Recap / Odd Squad S 2 E 34 Who Is Agent Otis

Ms. O fights against her own boss for her agent's sake.

Who is Agent Otis?

Airdates: January 21, 2019 ^note PBS Kids premiere; aired along with "Odds and Ends" as Part 1 of "Odds and Ends" special, April 3, 2019 ^note TVO Kids premiere

Olympia discovers a secret about her partner.

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Tropes:

• All Animals Are Dogs: Otis's Backstory reveals that while he was still a bipedal human species-wise, he acted in the vein of a duck — he swam like them, picked bugs off of other ducks' backs, and slept in a nest (which appeared to be far too small for him), among other duck-like behaviors. It wasn't until he got older that he realized that some of the ducks' behaviors were immoral, and part of Ms. O's training includes teaching him how to act like a human instead of a duck.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: According to Otis, the ducks he grew up with were loud, rude...and had no sense of romance.
• Badass Cape: The Noisemaker has one courtesy of the Stitcher, which Otis asks about.
• Batman Gambit: Ms. O let the X's have the case because she knew they would mess it up due to their incompetence at being out on the field, unlike Investigation agents. Olympia's interference ends up ruining the plan, however, as she essentially does the dirty work for the two Task Force agents.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Otis has Undying Loyalty towards Ms. O in particular out of everyone at Precinct 13579, due to the fact that she personally trained him to be an Odd Squad agent.
• Betrayal by Offspring: Otis, the adopted son of a duck family, betrays said family just when Brother Quack is ready to activate his device that will bring the Earth closer to the sun and destroy the planet in the process.
• Big Word Shout: A Running Gag for Xena is to repeatedly shout some variation of "Otis is a VILLAAAAAAIN!!"
• Bittersweet Ending: Otis and Ms. O are fired from Odd Squad after being found guilty of causing villain break-ins and assisting them, no thanks to Olympia's "once a villain, always a villain" philosophy. Since Ms. O had served Precinct 13579 for over 100 years, her being fired leaves its agents without a leader.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Ms. O and Otis being fired from Odd Squad causes a break up from the core group of four agents, as only Olympia and Oona are left employed.
• Broken Pedestal: Otis thought that his duck family was the best family he had...up until he grew older and realized what they were doing was wrong.
• Buffy Speak: Olympia refers to the Noisemaker's duck whistle as a "weird blowy thing".
• The Bus Came Back: The Big O, who hasn't been seen since The Movie (save a few mentions throughout the season), returns in this episode.
• Call-Back: Odd Squad Court is once again used in a trial. However, this trial plays out differently than the one in "Disorder in the Court" — not only does Olympia not serve as Otis' lawyer, but the Big O serves as judge instead of Ms. O. In addition, there are quite a few nods to that episode, such as Ms. O calling foul on the plaintiff's testimony the same way Otto cried foul on Odd Todd's claims.
  • Brother Quack, as well as the other ducks, wear a similar translator device to Randall so Otis can speak with them. However, since Otis only built one, he is forced to move it between each duck depending on who he wants to communicate with. Brother Quack is the only duck seen wearing it, though.
• Calvinball: Apparently, there is a rule in place within Odd Squad that during a trial, partners must defend each other. Olympia doesn't necessarily abide by this rule, since she doesn't serve as Otis' lawyer during the trial and is eventually revealed to have turned against him after he recites his Backstory.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Olympia is right on the money with her comment that Xavier and Xena have been messing things up since they arrived at Precinct 13579. Too bad she's viewed as nothing more than a Bratty Half-Pint by them and is punished for it.
  • She also has a point in her retrieving the Stitcher's notebook instead of the X's — since the X's are people who work for Odd Squad but are more villainous than heroic, having her get it would be a win for the organization as a whole, even if Ms. O scolds her for eventually getting ahold of it.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Brad Hatter looks strikingly similar to Jimmy Fallon.
• Continuity Nod: Ms. O's personal helicopter is seen again, after having last been seen in The Movie.
  • When Ms. O explains how the X's getting ahold of the case is a good thing, she states how they'll be out of Otis's cool hair, only for Otis to say that he has regular hair, mirroring a conversation between him and Orchid in "Rookie Night".
  • Olympia and Oona meet in Oscar's bunker, which is still stocked with beans and now has lights strung up.
