Recap / Odd Squad S 3 E 9 The Void Into The Odd Woods

This might be the most kid-friendly version of The Void you'll ever see.

The Void

Airdate: March 2, 2020 ^note PBS Kids premiere

The Big O sends OSMU to investigate an odd tunnel; however, while doing so, Omar gets trapped in a void.

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Tropes:

• Actually a Good Idea: Averted. None of the Main 3 find Omar's idea of driving a van through the tunnel to be any good.
• Bear Hug: Subverted. The swelling BGM as Omar and the rest of the agents emerge from the void with the van and he steps out makes one think that he's going to hug the Main 4. Instead, he simply exchanges high-fives with them.
• Blank White Void: Omar finds himself in one of these, which is ripe with fog. Not only is he stuck in it (after driving through the tunnel exit multiple times, only to end up back where he started), but so are other agents from the Maine Odd Squad precinct who went through the odd tunnel and got stuck.
• Brick Joke: At the beginning of the episode, Omar ends up accidentally deploying the airbags when he tries to pull up the agents who disappeared the odd tunnel. The end of the episode has the Maine agents doing the same thing.
• Bring Help Back: A variant — in the time it took for the Main 3 to set up a rescue tent to find Omar, they apparently got some Maine agents to search the area for oddness.
• Breather Episode: Along with "Into the Odd Woods", it's a fairly lighthearted episode before the Wham Episode "Slow Your Roll", which marks the halfway point of the season and also marks The Shadow's debut.
• Character Focus: This episode is the first one in the season to focus on Omar.
• Company Cross References: As part of his Spanish lesson, Omar watches a scene from Playdate where Mac and Sammy communicate in Spanish. Playdate and Odd Squad are both produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment. Doubles as an Actor Allusion subversion, as Millie Davis played Molly in Playdate, but doesn't appear in this episode.
• Continuity Nod: Omar brings up how Orla is 500, which is continuity that carries over from "Orla's Birthday".
  • The Mr. O of the Maine Odd Squad precinct isn't the first Director to know how to weld. In his case, he's never done it before, but he manages to pull it off well.
• Distinction Without a Difference: When Omar finds Oneta at his door, they have this exchange.
  Omar: Hang on. I recognize you! You're one of the missing agents the Big O sent us to find!
  Oneta: And now you're stuck here too.
  Omar: We're not stuck, we just haven't figured a way out yet.
• Drives Like Crazy: Downplayed. Omar doesn't drive the van, as it's a self-driving vehicle, but he is completely clueless as to what the various buttons do in it. He presses a button that he thinks will conjure up images of the agents who went through the odd tunnel and got stuck, and ends up deploying the airbags instead.
• Failure Montage: Omar and Oneta learn to rollerskate, and have an incredibly difficult time doing so initially. They end up getting the hang of it when they have room to move around freely.
• Gratuitous Spanish: While trying to learn Spanish, Omar recites a few Spanish phrases. Since no translations are provided (PBS Kids' closed-captioning simply reads it as "Omar speaking Spanish" or something along those lines), it's hard to tell most of what he's saying unless you're fluent in the language.
• Had the Silly Thing in Reverse: Orla points her Odd-o-meter gadget at the tunnel and says that the readings appear to be normal. Opal then tells her that she's holding the gadget upside down, and when she turns it right side up again, the readings become off the charts.
• Heroic BSoD: Omar has one of these when his multiple attempts to get out of the void fail. He doesn't understand why he's stuck in the void with his teammates on the other side of the tunnel, he doesn't understand how to get out, and he remarks on how he's not cut out to be an agent, unclipping his badge and resting it against a screen with clocks from different worldwide time zones. It's only when he sets his badge down that he realizes that he missed an attribute shared among those stuck in the void: the badge numbers are odd numbers instead of even numbers.
• Hidden Depths: Unlike the rest of the Main 4, Omar can't rollerskate — and on that note, neither can Oneta.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Oswald has these, making him one of two main characters in the show overall to not have brown eyes (the first being Otis, who also has blue eyes).
• Innocently Insensitive: When Omar begins to beat himself up over not being able to escape the void, he says that he doesn't understand how he ended up in the void to begin with. Van Computer begins to play back the audio clip of him assuring the Main 4 that the van can handle going through the odd tunnel. He stops the playback before it can get very far. It's justified by the fact that Van Computer is an AI and doesn't understand what Omar is going through.
• Insane Troll Logic: Omar wants to drive the van through the tunnel, simply because the van can fly, so it certainly can handle a tunnel. (Spoiler alert: it cannot.)
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: Oneta has short hair and, at first listen, sounds like a man who has a feminine-sounding voice. The only tip-off that she's female is her name.
• Number Two: It's very subtle, but the Dr. O working at the Maine precinct appears to be this to Mr. O, as she imitates the Big O (with a sock puppet) to make the new badge numbers official.
• Ominous Knocking: As Omar is lamenting about how he learned to speak Spanish and is still stuck in the void, he hears loud banging at the door. Omar worriedly asks about the source of the noise, and the Van Computer tells him that it might be a void monster, which doesn't ease his worries. Eventually, he makes his way to the door and finds that it's a Security agent from the Maine Odd Squad precinct named Oneta, who is amiable towards him and comes to befriend him as the episode goes on.
  • It later happens when Oneta and Omar practice rollerskating and become still stuck in the void together — they hear a loud banging from outside, and it turns out to be the rest of the missing Maine Odd Squad agents.
• Ship Tease: There's a bit of it to be found with Omar and Oneta roller-skating together, especially when they hold hands and spin in circles around each other.
• Suddenly Bilingual: Opal, Oswald and Orla are all revealed to be able to speak Spanish in this episode, when none of them had shown any signs of being multilingual before. For Orla in particular, it's more confusing, since she speaks in Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe and wouldn't know Spanish since she lived in the Amazon for most of her life.
  • Omar averts the trope entirely, as he is shown learning Spanish instead of revealing that he's suddenly fluent in the language.
• Tempting Fate: "You guys won't regret this!" says Omar, moments before he becomes stranded in the void while the other Mobile Unit agents emerge from the other side of the tunnel unscathed, followed by Orla saying, "I immediately regret this."
• Thinking Out Loud: Lampshaded at one point by the Van Computer when Omar is discussing with it how to escape from the void.
  Van Computer: I am glad I am here so you don't have to talk to yourself.
• Training Montage: One is shown of Omar learning Spanish with the Van Computer.
• Vague Age: Averted for Opal and Oswald — this episode reveals that they're both 10 years old.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Both Opal and Oswald give Omar this when he accidentally initiates the airbags to deploy.
• Worldbuilding: Following the North Carolina precinct, this episode introduces an Odd Squad precinct for the state of Maine.
  • Odd Squad Directors are revealed to have the ability to change an agent's badge number if they see fit, although the Big O must be present to make it official. They can also be the officiant of weddings on a boat.
• World Tour: The Main 4 visit Newport, Maine to investigate an odd tunnel comprising of the eponymous void.

