Recap / Odd Squad S 1 E 38 Olive And Otto In Shmumberland

The Batcave looks quite...different.

Olive and Otto in Shmumberland

Airdates: February 16, 2016 ^note PBS Kids premiere, September 27, 2015 ^note ICI Radio-Canada premiere

When Olive and Otto get zapped into a comic book, Olive must use her knowledge of the comic book to escape.

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Tropes:

• Abnormal Ammo: Dr. Soup shoots soup out of his can hands to attack Olive, Otto and the factory worker.
• Affectionate Nickname: Ms. O refers to Shmumberman as "Juice Boy", which started out as a nickname given by her in exasperation before turning into one which she uses more affectionately by the end of the episode.
• A Light in the Distance: A variant. Orzack tells Ms. O that there's no more juice left as Shmumberman is nearing death, before the Shmumberman comic book, sitting on the coffee table, begins to blink green. After a few brief seconds, the comic glows with a brighter green flash, and Olive and Otto emerge, blasting Shmumberman with the Juice-o-tron 6000 and restoring him to full health.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: In comparison to the skin colors of the other characters in the comic, Dr. Soup's skin color is a sickly yellow.
• Answer Cut: While on the phone with Ms. O, Olive asks her about a low banging noise in the background. Cut back to Ms. O's office and pan right to reveal Orzack, who is banging on a drum rhythmically while other agents squeeze various fruits.
  Ms. O: That would be Orzack- [to Orzack] not drumming fast enough!
• Atlantis: Shmumberman comes from the lost city of Fruitlantis.
• Bad Liar: Ms. O, who is unable to effectively lie to Shmumberman.
  Shmumberman: You ran out of fruit, didn't ya?
  Ms. O: Nooo, that's ridiculous. We have plenty of fruit right over he-
  [Orzack begins to cry]
  Ms. O: He's...upset because there's nowhere to put all the fruit! [nervously chuckles]
  Shmumberman: You don't like when they add sugar to the juice. Don't add sugar to the truth.
  Ms. O: We're running a bit low.
• Bait-and-Switch: Otto pulls one on Olive when he gets ahold of her comic book, reading the title of it in an accusatory voice before telling her more amiably that he hasn't read it yet and asking her if it's good.
  • Another one occurs when Olive looks into the Shmumber Mirror and worriedly remarks that she and Otto are inside of the comic book. Then they immediately declare it's the best day ever and high-five each other.
• Big Eater: The factory worker, to the point where it becomes a pivotal skill in defeating Dr. Soup and cleaning off the Change-a-Number-inator.
• Body Horror: Shmumberman's bones are apparently made out of bendy straws, which invokes a invoked Squick-filled reaction for Ms. O when Orzack informs her about it.
• Brick Joke: Professor Straw is shown hiding behind a side table in her debut appearance before revealing herself. When Olive and Otto, as well as the factory worker, go to face off against Dr. Soup, he too is shown hiding behind one before exposing himself and ordering the trio to halt. The trio later hide behind one as cover from Dr. Soup's attacks.
• The Bus Came Back: Orzack, whose last appearance was in "Training Day", returns in this episode with a major role.
• Call-Back: Otto remarks how falling into the comic feels a lot like the time he and Olive were zapped into Swamps N' Gators.
• Chair Reveal: Ms. O does this when Otto asks Olive why the Director hates Shmumberman so much.
• Character Witness: The factory worker repays the kindness Olive and Otto showed him by letting him come along (albeit Olive attempted to protest at first) and helping them to stop Dr. Soup with his Big Eater tendencies.
• Cheerful Child: The way Olive and Otto both freak out over Shmumberman referring to them by their names is absolutely adorable. Olive also becomes this when explaining to Otto about the comic book.
• Chekhov's Gun: The side tables that show up as a Brick Joke throughout the episode prove useful when Olive, Otto and the factory worker hide behind one for cover. Similarly, the factory worker serves as a Chekhov's Gunman when he defeats Dr. Soup by eating every one of his soup attacks.