  • The Big O remarks how the last time he was at Precinct 13579, he forgot his toy train. The Movie had one of his assistants hand him his toy train while making an announcement regarding the Weird Team.
• Cool Crown: Lady Sunshine wears a rather sharp and regal-looking one, fitting her divine aesthetic.
• Cool Mask: Otis is revealed to have worn one while growing up with the ducks.
• Costume Evolution: The Noisemaker now dons a new outfit that is now predominantly yellow instead of brown. In addition, he also gains a new cape. It's revealed that the outfit was created by the Stitcher, a fashion designer villainess.
• Courtroom Episode: Downplayed. The climax of the episode is a trial to prove Otis' innocence, with the X's as the plaintiffs, Otis as the defendant, and Ms. O as Otis' lawyer. Olympia also serves as a witness.
• Crazy-Prepared: Olympia, natch, as she found the time to gather data on where the Stitcher went while Otis was shampooing his eyebrows.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Not only is Otis' duck family revealed to be villainous after he is shown to have loved them dearly, but his betrayal of them is revealed to have haunted him for years, to the point where he panics if he sees a duck or hears anything related to ducks even if it's in the other "duck" context, because he fears it's one of his adoptive family members coming to hurt him for what he did.
• Determinator: While Otis does have a moment of averting the trope, Ms. O (who plays the trope straight) sets him back on track.
  Ms. O: Odd Squad agents don't know the word "can't".
• Didn't Think This Through: Ms. O didn't want Olympia to get the Stitcher's notebook because she didn't want her to find out that Otis was a villain. Apparently, she didn't factor in the X's, whom she tasked with getting the notebook instead due to the fact that she knew they'd mess it up, and they have no qualms in revealing to everyone (Olympia included) that Otis used to be a villain.
  • She also believes that if the X's are out on a case, then they'll be out of Precinct 13579 for good. However, what's stopping them from returning to the precinct once they solve the case?
  • Brother Quack wants to bring the Earth closer to the sun in order to stop winter forever, but is unaware that doing so will basically kill all life on the planet — up to and including him, Otis, and the rest of the ducks.
• Double Aesop: This episode tackles two math Aesops: line graphs and charts.
• Dragged by the Collar: Olympia is taken away to perform desk duty by Xavier, who grabs ahold of her arm and pulls her.
• Drunk with Power: The X's believe they have the right to take cases from agents if they so please since they're employed by the Big O and can take whatever they want.
• Edible Ammunition: Nana Banana's primary method of attack is to fire...well, bananas at her enemies.
• Enemy Rising Behind: Inverted — the Noisemaker (a villain) hears a whirring sound, an Oh, Crap! settles on his face, and he turns around as the personal helicopter of Ms. O rises behind him.
• Energy Weapon: Both Xavier's and Ms. O's gadgets fire red beams that change their target's clothes at will. They keep going back and forth, firing beams from their respective gadgets at Otis, until Ocean manages to intervene.
• The Exile: Ms. O and Otis become these, with both of them being demoted and fired from Odd Squad at the Big O's behest. The former attempts to fight back when Otis is found guilty, but not even she can hold her ground against her own boss when he finds her guilty as well, and she leaves with an angry growl and with Otis in tow.
• Failed a Spot Check: None of the adults at the park manage to notice a young boy dressed like a duck imitating...well, a duck. It may be justified by the fact that they likely thought Otis had parents who were letting him play with little supervision.
• Fascinating Eyebrow: Otis does one right after he says that he likes a clean eyebrow, followed by Ms. O saying "Who doesn't?"
• Fatal Flaw: Not only does Olympia believe that all villains are incapable of pulling Heel-Face Turns, but so do the X's, who continue to refer to Otis as a villain despite him not being one anymore.
• Feathered Fiend: The ducks who raised Otis are ultimately villainous, and invade spots where people gather to do things like read or have a picnic in order to cause trouble (which in turn drives people away). Otis goes along with the ducks for a time as a very young child, but soon realizes how evil they are as he grows older. Brother Quack, who appears to be The Leader of the ducks, is one of the most blatant examples of being an evil bird, as he can not only speak, he can build a machine to bring the Earth closer to the sun (albeit he needs a pair of opposable thumbs to activate it).
