Recap / Odd Squad S 3 E 6 The Thrill Of The Face Raising The Bar

We don't think they're getting any thrills from looking at this warrior's face.

The Thrill of the Face

Airdate: February 24, 2020 ^note PBS Kids premiere

The Mobile Unit gets called back to the Museum of Natural Odd when Oswald's replacement, Ortho, has gone radio silent. When they arrive, they find out an ancient stone warrior has been let loose!

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Tropes:

• Actor Allusion: Oswald tells Orla that he has a twin brother that works as a tube lobby operator. Gavin McIver-Wright, Oswald's actor, previously played O'Paddy, a tube operator at Precinct 13579 that was seen in "Hands on a Desk Chair".
• An Aesop: It's okay to admit that you're scared of things, and it won't make you seem any less of a person for doing so.
• Art Evolution: The granite effects have gotten a bit of an upgrade from the last two episodes that had people turned to stone.
• Artifact of Doom: The Piedro de Guerrero, an Ancient Artifact that contains a powerful stone warrior that has the ability to turn others to stone. Ortho dropping it and breaking it causes it to get loose and attack the Main 4. The only way to stop it is to use the Piedro-Reverse-inator gadget on it.
• Big Applesauce: The location for this episode is New York City.
• Big "WHAT?!": Oswald gives one of these when he finds out that Opal was turned to stone.
• Bilingual Bonus: "Piedro de Guerrero" means "warrior stone" in Spanish, which is close — however, the correct saying for "stone warrior", as the artifact is called, is "guerrero de piedro".
• Blatant Lies: Oswald consistently lies to his teammates that he's not afraid of going back to the Museum of Natural Odd and facing the stone warrior. Of course, anyone who knows Oswald well — up to and including his teammates — knows that he's incredibly afraid.
• Call-Back: Opal, Omar and Oswald return to the Museum of Natural Odd, first seen in "Odd Beginnings: Part 1" and given an official name here. This time around, however, Orla tags along with them and gets to see the Museum for the first time. Similarly, Opal points out how she and Omar met Oswald for the first time, only for Omar to mistakenly recall Oswald being dressed as a giraffe then recall that him being a giraffe was a dream he once had.
• Can't See a Damn Thing: The Piedro de Guerrero is blinded temporarily by Oswald throwing his favorite sweater at it, which obscures its visor.
• Character Focus: This episode focuses primarily on Oswald as he attempts to be more brave and push past his timidness in order to free Ortho and his teammates and stop the stone warrior.
• Chekhov's Gun: Oswald's favorite sweater, which he left at the Museum of Natural Odd, is what allows him to fight back against the stone warrior.
  • Orla pointing out a box which has pictures of Ortho wearing a beard and a mustache ends up being the box that contains the Piedro-Reverse-inator gadget that she and the rest of the Main 4 need to defeat the Piedro de Guerrero.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Ortho is vastly different compared to Oswald, being more eccentric and ditzy.
• Contrived Coincidence: Opal asks the Big O why she doesn't just send the New York City precinct's agents to deal with the stone warrior. The Big O performs a Hand Wave and says that no one knows the Museum of Natural Odd better than Oswald does. Naturally, Oswald is the one who saves the day in the end.
• Counting to Potato: Instead of using numbers to identify boxes, Ortho uses his own face expressions (as well as photos of him with facial hair) as stand-ins.
• Derailed Train of Thought: Oswald consistently invokes this on the rest of the Main 4. It doesn't work.
• Dwindling Party: Opal, Omar and Orla are all struck by the Piedro de Guerrero at various points in the episode, leaving just Oswald to stop it.
• Face Your Fears: Deconstructed. Oswald is a Cowardly Lion who is very timid, and as a result, he is scared of facing the stone warrior that roams his former workplace. The episode revolves around him attempting to get over his timidness and admit to his teammates that he's afraid of the stone warrior rather than hide the truth from them, and with the help of Orla's encouragement, he is eventually able to do so and stands up to the warrior on his own.
• Facial Scruff: Orla finds Ortho having a beard and a mustache absolutely ridiculous.
• Faster Than They Look: The Piedro de Guerrero may be a bulky-looking being made out of stone, but he moves surprisingly quickly, and is incredibly powerful.
• Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: Opal realizes that the only way to find out which box is #13 is to get more boxes from the main room, under the threat of the stone warrior. Oswald, on the other hand, refuses to go and decides to let his teammates do the dirty work, which bites him in the butt later on when all of them get turned to stone.
  Oswald: Good luck.
  Opal: Are you not coming?
  Oswald: I'd love to. But you know, if the old Oswald-a-roni gets turned into stone, I won't be able to tell you which box goes with which number, just like I did with box 7.
  Orla: Then it is settled. The three of us shall go.
  Oswald: [under his breath] That was close...
