Airdates: January 19, 2016 note , September 20, 2015 note
When the power goes out in headquarters, Odd Squad must figure out a way to control the temperature of two dragon eggs which will hatch if they get too hot or too cold.
Tropes:
- Acting Unnatural: When Olive assures Oscar that the ice dragon egg is cooled down and it isn't going to hatch, Oscar begins to act unnatural and nervously assure (what is implied to be) himself that everything will be okay. Ms. O catches on quickly and asks him if there's one more egg, to which he unnaturally responds that there isn't another egg. A second after Olive and Ms. O both give sighs of relief, he then cracks and admits there's another egg.
- Actually a Good Idea: Olive has an idea of where to get something cold to cool down the ice dragon egg, and this exchange ensues.Olive: I know where to find something cold. The Breakroom!Ms. O: The Netherlands!Oscar: Saturn!Ms. O: [to Olive] Your idea's the best.
- Air-Vent Passageway: Oscar enters the ice dragon egg's room via an air vent when Olive and Ms. O are finished putting ice cream on the egg.
- The Alleged Boss: Played with. Olive attempts to invoke the trope as she attempts to get Oksana to hand over her pea soup the way Ms. O did earlier: by standing on a stool and asserting her authority. However, even though Olive is higher in the hierarchy than Oksana is (the Investigation symbol is a hexagon, while the Food & Beverage symbol is a trapezoid), the cafeteria worker refuses to listen to her because she isn't a Director.
- All There in the Script: The kitchen assistant isn't named in the episode, but he is referred to as "Oburly" (as it's spelled) in the credits.
- Amusing Injuries: Olive and Otto both get some when exiting the tubes, which are working improperly due to the power outage.
- Answer Cut: At one point while examining the fire dragon egg, Olive wonders if Otto's doing okay with his egg. Whip Pan transition to the agent in question, who's having a grand old time singing and dancing to Soundcheck songs.
- Automatic Door Malfunction: A power failure in Headquarters causes the automatic doors to stop working, including the doors in the tube lobby (which Otto ends up slamming into when he tries to walk through them) and the doors leading into the bullpen. Olive and Otto are forced to manually pry these doors open to get to where they need to go.
- Bag of Holding: The Bear-Trap-inator's bag — which is nothing more than a plain trash bag — is able to hold a dragon that's bigger than any of the Main 4.
- Bait-and-Switch: Olive remarks dramatically that there's only one way to solve Hopkins' odd situation. He looks at her eagerly...just before she coolly responds, "Do absolutely nothing."
- "Begone" Bribe: A variant. Oksana informs Olive that she has one kitchen assistant. Olive believes that she wants more help in the Breakroom. In reality, Oksana wants him gone, and essentially tells Olive that she can have him as well as the cafeteria worker's pea soup. The kitchen assistant happens to overhear that Oksana wants him gone, and drops his dishes in response.
- Big "WHAT?!": Olive and Ms. O have this reaction when first coming upon the ice dragon egg.
- Big "YES!": Olive and Ms. O give one in unison when the fire dragon egg reaches the correct temperature.
- Bothering by the Book: Oksana has an instructional video explaining the "Rules of the Breakroom". There's only one rule: food is for eating. She is very strict about this rule and refuses to let Olive and Ms. O take the ice cream since they aren't going to be eating it. Later on, she expands on the rule by saying that food is for eating...unless there's a giant invisible dragon destroying headquarters.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: The three eggs featured have three different kinds of dragons in them: a fire dragon, an ice dragon, and an invisible dragon that has the ability to breathe fire and ice.
- Combat Commentator: Hilariously parodied with Hopkins in the Cold Open, who can't perform a single action without a commentator giving a play-by-play on it (and an audience cheering him on). Olive's solution is for him to do absolutely nothing, which doesn't end up working.
- Continuity Nod: The Soundcheck songs that Otto sings are "Dance Like Nobody's Watching" and "The Force of Gravity", along with "Gonna Add One" and "Take Away Four".
- Oscar once again goes the wrong way in the bullpen (in this case, it's the bullpen itself he has to head to, not his lab).
- Covered in Mud: Oscar not only has Messy Hair, he's covered in dirt from his electrical work.
- Creature of Habit: Otto is revealed to be this, as he runs on instinct rather than instructions. This is what causes him to smack right into the doors leading into the Trophy Room, which aren't working due to the power outage.
- Credits Gag: When Olive asks Oksana about her earlier instructional video wherein she detailed that food was for eating purposes only, she remarks that Olive didn't watch all the way to the end. Cue Oksana repeating the rule, followed by the credits from the instructional video rolling, then a Stinger where she tacks on, "...unless there is an invisible dragon destroying headquarters," followed by her production company's logo.Oksana: Always stay until the end of the credits.
