Recap / Codename Kids Next Door S 5 E 1 Operation ELECTIONS

Your new fourth grade president! ^note  Or not.

Now entering Kids Next Door recap: Operation: E.L.E.C.T.I.O.N.S.

Enemy

Launches

Evil

Campaign

To

Inflame

Our

Noble

School

Tropes:

• Ambulance Chaser: Numbuh 4 angrily calls Numbuh $1.50 an Hour a "skateboard chaser" as he's being dragged away from him.
• Attack Its Weak Point: In order to bring down Hendrie Middle School, all it takes is to disturb the principal in his office.
• Bait-and-Switch: The episode begins with Numbuh 1 delivering a speech while Gallagher Elementary's student body cheers. Once Numbuh 2 wonders who he's talking to, it's revealed that Nigel was just rehearsing, and the students were cheering for something else.
• Berserk Button: Principal Hendrie does not like to be disturbed in his office, nor does he like to see a bike in his school. His rage is so powerful, it destroys the entire school building.
  Principal Hendrie: CHAD DICKSON!! WHAT IS A BIKE DOING IN MY SCHOOL, LET ALONE IN MY OFFICE!!?
• Continuity Nod: Nigel's rehearsed speech mentions events of past episodes: homework thieves on school buses, honor student were-poodles, crazy lunch ladies, and to top it off, the previous president being a tyrant and trying to steal Nigel's girlfriend.
• Dark Horse Victory: In the end, it turns out that neither the Delightful Children nor Numbuh 1 won the election and became president. In the end, it turns out to be a different student named Eggbert Eggleston, since nobody can stand Nigel's overbearing leadership.
• Delayed "Oh, Crap!": When Goof opens the door for Numbuh 1, Runt scolds him for doing so, as Numbuh 1 could escape. Only to realize that Numbuh 1 is already long gone by that point.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The Delightful Children from Down the Lane are the initial antagonists of the episode as Nigel's primary opponents for the election (which they rig in their favor). After their treachery is revealed to the school, they're quickly shunted aside for the teenagers.
• Engineered Public Confession: Numbuh 1 sneaks into the DCFDTL's office and turns on their intercom, revealing their intention of selling out Gallagher Elementary to the Middle School.
• Halfway Plot Switch: Starts out akin to a political thriller, then suddenly becomes a Star Wars homage.
• Hope Spot: A villainous example. When Numbuh 1's ball misses the door to Principal Hendrie's office, Chad smugly taunts his Arch-Enemy before he prepares to finish him off...only for his Battle Ready Bike to trip over the ball and send him crashing into the office instead.
• I Lied: Wilson helped the Delightful Children rig the election on the promise that they would let him have some of their birthday cake next year, only for them to immediately throw him in permanent detention once winning.
• Kangaroo Court: The DCFDTL appoint themselves as judges to Numbuh 1's trial, and they sentence him to detention in an instant.
• Lampshade Hanging: Runt mentions how the KND are surprisingly good at making high-tech weaponry out of household objects.
• Let's You and Him Fight: The Delightful Children distract their classmates by engineering an inter-grade civil war in the school.
• Not-So-Innocent Whistle: At the end when Numbuh 1 learns who really did win the election and wonders who would have voted for "Eggboy", the rest of Sector V slink away...
• Oh, Crap!:
  • The Delightfuls get this when they see the entire fourth grade class now glaring at them, taking a moment to realize that Numbuh 1 pushed the intercom button while they confessed their plans.
  • Chad when he realizes Numbuh 1 is targeting Principal Hendrie's office, and when his bike is about to crash into said office.
• Only One Finds It Fun: Numbuh 4 actually finds the Delightful Children's warmongering to be more fun than usual school. Numbuh 5 snaps at him for not seeing how the Delightful Children are turning everyone against each other.
• Shout-Out:
  • Wilson Woodrow, the new Fourth Grade Presidential Secretary after Anna Worthington was imprisoned along with former President Jimmy. His name is a reversal of President Woodrow Wilson.
  • The climactic battle at the high school is basically the Battle of Yavin, combined with the escape from the exploding Death Star II in Return of the Jedi. It also lifts several lines from the former, such as "The water fountains have stopped firing" and "I'm on the leader".
• Taking You with Me: Numbuh 2, with his bike's rear wheels destroyed, pulls out to destroy Chad's speeder bike. Though Chad manages to dodge him, his accompanying bikers get knocked out with Numbuh 2.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: While escaping detention, Numbuh 1, who had caught onto the lingo for entering and exiting, calls out "One coming out!" while swinging over the guards. Goof, who's operating the door, instinctively pushes the button. While Runt is deriding him that he's not supposed to open the door for convicts, Nigel gets away before she remembers what was happening.
• Tied-Together-Shoelace Trip: Implied after Numbuh 1 and Wilson are put in Permanent Detention. The minute the Delightful Children were elected, they framed Wilson for tying Muffy Jenkins' shoelaces together, giving him detention for life with no chance for recess.
  Numbuh 1: Well, serves you right!
• Two Men, One Dress: Or rather, five Delightful Children, one judge's robe and wig.
• Understatement: When Numbuh 1 finds out how the DCFDTL rigged the vote.
  Wilson: Someone has to count the votes, and The Delightful Children promised me a slice of their birthday cake next year if I... fudged the results a little.
  Numbuh 1: "Fudged"!? They weren't even on the ballot!