• Fighting Back Is Wrong: It's implied as per usual, but this episode makes it a bit more blatant, as neither Ms. O nor Otis protest to Olympia being taken away by the X's even after they mistakenly believe she's insulting them.
  • The trope is subverted with Olympia and Ms. O, however, as Olympia cannot disobey her boss by going behind her back. However, that's exactly what the agent ends up doing even after Oona tells her that she can't.
  • It ends up averted near the end of the episode during Otis' trial as the Big O finds Otis guilty of all charges, causing Ms. O to stand up and declare that she will fight the ruling. Unfortunately, she doesn't get a chance to, as she is found guilty on the charge of being Otis' accomplice.
• Flaw Exploitation: The X's use Olympia's Fatal Flaw of believing that Good is Not Nice in terms of villains during the trial in order to have the Big O declare Otis guilty.
• Friendship Moment: Surprisingly, there are more of these moments with Otis and Ms. O in this episode particularly than there are moments with Otis and Olympia. Ms. O refuses to let Otis be fired from Odd Squad and fights for him on his behalf, and it's revealed that this is because she trained him to be an Investigation agent by herself versus sending him to the Odd Squad Academy. She even acts as his lawyer during the trial, much like how Otto once served as Olive's lawyer and fought to prove her innocence on her behalf.
• Gasp!: One is heard amongst the gathered agents when Otis can't refute the X's claims of him being a villain.
• Hammerspace: Brother Quack employs this by using his feathers to store things like charts and maps.
• Happily Adopted: Otis' Backstory reveals that he was essentially adopted by a family of ducks as a young child and lived with them happily up until he grew older, at which point he found out about their villainous ways. When Brother Quack plans to build a device that will eradicate all life on Earth, Otis takes action and betrays his family, becoming a White Sheep in the process, and as a result, he has been living in constant fear that his adoptive family will come back to hurt him.
• Hate Sink: Yes, the X's are this by default. However, this episode takes their asshole attitudes up to eleven — they take Olympia's case from her by force, and when she protests by saying that they've been messing everything up since they got to Precinct 13579, they believe that she's backtalking to them and swiftly punish her by demoting her to desk duty. They also have no issue with belittling Ms. O and her agents by telling her that her precinct's agents can't do anything right and always mess up. Furthermore, they have no pity on Otis even after he explains his Dark and Troubled Past to them, and ultimately end up with the victory when Ms. O and Otis are both fired and exiled from Odd Squad.
• Heroic BSoD: Olympia ends up going through one when she lies to protect Otis' feelings, but the lie detector helmet she's wearing marks her comment of how she doesn't view Otis as a villain as a lie, and because of it, he and Ms. O are fired from Odd Squad.
• Hidden Depths: Otis likes a clean eyebrow, and shampoos them often.
  • Ms. O may be a Tiny Tyrannical Girl who yells at her agents fairly often, but she has a heart of gold, and is the only one to take Otis' side after The Reveal.
  • Oona apparently went to law school after becoming a Scientist, but it was in the form of one night class.
  • Otis may have a little Scientist blood in him — he was able to create a voicebox in order to communicate with his duck family. He is also shown sewing a blanket made out of duck feathers at one point.
• Huddle Shot: One is seen as the Main 3 discuss the X's getting ahold of the case. Unfortunately, while they think it's private, it's not — the X's join in the huddle.
• Idiot Ball: It's passed around between the X's and the Big O.
  • The X's believe that Otis is still a villain, and back their beliefs up with the theory that Otis is the one causing the surge of villain break-ins, which they appear to have viable proof of. Even after Otis reveals his Backstory, they refuse to believe that he's made a change for the better and has pulled a Heel–Face Turn. What's worse, they pressure Olympia, who has the same opinion regarding Otis' villainy, into giving up the truth as to what she really thinks regarding her partner.
  • The Big O, while being enough of a Pointy-Haired Boss as it is due to his immaturity, finds Ms. O guilty during the trial because he refuses to believe that she was unaware of Otis presumably trying to destroy Odd Squad. He has virtually no proof that the Director was conspiring with her agent, let alone any villain (and anyone who knows Ms. O well knows that her doing so would be an Out-of-Character Alert), and instead bases his claims on the X's testimony and their proof. He ends up firing Ms. O as well as Otis, and kicks them out of Odd Squad.