- Didn't Think This Through: Otto's plan of Incessant Music Madness to keep his dragon egg from hatching ends up having one large gaping hole.Otto: Guys! My dragon egg hatched! I ran out of Soundcheck songs.Ms. O: Couldn't you have just sung it another song?!Otto: That idea honestly didn't occur to me.
- Don't Celebrate Just Yet: Olive assures Oscar that the fire and ice dragon eggs are at their correct temperatures, and the situation seems to be resolved (including the power being restored)...then Otto rushes in and says that his dragon egg hatched.
- Door Slam of Rage: Oksana does this with her freezer door when Olive tells her what they need the ice cream for. She also later manages to do it with the lid of a pot holding pea soup when Olive lies to her.
- Egg MacGuffin: The three dragon eggs all qualify, as Otto, Olive and Ms. O must keep them from not hatching. However, eventually one does hatch, and nearly destroys headquarters.
- Egg Sitting: Ms. O engages in a more literal version of the trope, as she is forced to sit on the fire dragon egg to keep it warm.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The Keep-An-Egg-Cold-inator and the Keep-An-Egg-Warm-inator keep the ice and fire dragon eggs cold and warm, respectively.
- Excuse Me, Coming Through!: While not necessarily part of a chase, Oksana shouts this when coming into the bullpen with a large bowl of tapioca pudding, calling for the Main 4 (and by extension, the kitchen assistant) to clear the way.
- Eyes Never Lie: Oksana leans closer to Olive and notes that she can see in the agent's eyes that she's not telling the truth. Olive's brown eyes reflect her own self as she admits just that.
- Foreshadowing: Olive attempting to take charge of the Breakroom and asserting her authority — as well as Oksana reminding her she isn't a Director — sets up her fate in the Season 1 finale, where she does become a Director.
- Funny Background Event: As Oksana is remarking how one should stay until the end of the credits, Oscar is shown behind her glancing up in the same direction she is. If it weren't for both of them looking up instead of directly at the camera, it could fall into Audience? What Audience? territory.
- Gibbering Genius: Oscar delves into this twice when describing the ice and fire dragon eggs to Olive and Ms. O. The two girls exchange Disapproving Looks and interrupt him after a few seconds.
- Hidden Depths: Oscar is revealed to be quite the handy electrician, as he is the sole person working on restoring power.
- If her comment to a departing Olive is any indication, Ms. O isn't of the maternal type — quite fitting, considering her Tiny Tyrannical Girl status.
- Impossible Shadow Puppets: Averted; the shadow dog that O'Higgins makes is done with one hand and looks pretty accurate to an actual dog's head.
- I'm Standing Right Here: While Olive isn't aware of the kitchen assistant's presence up until he does a Dramatic Drop with his dishes, Oksana is, and still makes a scathing "I want him to go away" comment at his expense.
- Incessant Music Madness: Otto invokes this when music is required to keep the first egg from hatching. As he begins to sing Soundcheck songs, the music manages to keep the invisible dragon inside of the egg calm, and the rest of the Main 4 leave him to his own devices.
- I Work Alone: Oksana is implied to have this mentality, as she's more than willing to pawn off her only kitchen assistant to Olive and has no qualms about insulting him when he's in the same room she is.
- Laser-Guided Karma: It strikes Oksana hard at the end of the episode as she asks who the kitchen assistant with the Main 4 is (who she explicitly wanted to leave earlier). Olive coolly remarks that "he's with us now", which causes Oksana to shoot her an absolutely scathing
Death Glare. - Lost Food Grievance: Oksana refuses to hand over her cartons of ice cream, as she believes that Ms. O and Olive want to eat it. In reality, they don't want to eat it; they need it to keep a dragon egg cold. The only thing that gets the cafeteria worker to hand the ice cream over is Ms. O asserting her authority over her.
- Minimalist Cast: The only characters that are prominently featured are the Main 4, Oksana, and her former kitchen assistant; everyone else gets cameo roles.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Otto manages to let his dragon egg hatch after running out of Soundcheck songs. Luckily, he manages to redeem himself with the help of Oksana, and wrangles the dragon using a Bear-Trap-inator gadget.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Not only does Oksana thrust a hand into Olive's face, she also leans incredibly close to the agent at one point.
- Oh, Crap!: There are quite a few of these moments throughout the episode.
- Parrot Exposition: Otto and Oscar engage in this at one point.Oscar: Okay, so I'd thought I'd have the power back on, but I don't. Whoops, heh heh! So in the meantime, we have to deal with...a dragon egg!Otto: That's funny. It sounded like you said "a dragon egg".Oscar: Oh, I did, heh.[the rest of the Main 4 yell]
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is a reference to the band They Might Be Giants.