• invoked Collector's Edition: An in-universe example, as the comic book Olive and Otto are in happens to be a collectors' edition that the former owns.
• Comically Missing the Point: This is a defining trope for Orzack throughout the episode.
  Orzack: You saved him!
  Ms. O: For now. I need you to get all the available fruit up here.
  Orzack: You got it, Ms. O! [starts to leave, then stops] Or is that confusing now, because I'm a Ms. O too?
  Ms. O: You are NOT a Ms. O.
  Orzack: You're right! I should go by Mr. O! ^note This is the term for any male Director, which was used in "The Jackies".
• Commonality Connection: While initially on neutral terms at first, Ms. O and Shmumberman soon find a connection with the way they both like juice. A notable example of this is when, after Ms. O agrees with Shmumberman on fruit punch being the best flavor of juice, he begins to describe the act of drinking juice.
  Shmumberman: You know, the best part of drinking juice isn't even the juice part. It's the part right before ya drink.
  Ms. O: When you imagine the juice hitting your mouth.
  Shmumberman: And it's like... [in unison with Ms. O] Anything is possible.
• Continuity Nod: Otto riding the Shmumber-Shark like a bull wouldn't be the first time he's ridden something like that.
  • Oscar's ability to yo-yo, seen in "The Trouble With Centigurps", is showcased again, as he's taken his skills to the stage.
  • This isn't the first time that Otto becomes disgusted by other people's eating habits.
  • An ad for Robo-Blast-Bots appears on the back of the Shmumberman comic featuring Ms. O.
• Creator Cameo: The logo for Sinking Ship Entertainment makes an appearance as the publisher of the Shmumberman comic Otto is reading at the end of the episode.
• Dada Ad: The advertisement for Shmumbers juice boxes that Olive and Otto land in definitely falls under this. The ad consists of sentient juice boxes wearing sunglasses, playing with fruit, and generally having a good time at the beach. Not even Olive — the most knowledgeable about the comic's contents — is aware of what they landed in until a few seconds afterwards.
  Otto: Meh, I prefer the robot fight.
• Description Cut: Olive both plays this trope straight and hangs a lampshade on the Tempting Fate trope at one point.
  Olive: At least Ms. O is able to keep Shmumberman going in the real world. She has so many juice boxes, she'll never run out. I know because I just said that, it seems like she will run out now, but trust me, she'll never run out.
  [cut to Ms. O in her office, holding an empty juice box]
  Ms. O: We're out of juice boxes!
• Determinator: Averted for both Olive and Otto, who immediately give up upon being told that Dr. Soup has the Shmumbertonium, then played straight once they realize they can go to the page Dr. Soup is on and steal it back from him.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Considering that Olive has been known to act parental to Otto before, the scene where she scolds Otto for drawing in her collector's edition comic can be reminiscent of a mother scolding her child as they draw on something they shouldn't. Bonus points for the fact that Otto is a child.
• The Dog Bites Back: Implied to be the case with Spoon Boy, Dr. Soup's sidekick who turned against him.
• Do Not Spoil This Ending: An in-universe example occurs in this episode, as a consistent Running Gag is Olive revealing what happens to Shmumberman in the comic book she's reading, only for Otto to stop her. At the end of the episode, the tables are turned, with Otto telling Olive spoilers only for her to stop him before he can get far.
• Double Subversion: When Professor Straw pulls an Oh, Crap! upon opening a cabinet door, Otto asks her if she's out of Shmumbertonium (which is needed to power the machine that will zap Olive and Otto out of the comic and Shmumberman back in), only for her to say that no, she's out of carrot sticks, which she snacks on. Then she opens another cabinet door and finds that she's out of Shmumbertonium.
• Dramatic Drop: Downplayed; Olive remarks that when reading about Dr. Soup destroying the Shmumbertonium, she was so upset she had to set the comic down.
• Drums of War: Parodied with Orzack, who rhythmically bangs a large drum twice, then says "Squeeze!" to the other agents to make them squeeze fruit, and repeats it over and over.
• Even Evil Has Standards: For all his villainous ways, Dr. Soup shares something in common with Otto: neither one of them like spoilers.
