Recap / Carl S 5 E 10 Bad Roxanne (2/2)

Original release date: 11/27/2022

Following her fight with Kylie, Roxanne faces expulsion after depleting Staffordshire's patience. Roxanne begs the principal for a final chance, and she gives in to her pleas but warns her that any sort of misconduct will get her expelled, though Gooper still wants her to do his will and break school rules. Roxanne now has to choose between Gooper exposing her secret to everyone at school or being expelled from Toad Town High.

Tropes:

• Adults Are Useless: The faculty members of Toad Town High sees a very angry Gooper chasing Blooper, who is completely terrified. Only Staffordshire seems concerned with this.
  Mr. Moore: That looks troubling... should we do something?
  Coach Johnson: Nah, I'm still tired from third period.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: How dumb could Flaig possibly be? No, seriously, how dumb is Flaig?
  Gooper: The only place Roxanne will be seeing you again is an ad for calamari rings!
  Flaig: Why would Blooper be in an ad for calamari rings?
  Liam: He's a squid, Flaig! God, you're real stupid sometimes!
• Amicable Exes: Tucker and Roxanne come clean to each other and apologize for their respective mistakes but do not get back together, with both of them deciding that they are better off as just friends.
• Better as Friends: After everything is over, Roxanne and Tucker both admit that their relationship never worked they way they would have liked it to work and don't get back together, but Roxanne does tell Tucker that she will always love him as a friend, with Tucker feeling the same way about Roxanne.
• Bystander Syndrome: Once again, most of the students of Toad Town High are more interested in enjoying a fight (read, Gooper brutally beating up Blooper) than doing something to stop it. Thankfully though, other than Gordy, everyone calms down after Roxanne reveals her secret and breaks up with Gooper for good.
• Call-Back:
  • Carl brings up the time Roxanne helped him expose Sebastian for all his lies when he tried to steal Carl's friends, referencing the events of "Carl's Rival".
  • The locker that Tucker hit and made a crack on in "Toad Town Puckers" can be seen near the end of the episode
  • Talia tells Dry Bones during face-time that a girl that looked a lot like Boo went around asking the other girls for their phone numbers during a party a few weeks prior.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Gooper is blinded with rage when he learns that Blooper and Roxanne kissed at the end of "The Valentine's Bowl", and brutally assaults Blooper because of this.
• Everyone Has Standards: Liam and Flaig may not be the best people, but they are so shocked by what Gooper is doing to Blooper that they restrain him because he could have beaten Blooper to death otherwise. Likewise, Liam is not amused when he learns that Gooper has been blackmailing Roxanne into staying with him for over a year and punches him in the face, warning him never to mistreat his little sister again.
• Evil Twin: Boo thinks that the reason that Roxanne has changed ever since getting back with Gooper is that she is not Roxanne, but an Evil Twin who kidnapped her and took her place. Only Grace seems to think this could be plausible.
  Carl: Please stop.
• Foreshadowing: Liam tells Carl what happens between Gooper and Roxanne is only dealt with between the three of them for what is perceived as a later occurrence of what Liam does to Gooper towards the end of the episode.
• I'll Kill You!: Gooper gives a somewhat exaggerated Pre Ass Kicking One Liner to Blooper before beating him up mercilessly.
  Gooper: You're dead, you little leech!
• Incompatible Orientation: After Kylie and Roxanne make up with each other, Roxanne apologizes to Kylie for implying that she deliberately caused Dry Bones and Talia's break-up out of jealousy because she had a crush on Dry Bones. Kylie however reveals that the one she had a crush on was Talia, not Dry Bones. Kylie didn't reveal this before because at the time she was keeping her bisexuality a secret, and Dry Bones and Talia were already dating.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: After Roxanne dumps him, Gooper angrily tells her he'll find a girl like her to replace her in no time. Cue the episode's epilogue, revealing that he and Mary-Lynn got back together, much to his disappointment.
• Interspecies Romance: Roxanne and Blooper finally become a couple. She's a Koopa, and he's a squid.
• Jerkass Realization: Roxanne depleting Staffordshire's patience and being threatened with expulsion from school causes Roxanne to realize that she hasn't been acting like herself, as being expelled would mean losing contact with her friends and could reflect badly on her future, she begs Staffordshire for a last chance, which she is granted, but is also warned that she will be expelled the instant she misbehaves.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Liam may not be the best person out there, but he is disgusted with Gooper when he learns that he was blackmailing Roxanne, even punching him in the face for all he had done to her.
    Liam: Never treat my sister that way again, man.
  • Staffordshire had run out of patience with Roxanne after her fight with Kylie and was going to expel her, but changed her mind and decided to give her one last chance after Roxanne begged her. Once Roxanne faces Gooper and decides to end her toxic relationship with him for good, Staffordshire smiles at her from a window. Keep in mind that Staffordshire rarely smiles when it comes to her job as principal, meaning that she has decided to forgive Roxanne.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Gooper is personally hit with this a lot in the episode. Roxanne makes clear that she doesn't fear him anymore and dumps him after being blackmailed into dating him for over a year, Bob leaves for their trip to Ocean Side on his own because Roxanne didn't show up, and not only does he get punched in the face by Carl and Tucker, but also his own "friend" Liam after he learns that Gooper's relationship with Roxanne consisted of him blackmailing her. To top it all off, he is now stuck with Mary-Lynn again, much to his dismay.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: After learning that Gooper was blackmailing Roxanne, Liam punches him in the face, warning him never to mistreat his little sister ever again.
