Recap / Rugrats S 1 E 7 Grandpas Teeth Momma Trauma

The seventh episode of the first season of Rugrats (1991).

Grandpa's Teeth

Grandpa loses his teeth and Chuckie and Tommy must get them back before he plays his trumpet at the veterans' picnic.

Momma Trauma

Didi decides to take Tommy to a child psychologist after catching him drawing on the wall.

"Grandpa's Teeth" provides examples of:

• Adults Are Useless: As Tommy and Chuckie are the only ones who knew what happened to Lou's teeth (and unable to tell the grown-ups), they take it upon themselves to get them back while the adults fruitlessly search for them.
• An Aesop:
  • Always keep track of your belongings.
  • Stay at a safe distance to wildlife.
• Calling a Rabbit a "Smeerp": The "ducks" that Tommy and Chuckie keep running into are quite obviously geese from the way they look and how they honk instead of quacking.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: A little boy complains that he doesn't want to ride the pony, claiming it will go too fast. His father assures him that the pony can barely trot, then the duck that stole Lou's dentures scares the pony, causing it to run away in fear and drag the little boy's dad. The little boy suddenly enjoys the pony ride, but his dad... not so much.
• Cool Old Guy: Tommy insists on getting Lou's teeth back, saying the guy always takes care of him when he's sick, plays with him when no one else will, and ensures he can watch TV at night by falling asleep with it on.
• Dramatic Irony: When it's first discovered that Lou's dentures are missing, Didi comments that they couldn't have gone far, giving an Aside Glance while asking who would want them. She never considered the possibility that an animal (let alone their own dog) would swipe them.
• Duck!: This exchange when Chuckie is the Backseat Driver for Spike:
  (Picnic tables are coming up)
  Chuckie: Pic-a-nic table! Pic-a-nic table!
  Tommy: Duck!
  (Spike crouches down and crawls under the picnic tables)
  Chuckie: Duck!
  Tommy: No, Chuckie, we got under the table.
  Chuckie: No, the other kind of duck!
  (The group of ducks from earlier are waiting in front of them, forcing Spike to skid to a halt)
• False Teeth Tomfoolery: Lou loses his false teeth at a veteran's picnic, and he needs them to play his trumpet in a brass band. Tommy and Chuckie go on an adventure to get them back for him.
• Foul Waterfowl: A duck gets ahold of Grandpa Lou's dentures and aggressively chases Tommy and Chuckie.
• Here We Go Again!: At the end of the episode, Tommy and Chuckie hope they never lose their teeth after the adventure they had finding Lou's dentures. Tommy then sees an elderly gentleman remove his wig and wants to try pulling Chuckie's hair off, much to Chuckie's ire.
  Chuckie: Tommy, forget about it!
• Hope Spot: Spike barks at the ducks to try to scare them away, only to lose the teeth and for the leader to grab them.
• I Ate WHAT?!: When Didi asks Lou what the last thing he did with his dentures was, Lou tells her that he took them out to eat some potato salad. The other adults believe that Lou's dentures fell into the bowl of potato salad, and one veteran, who was seen eating the potato salad suddenly becomes queasy and runs offscreen to throw up. Later in the episode, Lou asks Didi to check the bucket of fried chicken, in case he dropped them in it. Stu, who happened to be eating a piece of fried chicken at the time, spits his fried chicken out upon hearing this.
• I Can't Hear You: When the stampede of ducks and ponies comes to a shuffleboard court, two elderly gentlemen are playing a game of shuffleboard. The first one warns the second, "There's some horses a comin'!", but the second one mishears and asks him, "You say your porch needs new plumbin'?".
• Ignored Epiphany: After Chuckie talks about all they went through today because Lou took his teeth out, Tommy concludes it's better to leave things where they are. They then see an old man briefly move his hairpiece, prompting Tommy to ask to see Chuckie's hair for a moment.
• Noodle Incident: Stu and Didi warn Lou not to take out his dentures, asking him if he remembers what happened last time he did so. Lou tells them that it was Drew who knocked them into the spaghetti sauce, but Drew insists that Lou had knocked them into the Jell-O mold.
• Oh, Crap!: This is Tommy and Chuckie's appropriate reaction when the leader of the ducks grabs up Lou's teeth.
• "Oh, Crap!" Smile: When Spike tries to scare off the leader of the ducks with Lou's dentures, they accidentally fall out of his mouth, leaving him to grin sheepishly as the duck gives a Death Glare.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: The adults react this way when Lou loses his dentures, much like the previous Noodle Incident.
• Picnic Episode: This episode takes place at a veteran's picnic.
• Spit Take: Lou does this when Didi catches him eating Jell-O without his dentures. Stu later does this after Lou asks Didi to check the bucket of fried chicken in case he dropped his dentures in it.
• Stunned Silence: Tommy and Chuckie stare in shock, after seeing Lou take his teeth out.
• Toothy Bird: Played with when a duck gets hold of Lou's false teeth.
• When I Was Your Age...: Lou does this when blaming Drew for once knocking his teeth into spaghetti sauce, saying people used to watch where their elbows were once upon a time. Drew pointing out what really happened (Lou knocked the teeth into a Jell-O mold) shuts him right up, though.

