Recap / Craig Of The Creek S 3 E 36 Capture The Flag Part 5 The Game

Written & storyboarded by Jason Dwyer, Dashawn Mahone, Leiana Nitura, Najja Porter, & Ashley Tahilan

The fate of the Creek is put on the line in one epic game of Capture the Flag. But will Craig and his friends succeed against Xavier?

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Tropes:

• Alternate Catchphrase Inflection: Wildernessa's "You don't know anything about" line, which was usually targeted at Craig regarding his knowledge about animals, is used against Aggie regarding Craig's determination.
  Wildernessa: You think he's just gonna give up because of a bully like you? Clearly, you don't know a thing about Craig.
• Base on Wheels: Craig's side of the Creek keeps its flag in a cardboard fortress built by Carter that can transform into a robot so it can be moved.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Just as Squashinator is about to tag Craig, Wildernessa gets in front of him and lets herself get tagged.
    • Then just as Craig is about to be tagged by Squashinator again, Deltron suddenly arrives from the future to distract her with a song.
  • Maya holds Kelsey at bay at the overpass, but then the Green Poncho and his predecessor arrive for backup.
  • And when the Squashinator tries to tag Craig again in the castle, Sparkle Cadet shows up to incapacitate her with her bubbles.
• Big "NO!": After Wildernessa sacrifices herself to keep him from getting tagged out, Craig delivers one after she becomes frozen.
• Break Them by Talking: When Craig confronts Xavier at the King's Keep, Xavier taunts him with the fact that he's cornered all alone against someone who just has to tag him to take him out. Although Craig tries this himself by pointing out how Xavier has no real friends as everyone is only listening to him just to get his candy and toys.
• Brick Joke: The Blur gets sent to Cannonspace halfway through the episode. When the game is won, the Blur suddenly reappears in mid air and drops to the ground.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • The Scratchless One officially returns (excluding "Alternate Creekiverse") after being absent since Season One.
  • Michelle Green, the original Green Poncho, returns to help Omar and Kelsey to prevent Maya from crossing the overpass.
  • Deltron returns to Craig's time to stall Aggie from tagging Craig with his music before returning back to the future.
• Call-Back:
  • Toman makes the ground lava again like in "The Ground is Lava!", but he's stopped by Paloma, who joined Xavier's side, by jinxing him again like in "The Jinxening".
  • Craig finally uses the dog whistle Wildernessa gave him back in "Breaking the Ice" to summon her and Cheesestick for a ride to the King's Keep.
  • Wren and Faraday recreates the stink bomb from "Stink Bomb" and Faraday throws it at King Xavier's forces.
  • Bobby transforms into "Big Time Bobby" again and takes down Jackie by throwing candy at him.
  • Cannonball uses Cannonspace to his advantage, previously established in "The Ice Pop Trio."
• Continuity Cavalcade:
  • Almost everyone who has ever appeared on the show takes part in the game, including characters not seen since their premiere appearances.
  • Many things set up in previous episodes play a key role in this episode.
    • The Creek Kids hide their flag in the center of the poison ivy patch, from all the way back in the first episode.
    • Toman makes an opening by declaring that The Ground Is Lava.
    • Cannonball uses his Cannonspace to trap The Blur in it.
• Defeat Means Friendship:
  • After Craig defeats Xavier, there are a few examples that indicate this.
    • Xavier’s forces are kneeling before Craig.
    • Yustice is seen helping up one of Xavier’s soldiers.
    • The Blur is smiling at Maney to show that there were no hard feelings after he tagged her out earlier in the episode.
• Dying Declaration of Love: As Wildernessa succumbs to being tagged out to save Craig, she admits she did it because "I like..." before freezing up completely.
• Easily Forgiven: After everything she has done, Omar is still willing to forgive Maya right away once the game is over.
• Extra-Long Episode: While the previous four "Capture the Flag" episodes were the typical 11 minutes, the final episode is a full half-hour.
• Floating in a Bubble: Sparkle Cadet whips up a giant bubble that Bobby can fly in.
• Harmless Freezing: Under Freeze Tag rules, anyone who gets tagged is literally frozen in ice. They all defrost after the game is over.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Craig subverts this at the end. Craig is usually about everyone being free to do whatever they want in the Creek, but after Paintball Mike disobeys Craig's order to stay put and goes to rescue Paintball Benny, which ruins the first part of his plan, he gets frustrated when no one listens to him again and starts to believe the Creek should have a little order, like back in the previous episode. He vents to Wildernessa about how if everyone had just listened to him, especially his warnings about King Xavier, they could have avoided this war entirely. When he begins to think that maybe the Creek needs someone to lead all the kids, Wildernessa questions him if he's trying to convince her or himself. After Craig takes Xavier's flag, Xavier tells him he also loves the Creek and he accepts being the King because the kids of the Creek need a strong leader who knows what's best for them, which Craig understands. But when Xavier tells Craig he can never be King because it requires a firm hand and he could never handle that burden, Craig has some thoughts about if he should be King after the war. After Craig wins the game, Xavier's forces kneel towards Craig and see him as their new King, but after looking at the friends he made at the Creek, he remembers his principles and rejects the title and declares no one should tell anyone what they can and can't do in the Creek, and dissolves the monarchy so that the kids of the other side can be free to play how they want.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Wildernessa lets herself get frozen to save Craig.
• Human Cannonball: In a last attempt to stop Maya, the Green Poncho's combine the remains of their broken bows into a single bow, and use it to fire Kelsey at Maya.