• "I Know What We Can Do" Cut: Omar tells Opal and Orla that he has an idea for how to evade the stone warrior's detection. Cut to them in the main room, disguised as various things such as a plant, and hiding in things like recycling bins.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Oswald gets ahold of the Piedro-Reverse-inator gadget and says that he's not afraid anymore. At that moment, the Piedro de Guerrero rips off Oswald's sweater that was blinding it and begins to fire up its visor to shoot another laser beam straight at Oswald, which causes him to become scared and fire the gadget at the stone warrior.
• Improvised Armour: When confronted by the stone warrior, Omar uses the box he's holding as a shield, causing it to get turned to stone instead of him.
• Jumped at the Call: Deconstructed. In "Odd Beginnings: Part 1", Oswald was eager to go on an adventure with Opal and Omar because it was a chance for him to see a world beyond his desk. This episode explores the consequences that came with such a decision, with him telling Orla that he didn't realize how much danger was out in the world and how much that would scare him, and that he put on a brave front for his teammates because they sprung to action as well and weren't afraid in the slightest. Orla tells him that it's okay to be afraid, and that he's a valuable part of the team despite his Cowardly Lion tendencies, and when she gets turned to stone by the Piedro de Guerrero, it spurs Oswald to take action, pushing past his timidness and fighting back against the stone warrior.
• No Time to Explain: Orla quotes the trope verbatim when she returns to Oswald with another box, but not with Omar, and Oswald asks what happened.
• Overly Long Scream: Oswald lets out one when seeing Ortho turned to stone. The rest of the Main 4 scream as well, but they don't do it for as long as he does.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: To get past the Piedro de Guerrero, Omar disguises himself as a plant, while Orla disguises herself as trash in a recycling bin. Opal, on the other hand, hides inside of a water cooler, and makes the mistake of popping the container off the top of it, causing it to make a loud clattering sound and attracting the stone warrior's attention.
• invoked The Scrappy: Implied in-universe. The second Ortho is freed from his stone prison, he comes over to the Main 4 and introduces himself, only for Omar, Opal and Orla to say in unisonant annoyance, "We know!" Although, considering what he did, it's potentially justified.
• So Much for Stealth: Opal manages to blow the rest of the Main 4's cover by knocking over a water cooler's container.
• Suicide Mission: The only way for the Main 4 to find out which box has the gadget they need is to go back into the main room and grab more boxes — the main room being where the stone warrior that poses a threat to them is lurking.
• Taken for Granite: The Piedro de Guerrero has the ability to turn anyone into stone by firing laser blasts from its helmet visor. As a result, it manages to turn Ortho into stone, as well as Opal, Omar and Orla later on.
• Tempting Fate: While walking with Oswald, Orla states that getting box #13 will be easy so long as Oswald follows her lead. Seconds later, she is attacked by the stone warrior and turned to stone.
• We Need a Distraction: While Omar grabs more boxes, Orla decides to distract the stone warrior by entertaining him with games. It doesn't work for long, though, and when Omar makes his escape with a box, he is quickly caught and turned to stone.
• Worldbuilding: More of the Museum of Natural Odd is seen, including Oswald's old office. In addition, shelves with boxes containing various artifacts have been added to the main room.
  • A few Ancient Artifacts are featured, such as a tall ship-in-a-bottle and an ancient horseshoe.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Orla, who had told Oswald that it's okay to admit to being afraid at the beginning of the episode, delivers some heartfelt words to him during the climax when he refuses to go along with her to retrieve box #13, since they are the last members of the Main 4 remaining. The entire scene itself is very much a invoked Tear Jerker combined with invoked heartwarming, due to how strained Oswald's voice sounds when explaining his strife to his teammate, and how much Orla appears to really care for Oswald behind her tough exterior.
  Orla: We need to go get [box #13].
  Oswald: We? No. I-I'd love to, but...I've gotta stay here and...
  Orla: Oswald, I need you to work the Piedro-Reverse-inator gadget.
  Oswald: I belong behind a desk. [sits down] I even have a twin brother that works as a tube lobby operator. Guess where he sits? Behind a desk. It's literally in our blood.
  Orla: You told me you joined OSMU to get out from behind your desk.
  Oswald: That was before I know how much scary stuff there was out there. You were right. I'm afraid.
  [Oswald leans back in his chair]
  Orla: It is okay to be afraid. You would not be a part of this team if we did not believe in you. You need to start believing in you, too.
  [Oswald sits back up]
  Oswald: [exhales] Okay.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Omar and Orla have this reaction to Oswald telling them that the box the latter got isn't the right one.

