Omar's so famous for his love of souvenirs that he's become a bonafide celebrity.
Monumental OddnessAirdate: November 3, 2021 note , July 5, 2022 note
Globetrotting villain Stu Venir is turning monuments into keychains! Agents must uncover a pattern to predict where he will strike next.
Tropes:
- Alternate Landmark History: Apparently, Odd Squad helped Mexico City construct the Angel of Independence so they could stop a giant geyser of pudding from erupting — it wasn't just built to honor Mexico's independence.
- An Aesop: The show is well-known for giving lessons on math and science, but this episode has so many comments on historical landmarks that one would think the show has added history to its educational repertoire. Oswald giving short tidbits about each landmark in spite of it being unneeded (and being frequently interrupted by Orpita) would cross over into
Anvilicious territory if it weren't a Chekhov's Gun for where Stu Venir was planning to strike next. - Answer Cut: Oswald tells Orla that there's only one monument out of the 25 on Omar's list that was made in the 1960s. Whip Pan transition to Stu Venir about to attack the Seattle Space Needle.
- Ascended Fanboy: Given a slight deconstruction. It's been known among the Mobile Unit for a while that Omar loves souvenirs and that he loves to travel to different places and see various monuments and landmarks, but this episode has him becoming so famous for his passion that he ends up in The Shmumbertimes, a travel magazine, and has even been invited to speak at the 19th Annual Snowglobe Convention due to how much fame he's been getting thanks to his magazine feature. However, while those like Orpita know about The Shmumbertimes feature, so do villains like Stu Venir, and he uses the list to steal monuments all around the world.
- Black Comedy Burst: This episode has three jabs at depression and suicide occurring quite rapidly in succession.
- Omar tells Orla and Oswald to look through his souvenir collection to find something that will help them catch Stu Venir and thinks that the villain follows a pattern in committing his odd crimes. And then he says that maybe there isn't a pattern, and life has no meaning.
- Directly after that, Orla echoes Omar's sentiment in an absolutely deadpan tone — which puts her "we should bury ourselves in a hole" comment from "Raising the Bar" into an entirely new light.
- When Orla and Oswald arrive in Singapore, the Van Computer advises them to dress warm, as the weather is cold. Oswald then states that he thought Singapore was warm, to which the Van Computer responds by saying that everyone has days where they don't feel like themselves, which includes cities.
- Blah, Blah, Blah: Stu Venir delves into this when he leaves to undo the damage he caused to all the monuments.Orla: And?Stu Venir: And I'll put them all back where they belong, blah blah blah.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Oswald borrows Omar's catchphrase that he uses when answering the phone, and modifies it to make it "Oswald's House of Wedding Planning and Photography".
- But Not Too Gay: The two French brides that get married are deep in love with each other, but they never kiss even after Oswald pronounces them married, whereas kissing is usually traditional at weddings. This wouldn't be the first time a couple hasn't kissed onscreen after getting wed — "Happily Ever Odd" had a similar situation occur with Ronnie and Bonnie, a biracial couple, hugging each other instead — but the two brides not kissing was most likely an intentional move done in order to comply with PBS Kids and their S&P. note
- Call-Back: First came Sue Venir in "Substitute Agents". Now we have Stu Venir, her brother.
- Continuity Nod: "Odd Squad in the Shadows" implied that Omar not being able to get a souvenir serves as a Berserk Button for him and causes him to become enraged. This episode implies that Omar was definitely not happy when he was told to narrow down his list of 2,500 monuments to visit to only a mere 25, as evidenced by Oswald remarking under his breath, "Dark days."
- Dance Party Ending: The episode ends with Orla, Oswald and Osmerelda, as well as Omar (on a video call, with Osmerelda holding the tablet) dancing at the Eiffel Tower wedding reception.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: The episode opens with Osmerelda singing the show's theme tune while playing with a toy version of the Mobile Unit van.
- The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Oswald and Orla have two choices — try and get the tourists to leave the Merlion, with them leaving peacefully (the easy way), or the agents having to spend time with the tourists and appeasing to their whims in order to get them to a safe part of the city (the hard way). When the former doesn't work, Oswald says that they're gonna have to do things the hard way.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Osmerelda, dealing with a pudding geyser in Mexico City, tells Oswald and Orla that she hasn't seen such a high amount of pudding in her 10 years of existence, which gives Oswald an idea on how to crack Stu Venir's pattern.
- Facial Markings: Stu Venir, like his sister, has a white stripe running down his nose.
