Recap / Odd Squad S 2 E 1 First Day

Two new agents, thirty-five new adventures.

First Day

Airdates: June 20, 2016 ^note PBS Kids premiere, aired alongside "O is Not For Over" as Part 2 of the "Odd Squad: Agents of Change" special, June 21, 2016 ^note TVO Kids premiere

Newly paired agents Olympia and Otis investigate an odd problem involving floating people, while Oscar and Dr. O interview candidates to run the Odd Squad Creature Room.

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Tropes:

• 10-Minute Retirement: Olympia goes through one when neither she nor Otis can find any similarities among the floating victims. She decides to quit, demote herself back to an agent-in-training, and head back to the Academy, as she feels she isn't ready.
• Ambiguous Time Period: Zig-zagged. While the episode takes place during the summertime, "O is Not For Over" takes place during the wintertime. Considering this episode is a Sequel to that one, it could be seen as a Series Continuity Error, or it could potentially be justified, considering that this is a world of oddities. It's made more apparent when Oscar reveals that the time it took to clean up after the Final Battle was only 10 minutes.
• Art Evolution: The animation used when riding through the tubes is more fluid than Season 1's. Similarly, the special effects have also gotten a bit of an upgrade.
• Artistic License – Education: The classroom seen in the Odd Squad Academy doesn't look like a classroom one would find in an elementary school — rather, it looks more like a college classroom. Similarly, the Investigation portion of the Academy has students roaming around similar to a college.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: While not directly in space, Ms. O is close enough to see it (possibly nearing the troposphere), but has no trouble breathing or talking, even when Olympia is far below her. The same goes for Olympia herself, who is surprisingly still able to talk to Otis despite being thousands of feet up in the air.
  Ms. O: I can see space! I think it's expanding!
• Balloonacy: An interesting variant — Party Pam's food enables anyone who eats it to begin floating upwards. This includes Hopkins, a dentist, a crossing guard, and Ms. O, the latter of whom made the unfortunate mistake of eating a sandwich of the chef's outside, and begins floating up to space. Luckily, Olympia manages to catch her just in time.
• The B Grade: Subverted. Instructor O has Olympia see him after class to tell her that her being an agent in 74 days and over 1,700 hours (she counted) isn't going to happen. Olympia protests, saying that she's gotten straight "O's" on every test and knows every gadget in existence. Instructor O tells her that instead, she's becoming an agent right now.
• Big Red Button: It's not red, but O'Flanaranahanahan manages to press the wrong button which causes a loud alarm to sound. It takes Instructor O pulling an orange lever just to turn it off.
• The Bus Came Back: O'Duffy, who was last seen in "Trials and Tubulations", returns with a minor role.
• Brick Joke: When O'Duffy confronts Olympia and Otis about the floating people, Olympia tells him that she's bringing them to the Containment Room and that Otis can find a new partner. O'Duffy then asks Otis if he can be his partner, stating that he's looking for a change. At the end of the episode, he comes up to Ms. O and Oscar, having overheard their conversation, and suggests that he be their private investigator, saying that he's still looking for a change.
• By "No", I Mean "Yes": Party Pam does this at one point when O'Duffy informs Olympia and Otis that Ms. O went on her lunch break...with one of Party Pam's sandwiches.
  Otis: You gave her a sandwich.
  Party Pam: Yes.
  Otis: That makes you float.
  Party Pam: Yes.
  Otis: And now she's outside where there are no ceilings.
  Party Pam: I want to say no...but the answer is yes.
• Call-Back: The end of the episode sets up the mystery of Otis's past by having other characters drop hints. What other episode set up the main character's past in a similar way? The first episode of the show.
  • From the same episode, Olympia and Otis walk into Headquarters and see a mass variety of oddities, similar to Olive and Otto's (and by extension, the audience's) proper introduction to Headquarters, only without the Orbital Shot.
