Sarah: So we're going to some research institute in San Diego to try and track down the mad scientist named Gilman.
Daniel: He's not a mad scientist. He's a geneticist.
Sarah: But what if he is mad?
—"The Mad Scientist"
Dates Posted: (2007) June 18-22, 25, 26, 28, 29, July 2, 4-6, 9, 11
With Bree having returned to the Hymn of One, the gang sets out to keep up the search for anything that might lead them to her again, starting with the location of a scientist named Isaac Gilman that her dad knew.
"A New Lead"
: Taylor discusses recent events and reveals that she found a possible lead for the rest of the TAAG to follow.
"The Mad Scientist": Daniel, Jonas, and Sarah drive to San Diego to see what's at the Wyman Foundation, the location Taylor discovered during the previous episode.
"Sweating Bullets": Daniel, Jonas, and Sarah arrive at a health club to scope it out and see if they can find any information about Isaac Gilman, who's a member there.
"FOLLOW YOUR HAPPINESS": A Hymn of One ad, featuring Bree and Carl talk about how awesome the Hymn of One is.
"The Mistress": Jonas rants about the Hymn of One and Bree's videos, then him, Daniel, and Sarah go to the home of the lady Jonas met in "Sweating Bullets".
"In (Search of) sanity": Jonas announces that he's going to be heading off to Zavalla to stay with Taylor for a bit.
"Rockin' The Boat": Daniel and Sarah share a relaxing, romantic afternoon at the park.
"My Mom's A Freak!": Taylor discusses the events of the past couple days, including her mom's inappropriate behavior.
"What Up Blogosphere!": Spencer posts his first video, introducing himself and discusses the situation with his dad, his work, and Bree.
"Look Back": A Hymn of One ad, featuring Bree plugging the Hymn of One by herself.
"My Dad Died Too": Jonas appeals to Spencer to help the gang out.
"Dude Back Off": Sarah tells Daniel to stop being so clingy and explains her feelings.
"Going Back to Cali": Taylor and Jonas are on their way back to California, and Taylor comments on recent events.
"All Wet": Daniel and Sarah follow the clue left by TCC in "Look Back".
"I'm Here To Help": Spencer announces that he's decided to help the TAAG find Bree.
"Hope He's Not Mad": The gang goes to the Neutrogena office to try and meet up with Spencer in person.
Tropes:
- Aside Glance: Sarah gives one to the camera after Daniel pulls the Yawn and Reach on her in "Rockin' the Boat".
- Awful Wedded Life: According to his mistress in "The Mistress", Dr. Gilman and his wife had this, according to the mistress, who describes his married life as "pretty horrific" but doesn't go into further detail.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: From "Rockin' the Boat":
- Sarah: Did you have a good time today, Mr. Beast?Daniel: (feigning boredom) Ehhh... I had a GREAT time!
- Bow Chicka Wow Wow: The funky music that plays over the stop-motion sequence in "My Mom's A Freak!" is clearly evocative of this.
- Buffy Speak: Daniel calls the contents of the documents in "All Wet" "science stuff".
- Disorganized Outline Speech: Not only does Spencer in "What Up Blogosphere!" have to stop his own speech almost immediately twice thanks to camera problems, but when he does get going, he makes his points with "first", "B", "third", and "D".
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: When Sarah's vacuuming during the skit in "Dude Back Off", at one point she starts thrusting upward with the vacuum handle in very suggestive fashion...
- The Faceless: The mistress does this fairly well in the eponymous episode, keeping her face either silhouetted or facing away from the camera for nearly the entire video, only for the last few seconds to have her face be clearly visible as she turns it to the side.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Defied by Spencer in "Hope He's Not Mad", who tells the TAAG at the end that he can't talk to them right now because they're on a private lot and all of them could get in trouble.
- Filler: A few episodes:
- "A New Lead" contains zero plot-relevant information that is not also contained in the very next episode.
- "My Mom's A Freak!" was a better-received filler episode, mostly being Taylor complaining about her mom or her and Jonas goofing off, and the Troll doll skit. Oddly it was better received than the more informative "In (Search of) sanity".
- "Going Back to Cali" contains no plot-relevance other than Jonas and Taylor returned to California, which could've taken place entirely offscreen.
- Film the Hand: Sarah pushes her hand into the camera during "Hope He's Not Mad" when she gets annoyed at Taylor.