- Failed a Spot Check: The decade that each monument was constructed in is shown on plaques on each of the snowglobes with the respective monuments inside, but somehow, neither Orla nor Oswald manage to see them even when the plaques are facing them, up until the climax.
- Fantastic Fireworks: Fireworks accompany the Eiffel Tower wedding reception at the end of the episode.
- Gay Groom in a White Tux: Averted, as both the French brides are shown wearing white wedding dresses.
- Gilligan Cut: Oswald advises that he and Orla call Omar and tell him to return from the Snowglobe Convention to help them out. Whip Pan transition to him telling them that he can't leave the convention because he's about to give an important speech.
- Gratuitous French: One of the French brides tells Oswald something in French that can roughly translate to "stop" or "hold on".
- Harp of Femininity: Orla is shown playing a harp at one point during the wedding.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: Parodied. Omar states that his speech at the Snowglobe Convention is so important to him that he wore a tie just for the occasion, only for Orla to tell him that he wears a tie every day when he's at work. He dismisses the remark.
- Hidden Depths: It's implied that Orla has a talent for face-painting, as evidenced by one tourist appearing with his face painted like a tiger. She also has a talent for flipping a stick.
- Hide Your Lesbians: The scene with two French brides getting married, and Orla and Oswald helping them out with wedding preparations, is the third LGBTQ-related event that Orla has been heavily involved in (the first one being the OddTube episode "The Button Song" where she has rainbowitis, and the second one being the climax of "Can You Wrangle It?" which has bisexual lighting). While it's common fanon that Orla is a lesbian, this episode seems to subtly push that boat further out to sea without directly confirming whether she's a lesbian or not. However, since PBS Kids is very aversive towards canon LGBTQ characters in their shows note , it's likely that whether she's a lesbian or not will be left up to viewer interpretation.
- Improbable Weapon User: Like his sister, Stu Venir uses a bulky camera as a weapon. When he points it at a monument and hits the shutter button, it turns into a small keychain.
- It Kind of Looks Like a Face: Oswald believes that windows do look like faces, if one thinks about it.
- Jumped at the Call: The Little O tells Osmerelda that pudding is erupting from a geyser in Mexico City, and she's immediately on board with going there to deal with it.Orla: How should we proceed?Osmerelda: I'll go to Mexico City! I love pudding!! Whooo! [jumping out of the van] Wheeeeee!!
- Left the Background Music On: A harp is heard playing throughout the montage of Orla and Oswald helping the French brides with their wedding, and then it's revealed that Orla herself is the one playing the harp, serving as the wedding's musician.
- Long List: Averted. Omar originally had 2,500 monuments to put on his list of the top monuments to visit around the world, but since putting all his choices in a magazine would make it the size of a dictionary, he was forced to narrow it down to his top 25.
- Moment Killer: Oswald, serving as a wedding officiant, is about to give a speech to marry the two brides...and then his phone rings. It turns out to be the Little O, who is telling them that Stu Venir isn't striking the Eiffel Tower. It's made even worse by the fact that Oswald doesn't bother to excuse himself, instead taking the phone call while still standing at the podium, in front of a crowd of people.
- Monumental Damage: The goal of Stu Venir is to turn every monument into a keychain for his own personal use.
- Mood Whiplash: Orpita swaps moods on a dime at one point, going from panicked and stern to sweet and innocent.Little O: You need to solve this, now. [sweetly] Good chat, take care, bye!
- The Power of Love: One of the French brides states that "there's no villain stronger than our love for each other" when referring to her wife-to-be. Oswald is so touched that he gives an "awwww" while Orla remains completely stone-cold and deadpan.
- Punny Name: "Stu Venir", a pun on "souvenir", just like his sister.
- Siblings in Crime: Both Sue and Stu Venir specialize in vandalizing places and turning them into souvenirs. While Sue takes pictures of buildings around a specific town and turns them into snowglobes, Stu uses his camera to take pictures of well-known monuments and turns them into keychains.
- Skewed Priorities: A villain's coming to potentially attack you, your loved ones, or something around you that may put you in grave danger? Screw that, we have to see the sights and finish up a wedding firsthand! Priorities!
- Skip to the End: Orla and Oswald handle the roles of the Eiffel Tower wedding's officiant, flower girls, and musicians in order to get the wedding done faster, since the actual officiant, flower girl, and musicians aren't present when they tell the brides to move their wedding elsewhere. Oswald, the wedding officiant, doesn't even get to complete his speech, instead just telling the brides they're married and moving on.Oswald: I now declare you married! Haveawonderfullifegoodbye.