• Eyedscreen: Shown before the factory worker begins defeating Dr. Soup by eating his chowder ammo. It later pops up before he licks the Change-a-Number-inator (mostly) clean.
• Friendship Moment: Ms. O sounds incredibly worried for Olive and Otto when she contacts them shortly after they fall into the comic book, and her voice becomes shaky at some points.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Professor Straw is one, building various gadgets for Shmumberman to use. She helps Olive and Otto find a way out of the comic book.
• Heroic Sacrifice: A non-lethal example — Ms. O sacrifices her juice box in order to save Shmumberman. Not only that, but she also sacrifices her entire juice box stash and whatever fruit the precinct has in order to save him. She even goes so far as to use a dirty rag that she used to clean up a juice spill earlier, wringing it out so the juice falls in his mouth. She, and the other agents, manage to buy enough time for Olive and Otto to retrieve the Juice-o-tron 6000 in the comic book, find a way to exit it, and zap Shmumberman with it, which restores him to full health.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: It's revealed in this episode that Ms. O hates Shmumberman (both the comic book series and the character himself) with a burning passion, due to the fact that agents in her precinct are so swept up by him, they stop working if a new comic of him comes out. Over the course of the episode, however, she and Shmumberman slowly befriend each other as she helps him survive in the real world, and soon find that they share common things, like a love of juice.
• Homage: Shmumberman, both the comic book and the character, are clear homages to Batman.
• Ignoring by Singing: Otto does this when Professor Straw talks about an explosion on the Shmumberville blimp that somehow created a robot named Restitution, and later does it without the singing when Dr. Soup reveals how his sidekick turned against him. Poor guy can't get away from being spoiled.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: When Olive attempts to convince Professor Straw that she and Otto are heroes who come from a different world where the world they are currently in is a comic book, she retorts with "Don't make me laugh." A second after, she laughs.
  Prof. Straw: [growls] I'm so angry you made me laugh!
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Otto, an agent of an organization that deals with dangerous villains and oddities on the daily who happens to be a Big Eater Obsessed with Food, comes to admire the factory worker after he manages to defeat Dr. Soup with his Big Eater tendencies.
• Leader Wannabe: Ms. O asks Orzack to help her carry Shmumberman up into her office. He mistakenly believes that she's promoting him to Director, and expresses excitement over moving into her office and helping her run the precinct. This is something that carries into the end of the episode, where he temporarily takes over for Ms. O while she's in Shmumberman's latest comic. Unfortunately, he's terribly incompetent at being Director, as he is unable to get inside of her office. Olive and Otto don't even bother to obey his orders for them to come upstairs.
  Otto: We don't have to pay attention to him, do we?
  Olive: Nope.
• Letting the Air out of the Band: The triumphant, heroic background music winds down to a stop when Shmumberman suddenly collapses in the bullpen.
• Looking Busy: Olive attempts to do this by hiding her Shmumberman comic book inside of a folder, but ultimately fails — her laughing, as well as her response to Otto, gives her away.
  Otto: You're really enjoying that file.
  Olive: Hmm? O-oh, I love work.
• Loophole Abuse: There are comic book rules in place that state that you can't leave the page you're on. Olive and Otto manage to find a loophole in the rules by using the Change-a-Number-inator gadget to move between pages.
• Meaningful Name: Dr. Soup is a villain whose attire is decorated with cans, right down to his shoes. He even dons gloves that are shaped like large cans that can shoot soup.
• Medium Blending: The episode blends live-action footage with comic-book-style animation as it switches between Olive and Otto, and Ms. O and Shmumberman.
• Mid-Battle Tea Break: In the middle of confronting Dr. Soup, he gives away a few spoilers for how his sidekick abandoned him in the comic, something that Otto refuses to listen to. When Olive explains that her partner hasn't read it, Dr. Soup has a heart-to-heart with him and says that he too hates spoilers, and apologizes for giving some away to Otto. And then the battle really begins, with him shooting chowder at them as they run and hide.