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When you get last place in the Odd Squad Rankings, you sound a Red Alert. It's what you do.

Raising the Bar

Airdate: February 24, 2020 ^note  PBS Kids premiere

Opal becomes obsessed with trying to solve odd cases when The Mobile Unit gets ranked low on the Odd Squad Magazine progress reports.

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Tropes:

• Acting Out a Daydream: The Main 4 and O'Wow all act out eating sundaes at the end of the episode while they're inside of their Mental Worlds.
• Actually a Good Idea: Omar inadvertently asks Opal and Orla if they're going to go and solve as many odd cases as they can to bring their status in the rankings up. They immediately latch on to it and declare it to be a great idea, and are so ecstatic over it that they leap out of the van while it's still in the air to get started immediately.
• All There in the Script: An interesting inversion — the Chief of Graph is referred to in the credits as just that: Chief of Graph. However, the episode proper gives her the name "O'Wow".
• Art Evolution: The effects for the Flying-Book-inator, the Freeze-Ray-inator and the Shrink-inator, all gadgets seen in past episodes, have gotten an upgrade, with the Shrink-inator being the most noticeable (it's a green beam rather than a swirling red spherical light that circles its target).
• Artistic License – Physics: Neither Opal nor Omar nor the Postal worker feel any ill effects from being high up in the air. ^note  Normally, all three of them would be suffering from some sort of altitude sickness, and would have headaches, dizziness, and for Opal and Omar specifically (as well as Orla and Oswald), trouble sleeping, among other things. Opal and Omar in particular aren't even buffeted by much wind, but the Postal worker is.
• Artistic License – Statistics: Significant overlap with Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics. Oswald and Omar go to Graphing Headquarters in order to convince O'Wow to take the numbers from the bar graph in the Odd Squad magazine and put them into a different kind of graph so the Mobile Unit won't appear to be last and Opal can be content. However, this is an incredible misleading of the truth — the Mobile Unit was put in last for a simple reason: they're a new department, and haven't solved many cases yet. Even when O'Wow puts the numbers into a pie graph, OSMU is still shown as being in last place. Despite this, however, Opal and Orla solving cases causes the number of cases they solved to go up in real time, which obviously shouldn't happen, unless it's a new month and the number of cases they solved remains the same throughout each month. Oswald later calls O'Wow out on not grouping the easy cases with the hard ones, while Omar suggests that she count up all the hard cases each precinct has solved, and by learning that OSMU has solved the most amount of hard cases, they get in first place. O'Wow later decides to separate the easy and hard cases for all future Odd Squad Ranking listings. ^note  It's important to note that "easy" and "hard" cases can be generally subjective — what is an easy case for one agent is a hard case for another, etc. However, no one seems to address this throughout the episode.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: A giant snail and a giant squirrel both attack Orla and Opal at various points.
• Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: Oswald does a double-subversion with Opal when inside O'Wow's Mental World.
  Opal: Let's make this quick. We can't stop solving cases until OSMU's number one.
  Omar: We are number one!
  Opal: Sure, maybe in our hearts-
  Oswald: No. On a graph. And in our hearts.
• Big Eater: While this is a given for him, Omar eats enough pie to put Otto's stack of plates and pans in "The Confalones" to absolute shame.
  • Oswald also manages to pack away a large amount of pies, at first initially refusing when O'Wow offers them to him. Unlike Omar, however, whose predecessor was also obsessed with food, his predecessor Oscar wasn't known for eating large portions of food in one sitting.
