Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Littlest Pet Shop 2012 S 1 E 22 Lotsa Luck

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lps-episode22_1632.png
"The bear tells me you're funny, Papa. We'll seeā€¦"

Written by Tom Minton

Pepper is delighted to receive news of a visitor coming to The Littlest Pet Shop: An orangutan named Old Bananas, also known as O.B., whom Pepper is a fan of. Old Bananas used to perform on a sitcom called That's My Orangutan, which Pepper used to watch all the time as a kit and learned comedy routines from, but the program was canceled due to possible legal threats of imitatable behavior. Nevertheless, over the years, Pepper continued to idolize Old Bananas and took his catchphrase and the show's philosophy on life, "Lotsa Luck," to heart. In the present, she prepares a comedy routine to impress him, hoping to hear his catchphrase in person, but despite Zoe showing her support, Pepper interprets her to mean to make the routine even better.

Pepper asks Blythe to look for a hammock in the closet, which Old Bananas often slumped on during his show. Blythe searches and eventually finds a hammock but also a chest labeled "Kung Fu Quilting." Curious, Blythe opens it up to find a promotional poster showing a woman named "Anna T." as a master. Blythe looks up to see that this woman is none other than Mrs. Twombly.

At the store front, Old Bananas and his owner enter. Mrs. Twombly recognizes Old Bananas immediately but tells a groan-worthy joke to him. Penny escorts Old Bananas to the day camp room. Over there, Pepper is still rehearsing her jokes involving her rubber chicken, but unbeknownst to her, Old Bananas had been watching. He gives a sarcastic clap and tells her, in her face, that she is not funny. Emotionally hurt but not discouraged, she nervously introduces herself to Old Bananas, who promptly ignores her and gives Minka, Zoe, Penny, Vinnie, and Sunil autographed photos, then tells better jokes, and better-timed jokes, with Pepper's rubber chicken. Pepper and Russell stand on the stage as Old Bananas rushes to the hammock, Pepper feeling humiliated and inadequate.

Blythe shows Youngmee the results of her research, confirming that not only was Mrs. Twombly a master at kung-fu quilting, she was its inventor, taught people around the world, and won some world championships. Blythe prints out what she finds and rushes to Mrs. Twombly to verify it. Mrs. Twombly acknowledges that she was indeed a kung-fu quilting master but prefers not to talk about it. Blythe's insistence on learning more just sours her mood, and she goes outside to clean the windows.

Pepper watches Old Bananas in his hammock, adored by the other five regulars. When Russell tells Pepper that she can entertain anyone if she puts enough effort, she vows to find a way to get Old Bananas to laugh. She gets an idea but requires Russell's collaboration. When she's ready though, Russell just stands there while Pepper attempts to juggle a bowling pin and a pie on a unicycle. Old Bananas's comment to "mind your props," however, causes her to fumble and hit her head with all three props.

Blythe follows Mrs. Twombly outside to ask how she managed to invent kung-fu quilting. Mrs. Twombly explains that a doctor told her to lie flat for two weeks. She got so bored she took up quilting and watching kung-fu movies and combined them together to make quilts extremely quickly. She makes a small demonstration for Blythe and regrets that old age had weakened her considerably. She adds that, as she became known as the champion, she took on so many challengers in such a short time that she pulled a tendon on her foot and was unable to kung-fu quilt anymore. Mrs. Twombly walks away, leaving Blythe in quiet admiration.

Pepper tries one more comedy routine for Old Bananas, this time focusing on gag props over her dialogue. She goes through them in quick succession but only bores Old Bananas.

Blythe wonders why Mrs. Twombly continued to retire even after her tendon healed. Mrs. Twombly says that during the injury, she founded The Littlest Pet Shop and enjoyed running it so much that she chose to retire from kung-fu quilting for good. Blythe still feels amazed at what Mrs. Twombly can do and requests for her to teach it but runs off to the day camp to see what's been going on with Pepper and Old Bananas while Mrs. Twombly gets second thoughts.

By the time Blythe joins in to watch Pepper, she has gone through every act she has ever done before and is exhausted. Seeing Blythe, however, fills her back up with energy and does a combination stand-up and slapstick act she thought up on the spot that gets everyone in the room laughing—except Old Bananas, who looks around to see them pleased. Old Bananas eats a banana and throws the peel onto the stage to try to get Pepper to slip on it. She is too savvy to fall for that but causes her wagon of props to slip on it on purpose, sending it all tumbling onto Old Bananas. Seeing all of the others laughing causes him to laugh too, and Old Bananas deems Pepper funnier than he is. Old Bananas explains that he liked Pepper ever since he came in, but he pretended to dislike her comedy because she had only ever imitated his gags and stunts from his show—now that she created a new joke, he considers her ready to aim higher. His caretaker has returned to pick him up, and Old Bananas wishes Pepper "Lotsa Luck." Pepper gives a thumbs up to Blythe through the window, who is learning kung-fu quilting with Youngmee, Jasper, and Sue from Mrs. Twombly, and Blythe gives a thumbs-up back.