• I Lied: Olympia invokes and inverts the trope when the Stitcher tells her where the notebook is. Since the agent knows that she's a villain and that she lies, she knows she's telling the truth.
• I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You!: When Olympia asks the Stitcher where the notebook is, she responds that it's definitely not on a nearby table. As it turns out, that's exactly where it is.
• Insane Troll Logic: The Big O's logic that Ms. O being unaware of Otis trying to destroy Odd Squad means that she's a villain most definitely falls under this, however idiotic he may be.
• Instant Costume Change: Xavier is revealed to be in possession of a gadget that can strip an agent of their Investigation uniform and change them into regular clothes. He uses this on Otis once The Reveal is made, while Ms. O fights back with her own gadget that can do the inverse: strip an agent of their normal clothes and change them into an Investigation uniform.
• Judicial Wig: The Big O wears one similar to what Ms. O wore before during Olive's trial.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Since there is no jury in Otis' trial, the Big O serves as the judge as well as the jury.
• Kangaroo Court: The Big O serves as judge in Otis' trial. However, he is very much a Pointy-Haired Boss due to his young age, and only serves as judge because he likes to play dress-up. As a result, he finds not only Otis guilty, but Ms. O for being an "accomplice" to her agent.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: Both Ms. O and Otis harboring the secret that the latter was a former villain. Even when he says that they have to tell Olympia the truth, she refuses to tell her, saying that she and him made a deal and the secret must be kept. Of course, it ends up being revealed by the end of the episode.
  • On the flip side of the coin, Olympia refuses to get Otis involved in her hunt for the notebook, due to the fact that she doesn't want to risk getting him in trouble if they're caught. Not only that, but she refuses to involve anyone in the mission, including Oona and Ms. O.
• Kneel Before Frodo: When the Big O appears out of nowhere and declares that he will be the judge in Otis's trial, everyone, the X's included, does the traditional kneel, only getting back up when the Big O tells them to.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Oona attempts to invoke this on herself in order to remove any memory of her talking about Olympia's plan with the agent herself. According to her, she needs at least 3 hours for the amnesia to settle in completely.
• Last-Name Basis: It's revealed that the Noisemaker has "Noisemaker" as a last name — his first name is Kevin, making him Kevin Noisemaker. Up until this episode, agents had been referring to him by his last name.
• Lie Detector: The X's put a lie detector on Olympia that takes the form of a helmet (referred to as a "truth helmet" by Xavier), which has a light that flashes red when the wearer tells a lie, flashes green when they tell the truth, and remains yellow when turned on.
• Light Is Not Good: Lady Sunshine, true to her name, wears yellow clothing and has white hair. However, she is a villainess who has light-based attacks, and has no issue attacking Olympia.
• Literal Metaphor: Olympia takes the phrase "going behind [Ms. O's] back" a little too literally at one point.
  Olympia: Right. So it may seem like I'm going behind Ms. O's back, but I'm actually going around her front because she doesn't know her head is on backwards.
• Literal-Minded: "Desk duty" in Odd Squad isn't "stay at your desk and don't solve cases" — it's actually building desks.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Both Ms. O and Otis invoke this while keeping the secret that the latter is an ex-villain. Olympia, who is completely unaware of the secret, doesn't get the full story until a trial is ordered for her partner, and when she hears Otis' Dark and Troubled Past, she is definitely not happy about it.
• Loophole Abuse: Generally speaking, children must attend the Odd Squad Academy if they wish to become a part of Odd Squad. However, since Ms. O is aware that the Academy won't let in a now-former villain, she finds a loophole in the rule, and instead of sending Otis to the Academy, she trains him herself to be an Investigation agent.
• Master of Disguise: Orchid is shown to be disguised as a nearby statue when battling the Noisemaker.
• Moment Killer: The Big O interrupts Otis telling his Backstory in order to ask him if his Judicial Wig is on straight.
• Mood Whiplash: As the X's begin to give their testimony, the episode goes from its serious and cynical tone accompanying Otis' Backstory to a more upbeat tone as Xena delivers the mathematical Aesop of line graphs.
• Multi-Part Episode: The third one of Season 2.