• Mondegreen Gag: The factory worker believes that Olive gave him the name "Hugo", when in reality she referred to him as "Hero". While she does try to protest against it, Otto tells her that it's ultimately not important, and she and him leave to deliver the Shmumbertonium to Professor Straw.
• Multi-Part Episode: The eighth one of the season.
• Never Say "Die": Par for the course with this show — the word "die" is never mentioned in regards to Shmumberman in the real world. Similarly, Olive refers to Ms. O helping Shmumberman stay alive as "keeping him going".
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Olive and Otto using the Put-Away-inator and the Save-It-For-Later-inator on the comic at the same time, respectively, causes them to be sucked into the comic itself.
• No Name Given: Ultimately averted — the factory worker isn't given a name in the comic, but when Olive refers to him as a hero for what he did to stop Dr. Soup, he decides to take on "Hugo" as a name, having misheard her.
• No Sense of Personal Space: The factory worker hugs Olive and Otto close to him when asking them to take him with them to page 20 in the comic.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Otto attempts to convince Ms. O that she and Shmumberman aren't different by pointing out their similarities. Ms. O promptly interrupts him with a grating "We are nothing alike!" Even Orzack points out that she and him aren't different after she fantasizes with Shmumberman about drinking juice, to which she responds to promptly by sending him back to banging his drum. By the end of the episode, she manages to befriend Shmumberman, and even sets off on another adventure with him in his world (with her as the hero and him as the sidekick).
• Not-So-Final Confession: While nearing what is potentially his death on Ms. O's couch, Shmumberman says that he wishes he could have shown Ms. O his own world. The Director warns him to stop talking like that. At the end of the episode, he makes good on it and takes Ms. O to his world once he's healthy.
• Now That's Using Your Teeth!: When Ms. O feeds Shmumberman half of an orange, he says that his heart can't handle the pulp of the fruit. The Director tells him to use his teeth as an improvised strainer. It ends up working, but only as a temporary solution.
• Older Sidekick: Played with. Shmumberman appears to be physically older than Ms. O, and is demoted to sidekick while she takes up the mantle as the hero alongside him. However, Ms. O is implied to be far older than him, even though she is physically 7 years old.
• Piss-Take Rap: Dr. Soup performs a version of the chorus of "(Whoomp!) There It Is" by the rap group Tag Team while attacking Olive, Otto and the factory worker. It's about as horrible as you'd expect.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: The factory worker begs Olive and Otto not to leave him on the page, as he's been stuck there for his entire life. Olive is hesitant, but when the worker states that he likes food, Otto immediately declares that he can come with — much to his partner's surprise as she explains how being Obsessed with Food isn't a special skill, before being interrupted.
• Preemptive "Shut Up": Hilariously defied by Professor Straw when Olive is proving her and Otto's identities to her.
  Olive: Oh, earlier this morning you discovered Shmumberman's Secret Identity is-
  Otto: DON'T SAY IT!
  Prof. Straw: What? That Shmumberman is really mild-mannered Julian Buckley?
  Otto: Aww, man!
• Pun: In the Shmumberman comic books, number lines are referred to as "Shmumber lines".
• Reluctant Gift: Ms. O attempts to take the Shmumberman comic out of Olive's grip so she can throw it away. Not only does Otto refuse to surrender it and protests against the ruling (by saying he hasn't read it yet), Olive refuses to as well, stating that she's only read the comic 96 times.
• Robbing the Mob Bank: Overlaps with Mugging the Monster — Dr. Soup steals Shmumbertonium from the Shmumbertonium factory. Little did he know, however, that in place of Shmumberman stopping him, he has two children working for a powerful organization on his tail. However, what makes this trope played straight is that the act of taking the Shmumbertonium back from Dr. Soup is repeatedly referred to as "stealing it back" from him, and Dr. Soup himself expresses upset of them stealing from him.
• Robot War: Olive and Otto land smack-dab in the middle of one of these on their way back to Professor Straw.
• Scary Teeth: Dr. Soup's teeth are incredibly rotten, and are disgusting to look at, even by comic book standards.