• The Cameo: Surprisingly, Olive and Otto make a cameo appearance in the Cold Open helping Ronnie with an issue involving high-fives left hanging, although they're not Directors — they're Investigation agents.
• Chekhov's Skill: Olympia's shoelaces have the ability to stretch. At the climax of the episode, Olympia uses Otis's shoelaces, which have the same ability, as well as a sandwich from Party Pam (who was shown attempting to sell sandwiches earlier) in order to reach Ms. O, who is high in the air.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Party Pam, whoo boy.
  Ms. O: I might have gone too fun...
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Both Olympia and Otis travel in red balls while using Tube Travel, to signify their department's color (Investigation is signified by red).
• Comically Missing the Point: When Ms. O suggests that Party Pam not yell at everyone in order to sell her sandwiches effectively, she instead goes for a creepy whisper as she offers the Director a sandwich. She remarks that it isn't any better, but takes the sandwich anyway.
• Continuity Cavalcade: Olaf is revealed to be a werewolf, and Oren remarks that the signs were there all along. What follows is a Montage comprising of Olaf howling, featuring clips from "The Potato Ultimato", "Dawn of the Read", "Switch Your Partner Round and Round", and "Best Seats in the House".
• Continuity Nod: When the bell rings, Instructor O tells his students that there's a quiz next week on how to interrogate a unicorn.
  • Olympia and Otis develop a Secret Handshake, which serves as a sign that they have good partner chemistry. "Switch Your Partner Round and Round" previously showed that Olive and Otto also had one that was a sign of positive partner chemistry, though unlike Olympia and Otis, they found theirs much sooner.
  • When Dr. O meets Oscar to help him interview potential candidates to run the Creature Room, she brings up the events of "Jinx".
  • The song that plays during the Montage of Olaf howling is an upbeat ska version of The Potato Song.
• Crazy-Prepared: Olympia may be an overexcited Genki Girl, but she's also a Child Prodigy who knows anything and everything about Odd Squad to such an extent that she could stand toe-to-toe with Odd Todd, of all people. Before leaving for Precinct 13579, she states that she's studied every single case in Odd Squad history since the beginning of time, but also asks about cases before time even begins. Luckily, Instructor O stops her and assures her that she's ready. This trope also applies to her numerous costumes that she wears — she had a celebration outfit at the ready for when she and Otis solved their first case, as well as a Girl Scouts-like outfit for if the Academy didn't work out.
  • Dr. O wants to help Oscar interview candidates for the Creature Room. When he asks why, she presents him a scenario drawn in well-illustrated pictures: the Creature Room Director forgets to lock a creature in its cage. Said creature gets a glass of water and spills it on the floor. Dr. O herself slips on the water, and ends up in the hospital with a full-body cast and with both her arm and leg in slings, meaning that she is unable to do her job as Odd Squad's medic. She punctuates her spiel by saying that yes, she does care who runs the Creature Room and she's helping Oscar whether he likes it or not. All the Scientist can manage to utter out is a small "okay". By Part 2, a myriad of agents in different positions have backed Oscar for the same reason: they don't want an inexperienced Creature Room Director.
• Dare to Be Badass: Subverted; Otis attempts to give one to Olympia, but it falls on deaf ears and is interrupted by Party Pam.
  Otis: [after O'Duffy asks him if he wants a new partner] No, I don't want a new partner, I want you [Olympia] to be my partner!
  Olympia: Why? You obviously don't like me, you barely talk to me.
  Otis: I've said more words to you than anyone in my life. You just don't notice because you say more words than most people do their entire lives.
  Olympia: Yeah, I can see that...
  Otis: You're smart, and you know about Odd Squad. If you can just get over this and get back to work...
  Olympia: Get over what, the fact that I failed?
  [Party Pam arrives with her cart]
  Party Pam: I know what'll cheer you up. Eat my food and I'll make you a balloon. [tosses Olympia a sandwich]
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: O'Duffy is tired of being a tube operator, and wants a change in jobs. At one point, he attempts to ask Party Pam how the sandwich business is, and after Ms. O's rescue, he is shown working alongside the chef as an assistant.