• Mundane Made Awesome: A simple childhood game of Capture the Flag, in tandem with Freeze Tag, becomes an epic battle for the fate of the Creek.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After Carter transforms his fortress into a giant robot so they can retreat, J.P. taunts Maya by telling her she lost and she won't be the King's BFF anymore and she'll be all alone, which infuriates her into destroying Carter's robot easily and taking their flag.
• One-Woman Army: While Craig has to send teams to retrieve King Xavier's flag, Xavier only sends Maya to get their flag and she easily plows through the Sewer Queen, the Ninja Kids, and destroys Carter's giant cardboard robot with one strike after she gets really mad at J.P.'s taunt.
• Oh, Crap!: Jackie, usually unflinching, is visibly terrified when facing Bigtime Bobby.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Both Xavier and Craig do this to each other. When Craig tries to take the flag, King Xavier mocks Craig for essentially cornering himself by coming into the King's Keep where Xavier can tag him, how he’s going to lose his side of the Creek to Xavier once and for all, and how he never had a chance against a King. But just as he's about to tag Craig, Craig tells him he doesn't compare to the Kings that his sister and brother were, that he's nothing but a bully who gives kids candy to get them to obey him, as he knows deep down that nobody would actually want to be his friend if he wasn't King because nobody likes him as a person. This enrages Xavier and instead of trying to tag Craig he tries to punch him and almost falls off the edge until Craig saves him.
• Rule of Symbolism: As Xavier chases after Craig who has his coat and flag, the petals on his crown begin to fall. Once Craig wins the game, the flower is completely without petals representing the end of Xavier's power.
• Save the Villain: When King Xavier tries to punch Craig and he narrowly dodges it, he's about to fall off the edge but Craig pulls him to safety while also taking his flag.
• Season Finale: The final episode of Season Three.
• Sequel Hook: The ending opens up a lot of things to be explored in the next season:
  • What will Xavier do now that his reign as King has ended?
  • Where did Maya go and will she and Omar ever reconcile?
  • Even though the Creek is free of Xavier's rule, there is still a bit of work to do rebuilding everything he and his kingdom destroyed.
  • With Xavier's reign over, the Other Side is now safe to explore, leading to new adventures for the Stump Trio.
  • How will the Creek's candy supply be affected by the demise of its newest candy provider with Kit still in summer school?
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Craig rebuts Xavier's taunts that he knows nothing about being a king, because he's just a bully who uses candy to control other kids, which is the only way he'll have friends because none of them care for Xavier the person.
  Craig: Deep down, you know that these kids only want to be friends with the King, but nobody wants to be friends with Xavier.
• Sketchy Successor: Craig calls Xavier this, riling him up by stating he's nothing like Cheyenne and he'll never be like Kenneth was, stating that at least people liked his siblings outside the crown, while all the kids on his side of the Creek may want to be friends with the King, no one actually likes Xavier for who he really is.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: Maya is very desperate not to let Xavier down as his BFF, because it'd mean she betrayed Omar for nothing.
• Taking the Bullet: Wildernessa takes the tag from the Squishinator meant for Craig.
• Time for Plan B: After the loss of the Paint Ballers due to them breaking rank, Craig resorted to Plan B by sending in Toman, the Science Alliance and the Junk Lord.
• Transforming Mecha: The base Carter built to house the flag becomes one of his signature giant robots.
  JP: Wait, is this fort secretly a giant robot?
  Carter: It's not a secret if you tell everyone.
• Trauma Button: Kelsey is still fearful about having to face Maya after their first showdown.
• Villain Ball: The Blur already tagged out Handlebarb, Warpspeed, and Maney and the only ones left are Kelsey and Cannonball, but he decides to toy with them with his speed. By not tagging them out, Cannonball is able to give rid of him by bringing him into the Cannonspace, allowing Kelsey to later stop Maya from crossing the overpass with their flag.
• Villain Has a Point: Xavier makes a point during his Break Them by Talking that Craig can't refute about how the Creek needs a strong leader to oversee everyone. While he's just doing it to demoralize Craig and raise himself up, he's not entirely wrong about a centralized leader could be helpful given how much chaos has happened during just this current game.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • When JP taunts Maya about how she'll lose the game and her status as the King's BFF as well, she completely snaps, easily destroying Carter's cardboard mech and taking the red flag.
  • Maya breaks down when faced with Kelsey and the Green Ponchos, saying that if she doesn't bring the flag, she'll lose the closest thing to a friend she actually has.
  • When Craig brings up the fact that Xavier is no true King and that he has no real friends, he tries to punch Craig instead of tagging him.
• We Need a Distraction: As Squishinator has Craig cornered, Deltron appears and does a rap, which Squishinator dances to while Craig escapes.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Did Maya and Xavier ever find out Jason was a double agent? Nothing was confirmed either way.
  • Where were the Elders, Tea Timers, Raj, and Shawn during the game?
  • Despite it being revealed to the audience that Kit's report card was tampered with, it's unclear if she was ever exonerated.
• Wicked Cultured: Xavier is shown playing an electric piano when Craig enters his castle.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Kelsey, later joined by both the current and previous Green Poncho, make a last stand at the overpass to keep Maya from taking their flag to the other side.

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