• Musical Assassin: The Noisemaker attempts to use his Clarinet of Chaos on the people of Toronto in order to make them do his bidding. When that's eaten by Ocean's Tyrannosaurus rex, he pulls out his Fiddle of Fear from Hammerspace, and it gets destroyed by Oona in a mecha suit. He also is revealed to have other instrumental weapons on him, such as his Horn of Plenty of Evil, Harmonica of Destruction, and a duck whistle.
• Impossible Pickle Jar: During Otis' Backstory, Ms. O hands one to Otis for him to open, since she just washed her hands and is unable to open it herself.
• Musical Sting: The X's perform a variant of the "dun-dun-dunnn" Sting by combining their trademark Mirthless Laughter along with it.
• Never Say "Die": Even though it's a Season Finale, the episode still plays the trope straight, and any mentions of death are covered up by using the word "destroy" and using other subtle implications.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ms. O initially assigns the job of getting the notebook of villains to Xena and Xavier because she knows they'd mess it up. Olympia goes behind Ms. O's back and retrieves the notebook, only for Xena and Xavier to reveal that Otis used to be a villain — the reason why Ms. O didn't want the notebook in the first place. Otis is tried in court and fired from Odd Squad along with Ms. O.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Noisemaker being a Motor Mouth and discussing the Stitcher and her notebook in detail essentially kicks part of the plot in motion, and spurs Ms. O to try and retrieve it. In doing so, he also isn't allowed to leave Odd Squad anymore after being frisked.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Xavier not only steals air in front of Olympia's face by waving his hand in front of it, but he leans close to the defendant, his lawyer, and the witness during the former's trial in a similar manner to Odd Todd (only without the hamminess of doing a full-body lean onto the table)
• Offscreen Teleportation: The X's do this right after Olympia explains her plan to get the notebook from the Stitcher, flanking her on both sides.
  • The Big O also does this, although he puts a unique spin on the trope by emerging from behind Xavier, making it seem like he was storing his boss in Hammerspace.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The minute Xena praises Olympia for coming up with a plan to steal the Stitcher's notebook, the agent compliments her, then immediately asks why she's being nice to her.
• Percussive Therapy: Olympia is shown banging the corner of a desk with a hammer while venting to Oona about what the X's did. Oona is kind enough to not tell her that she's not fixing the desk until after she's done talking, at which point the desk falls to shambles.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Par for the course for the Big O, whose naivety and youth don't go hand in hand with his management skills. It gets to such a point where he doesn't even know Olympia's name and simply refers to her as "girl with the glasses", and refers to the X's, his employees, as those "other guys".
• Pokémon Speak: Downplayed. Otis wasn't originally named "Otis" — rather, he was named "Quack" due to his Verbal Tic of saying "quack" since he was raised by ducks. Ms. O has him shed the "Quack" name and names him "Otis" as a result.
• Poor Communication Kills: When the X's reveal that Otis was (or in their minds, still is) a villain, Olympia believes that the entire ordeal is just a misunderstanding and that Otis is not a villain, encouraging him to tell them the reveal is false. However, since him being an ex-villain is a correct assumption, he says that he is unable to do what she asks of him.
  • Otis is unable to convince his duck family that using the machine to bring the Earth closer to the sun would cause himself, them, and everyone else to die, and the planet to be destroyed. Because of it, he decides to resort to getting Precinct 13579's help.
• Powered Armor: Oona wears some pretty heavyset armor on her body when fighting the Noisemaker. The armor on her lower arms has the ability to fire beams that can destroy anything they come into contact with. She later uses the armor to save Ohlm and Ms. O from the former's black hole, which allows her to stay put so she won't get sucked into it.
• Raised by Wolves: It's revealed that Otis was raised by ducks. He even quotes the trope name verbatim at one point.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": Ms. O has this reaction to seeing Brother Quack's plans that Otis gives her.
  • Otis also has this reaction when the Big O believes that Ms. O is also a villain.
• Remember the New Guy?: Quite a few established villains make their debut in this episode, like Lady Sunshine and Brad Hatter.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Nana Banana lives in a cabana with Lady Sunshine's friend Anna from Savannah. ^note Except she's not from Savannah — she's from outside of Buffalo.
• Riddle for the Ages: Many fans have speculated on exactly how Otis — a human being — wound up living with ducks to begin with, with some theorizing that he was potentially abandoned by his human parents as a baby, or that he was somehow given up for adoption to the ducks. Otis' human parents are never touched upon in the series proper.