This episode contains examples of (YMMV entries go here):

  • Ascended Fanboy: Andrew Stein, better known as MandoPony, sings part of the song.
  • Bland-Name Product: The Planet of Pets Channel seems to be Downtown City's version of Animal Planet, though it apparently shows sitcoms.
  • Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: On teenage Pepper. She wears a straw hat to hide some of it.
  • Bragging Theme Tune: "Mrs. T, If You Please," whose lyrics are about how great Mrs. Twombly is at kung-fu quilting.
  • Brick Joke: A banana peel is used in the first gag Old Bananas is seen using in this episode. Another banana peel is ultimately the object that gets Old Bananas to laugh at Pepper's comedy.
  • Broken Pedestal: Subverted. Old Bananas's behavior pressures Pepper into losing respect for him, but she refuses to let that happen.
  • Call-Back: Pepper eventually falls back to using pistachio pudding in her gags to try to impress Old Bananas. It doesn't work.
  • Career-Ending Injury: It's not that she's permanently disabled, but that she found running the Littlest Pet Shop more interesting than kung-fu quilting.
  • Caustic Critic: Old Bananas, at least in regards to Pepper's comedy. He means well though.
  • Continuity Nod: Pepper reuses the gag mustache from "Trading Places" in the Cold Open.
  • Determinator: Pepper continues to attempt to make Old Bananas laugh for as long as he remains in The Littlest Pet Shop, no matter how many failures she gets. She eventually pulls it off.
  • Don't Explain the Joke: When her "beak it in" joke falls flat on her audience, Pepper has to explain it's a pun on "break it in" with her rubber chicken.
  • Dutch Angle: When Pepper first meets Old Bananas, as seen on the page image.
  • Follow the Leader: In-universe. Pepper based her comedy on That's My Orangutan so heavily that she never came up with anything not already used on the show until now. Old Bananas's behavior is an attempt to avert that if Pepper hopes to take her act abroad.
  • Girlish Pigtails: On young Pepper.
  • Given Name Reveal: Mrs. Twombly's first name is revealed to be Anna.
  • Hidden Depths: The entire B-story of this episode is about Mrs. Twombly demonstrating extreme competence when, up to this point, she is portrayed as a bumbling, eccentric old woman. In Act 3, Mrs. Twombly also casually readies herself to explain Einstein's Theory of Relativity to Blythe.
  • Lame Pun Reaction: Mrs. Twombly mentions being "a monkey's uncle" in Old Banana's presence, which annoys him. His guardian lets Mrs. Twombly know that he hates that joke. Pepper generates a number of them in the following scene.
  • Malicious Misnaming: Old Bananas refuses to get Pepper's name right, using mostly masculine names and titles. He finally calls her "Pepper" when he feels she's funny enough to take her performances further.
  • Martial Arts and Crafts: Kung-fu quilting.
  • Never Mess with Granny: Mrs. Twombly may be out of practice, but she still knows enough kung-fu quilting to be feared in some circles and admired in others.
  • Origins Episode: For Mrs. Twombly, specifically why she started running the Littlest Pet Shop.
  • Pie in the Face: Old Bananas could get an audience to laugh by throwing a pie at a target. Pepper accidentally pies herself but just gets Old Bananas to go back to sleep.
  • Prehensile Tail: Pepper sometimes takes props out of the chest with her tail.
  • Rebuilt Pedestal: Pepper stops worrying about Old Bananas's frosty behavior when she learns why he's like that. The pedestal never truly broke though.
  • Rimshot: This is Russell's role in Pepper's routine, ultimately. He isn't always sure when Pepper's gags end.
  • Stealth Mentor: Old Bananas already had respect for Pepper from the moment he walked in, but he acted cold to her to subtly try to get Pepper to improve her comedy.
  • Take That!: Pepper is rather bitter about the Moral Guardians taking That's My Orangutan off the air over what seems to be basic slapstick.
    • Mrs. Twombly's remark of everything winding up online sooner or later, combined with her acceptance of that fact, may also refer to illegal distribution of this very show.
  • Title Drop: "Lotsa Luck" is Old Banana's catchphrase. Pepper spends Act 1 hoping to hear him say it directly and gets it by Act 3.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Considering Mrs. Twombly accepts mongooses, spider monkeys, and (miniature) giant pandas into the day camp, it's no surprise that she'd let Old Bananas, an orangutan, in too.
  • The Voiceless: Out of all the pets, Minka doesn't utter a single word (except laughing and cheering with the others), despite being credited.
  • Worst News Judgment Ever: Played with. Everyone flocked to see the broadcast of Mrs. Twombly's retirement from kung-fu quilting on the TVs at an electronic store windowfront—which happened at the same time Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon, broadcasted on a neighboring electronic store's windowfront.

Top