- Power Outage Plot: The episode revolves around a power outage in Headquarters, with Oscar working to restore the power while Olive and Ms. O keep the temperatures of two dragon eggs steady (and Otto keeping the third one from hatching by singing) so they don't hatch.
- Preemptive "Shut Up": Defied by Oscar when explaining the ice dragon egg to Olive and Ms. O.Oscar: Guys, if this egg goes up to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, it's gonna hatch, and if it hatches-Olive and Ms. O: Don't say it!Oscar: A giant, giant, scary, ice-breathing dragon is gonna come out and destroy Headquarters.Olive and Ms. O: He said it...
- Read the Freaking Manual: Otto hasn't read his training manual, stating that he runs on instinct. Sure enough, not even a second after he says that, he smacks into the door.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Ms. O displays this most prominently when she orders Oksana to hand over her cartons of ice cream, asserting authority over the cafeteria worker. It manages to work for her, but not so much for Olive, who attempts to do the same thing, but fails (even though she is higher in ranking than Oksana).Ms. O: [gesturing to herself] This power never goes out!
- Running Gag: One occurs in this episode in the form of various characters asking who the kitchen assistant is, only for the character who asked before to remark "he's with us now" (for example, Ms. O asking who he is and Olive answering, followed by Oscar asking who he is and Ms. O answering, etc.)
- Significant Anagram: Oscar remarks how he was supposed to take the ice dragon egg to a frozen mountain known as Gandor, which is an anagram for "dragon" — the very thing inside the egg.
- Stage Whisper: Somewhat parodied with Ms. O, who asks a question of Oscar when he tells her and Olive about the fire dragon egg.Ms. O: Could I say something in a quiet voice, but I mean it in a loud voice?Oscar: Sure.Ms. O: [angrily whispers] Why didn't you tell us this before?!
- Super-Strong Child: Olive and Otto manage to pry open the double-doors in the tube lobby that lead to the Trophy Room, which is something that only Ms. O has been shown to do in the past — not only that, but they manage to push open the double-doors leading into the bullpen as well. May be justified by the fact that there's a power outage and the doors aren't working, but nonetheless, it does serve as subtle Foreshadowing for the Season 1 finale.
- Ten-Second Flashlight: Played with; the badge phones are revealed to have built-in flashlights, but don't appear to be very bright. They do last a long time, though.
- Thermal Dissonance: The ice and fire dragon eggs aren't being kept at their normal temperatures (20 degrees Fahrenheit and and 110 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively) since the power is out. The conflict of the episode revolves around getting them back to normal so the dragons inside them don't hatch.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Hopkins insists that Olive and Otto refer to him as just that: Hopkins, instead of "sir".
- This Is Gonna Suck: Olive's reaction to seeing the ice dragon egg is a strained "Oh, great..."
- Visible Invisibility: Invoked by Oksana, who splashes tapioca pudding onto the invisible dragon to make it easier for Otto to see. The agent manages to suck the dragon into the Bear-Trap-inator's bag, and avoid getting burned and/or frozen in the process.
- Watch Out for That Tree!: Otto manages to collide with the double doors leading into the Trophy Room during this exchange with Olive.Otto: [after seeing Olive use her badge phone as a flashlight] You can do that?Olive: You still haven't read your Training Manual, have you?Otto: [walking towards doors] Partner, I work on instinct.[he bumps into the doors]Olive: Riiight...
Those are some really angry Flying Books.
Dawn of the ReadAirdates: January 19, 2016 note , September 20, 2015 note
Oren and Olaf take on a real page-turner of a case at the local library, where books are mysteriously coming to life.
Tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: The episode primarily focuses on Oren and Olaf, as well as Mr. Fonts and Dustin.
- All Animals Are Dogs: In addition to Olaf's Character Tic of howling throughout the episode (which serves as Foreshadowing for The Reveal in the Season 2 premiere), Olive mentions how Otto kept on howling throughout the entire case.
- Mr. Fonts also howls when he and Dustin leave at the end of the episode to play some badminton. Apparently, it runs in the family, as Olaf is his nephew.
- By "No", I Mean "Yes": When Oren asks Mr. Fonts and Dustin if they can help him and Olaf fight off the flying books, Mr. Fonts is eager to do it. Dustin, on the other hand, refuses, and when Mr. Fonts asks him about it, Dustin changes his answer to a yes.
- Caught on Tape: Each of the villains who are potential culprits of turning the books into Flying Books are caught on camera. Mr. Fonts and Dustin have two security offices which contain such security cameras.Mr. Fonts: We take the safety of our books very seriously.
- Chameleon Camouflage: Oren, Olaf, Dustin and Mr. Fonts sneak past the books by taping books to themselves and sneaking on by, hoping the flying books will see them as actual books. Many of them get suspicious, and eventually Olaf makes a break for it with the others (and the books) following quickly behind.