• Let Me at Him!: Gooper almost says the exact phrase word for word while Liam and Flaig restrain him.
  Gooper: Get your hands off me, I'm not through with him!
• Mass "Oh, Crap!" / Big "WHAT?!" : After Blooper tells Gooper and everyone in the vicinity around them he Kissed Roxanne at the bowling alley, Carl, Roxanne, their friends, and Gooper's gang all become very shocked by what they just heard.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Tucker has this on his face when he brings himself to how he was towards Roxanne throughout their relationship.
  • Roxanne starts to feel this way after she tells Carl Gooper blackmailed Roxanne into dating him for over a year, even calling herself a terrible person in the process.
  • Blooper's reaction when he unexpectedly made Gooper go out in a rage just as he proceeds to beat him up, with everyone following suit to prevent the situation.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Because Blooper loudly told everybody that he kissed Roxanne in "The Valentine's Bowl", Gooper loses his temper and beats him up in a fit of rage, even having to be restrained by Liam and Flaig because otherwise he would have beaten him to death.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gooper towards Blooper while on a fit of rage after Blooper loudly told everyone he kissed Roxanne.
• I Owe You My Life: Roxanne asks Carl why he is trying to help her, and Carl tells her that he is doing it not only because she is his friend, but because of the time Roxanne helped him expose Sebastian's lies when he tried stealing all of his friends.
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh... / Oh, Crap!: Carl tries to start a fight with Gooper after he punched him in the face, but because Gooper felt nothing from being punched and Carl forgot that the latter was stronger than him, he punches Carl much harder than he did.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Gooper gives a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner in a downplayed variation of this trope to Blooper.
  Gooper: You're ... dead!
• Relationship Revolving Door: As it's been the case in the past, Mary-Lynn and Gooper get back together following Roxanne dumping him for Blooper, much to the excitement of Mary-Lynn and the dismay of Gooper.
• Relationship Upgrade: After years of tension of whether or not Roxanne and Blooper would become a couple, they officially start a relationship at the end of this episode.
• Repression Never Ends Well: Having felt scared of Gooper for a long time, Blooper loses his temper and calls Gooper out for blackmailing Roxanne into dating him.
• Right Behind Me: Carl rants about everything wrong with Gooper to Blooper, only for Gooper to show up behind him and for Carl to not notice him until he has finished talking.
  Carl: This has to stop happening...
• Saying Too Much: Angry at Gooper for insulting him and trying to force Roxanne into doing his will, Blooper yells at him that he and Roxanne kissed after the Bowling night during Valentine's, blinding Gooper with rage and making him chase and brutally beat Blooper up. Thankfully Tucker and Roxanne come into the defence of Blooper.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: Downplayed. When Carl and Gooper are about to fight in the hallway over the whole Roxanne debacle, the former subtly changes the subject as he tells everyone how unfair it is for them to do a lot of homework during spring break, much to the confusion of Liam, who is surprisingly right about Carl finding out about the huge amount of homework they need to complete.
  Gooper: I don't tell you how to act in your relationship, Mitchell. I don't think it's fair for you to tell me how to act in mine.
  Carl: I don't think it's fair that we get those big folders full of homework to complete during spring break, but here we are.
  Liam: Sorry, what?
  Carl: No but really, why do we have to work during our week off?
  Flaig: Yeah, man. Kids like us just need a break, you know?
  Gooper: Shut the hell up, Flaig!
• The Dog Bites Back: Carl, Blooper, Liam, Roxanne, and Tucker all give Gooper a taste of his own medicine for emotionally abusing Roxanne:
  • Carl tries to fight Gooper by punching him in the face (enough to make him look at the audience) after he makes an unruly comment about stalking Grace, but Gooper immediately fights back by punching him in the chest, averting Carl's action altogether.
  • Blooper declared enough was enough for him as he relentlessly calls Gooper out for mistreating Roxanne and forcing her to do things she didn't want to do with him. Additionally, he mentions how Roxanne's arc wouldn't have happened if Gooper cared about her.
  • Following Carl's advice, Roxanne decides she has had enough of Gooper and chooses to reveal her secret, using Gooper's blackmail against him and finally breaking up with him for good.
  • Tucker runs up to Gooper and forcefully tells him to leave Blooper alone. After Roxanne reveals her secret, Gooper tries to hit Blooper again, but Tucker shoves him to one side and knocks him out cold.
  • After he learns the truth about Gooper blackmailing Roxanne into dating him, Liam punches him in the face, warning him never to mistreat his sister ever again.
• Tranquil Fury: Liam doesn't know what to say to Gooper after he learns the truth about Roxanne and Gooper's "relationship", so he waits until everyone has gone into class, quietly punches him in the face and silently walks off before giving Gooper a verbal warning not to mistreat his sister again.
• Twin Switch: Boo suggests to the others that the Roxanne they are currently seeing is not Roxanne but an Evil Twin who kidnapped her and then took her place. Naturally, no one (except Grace) takes him seriously.
• When She Smiles: Staffordshire, who usually is very uptight and stern, smiles at Roxanne after she decides to face Gooper and save Blooper, indicating that she has earned the principal's forgiveness and that she is proud of Roxanne for standing up to Gooper.

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