• Running Gag: Villains attacking Olympia out of instinct until she says she's not after them, at which point they ask if she's sure and attack once more before she says she's positive.
• Sanity Slippage: It's subtle, but Oona continuously offering Olympia beans from inside her bunker is a sign of this. Since there are numerous cans of beans surrounding her and Olympia, she feels like they're crowding in around her and all she can do is eat them, and refuses to let the agent leave unless she takes some.
• The Scapegoat: Otis effectively ends up as one. He is wrongly accused by the X's of helping out villains since the day he arrived at Odd Squad, but "Odds and Ends" reveals that it's Ohlm, not Otis, who has been assisting villains.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Olympia's primary reason for getting the notebook is because she believes that with the notebook, the villains won't be a threat to Odd Squad anymore, and it will be a win for the organization. On a personal level, she also believes that what Ms. O wants is to get the notebook no matter what it takes or which agent gets it, and she will be happy with Olympia for getting it, which is why she goes behind her boss's back and deliberately disobeys her with Oona's assistance. However, she could not be more wrong — Ms. O let the X's take the case specifically because she knew they'd mess it up, and having Olympia (who is far more skilled than they are) take it puts a huge dent in her plan.
• Season Finale: For Season 2 — it's the first part of a two-parter.
• Selective Obliviousness: Oona sympathizes with Olympia and tells her that it isn't like she can go behind Ms. O's back. Olympia sits on the statement...and then realizes that she has to go behind Ms. O's back, which could potentially put her out of a job even if her intentions are good.
• Shown Their Work: Zig-zagged. Brother Quack's main gripe is that he and the rest of the ducks are taking over fewer ponds in the colder months of the year. He, and the other ducks (sans Otis, obviously), are Pekin ducks, which are unable to fly due to their heavyweight bodies, and thus can't migrate. However, Brother Quack tells Otis that the reason the family is taking over fewer ponds is because they have to migrate, and Otis is shown flying in the next episode.
• Slippery Skid: Due to Nana Banana firing bananas at Olympia and leaving banana peels on the ground, both the Stitcher and Olympia are subject to this while trying to get the former's notebook. Since Olympia is the one wearing Converses while the Stitcher has high heels, she ends up retrieving it first.
• Stage Whisper: Zig-zagged. What Xena whispers to Xavier isn't meant to be heard by the audience, but the trope is played straight since, if one listens closely enough, they can hear her say "She's coming with us".
• Status Quo Is God: Played with. Olympia does manage to get the notebook, but the X's take it from her. After that, it's never brought up again. Since it contains vital information on every villain known to Odd Squad, it's unknown whether it was taken back to the Big O or if it somehow fell back into the hands of the Stitcher. Considering that some villains from Season 2 show up in Season 3, however (like Jamie Jam and Freeze Ray Ray), it's possible that the notebook was completely forgotten by Odd Squad in order for this trope to take effect.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Ms. O does a variant on her trademark ability with a Lightswitch Surprise on the subway — when the lights turn off briefly and turn back on, she is revealed to be suddenly sitting behind Otis.
• Supervillain Lair: The ducks have one that is situated in a barn. It also served as Otis' home while he was still a villain.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Played with. The X's recite Olympia's Arc Words from "Mid-Day in the Garden of Good and Odd" despite them not having been there at the time, which would imply that either they had the incident of Todd's corruption caught on tape, or they were present at the scene. How they managed to gain knowledge of Olympia saying "Once a villain, always a villain" in response to Todd is not expanded on in the episode, making the reveal that they know she said that come off as this trope.
• Tempting Fate: "You think two children can stop me, Kevin Noisemaker?" No, but Olympia and Otis aren't there to stop you — they're there to distract you.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: Averted. Otis is shown sewing a blanket made out of dropped duck feathers at one point while revealing his Backstory.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Ms. O sends seven total agents — up to and including herself — to stop the Noisemaker, and even goes so far as to use her helicopter. The Noisemaker lampshades this.
  Noisemaker: A little much, don't you think?
  Otis: It's, uh, kind of a slow day at the office.
• Training Montage: One is shown as Ms. O attempts to have Otis shed his duck mannerisms and learn skills that an Investigation agent has. It's a rocky start at first, but he soon gets the hang of acting like a human and gaining the skills of an Odd Squad agent to boot.