• Blunt "Yes": Inverted — when Omar tells O'Wow to tell him if the pie graph she pulled up is full of apple, she stares at him and gives a small "no".
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Par for the course for Orla, who refers to eyes as "vision holes".
• Call-Back: "Jeremy" performed a Deconstruction of Opal's perfectionist tendencies. This episode doesn't deconstruct those tendencies nor does it deconstruct The Perfectionist character archetype for her, but it does put special emphasis on them much like that episode did.
• Character Focus: On Opal, naturally.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Omar, being partners with Opal for a good long while, is well aware of how she'll react if the Mobile Unit gets last place, and even tries to convince her that the graphs are wrong, and that the Mobile Unit is a newly-created department. Nonetheless, his words — as well as those of Oswald, who also mentions that the Mobile Unit is a new department — fall on deaf ears.
• Comical Overreacting: Opal finds out that the Mobile Unit is behind in the Odd Squad Rankings, and her first instinct is to immediately call a Code Red and activate it.
• Competition Freak: Opal, and how! She becomes so blinded by her need to have OSMU be at the top of the rankings that she not only recruits Orla to help her solve as much oddness as they can, but Omar and Oswald get dragged into things just to calm Opal down and make her happy, even though their observations of OSMU being in last place ("we're a brand new department") are right on the money.
• Continuity Nod: A shot from "Disorder in the Court" that shows Polly Graph at the witness stand can be seen as the Chief of Graph leads Oswald and Omar around Graphing headquarters.
  • A Dave, from The Movie, can be seen on the pages of the Odd Squad magazine.
  • This isn't the first time a character has taken a "pie graph" to mean an actual pie.
  • Among the gadgets used to stop oddness in the Valley of Odd are the Freeze-ray-inator and the Shrink-inator.
  • Orla and Opal encounter flying books while in the Valley of Odd.
• Creature of Habit: Those at the Graphing Headquarters appear to be very efficient and timely with their work. In O'Wow's case, she pulls up a graph in 2 seconds, when it would normally take her 10, as she remarks that she's 8 seconds ahead of schedule.
• Cuteness Proximity: Once Orla shrinks the fast-moving snail, she and Opal take a moment to fawn over how cute it is.
• Death Glare: Opal shoots Omar one that's fierce enough to cut butter when he suggests that the Rankings are incorrect. Orla, on the other hand, settles for a more What the Hell, Hero? look. Beware the Nice Ones indeed.
• invoked Do Not Do This Cool Thing: An in-universe example. When Orla and Opal express interest in going to the Valley of Odd to beat back as much oddness as they can, Oswald, being who he is, immediately freaks out and warns them that they can't go there due to how much oddness is there. Of course, the two girls ignore him and go there anyway.
  Oswald: Who-hoawhoawhoawhoa! No! No! You can't go there! That place is-
  Opal: The oddest valley in the world? It's perfect.
  • And directly after that, Omar tries to warn them, to absolutely no avail.
  Orla: Graph-correcting ho!!
  Omar: [shaking his head] Before you might do something that might put you in danger-
  Oswald: [as the van door opens in the background] I'm thinking you're too late.
  [Orla yells as she jumps out of the van]
  Opal: THIS IS AWESOME!! [jumps out of the van]
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: At one point, O'Wow acts very much like a waitress, and even has appropriate formal attire seen on those who work at sit-down restaurants.
• Do Not Spoil This Ending: The Flying Books that Orla and Opal encounter spoil various endings to their stories, such as The Butler Did It and it was All Just a Dream.
• The Drag-Along: Omar and Oswald are dragged into the adventure so they can protect Opal and Orla from harm and make them happy. They do so by heading straight to the source: Graphing Headquarters.