  O'Duffy: So, how's the sandwich business? I could use a change.
  Party Pam: It's really bad.
  O'Duffy: I'm still interested.
  Party Pam: Great. It's-it's-it's really bad.
• Determinator: This trope is normally played straight for Olympia. However, it's averted for her in this episode after going through a range of categories hoping to find similarities between the three victims, and failing to do so. Otis attempts to make her see reason by suggesting that the pair go to Headquarters and ask for help, but Olympia refuses, saying that the pair are full-fledged agents and that they should be able to solve the case themselves. Eventually she comes to the conclusion that she was never ready to be an agent, and demotes herself back to the position of agent-in-training, resolving to go back to the Academy, much to Otis's dismay. By the end of the episode, she goes back to playing the trope straight.
• Double Meaning: Party Pam's catchphrase is "Eat my food and I'll make you a balloon". However, she doesn't make you a balloon (i.e., make a balloon animal for you), she makes people into balloons, causing them to float upwards if they eat her food.
  Otis: Are you saying your food makes people into balloons?
  Party Pam: I feel like I've been really clear about this.
  [sounds of protest from the floating victims]
• Dressed in Layers: Parodied. Olympia tears off her Investigation agent suit to reveal a sequined celebration outfit that she states was for when she and Otis solved their first case. Then she tears that outfit off to reveal her agent-in-training uniform underneath.
  • The trope is parodied again at the end of the episode where Otis asks if he and Olympia are partners again, only for her to say "Does this answer your question?" as she tears off her agent-in-training uniform to reveal a Girl Scout-like outfit, saying that she was going to join the Scouts if the Academy didn't work out. By the time she gets back to HQ, she's wearing a regular Investigation uniform.
• Duck!: On their way to the office where the odd situation is located, Otis looks down, says "Duck!" and quickly pulls Olympia down to the ground with him. When Olympia asks what happened, Otis points out that he doesn't like ducks, just as one comes onscreen.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Coach O is introduced in the show via a mention, long before he would make his proper appearance in "Put Me In Coach".
  • Similarly, the Task Force is also introduced via a mention. Xavier and Xena, two Task Force agents, would make their debut appearances in "Xs and O's".
• Establishing Character Moment: Olympia is first introduced as a glasses-wearing Genki Girl who is a Perpetual Smiler and loves making friends, and does well enough at the Odd Squad Academy to be promoted in Otto's place. Otis, on the other hand, is introduced as a Socially Awkward Hero who is far more reserved and has a Mysterious Past behind him, and is promoted to Investigation in Olive's place. While the two don't hit it off right away, by the end of the episode they are shown becoming friends and having good partner chemistry with each other.
• Everybody Knew Already: Everyone knows that Olympia has been promoted...except for Olympia herself, who is the last to know. She ends up finding a celebratory Surprise Party being held by her peers.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Olympia and Otis keep referring to Hopkins as "businessman", to the point where he asks if they can call him any sort of name other than "businessman" to make him feel like an actual human being.
• Everyone Meets Everyone: Olympia does meet the rest of the agents who would eventually comprise Season 2's Main 4 (following the departures of Olive and Otto) — however, it doesn't last for very long, as Ms. O sends her and Otis on a case to an office located downtown, and the only thing Olympia knows about them is their names. The episode focuses on her bonding with Otis, her new partner, the most.
• Evil Is Hammy: While more of a Harmless Villain than anything else, Party Pam still hams it up, especially with her food's selling point:
  Party Pam: Eat my food and I'll make you a balloon!!