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He may be the quietest clown around, but he knows how to do a good ol' classic Pie in the Face.

Into the Odd Woods

Airdate: March 2, 2020 ^note  PBS Kids premiere

Agent Omar gets a case of "Clownitosis", and Opal and Oswald must go into the Odd Woods in São Paulo, Brazil to collect ingredients for an antidote.

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Tropes:

• Aerith and Bob: All of the clowns Omar addresses have bizarre names like Wing-Ding and Bozo...except the last one, who's named Tim.
• Ambiguous Time Period: Averted — this episode reveals that it's been a few months since the Mobile Unit was formed.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Opal and Oswald encounter a giant baby while searching for ingredients.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: Orla is repeatedly attacked by pies while trying to get Omar under control. When hit by one, Omar takes the chance to make his escape, with Orla in hot pursuit shortly after the shock wears off.
• Blatant Lies: Opal asks Omar what happened that caused him to get Clown-itosis. A Flashback Cut shows Omar saying his thanks to a group of clowns for giving him a ride, and when it cuts back to the present, he tells her that he has no idea how he got it.
• Breather Episode: Along with "The Void", it's a lighthearted episode before the Wham Episode "Slow Your Roll", which marks the debut of the Big Bad of the season, and also marks the halfway point.
• Butt-Monkey: Poor Orla is put through the wringer in this episode.
• Call-Back: Opal mentions that Omar might have "a case of the Sillies".
• Character Focus: The episode swaps focus between Omar and Oswald. In the former's case, he has Clown-itosis, and needs to be cured of it before he leaves the Mobile Unit to join the circus forever. Meanwhile, the latter is struggling to deal with Van Computer (in a compact form for easy traveling) being relied on for everything, and is hurt over Opal's repeated dismissals to rely on his book to find the ingredients to cure Omar.
• Clown Car: Omar gets a ride from a group of clowns traveling in one of these. This is what causes him to get Clown-itosis.
• Compressed Vice: It's implied that Oswald has a bit of a hatred for computers and other high-tech machines, preferring to use his old-fashioned books to get the job done. He has never shown such a hatred in past or subsequent episodes, but considering he is a Bookworm, it's fitting.
• Crazy-Prepared: Oswald just so happens to have a Clown-to-English dictionary on hand. Unfortunately, Orla books it to chase after Omar before he can relay the message to her.
  • Not only that, but he also has a Baby-to-English dictionary on him as well.
• The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Orla has a variant — she tells Omar that they can do this the easy way, or the silly way.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: The Odd Woods is indicated in Sao Paulo by yellow sparkles.
• Exact Eavesdropping: The Guardian of the Rocks overhears Opal and Oswald's conversation about tasting rocks to find the correct one, in order to deliver the episode's Aesop.
• Find the Cure!: This episode is one of many in a trend of "Find the ingredients for a cure" episodes.
• Great Big Book of Everything: As it turns out, the van is equipped with a Medical book that Oswald uses to diagnose Omar.
• I Can't Hear You: Opal tells Orla this while on the phone with her. As it turns out, Orla got another Pie in the Face, hence why her voice is muffled on the other end of the line.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Orla throws the pie at Omar, and it lands with incredible accuracy.
• Irony: The thing that Orla has been hit with is the very same thing that is needed to cure Omar: a pie.
• It Tastes Like Feet: Inverted. Opal and Oswald have to find a rock that tastes like a banana split with a cherry on top. Opal is very uncomfortable with licking every single rock, even if they have been washed every hour, on the hour, while Oswald picks up a rock, licks it, and remarks how it tastes minty.
• Jabba Table Manners: Omar's way of eating pies involves him thrusting his entire face into the pie, which Orla takes disgust to.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: This episode has the Main 4 split up into new pairings: Opal with Oswald, and Orla with Omar.
• Little "No": Orla gives one to Omar that is laced with Tranquil Fury when he offers her some of the pie that cured him.