- Fresh Clue: A somewhat unusual example in "All Wet". What gives away the location of the stash of Isaac Gilman's research is when Sarah spots a new rope at a slip that hasn't been used in years. However, in this case the leaver of the clue wanted them to find it.
- Funny Background Event: In "My Mom's A Freak!", when Taylor says her mom's hitting on guys half her age, Jonas points at himself while lying on the bed in the background.
- The Ghost: In "FOLLOW YOUR HAPPINESS", Bree and Carl discuss Bree being reunited with her mother... who does not appear.
- Girlish Pigtails: Taylor mentions this in "Going Back to Cali" as one of the new things her mom is doing lately, that Taylor disapproves of.
- Housewife: Parodied by Sarah's skit in "Dude Back Off", where she does typical chores but gets exasperated after each one.
- Idiot Ball: The ending of "All Wet", where Sarah tries to take important papers out of Daniel's hand while the two of them are standing right over water, and inevitably the papers fall down and land right in the water, getting damaged.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Jonas expresses this sentiment to Taylor in "Hope He's Not Mad", saying he wishes he just had a normal family that did normal stuff.
- Informed Attribute: One of Spencer's interests is supposed to be videoblogging, yet "What Up Blogosphere!" is his first video on Youtube.
- Is This Thing On?: Uttered by Spencer as he tries to set up his camera in "What Up Blogosphere!"
- Like Father, Like Son: Spencer Gilman is a scientist, just like his late father was.
- Lotus Position: Sarah sits in this position during her "meditation" at the beginning of "Dude Back Off".
- Mad Eye: Sarah does this at the beginning of "The Mad Scientist" as a gag.
- Mad Scientist: Sarah jokingly wonders at the beginning of "The Mad Scientist" if Isaac Gilman is one of these.
- The Mistress: The mistress, naturally, in "The Mistress". Interestingly, the way she describes their relationship almost inverts the usual instances of this trope, as Isaac Gilman apparently lived with her instead of his actual wife.
- Mood Dissonance: "What Up Blogosphere!" has a goofy Disorganized Outline Speech, a bunch of jokes and gags, and Spencer saying he doesn't want to help the TAAG because he doesn't want to relive the grief of his father's death.
- Mrs. Robinson: Taylor and Sarah's mom in "My Mom's A Freak!", who hits on and sleeps with guys half her age, much to the displeasure of Taylor.
- Never My Fault: In "Hope He's Not Mad", we see Sarah really does not want to take (full) responsibility for Isaac Gilman's research notes ending up in the water.
- No Name Given: Finally averted for Bree's dad in "The Mistress", who (posthumously) reveals that his name is Drew Avery.
- Oblivious to Hints: When they're discussing The Blue Lagoon in "Rockin' the Boat", Daniel seems to completely miss that Sarah wants to have the same kind of "fun" the characters of that movie had.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Happens to Taylor in "Going Back to Cali" when they're discussing her dad and his nineteen-year-old girlfriend:
- Taylor: That would be like... me in a few years dating one of my dad's friends. I mean, I can't even— what do you even talk about?Jonas: Well, they're probably not doing a whole lot of talking. Ya know what I'm sayin'?(Taylor closes her eyes and facepalms)
- Plucky Comic Relief: Played with in "The Mad Scientist", as Sarah cracks one too many jokes for Jonas' taste, and he accuses her of making a joke out of a very serious situation. Sarah apologizes for it and offers condolences.
- Product Placement:
- In "A New Lead", there's a large selection of products shown during the barcode montage, notably including one from Neutrogena, which was the most overt sponsor of the series.
- Spencer's workplace being Neutrogena is another example of this.
- Public Secret Message: Once again, the Hymn of One ads.
- TCC added a secret message to "FOLLOW YOUR HAPPINESS": If you take all the words that literally follow "your happiness" in the video, you get the message "MY HANDS ARE TIED SHE'S BEING PREPARED I'M SORRY".
- Another one appears in "Look Back". There's a voice that appears occasionally saying "Look back" repeatedly, and if you actually look back at the last word Bree said when that voice appears, you get the message "Friday Early Low Tide Yacht Club Parents Slip".
- Quit Your Whining: Jonas does this to himself in "My Dad Died Too", pulling himself out of his slump.