• Evolving Credits: This episode marks another change in the opening credits, with narration done by Ms. O instead of Olive and new clips from Season 1 episodes such as "Oscar of All Trades" and "Not So Splash" replacing old ones. The shot of the Main 4 inside the logo is also cut out and is instead replaced with just the logo zooming out. This was an intentional move, as the next episodes to air, "Back to the Past" and "Odd Squad Needs You", would change the opening credits to reflect Olympia's and Otis's arrivals, with the former narrating.
• First Day from Hell: The very minute Olympia arrives at Headquarters (where she doesn't get any farther than the tube lobby), she and Otis are sent to deal with an odd problem involving floating people. By the climax of the episode, she is forced to rescue her boss from floating up into space.
• Fluffy Tamer: Ocean is incredibly skilled with odd creatures, and manages to put a small dragon to sleep by playing his ukulele. He is eventually promoted to Creature Room Director by technicality since he is the last applicant. (Considering his clothes have a yellow color theme, it's possible he might have been a Maintenance worker beforehand, but it's not explained what department he was in formerly.)
• Friendship Moment: The episode's A-plot revolves around Olympia and Otis bonding as partners and befriending each other. After Ms. O is brought back down to the ground and takes Party Pam away, Olympia and Otis have a private conversation wherein Otis attempts to bring Olympia out of her 10-Minute Retirement. It ends up working, and the two form a solid friendship with each other and grow stronger as partners..
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Subverted — Olympia wears purple glasses as an agent-in-training, but ditches them for a pair of red glasses instead to signify her Rank Up (since the Investigation department is signified by red), which would be a mainstay for her for the rest of the season.
• Harmless Villain: Party Pam could effectively qualify as this — her goal is to make people eat her food so they'll be turned into balloons, which is relatively harmless considering the villain-caused oddities we've seen, and she doesn't have too much malicious intent behind her.
• Hero-Worshipper: While it wouldn't be especially prominent until future episodes, this episode reveals that Olympia looks up to Olive and Otto, as she tells Otis that giving up wasn't something they would ever do.
• High-Five Left Hanging: This is Donnie's issue in the Cold Open, as whenever he goes for a high-five, his hand is left suspended in mid-air.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": Played straight for the dentist, whose name is Dentist, but parodied for Marie, who pronounces her name as "Crossing Guard".
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: The episode introduces a new symbol wipe for the Creature Care department (and by extension, Agent Ocean): an orange-and-green circular reptilian eye, accompanied by a lion's roar.
• I Got Bigger: Oscar sounds much older in this episode and is much taller than in his previous appearances. This is justified In-Universe as him setting off the Make-You-Older-inator gadget on himself; in Real Life, Sean Michael Kyer (his actor) aged quite a bit, which led the writers to devise an In-Universe explanation.
  Ms. O: Something's...different about you.
  Oscar: Oh yeah. This new Make-You-Older-inator went off, heh-heh. I like the new voice though.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Oscar tells Ms. O that he can handle running the Creature Room on his own and that he has a knack for caring for creatures. After getting squirted by a blob, startled by a dinosaur ramming up against a glass wall, and ensnared in the jaws of a Venus flytrap-like creature, he then tells her that he'll find someone to run the room immediately.
• Inadvertent Entrance Cue: After the Montage of Olaf howling plays and everyone agrees on how Olaf being a werewolf makes sense, Party Pam comes into the Interrogation room asking, "Did someone say they were hungry?" Dr. O's response is golden.
  Dr. O: [as Oscar shakes his head] Uhh, no. Not even close.
• Incredibly Lame Fun: Being The Smart Girl, Olympia loves charts. And the part before the chart is made, too.
  Olympia: Ooh, the anticipation!
• Jaw Drop: Olympia does one when Instructor O tells her that she's been promoted to the Investigation department.
• Long-Runner Tech Marches On: This episode introduces the use of smartwatches, which are worn primarily by Investigation agents (the screen takes the shape of the symbol of the department that the agent is in) and replace the functions of the Mathroom from Season 1. They would become a mainstay for the rest of the series, with other agents in other departments such as Science and the Mobile Unit gaining them later on.