• Meaningful Name: Make no mistake — while Opal and Oswald don't know why where they go for their last ingredient is known as Baby Bamboo Grove, they soon see exactly why.
• Must Make Her Laugh: He doesn't actively try to make Orla laugh, but nonetheless, Orla dedicates herself to keeping him well-behaved and under control because no clown has ever made her laugh. By the end of the episode, when Omar is cured, she doesn't laugh even once.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Omar, ever The Ditz, is revealed to have gotten himself infected with Clown-itosis by hitching a ride with a group of clowns.
• Non-Ironic Clown: Omar becomes one of these as his Clown-itosis progresses.
• No Sense of Humor: Orla doesn't find a clown's antics to be funny in any way. Even after Omar is cured and begins laughing after receiving a Pie in the Face, Orla just looks at him dead-on and asks him what's so funny. Her teammates find it funny, but she doesn't.
  Orla: I will never understand clowns.
• The Nose Knows: Oswald uses his sense of smell to find an odd pumpkin that smells like freshly-washed socks.
• Pie in the Face: Omar frequently hits Orla with these. Naturally, she doesn't find it funny in the slightest, mostly because a clown has never made her laugh.
  Orla: The Clown-itosis has gotten stronger...smarter... [tasting the pie filling] Sugarier. But still not funny!! HALT!!
  • Omar later gets on the receiving end of this when Orla throws the cure at him.
• Really Fond of Sleeping: The Guardian of the Rocks sleeps a lot due to having no visitors at his Mystical Rock Garden — for 57 years, as it turns out.
• Rhymes on a Dime: According to Oswald, Clown-itosis "starts in your noses, and spreads to your toes-es".
• Riddle Me This: The Guardian of the Rocks has Opal and Omar answer his "impossible riddle" in order to retrieve the rock they need. Said riddle is easy, as the answer to it happens to be "a rock".
• Rule of Three: Done Goldilocks and the Three Bears-style when Opal checks odd pumpkins and weighs rocks.
• The Runaway: It's stated that Omar will become a Circus Runaway if the Clown-itosis gets worse.
• Scary Jack-in-the-Box: Subverted. Orla approaches a large jack-in-the-box sitting in the middle of the hallway, believing that Omar, a Non-Ironic Clown, is inside. When turning the lever, "Pop Goes the Weasel" doesn't play — instead, it's a silly upbeat BGM track in the show that plays, and when the box opens, Omar isn't found to be inside, but rather, he performs a Stealth Hi/Bye, honking his horn before delivering another Pie in the Face to Orla.
• Sick Episode: The episode revolves primarily around Omar coming down with a case of Clown-itosis after having helped a group of clowns out. While Orla tries to keep him under wraps so he won't join the circus, Opal and Oswald go on a hunt for the ingredients to concoct an antidote to cure him.
• Spiritual Successor: To "A Case of the Sillies", as both episodes have a Find the Cure! plot involving a character descending into silliness while others go to look for ingredients for the antidote. Opal even mentions the episode title verbatim when diagnosing Omar.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Omar does this when Oswald explains to her that Omar will run away and join the circus if his illness progresses. And then Orla does it, appearing on the agents' other side.
• The Voiceless: Omar becomes this as the Clown-itosis progresses and he starts turning into an actual clown. He doesn't speak until after he's turned back to normal.
• Tranquil Fury: Oswald slips into this when the Van Computer creates a compact version of itself, and when Opal relies on it to weigh rocks.
  Opal: This thing is totally portable!
  Oswald: [through gritted teeth] Just...super.
• Trrrilling Rrrs: The Guardian of the Rocks does this a lot when saying "rock".
• Wild Take: Oswald gets one when he finds out that the Van Computer can produce a compact form of itself for on-the-go traveling.
• Worldbuilding: The Odd Woods, located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is introduced. It has oddly-colored pumpkins, oddly-colored sticks, and a giant baby in a place known as Baby Bamboo Grove. It also has the Mystical Rock Garden, guarded by the Guardian of the Rocks.
• World Tour: Opal and Omar go to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the Odd Woods is located.

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