- Chekhov's Gun: The badminton rackets that Dustin and Mr. Fonts show off at the beginning of the story come in handy for beating back the books long enough for Oren to stop them.
- Comically Missing the Point: Mr. Fonts lets the point of being disguised fly over his head at one point.Mr. Fonts: [in hushed tones] Oren, are you sure this is gonna work?Oren: [in hushed tones, through gritted teeth] I'm not Oren, I am a book.Mr. Fonts: What? What happened to Oren?Oren: Just blend in!
- Continuity Nod: Olive told Otto a story, and now it's his turn to tell her a story (albeit an inaccurate one).
- Otto lists off some cases at the end of the episode where he believes Oren and Olaf solved them, but in reality it was him and Olive — cases such as "Reindeer Games", "Puppet Show", and "The Potato Ultimato".
- Don't Ask, Just Run: Olaf may be a Cloudcuckoolander, but he is smart enough to immediately follow Oren when he says that they need to run, after he manages to accidentally anger the books.
- Flashback Cut: One is used to mirror a scene of Oren, Olaf, Mr. Fonts and Dustin in their disguises and running for their lives from the books — only Oren and Olaf are replaced with Olive and Otto.
- Flying Books: The primary threat of the episode, who were brought to life by a villain known as Frieda Fiver.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: As the camera pans over to Olive and Otto at the beginning of the episode, Otto is seen smiling and shaking his head, as though thinking that the joke Mr. Fonts told is Actually Pretty Funny.
- Handy Feet: Olaf is apparently very dexterous with his feet (although whether it's him or Otto that's dexterous, considering Olaf is a stand-in for Otto in the story, is left ambiguous).
- Hey, That's My Line!: Ms. O says this verbatim when Mr. Fonts and Dustin say her "something very odd has happened" line in unison.
- Hidden Depths: Dustin and Mr. Fonts both love badminton. Furthermore, Mr. Fonts can read people by their elbows.
- In-Joke: The conversation that Dustin, Mr. Fonts, Oren and Olaf are having at the beginning of the episode contains one of these.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Surprisingly, it's Olive who is completely unaware that Oren and Olaf saved the library and that they are friends with Mr. Fonts and Dustin. However, despite it being revealed that Olive and Otto themselves saved the library and not Oren and Olaf, Mr. Fonts and Dustin are still friends with the latter partner pair anyway.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Downplayed; it's revealed that Olaf is Mr. Fonts's nephew, which is how they know each other so well.
- No Peripheral Vision: No one manages to spot the flying book clinging to Olaf's back up until Oren tells him to turn around.
- Only One Finds It Fun: Ms. O shows Oren, Olaf, Mr. Fonts and Dustin the library in its current state: with a bunch of Flying Books. Olaf's reaction?Olaf: Yay, flying books!Ms. O: This isn't a "yay" situation, Olaf.Olaf: Boo.Ms. O: Better.
- On Three: Oren leads the team on seven as they make a break for it to retrieve the Flying-Book-inator.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode's title is a pun on the film Dawn of the Dead.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Oren says it's "time to write this story an ending" at one point when setting up the Flying-Book-inator gadget. He also says it's "time to end this chapter for good" on the second go-around.
- Rule of Three: Mr. Fonts and Dustin gasp three times when Oren rattles off the names of the villains.
- The Storyteller: Olive has been known to be this in past episodes, which Otto lampshades.Otto: Wait. I know a story you don't? I can't believe it. Normally you're the one-Olive: Otto. Can you tell me the story?Otto: Sure.
- So Much for Stealth: The attempt to sneak to the other security office undetected is ruined when Olaf gives a Battle Cry and runs for it, causing Oren, Mr. Fonts and Dustin to do the same.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Mr. Fonts does this when Otto asks how him and Dustin are good friends with Oren and Olaf.
- Temporary Substitute: It's implied that Oren and Olaf are stand-in agents for Olive and Otto, respectively, in the latter's story.
- Third-Person Flashback: Neither Olive nor Otto are seen or mentioned during the story; the only characters that are features are Mr. Fonts, Dustin, Oren and Olaf.
- Translator Buddy: Oren, natch — with the added bonus of Mr. Fonts and Dustin attempting to figure out what he's saying.
- Unreliable Narrator: Otto is the one that tells the story of the Flying Books case to Olive, believing that Oren and Olaf were the ones that solved it. At the end of the episode, we find out that it wasn't them who solved the case — it was him and Olive, and he simply had a brief bout of forgetfulness (maybe more than brief, since he can't remember cases he and Olive were on less than a year ago).
- Zerg Rush: Oren, Olaf, Mr. Fonts and Dustin all rush into the library into the path of the Flying Books in order to reach the room with the security cameras.
