Recap / Kids Incorporated S 2 E 24 Runaway Stacy

In “episode 9; Stacy became the last band member to be the focus of an episode’s plot. Here, she takes center-stage in the last regular episode of the season before Season 2 closes with a pair of concert episodes.

We start off with a performance of “All Tied Up” featuring a fairly elaborate setup at the beginning (Gloria seated at the counter while Stacy pretends to answer the phone). We then turn our focus to the break room, where Kid and Renee notice Stacy was upset; with the reason being Stacy (and Renee’’s) parents won’t let her have a bunny, leaving Kid baffled before joking about the situation to the tune of “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” as “Do You Really Wanna Bunny?”. The rabbit, we then learn, was being used as part of a school play and Stacy’s teacher had assigned the bunny to her care, only for their mom to point out their dad was allergic and would develop hives (which Stacy conflates with bees); leading Renee to deduce their dad was allergic to bunnies while Kid throws in a few more ill-advised jokes before the kids return to the stage for a slightly cleaned up version of “Games People Play”.

Stacy continues whining about the bunny until Renee offers to talk to their parents, only for Stacy to threaten to run away. The negotiation attempt soon failed, as did Renee’s hopes Stacy would change her mind; as the others’ efforts to get Stacy to back down fall on deaf ears (not helped by Kid making a wisecrack over starting a kid’s union), leading to Stacy taking off with the bunny, chatting about her dilemma (briefly considering sneaking the rabbit in but not wanting to lie to her parents), setting up “Honesty”. Upon her return, Kid (realizing Stacy took his comment on going on strike literally) emphasized that was just a joke; while Renee attempts to talk to Stacy about the importance of their parents in her life (with the others joining in to reinforce the point) - however, Stacy digs in and decides to run away to Britain (Kid: “You can’t even cross the street alone! How are you going to cross an ocean?”) before Gloria and Ryan convince her to think about what she was planning, after which Stacy dozes off (“Nowhere to Run”).

Renee then returns to the P*lace and finds her still asleep, waking her up and working to convince her to come home, noting the previous three hours and twenty minutes had seen the impact of Stacy’s absence on the rest of the family, even pet frog Ziggy^note the last time that pet was mentioned - lonely in Stacy’s absence - was seen looking at the school picture blinking in sorrow (Stacy’s response: “Of course he did, that’s a terrible picture”) while their dad took off work early to eat for her, eventually resulting in Stacy deciding to come home…after finding a place for the bunny.

As the plot winds down, we see the other band members relieved Stacy’s back (albeit with Kid, it has more to do with the band having a show to do) and that she didn’t run away/ As for the rabbit, which Stacy named Eddie (a play on country singer Eddie Rabbitt’s name^note it also serves as an inside joke; as per at least one interview, Ryan Lambert’s character was originally named Eddie)? Seems Riley decided to try his hand at being a magician again, using him in a magic trick by pulling him out of “The Great Rileyissimo’s” hat prior to closing song “I Believe in Me”.

Songs performed in this episode:

• “All Tied Up” (Melissa Manchester cover; lead vocals by Gloria and Kid)
• “Games People Play” (The Alan Parsons Project cover; lead vocals by Renee)^note which slightly cleaned up one profanity in the original words
• “Honesty (Billy Joel cover; lead vocals by Stacy)^note this marks the 4th episode in the second half of Season 2 to feature a Billy Joel cover; with one more being a reprise of “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” (from “Classical Case” in the next episode
• “Nowhere to Run” (Martha and the Vandellas cover; lead vocals by Stacy)
• “I Believe in Me” (Kids Incorporated original; lead vocals by Stacy)

Tropes associated with this episode:

• Dream Sequence/Imagine Spot: “Nowhere to Run” takes place in a Victorian-era setting.
• Honesty Is the Best Policy: The main aesop of the episode.
• Malaproper: Stacy refers to hives (that her father would develop due to allergies to rabbit fur) as “bees”.
• Plot Allergy: Apparently, Renee and Stacy’s father is allergic to bunnies; thus the reason their parents won’t let Stacy keep the rabbit.
• The Runaway: Stacy threatens to become one in this episode.
• School Play: What the rabbit at the center of the plot was being used for.
• Shout-Out:
  • Kid makes a brief joke about the rabbit Stacy wanted to keep to the tune of the Culture Club song “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” as “Do You Really Wanna Bunny?”
  • Also, at the end , Stacy ultimately decides to name the rabbit “Eddie”. As in country singer Eddie Rabbitt (though, as noted in Development Gag above, there’s another meaning in that name)