- Street Performer: One is seen at the Merlion who juggles sticks and refuses to leave until he gets some money.
- Take That!: This episode delivers a very harsh jab at tourists — when Orla and Oswald tell them that a villain is coming to attack the monument they're at, instead of running, they simply just groan as though it's a minor inconvenience for them. They then refuse to leave, with one tourist stating that he came all the way from Denver, Colorado to Singapore to see the sights of the city.
- Traveling at the Speed of Plot: All the monuments that the Mobile Unit goes to, and likewise all of the countries and cities they visit, are treated as though they're a simple hop, skip and jump away from each other.
- Vague Age: Averted. If Osmerelda's comment about the pudding geyser she's dealing with is any indication, she's 10 years old, which would put her at the same age as Oswald and make her the second-youngest agent in the Mobile Unit (following Orla at 500 years old and Omar most likely at 11 or 12).
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: As is typical for this show, Orla, Oswald and Omar let Stu Venir go so he can turn the monuments back to the way they were and put them back in their respective cities, states and countries.
- Villain Respect: Stu Venir outright admits that if Omar's list of monuments wasn't as good as it was, they wouldn't be viable enough to turn into keychains.
- Wedding Smashers: Ever so narrowly averted. Orla and Oswald attempt to interrupt the wedding of two French brides, being held near the Eiffel Tower, by telling them to evacuate the area because Stu Venir is coming to attack the monument. They refuse to leave, stating that they've been waiting to have a wedding for years, and Orla and Oswald are forced to help them out with the wedding to move things along.
- Written-In Absence: Subverted. Omar is initially stated to be absent from the episode, as he's attending the 19th Annual Snowglobe Convention, but he still has a prominent role regardless, telling Orla and Oswald to look through his souvenirs for help in catching Stu Venir and being present (although on a video call, via a tablet that Oswald lugs around) when the two agents manage to stop the villain at the end.
Go ahead. Spot the Impostor.
Party CrashersAirdate: November 4, 2021 note , July 5, 2022 note
It’s Oswald’s birthday! After running into a Party Crasher creature, there are suddenly four of him who seem identical.
Tropes:
- Aliens Speaking English: The green Party Crasher is revealed to speak English unlike the other red and yellow species of Party Crasher, who only communicate in grunts.
- Ageless Birthday Episode: For Oswald. It's never stated how old he's turning, but considering "The Void" revealed that he was 10, it's possible that he's 11 years old, which would (likely) put him at the same age as Omar.
- Arc Symbol: Orla's "Wait one tiny little notch on the sundial" phrase returns in this episode, and as usual, it alludes to the Golden Sundial.
- Artistic License: 10 degrees Celsius (the measurement used in airings of the episodes outside of the United States) is stated by Omar to feel like a winter day. However, 10 degrees Celsius is 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which feels more like a cool autumn day than a day set in the freezing winter.
- Backing Away Slowly: When the four Oswalds explain in unison what happened to them after Orla demands an explanation, she responds by hesitantly thanking them and telling that that she and the others need a moment. They then start backing away slowly, party supplies still in hand, to discuss their next course of action.
- Bad Liar: The fourth Oswald reacts to the temperature dropping in the interrogation room to 10 degrees Celsius (or 50 degrees Fahrenheit) by calmly remarking that he doesn't mind the cold and that he enjoys the change in temperature. Orla is easily able to see right through his ruse and orders Omar to drop the temperature further — and that he does, eventually to 0 degrees Celsius (or 32 degrees Fahrenheit), which causes the fourth Oswald to transform back into a red Party Crasher.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: The episode centers on Oswald celebrating his birthday, but it eventually leads into hijinks with three clones of him being created after running into a creature known as a Party Crasher and the real Oswald needing to convince his teammates that he is the real deal.
- Call-Back: This isn't the first Surprise Party to go disastrously wrong — "O is Not For Old" has one meant for Oprah being thrown out of whack when Oscar forgets to get her a present and make her a cake.
- This is the second episode of Season 3 to focus on a character's birthday, following "Orla's Birthday". At the very least, however, Oswald is far easier of a person to plan a party for than Orla.
- "Double O Trouble" had a B-plot that centered around clones of Omar and Osmerelda being created and wreaking havoc. This episode has Oswald on the receiving end of a cloning situation, with him being cloned three times and about to double to a thousand clones in just a short amount of time.