• Man-Eating Plant: Oscar lands right into the jaws of a Venus flytrap plant at one point.
• Man Hug: Of a sort. Ronnie and Donnie attempt to bump chests with each other, but become stuck to each other and suspended in mid-air.
• Meaningful Appearance: Party Pam's party-ness is represented with her curly hair being adorned with curly streamers and cocktail umbrellas.
• Meaningful Background Event: During the Cold Open, a train goes by in the background that has the Science logo on it. The very next episode would introduce Oona, a young Scientist who serves as Oscar's apprentice for a short time, who is most likely onboard the train.
• Mellow Fellow: To show how skilled he is at caring for creatures, Ocean releases a small dragon from his pocket, which flies around the interrogation room and spews fire at Dr. O and Oscar (which they quickly dodge). They freak out, he doesn't even flinch.
• Motor Mouth: Befitting her Genki Girl tendencies, Olympia delves into this numerous times to the point where even Instructor O grows tired of it just before he sends her up the tubes (which manages to cut off her sentence about what her new partner is like).
  Instructor O: I don't...think I've...ever seen you not talking.
• Multi-Part Episode: The first one of Season 2 — fitting, considering it's also the season premiere.
• No Indoor Voice: Party Pam is constantly shouting for people to eat her sandwiches. Ms. O is eventually forced to pull her aside and suggest that she not yell.
• No Sense of Personal Space: When Ms. O suggests that Party Pam not yell at people all the time in order to sell her sandwiches, she instead goes for a creepy whisper and leans right into Ms. O's face while offering her a sandwich, with the Director leaning quite a ways backwards in the process.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Olympia and Otis are promoted to agents in the places of Otto and Olive, respectively. Headquarters gets a complete retool after the Final Battle with the creatures in the Season 1 finale, and Ocean gets promoted to Director of the newly-built Creature Room.
• Not So Above It All: During the making of the chart to determine the cause of the floating, Olympia operates the Chart-inator while Otis writes down questions to ask. Before the second question, he and Olympia trade positions as she tells him he'll love using the Chart-inator. Sure enough, Otis uses the gadget and briefly smiles. Olympia tells him that she told him he'd like it.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Dr. O tells Oscar that she wants to paint him a picture illustrating why she wants to help him pick candidates to run the Creature Room, then says there's no time. All of a sudden, an easel with drawings appears right behind her, and she uses that instead.
• Once More, with Clarity: The scene of Olive and Otto leaving through the tubes from "O is Not For Over" is repeated again, only this time around, we see who comes through the tubes after them, since their identities were hidden before: Olympia and her new partner, Otis.
• Only One Finds It Fun: Olympia and Otis spot a dentist and a crossing guard floating outside after reining in Hopkins. While Otis is rightfully concerned, Olympia is overjoyed, saying that since there are three people floating, she and Otis can ask them what they have in common, and create a chart to figure out the cause of their floating (she is The Smart Girl after all).
• Overly Long Name: The Academy tube operator's name is O'Flanaranahanahan. Yes, exactly as it's spelled.
• Passing the Torch: Olympia and Otis are picked to be Otto's and Olive's respective successors by Ms. O.
• Pesky Pigeons: Ms. O comes across some while floating up into space.
• The Quiet One: Otis doesn't talk very much and is very reserved. This is lampshaded by Olympia, who says that he barely talks to her and comes to the conclusion that he dislikes her — in reality, Otis has said more words to her than anyone in his life; she just doesn't notice because she talks a lot.
• Quirky Ukulele: Ocean has one that he uses to qualm a small dragon. He is very skilled at playing it, and manages to put the dragon to sleep.
• Rank Up: Olympia is picked by Ms. O to be an agent of Odd Squad, moving up from her position as an agent-in-training. Otis also falls under this trope to an extent, although he wasn't an agent-in-training previously.
