy will be a hero as well, causing him to respond with "I will." The two keep exchanging "I will's" for a while until Orla puts an end to it.
• Precious Puppy: Jeremy's bulldog, Rocket. While he doesn't follow Jeremy's commands to roll over, he's still adorable.
• Read the Freaking Manual: Oswald decides to read the van's manual to see how to open it. Orla, however, decides to go full Leeroy Jenkins (natch) and charge it, and ends up winded as a result.
• Ret-Canon: The Odd Squad Agent's Handbook — generally regarded as Loose Canon by many fans — states that children who don't have names beginning with the letter O can join Odd Squad, but their names will be changed slightly so they will begin with O. Jeremy being recommended to the Odd Squad Academy at the end of the episode officially makes this fact canon.
• Sixth Ranger: Ultimately subverted. Jeremy appears to be shaping up to be one of these, what with him calling Opal his partner and having a deep-rooted passion for Odd Squad, but he's never mentioned again after this episode, and as such, doesn't end up joining the Mobile Unit as a fifth member. Whether this is due to his Audience Surrogate status or not is up for debate.
• Some Kind of Force Field: The van, when locked down to protect itself from villains, has an invisible forcefield, which Orla manages to run into.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Yep, even a kid who isn't even an Odd Squad agent can do this — Jeremy pops up beside the Main 4 directly after their van locks them out and protects itself.
• Terrible Artist: Averted — Jeremy's dad is a pretty good artist, making an embroidery hoop for the Main 4 as thanks for assisting them.
  • Likewise, Jeremy also is a decent artist, having drawn photos of Olive and Otto, Olympia and Otis, and a host of other pictures contained in the form of a smartwatch.
• We Will Meet Again: Monsieur Papier-Mache tells the Mobile Unit (and Jeremy) this after the latter defeats him. However, unlike many minor villains who may say it and then never face Odd Squad again, Monsieur Papier-Mache eventually ends up performing a Villain Team-Up with The Shadow and other villains, and becomes a much bigger threat.
  Monsieur Papier-Mache: You haven't seen the last of me, Odd Squad! And kid I've never met before.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Oswald has this reaction when he's cut off from telling Jeremy the truth by Opal lying to him about the state of her, Oswald's, and the other agents' van.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Jeremy speaks in a French-Canadian accent (although it's a bit hard to identify) — fitting, considering where the show was produced. His mother and father also speak in similar accents, although they're more harder to pinpoint than Jeremy's.
  • Monsieur Papier-Mache, true to his name, speaks in a French accent.
• Worldbuilding: Downplayed — apparently, agents can recommend children they deem fit to work at the organization to the Odd Squad Academy, but how that works, exactly, is never explained.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Opal says this, combined with Tranquil Fury, when she sees that the van is still locked.

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