- Chekhov's Gun: Orla's gift to Oswald turns out to be what she, Omar and Osmerelda need to expose the real Oswald.
- Compressed Vice: Osmerelda is shown as having Skewed Priorities and focusing more on her cake than on the fact that her friend and teammate has had a run-in with a dangerous creature and has been cloned, which can at times make her come off as a Jerkass. Normally she's shown as being very on-the-ball and knowing where her priorities lie.
- Continuity Cavalcade: Orla's video contains scenes of Oswald from quite a few past episodes.
- Continuity Nod: Orla's gift to Oswald is a montage of all the fun times he's had in the Mobile Unit thus far, similar to the montages seen in both season finales of OddTube. It even has the same music.
- Contrived Coincidence: The melted ice cream cake actually turns out to have an outline of Oswald just like how there was a printed photo of Oswald on the cake when it wasn't melted. Oswald, true to his habits as a Big Eater, also happens to love his cakes in liquid form just as much as he loves his cakes in...well, regular cake form.
- Copied the Morals, Too: Although Party Crashers are antagonistic creatures, they still retain the same heroic alliance that the original Oswald has when three of them shapeshift into him.
- Foreshadowing: The brief pause that the second Oswald gives when he and the other Oswald clones explain what happened to them serves as a hint that he is, indeed, the real Oswald.
- Fun-Hating Villain: Not necessarily a villain, but the Party Crasher is a creature who is known for turning into kids on their birthday and stealing the fun that said kids would have at their birthday parties.
- Good News, Bad News: Of the "There Is No Good News" kind, delivered by the Little O.Little O: My research on the green Party Crasher is complete. Do you want the good news...or the bad news?Orla: Give us the bad news.Little O: This case is unsolvable!!Omar: Uh...what's the good news?Little O: Mostly just that I figured out the bad news.
- Humanshifting: The Party Crasher creatures can only turn into human children — which makes sense, considering they're roughly the size of an average human child.
- Impostor Forgot One Detail: Yellow and red Party Crashers have one thing that allows people to tell them apart from the real kid they're copying. Yellow Party Crashers never get the size of the child's hands right, while the red Party Crasher can't fare well in cold weather unlike most actual human children. This allows Orla, Osmerelda and Omar to gradually weed out the fake Oswalds.
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: Although the red Party Crasher has Voluntary Shapeshifting abilities and can transform into any kid they want to, being exposed to extreme cold will cause them to automatically turn back into a creature with no way to stop the transformation.
- iPhony: In keeping with most other computers and devices seen in the show, the computers that Orla, Omar and Osmerelda use for video chatting run on Mac OS and as such are Apple computers, going by the green, red and yellow buttons in the top-left corner that are used for maximizing, closing, and minimizing pages, respectively.
- Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: Exaggerated. The Party Crasher is a creature that can shapeshift into any child that happens to be celebrating a birthday, and different colors of Party Crashers have different flaws — the yellow one has large hands, and the red one hates the cold. The green one, however, is known as the "perfect" Party Crasher, and can emulate its victim to a perfect T, both physically and mentally.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Osmerelda's interrogation of the four Oswalds involves her asking them who his favorite fictional character is. All four of them answer with "Detective Shmumbers". Osmerelda herself, however, as well as Oswald, are fictional characters in a fictional TV show, and since Medium Awareness is in play, they should be well aware of this fact.
- Letting the Air out of the Band: The background music that plays as Orla, Omar and Osmerelda head into the bullpen to surprise Oswald grinds to a halt as they come across four Oswalds instead of just one.
- Mandatory Line: Orpita has a very prominent role in the episode. The given reason is that Osmerelda let her into the loop about the whole cloning situation with Oswald, but outside of that, it's likely because she serves as Ms. Exposition in Oprah's stead, and as such, needed to provide exposition for the Party Crasher creatures.
- Palette Swap: The Party Crashers share the same base model as both Tiggles and Taggles, two creatures who were first prominently featured in one of Oscar's Training Videos back in Season 1. The red and yellow ones are palette-swapped, but the green one remains largely the same, aside from removing the red-and-white color tones that Tiggles and Taggles have and being a darker shade of green. The Party Crashers also only have one eye, whereas the Tiggles and Taggles both have four.
- Perp Sweating: Orla, Osmerelda and Omar all do this with the four Oswalds to try and determine who the real Oswald is. The van even has four interrogation rooms (hilariously, out of the 932-and-a-half rooms that are on the van) for them to use.