• Edible Ammunition: The flying sand carrots in the Valley of Odd. Of course, they aren't necessarily "edible" due to the fact that they have sand in them.
• Eye Beams: The giant squirrel shoots red laser beams from its eyes at Opal and Orla.
• Fake-Out Fade-Out: When the Main 4 find O'Wow eating an ice cream sundae inside of her Mental World, the music swells and ends when Oswald points out that she's eating an ice cream sundae, which would indicate that the episode would end as well. However, the episode keeps on going for a little while longer with the Main 4 going inside their own Mental Worlds.
• Fanboy: Oswald gets so excited about visiting the Graphing Headquarters that he could ascend to the astral plane.
• Faster Than They Look: Snails may move slow in real life, but snails in the Valley of Odd move far faster.
• Flight: Apparently, a majority of agents in the Postal department can achieve this by using a jetpack. One Postal worker uses it to catch up to OSMU's van as it's flying through the sky.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: If one looks closely, they can see that the adjacent page to the Odd Squad Rankings is just words from a dictionary smashed together to make incoherent sentences. Similarly, the Rankings page itself has a text box that provides some Foreshadowing:
  The Odd Squad ranking results are brought to you by an internal organization located at Graphing Headquarters. For any inquiries about their common practices or methods of data collection, please reach out to the Chief of Graph.
• Good News, Bad News: Played completely straight when Opal calls Omar and Oswald for an update.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Opal assures Omar that whatever place the Mobile Unit is in is fine by her. Seconds later, she finds out that they're in last place, and immediately issues out a Red Alert, causing Orla and Oswald to come running.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Not only is Orla able to catch a flying sand carrot (a G-rated version of a bullet from a gun) cleanly in her hand, but Opal is able to fire a beam from the Freeze-Ray-inator at one, causing it to be encased in ice in midair.
• Innocently Insensitive: Omar has this gem of an exchange with Opal when she calls him to see if they were able to alter the graphs, only to be told that while the Mobile Unit's case amount has risen, so have the other precincts'. Could potentially double as a Stealth Insult, although considering Omar is The Ditz, it was likely unintentional.
  Omar: Hey, it's not so bad. At least you're the best at something.
  Opal: At what?
  Omar: At finishing in last! Now what do you say you come back where it's safe so we can celebrate?
  [Opal gives a look of confusion and hangs up]
  Omar: Hello?
  Oswald: Hello?
  [both boys exchange Oh, Crap! looks]
  Omar: Hello?!
• Instantly Proven Wrong: This exchange ensues at the beginning of the episode when someone begins knocking on the van door.
  Omar: I think someone's knocking on our van door!
  Opal: That's impossible, Omar. We're flying through the clouds!
  Postal Worker: [outside] Can somebody open the door?!
  Opal: I stand corrected.
• IPhony: Played with. It's hard to tell whether the computer O'Wow uses is an Apple computer or not, but considering that the show has used Apple products covered up with Odd Squad logos before, it's possible that it is an Apple device.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: The Main 4 and O'Wow all enter the latter's mind in order to talk about the graphs, but somewhere less dangerous. It's presented as a White Void Room that can be easily entered by one closing their eyes and entering it. However, the jury is out on whether the Main 4 enter the Mental World as spirits and leave their physical bodies intact in the real world (which would get said bodies killed by the giant squirrel attacking them), or if they're physically inside of O'Wow's mind (considering that O'Wow's actions at the end seem to indicate that she's not physically inside her mind).
• "Knock Knock" Joke: Opal thinks that Omar is telling her one of these at the beginning of the episode, since he told her he had a joke for her, but it turns out that isn't part of Opal's joke at all.