• Shout-Out: The episode's title is a reference to Little Nemo in Slumberland.
  • While attacking, Dr. Soup does the Running Man dance and begins to sing, "Soup, there it is!", a reference to the chorus of the song "(Whoomp!) There It Is" from the rap group Tag Team.
• Skewed Priorities: While Shmumberman is down on the floor of the bullpen, obviously not in a state of good health, a few employees are shown asking him for autographs. Ms. O is quick to send them all back to work.
• invoked Squick: In-universe example — Olive and Otto are immediately grossed out by the factory worker attempting to lick their gadget clean, complete with slurping sounds. For Otto, it delves into Everyone Has Standards.
• Standing Between the Enemies: Downplayed. As he's feeding Shmumberman the last juice box, Orzack mentions how his first day of Odd Squad isn't going well (as he mistakenly believes he's a co-Director). Ms. O, in a fit of Tranquil Fury, begins to advance towards him, about ready to let hell loose, but the dying Shmumberman is quick to stop her by saying that he needs more juice. This manages to help Ms. O realize her main priority: saving his life.
• Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: A downplayed example; Otto exposes Olive by going over to her desk, snatching her comic book, and holding it away from him so she can't reach it, but he doesn't have any malicious intent behind it.
• Super Cell Reception: Even inside of a comic book, the badge phones still work.
• Super-Strong Child: While it's well established that Ms. O is far and away the strongest in the precinct, Otto mentions that both her and Shmumberman can lift up cars. (We can safely assume this means actual cars, and not the toy cars agents drive around.)
  • She's also strong enough to cut an orange clean in half with a simple chop.
• Supervillain Lair: Dr. Soup has one that the factory worker takes over once he is defeated, vowing to turn it into a place of peace and justice.
• Theme Naming: Many of the things in the Shmumberman comic are named with either the prefix "Shmumber" as a whole, or part of the prefix (such as Shmumbley the butler).
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Played straight with Professor Straw, who tells Olive and Otto that they can call her Mandy, but parodied with Dr. Soup in this exchange:
  Olive: Move aside, Dr. Soup.
  Dr. Soup: That's Dr. Soup to you!
  Olive: Didn't I say "doctor"?
  Dr. Soup: Silence!!
  • A more comedic example occurs with Orzack and Ms. O, when Olive asks the latter what the banging noise in the background is. Ms. O responds that it's Orzack not drumming fast enough, then this occurs:
  Orzack: My name is Mr. O now!
  Ms. O: No it's not.
• This Is My Chair: A variant occurs with Ms. O's desk when Orzack asks about it. He refers to it as "our desk" while Ms. O refers to it as hers, and hers alone.
• Three Wishes: The Cold Open client has the issue of saying "I wish X would happen/I wish I had X", only for it to come true. The cause is traced back to a magic lamp that the client bought earlier, which grants him three wishes. What he wishes for includes a basketball, a new pair of shoes, and for Olive and Otto to have informed him of the solution to his issue that morning.
• Tranquil Fury: Ms. O becomes increasingly upset at Orzack at his comments regarding him believing he's being promoted to Director (he isn't), and it manifests in this manner. She doesn't completely snap, however.
• Trapped in Another World: Olive and Otto get zapped into the world of the Shmumberman comic book.
• Tricked-Out Gloves: The cans that Dr. Soup wears on his hands enable him to fire soup at his enemies. Without them, he's essentially powerless.
• Trust Password: Olive has to prove to Professor Straw that she and Otto are heroes and not villains, that they are stuck in the world of Shmumberman, and that in their world, Shmumberman is merely a comic book. She does this by pointing out how the Professor made the Juice-o-tron 6000 today. She also attempts to reveal Shmumberman's Secret Identity before Otto interrupts her.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Dr. Soup escapes through the roof once he loses the fight to the factory worker.
• Welcome to My World: The factory worker says this to Olive and Otto when they realize that Dr. Soup stole the Shmumbertonium, meaning that they can't get out of the comic nor can Shmumberman get back in.
• Written-In Absence: Oscar is absent from this episode due to taking his yo-yo show on the road.

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