"Momma Trauma" provides examples of:

• Accidental Hero: During Tommy’s misadventures throughout the building he manages to help save an innocent man from going to jail by inadvertently helping two lawyers find the case they were looking for.
• Adults Are Useless: When Stu complains about not wanting to be in Dr. Lepetomaine's office, he opens the door and leaves it open, causing Tommy to escape and setting the episode's plot in motion. As usual, none of the adults even notice that Tommy left.
  Stu: Is there an emergency exit or is this the only way out?
• Armor-Piercing Question: Stu is initially completely opposed to this visit and doesn't want to participate, but his attitude starts to change when Dr. Lepetomaine simply asks him, "Would you describe yourself a happy man?"
• Brick Joke: At the end of the cartoon, as Tommy and his parents are leaving the building, the elevator comes down to reveal Mrs. Chesapeake, still angry over her "insulting" portrait.
• Call-Back: The place where Tommy follows the children to is called the Snow, Steele, and Trickum Agency. In "Baby Commercial", Snow, Steele, and Trickum were the names of the advertising agents that were overseeing the diaper commercial Phil and Lil starred in.
• Comical Overreacting: In response to seeing that Tommy drew all over the hallway walls, Didi decides to take him to a child psychologist. She also calls out Stu for not realizing it's a problem.
  Stu: There's nothing wrong with Tommy!
  Didi: How can you say that?!
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Near the beginning of the episode, Stu complains about having to go to a psychologist when Didi wants to talk to him about Tommy drawing on the walls. Over the course of the episode, Stu tells Dr. Lepetomaine what's been bothering him, and begins to enjoy it, not wanting to leave after his time is up. For added points, Didi begins to question Dr. Lepetomaine's qualifications when he charges her $250.
• Contrived Coincidence: Tommy goes into a law office, where two men are looking for evidence that proves their client's innocence. Tommy crawls across the desk, turning the pages of a book, which one of the men notices has the evidence he and his partner are looking for.
• Hypocritical Humor: Didi praises Dr. Lepetomaine while Stu thinks he's a quack, in addition to believing Didi is overreacting to Tommy's behavior. Later, after talking to him, Stu believes Dr. Lepetomaine is a genius, while Didi rolls her eyes, since she questions the psychologist's bill and didn't even finish discussing about Tommy.
• Kids Prefer Boxes: A variation; a man is trying to sell some toy robots to children, but the children are only interested in the ball, which comes as an accessory.
• Manly Tears: Stu starts weeping as he recalls how his older brother would pick on him while denying it. Notably, this is the first time we see Stu crying. ^note  He does cry offscreen behind the puppet theatre in the first episode, though, about Drew ripping his favorite stuffed toy when they were little.
• Mustache Vandalism: An artist is about to surprise his client, Mrs. Chesapeake, with a portrait he painted of her. Tommy accidentally steps on a tube of black paint, causing it to squirt a mustache and goatee on it. Mrs. Chesapeake is horrified when she sees the portrait.
• Riddle for the Ages:
  • What became of the artist after Mrs. Chesapeake left in anger for the ruined portrait?
  • Are the two toy salesmen fired for losing that ball?
• Straying Baby: As Stu and Didi are occupied with Dr. Lepetomaine, Tommy walks out the door that Stu left open and has an adventure.
• Tempting Fate: The two toy salesman frantically search the entire building for the ball Tommy took, saying it'll never leave the building. Soon, Tommy throws it away, and it bounces out the front door.
• Verbal Tic: Dr. Lepetomaine keeps saying "I see" while listening to Didi discuss about Tommy's behavior.
  Stu: Oh brother.
  Dr. Lepetomaine: Is something wrong, Mr. Pickles?
  Stu: I'll tell you what's wrong: I don't know why we're here, I have no idea what Didi's talking about, and all you've been saying is "I see".
  Dr. Lepetomaine: I see.