• Mental World: O'Wow has one that she retreats to often when she needs peace and quiet. Whatever she imagines, such as a chair and a sundae, can be conjured up, and she can go to the world by closing her eyes and imagining.
  • If O'Wow's world is any indication, the Main 4 also have their own worlds that they can retreat to, which function the same way.
• Pun: Orla looks off into the distance and tells Opal that "things are about to get nuts"...a second before a large squirrel appears from a portal.
• Second Place Is for Losers: Opal refuses to have OSMU listed as anything other than first place, and the same goes for Orla, as well as Omar and Oswald, to an extent.
• Series Continuity Error: Opal tells the Postal worker that Odd Squad is paperless now. Numerous past episodes have shown that Odd Squad is far from being completely paperless — hell, this very episode opens with Opal herself doing paperwork!
  • Opal refers to those listed in the rankings as "departments". However, the icons represented (apart from the Mobile Unit) look more like precincts in states and cities where Odd Squad is located (i.e., the New York precincts, China precincts, etc.) rather than departments. This is downplayed, since Opal refers to them as precincts a few minutes later, meaning that her referring to them as "departments" is likely a dialogue slip-up. Similarly, the names of the other precincts have alternating names throughout the episode.
  • Oswald tells Omar that graphs don't lie. However, "Bad Lemonade" has already proved the opposite, with Polly Graph explicitly referring to the graphs that Odd Todd put out as "tricky graphs" (not to mention that the Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics trope was played straight in that episode).
• Shout-Out: The Odd Squad Magazine's cover is a direct reference to the Oprah Winfrey magazine. Bonus points for the Big O (Oprah) being on the cover, who shares the same first name as Winfrey.
• Speak in Unison: Hilariously subverted when O'Wow leads them through Graphing Headquarters and shows them a table with pies and chocolate bars.
  O'Wow: Pie? Bar?
  Omar: [in unison with Oswald] Yes!
  Oswald: [in unison with Omar] No. [normal] Not now.
• Tail Slap: The giant squirrel does one with Opal and Orla, whacking their Shrink-inators clear out of their hands and onto the ground before they have a chance to fire them. Naturally, it takes great amusement at their surprised reactions.
• Talking Is a Free Action: While this occurs quite a lot in this show, special mention goes to the Main 4 communicating with O'Wow as a giant squirrel was previously attacking Opal and Orla. When the outside world proves to be a hazard for them, they enter O'Wow's mind to talk somewhere more peacefully, in true show fashion.
• invoked Technology Marches On: Invoked in-universe by Opal, who tells the Postal worker that he can just email all of OSMU's mail to them, only for the worker to feel insulted and ask them to keep that tidbit to themselves since he likes his job.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Omar has this reaction when Opal gets her hands on the Odd Squad Magazine, since he knows what's going to happen — and he ends up being right on the money.
• Waistcoat of Style: O'Wow wears a navy-colored one, in addition to a red bowtie.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Orla gives this reaction to Omar when he suggests that the graph in the Odd Squad Magazine is wrong.
  • Omar later gives the same reaction to Oswald when he tells Opal that the other precincts' numbers on the graph have risen as well.
• Worldbuilding: The Graphing department, first seen in "Odd Beginnings: Part 1", is expanded on in this episode.
  • The Valley of Odd is introduced, a place where oddness roams free without any Odd Squad interference.
  • There is apparently an Odd Squad Button District in existence. While their primary duty is to deal with missing jacket buttons, they also deal with minor, non-odd inconveniences like tangled headphone cords and squeaky doors, among other things.

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