- Jonas: I'm not gonna be mopey anymore. I'm not gonna wallow in my own self-pity. I'm making myself sick. You know, I'm annoying myself.
- Raw Eggs Make You Stronger: In "Sweating Bullets", Sarah cracks open an egg that she pulled from somewhere and puts it in a glass for Jonas to drink, which he does, with a brief grimace afterward.
- Ready for Lovemaking: A very tame version at the end of "Rockin' the Boat", but Sarah's pose (lying on her back, legs pointed toward Daniel while wearing short shorts) and overall bearing (acting kind of coy and smiling at him a little) in the last scene screams this trope, even before she invites him onto the bed.
- Refusal of the Call: Spencer declines to help the TAAG in "What Up Blogosphere!", as he doesn't want to relive the memories of his dad's death and he doesn't know anything about his dad's work that would help them anyway. Subverted in "I'm Here To Help" when he changes his mind.
- Rummage Sale Reject: Sarah's strange workout outfit in "Sweating Bullets": a leopard-print headband, a camo tank top, some kind of baggy tropical-themed pants, and blue shoes.
- Sarcasm-Blind: During one point in "Rockin' the Boat" where she's clearly bored, Sarah gives a smiling Daniel a obviously sarcastic smile in return... the sarcasm of which he is wholly oblivious to.
- Sexual Euphemism: In the last scene of "Rockin' the Boat", Sarah pats the spot on the bed next to her and tells Daniel if he comes over she'll "express to you my gratitude." After he hops up there:
- Daniel: What kind of gratitude are we talking about here?(Sarah whispers in his ear)Daniel: (looking at the camera) See you guys later. (drops the camera)
- Shout-Out:
- Sarah does a brief impression of the Terminator at one point in "Sweating Bullets".
- In "Rockin' the Boat", Sarah is wearing a shirt featuring the character Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.
- Sarah jokes in "Rockin' the Boat" that she was hoping the boat would carry them away to a deserted island, like what happened in The Blue Lagoon.
- Sarah's chant at the start of "Dude Back Off": "I am not now, nor have I ever been, Mrs. Cleaver."
- "Going Back to Cali" is named after the LL Cool J song of the same name.
- In "I'm Here To Help", Spencer compares himself to "Cliff Sawyer when he entered the other-dimensional world of Khom'ad", referencing the work of sci-fi writer Henry Kuttner.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Jonas' opinion on Daniel and Sarah's budding romance in "In (Search of) sanity".
- Jonas: This might sound selfish, but I just can't be around their closeness right now.
- Stop Motion: Taylor's mom hitting on Jonas is depicted by Troll doll stopmotion in "My Mom's A Freak!".
- Taking Up the Mantle: In "I'm Here To Help", Spencer decides to help the TAAG in part because he believes it's what his late father would want him to do, to take up his research and continue his quest to help Bree.
- Troll:
- Jonas messes with Taylor a little near the end of "My Mom's A Freak!":Taylor: Do you hate me?Jonas: No. (laughs) But I do dislike you. (laughs, Taylor acts offended) I'm kidding, I'm kidding, stop.
- In "What Up Blogosphere!", Spencer says he was fired because of all the emails the TAAG was sending him clogging up the Neutrogena workplace servers... then busts out laughing and says he was joking.
- Jonas messes with Taylor a little near the end of "My Mom's A Freak!":
- Unperson: In "The Mad Scientist", the Wyman Foundation refuses to acknowledge that there ever was an Isaac Gilman who worked there.
- We All Die Someday: Played for laughs in "Sweating Bullets", as this is Sarah's excuse for not working out.
- Sarah: Exercising is just denial of death anyway. No one wants to admit that one day we're all gonna die, we're all gonna look like a rotting corpse.
- White Void Room: Bree sits in one during "Look Back".
- Yawn and Reach: In a hilarious Call-Back to "My First Kiss", Daniel uses this for real on a nonplussed Sarah in "Rockin' the Boat".
- You Have to Believe Me!: Lampshaded by Jonas in "My Dad Died Too" after he notes that both his dad and Isaac Gilman were likely killed by the Order:
- Jonas: I know it's weird for some stranger to just go babbling on about all this crazy shit, but I'm tellin' you the truth. We need your help. Look, if you don't believe me, just check out the latest Hymn of One video.
"Please look, we get it. We get it and I'm really sorry. Everybody, we're gonna go."