• Rebuilt Set: Headquarters gets a massive overhaul courtesy of Ms. O, after the Final Battle in "O is Not For Over" nearly wrecked it. The bullpen primarily stays the same; however, new rooms are added, such as the Task Force Room and a room for Coach O, and the bullpen floor as well as the beams are all painted blue.
• The Reveal: Olaf turns out to be a werewolf, although his appearance looks to be closer to a Beast Man.
• Reveal Shot: The Cold Open appears to be part of the episode itself, with Olive and Otto making cameos. However, after Ronnie and Donnie get stuck while doing a chest bump and call for Odd Squad again, the camera zooms out to show that it's really a video being played for agents-in-training at the Odd Squad Academy.
• Rousing Speech: Otis gives a heartfelt one to Olympia after she rescues Ms. O that triggers her She's Back moment.
  Olympia: Sorry I gave up before. [sighs]
  Otis: But then you un-gave up and figured out the answer and saved Ms. O.
  Olympia: But I still quit! It's not what Olive would've done, or Otto.
  Otis: HEY!! [Olympia winces] Too loud. Hey...I don't know them, okay? But I know that not everything's perfect and easy the first time. You try your best, and if you need help from someone else, so what? It doesn't make you a bad agent. It makes you a good agent because you can work with other people. And, can we please stop talking about feelings?
  Olympia: Yeah.
• Scout-Out: Olympia wears a Girl Scouts-like uniform, but she only refers to the organization itself as "the Scouts". May be a case of Early-Installment Weirdness, as a later episode, "Show Me the Money", revealed that the equivalent of Girl Scouts for the Odd Squad universe are called "Junior Girl Troopers".
• Secret Handshake: Olympia attempts this with Otis, but it falls flat and he doesn't join in with her on it (he simply sticks his hand out as though expecting an actual handshake; Olympia just slaps her hand across his a few times and ends it with an explosion hand gesture). By the end of the episode, the two manage to find one of their own, albeit Otis claims it was sheer accident.
  Otis: We just met, how could we have a Secret Handshake?
  Olympia: I thought we'd just sort of kind of find it.

  Olympia: [after she and Otis perform their handshake] We found our Secret Handshake!
  Otis: That was an accident. [begins to walk away]
  Olympia: Nonononono, that was a sign that we are perfect partners, admit it! [she follows him and speaks in a warning tone] Do iiiiit!
• She's Back: Otis's Rousing Speech manages to cheer up Olympia and inspires her to return to Precinct 13579.
  Otis: So we partners or what?
  Olympia: Does this answer your question?
  [she stands up and tears off her agent-in-training uniform to reveal a Girl Scouts-esque outfit]
  Otis: No.
  Olympia: I was gonna join the Scouts if the Academy didn't work out. I'll just, um, get a new suit. Back at headquarters.
  [she nervously chuckles and walks away]
• Shout-Out: The balloons that Party Pam holds are in the colors of the Mane Six, with the exception of a pink one for Pinkie Pie (although there is a pink balloon tied to her cart). She carries the five balloons around with her wherever she goes.
  • When Oscar introduces himself and Dr. O to Ocean, he asks, "Doctor who?" Dr. O responds with, "Different person."
• The Stoic: Instructor O is this, speaking in a Creepy Monotone at times and coming off as generally being completely emotionless.
• Surfer Dude: Ocean talks like one, and constantly refers to his co-workers as "dudes". Considering his name and the fact he wears a necklace and a bracelet made out of small shells, it's fitting.
• Surprise Party: One is held for Olympia to congratulate her on her promotion.
• Take That!: This episode delivers an absolutely glorious one to critics who dislike the show due to Ms. O's constant yelling, by having Ms. O herself give some helpful advice to Party Pam. At the end of the episode, the Director tops it off by shouting her catchphrase at Olympia and Otis once again, and saying that she still lets herself have one yell a day (which is good justification for the continued usage of her catchphrase).