• Undying Loyalty: While Odd Squad employees uphold a strong sense of loyalty to their bosses by default, Otis takes the trope a step further, as his relationship with Ms. O goes beyond boss-to-employee and veers more into friendship and alliance.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Once Olympia retrieves the Stitcher's notebook, the villainess leaves town. Whether this is due to the fact that she comes to Toronto once a year or because she is defeated is left up for debate.
• Weaponized Headgear: Brad Hatter attacks by throwing hats at people.
• We Need a Distraction: Olympia and Otis serve as distractions for the Noisemaker so the other agents can intervene.
• Wham Episode: Par for the course in being a Season Finale — this episode reveals that Otis is a former villain, much to Olympia's shock. It also reveals Otis' Backstory and how he made a Heel–Face Turn thanks to Ms. O's efforts, and ends with Otis and Ms. O being fired from Odd Squad.
• Wham Line: It's a Wham Episode and the first half of the Season Finale, so of course there are bound to be a few of these.
  • When the X's look through the notebook.
  Olympia: [to Ms. O] What? Why wouldn't you want this notebook?
  Xena: 'Cause she didn't want us to know...
  Xavier: ...that your partner's a villain.
  • When Otis is called up to the stand during his trial.
  Otis: I was raised by ducks.
  [everyone, sans the Big O, gets shocked looks]
  Ms. O: [hushed] Aw, he said it...
  • When Olympia is questioned as to whether she still believes Otis is a villain.
  Xavier: Is he a villain, yes or no?
  Olympia: No! [the truth helmet turns red]
  Xena: LIAR!!
  Ms. O: What?
  Otis: [despaired] Olympia?
  • The Big O's final verdict is pretty much a Wham Exchange.
  Big O: Based on what I've heard today, Agent Otis is...
  [suspenseful Beat]
  Big O: Guilty.
  Ms. O: [as she and Olympia stand up] We will fight this!
  Big O: I'm not finished. Ms. O, you are one of the smartest children I know.
  Ms. O: Thank you. [sits back down]
  Big O: So I find it hard to believe you didn't know Agent Otis was trying to destroy Odd Squad.
  Ms. O: No!
  Big O: Which means you're also a villain.
  Ms. O: What?
  Otis: No no no no.
  Big O: Off the Squad, take 'em away! [bangs his gavel]
  [Ms. O growls and leaves with Otis on her tail]
• Wham Shot: Yep, this episode hits the trifecta of "Wham" tropes — there are quite a few to be found in this episode.
  • Olympia's face when the X's reveal that Otis was (or in their case, still is) a villain.
  • Ms. O meeting Otis in the subway via way of a Lightswitch Surprise.
  • Otis's despaired and upset expression when Ms. O and her Security team manage to capture the ducks, as he takes off his mask.
• What Were You Thinking?: Ms. O asks Olympia "what have you done?" in utter despair when the latter manages to retrieve the notebook. She ends up being completely oblivious to what her boss is feeling.
• Wild Take: Xena has one when Otis says that he was raised by ducks.
• Worldbuilding: It's revealed that Hammerspace is a skill that, while it can be used as a general ability, is also taught to agents while attending the Odd Squad Academy in order to conjure up gadgets and other things they may need.
  • Otis' home is seen, in the form of a barn that serves as his and the other ducks' Supervillain Lair.
• Worst. Whatever. Ever!: Olympia, going through a Heroic BSoD following Otis' and Ms. O's exile, has this to say after they are taken away by the Security agent acting as bailiff.
  Olympia: This is the worst day of my life. [her truth helmet glows green]
• Wrong Assumption: The X's believe that Otis has been helping villains since he arrived at Precinct 13579, which is why villains keep breaking into Headquarters. Unfortunately, Xavier and Xena take their permanent leave before the real culprit, Ohlm, can be sniffed out.
  • Similarly, the Big O believes that Ms. O is also a villain, as she didn't know that Otis was planning to destroy Odd Squad. Of course, anyone who knows Ms. O (and the Big O himself) knows that this is far from the truth.
• You Know What to Do: Ms. O has a variant that she tells Otis once she gets ahold of the plans.
  Ms. O: You know what needs to be done.

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