  Ms. O: If you're always yelling, that's all people think you do, and they don't see that there's a lot more to your character.
• Terrible Interviewees Montage: One occurs near the end of the episode as Dr. O and Oscar interview candidates to run the Creature Room. Said candidates include Ohlm, who only has knowledge of real-world creatures like fish and dogs, Owen, who isn't available to start for 98 years, and Orchid, who attempts to turn the tables on the interviewees. The final candidate is Ocean, who proves to be a perfect fit when he manages to calm a small fire-breathing dragon he keeps as a pocket pet by playing ukulele (although Oscar promotes him simply because there are no other interviewees left).
• Three Lines, Some Waiting: The episode has three separate plotlines: one with Olympia and Otis attempting to solve a case involving floating people and bonding with each other, one with Oscar interviewing candidates for the Creature Room at Ms. O's insistence, and one involving Party Pam working at Odd Squad as a chef. Both the A-plot and C-plot eventually intertwine when it's revealed that Pam's food is what is causing people to float, and Olympia is forced to rescue her latest victim: Ms. O.
• Toilet Humor: When Oscar leans in and points at a blob in the Creature Room, it squirts liquid at him in a way that makes it look like it's squirting urine at him.
• Unwanted Assistance: When Otis suggests that he and Olympia go and ask for help when no similarities between the three victims are found, Olympia sharply refuses and says that the pair shouldn't need help, as they are agents and should be able to do things without help.
• Vague Age: Averted; Olympia explicitly states that she's 11 years old. Coincidentally, her predecessor, Otto, was about to turn 11, as revealed last episode.
• Wall Crawl: Otis does a variant of this by squeezing in between the wall and the catwalk and making his way up. He grabs Hopkins' hand, and is able to float back down to the ground and takes the businessman down with him.
  Olympia: How is that a talent not worth mentioning?
• Wham Episode: Considering this is the Season 2 premiere, it's no surprise that there are some wham-filled moments.
  • Olympia and Otis become replacements for Otto and Olive, respectively, and are promoted to Investigation agents of Precinct 13579. The episode focuses on them befriending each other.
  • After the Final Battle in "O is Not For Over" that caused massive damage to Headquarters, it gets a massive rebuild, with an expanded lab for Oscar, a Task Force room (which wouldn't be explored until "Xs and Os"), and a Creature Room among other things. In addition to Olympia and Otis, the episode focuses on Oscar finding a suitable candidate to run the latter room after finding that he is incapable of running it himself.
  • This episode first establishes Otis's Absurd Phobia of ducks, which is Foreshadowing for the finale, where his phobia is explored.
  • Agent Ocean is promoted to the rank of Creature Room Director, after being the only interviewee left (everyone else joined the interviewing team).
  • At the end of the episode, Oscar tells Ms. O that he couldn't find a file on Otis, and asks her about his attendance at the Odd Squad Academy. She responds that he didn't go to the Academy, prompting Oscar to ask where he came from. This sets up the main mystery of Season 2.
  • Olaf is revealed to be a werewolf, as evidenced by his frequent howling.
  • Various Odd Squad headquarters are revealed to be separated by precincts, something that would carry over into Season 3.
• What Would X Do?: A variant; Olympia tells Otis that giving up on a case isn't something Olive would have done, or Otto.
• Worldbuilding: This episode introduces the Odd Squad Academy as a locale, after having been previously mentioned in "Assistant's Creed". Specifically, it introduces the Investigation division (the Academy itself has six buildings for the six main ranks). True to its name, it functions as a school for agents-in-training who wish to become agents, with a promotion in order if a Director of a precinct happens to pick an agent-in-training to fill a spot at that precinct.
  • Furthermore, the episode also introduces other departments and ranks, including Aquatic Operations, Flight, and Hazardous Chemicals.
  • The Odd Squad Headquarters which serves as the main setting for the show is given a name: Precinct 13579, the first five odd numbers.

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