- Race Against the Clock: Omar, Osmerelda and Orla have until Orpita's hourglass timer runs out to find the real Oswald before the three fake Oswalds clone themselves into one thousand Oswalds.
- Rule of Three: Orla thinks that the four Oswalds getting the questions posed to them correct are lucky guesses. By the third question, however, where the four Oswalds state what their favorite food is, she's had enough and remarks that it's strange.
- Short-Distance Phone Call: Orla, Omar and Osmerelda talk to each other via video chat, and it's made painfully clear that they're all sitting at the same exact table. While it might be justified due to Osmerelda not wanting her cake to melt, one would have to wonder why they wouldn't have backgrounds of different rooms in the van in their respective windows to make it seem like they're speaking from a distance rather than close together, even if they are actually close together — or why each of them don't go to an interrogation room to perform Perp Sweating on the Oswalds in person (with two Oswalds sharing a room).
- Shout-Out: The video conference program that Omar, Orla and Osmerelda use to communicate is a clear-as-day parody of Zoom. However, unlike with Oddstagram, it's not given a name that would make it a Bland-Name Product (presumably because it's impossible to make a punny Portmanteau of "odd" and "zoom").
- Snow Means Cold: Omar drops the temperature of the interrogation rooms to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and the lighting in the rooms turn blue snow suddenly starts to fall.
- Spot the Imposter: Orla, Omar and Osmerelda do this in order to determine the real Oswald from the fake clones. They first attempt to ask the four Oswalds questions that presumably only the real deal would know, but all four of them ace the trial with flying colors. Then they decide to weed out the fake Oswalds by measuring their hands (to find out who the yellow Party Crasher is) and making the interrogation rooms freezing cold (to find out who the red Party Crasher is). When only the green Party Crasher — known as the "perfect" one — is left, Orla decides to measure how much they cried at her gift to see who's the fake Oswald and who is the real one, and ends up exposing the creature as the first Oswald.
- Spotting the Thread: When Orla, Omar and Osmerelda are measuring the Oswald clones' hands, they ask the third Oswald to raise one of his hands so they can measure it. He initially refuses, but Osmerelda warns him that if they can't measure his hand then there won't be a party, and then he holds up his hand, and he turns out to be one of the fake Oswalds.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Osmerelda continuously frets over Oswald's ice cream cake that took her over half a day to make. Orla first tells her to just stick the cake in the freezer if she doesn't want it to melt, only for the girl to sharply tell her that she doesn't want it to "taste like freezer" after she spent so much time on it. When she complains about the cake again, Omar advises that she put it in the interrogation room (which has become freezing cold at that point), and once again she snaps at him, saying that she didn't spend a whole 17 hours on the cake just so it could "taste like interrogation room". Sure enough, by the end of the episode, the cake melts and becomes a soupy mess — not that Oswald minds, since he just sticks a straw in the bowl and sips it like it's punch at a party.
- Stumbled Into the Plot: Although the Little O has no bearing on the outcome of the episode, she's dragged into it regardless for two reasons: because Osmerelda secretly let her into the loop on what was happening with Oswald in order to preserve her ice cream cake, and because she's a main character who now serves as Ms. Exposition in the stead of Oprah.
- Supreme Chef: Osmerelda spent 17 hours making a cake that appears to be a few layers thick and has Oswald's face printed on it (with orange frosting substituting for his red hair).
- Surprise Party: Orla, Omar and Osmerelda attempt to hold one for Oswald, but it falls flat when they find four Oswalds standing in the bullpen and not just one.
- Tears of Joy: This is the end goal that Orla hopes to achieve with her gift, and it ends up working. Oswald is so moved by it that he cries enough to fill an entire liter cup.
- Terrible Artist: Omar's birthday card for Oswald isn't exactly worthy of an art gallery. Justified as he spent only 5 minutes on it.
- Tranquil Fury: Osmerelda is quick to give both Omar and Orla a taste of this when they advise her to put her ice cream cake in cold locations so it won't melt.
- Ultimate Life Form: Green Party Crashers are referred to as the "perfect" Party Crashers because they can shapeshift into a child with absolutely no flaws at all — they can physically look like the child regardless of any defects they may have, they think just like them, and they can even shift their own anatomy (organs, particularly) to match that of the child's. They're nearly flawless in every sense of the word, which is what makes them a large threat to Odd Squad and is what throws a wrench into Orla, Omar and Osmerelda's quest to try and weed out the fake Oswalds.
- Video Phone: Orla, Osmerelda, Omar and Orpita all communicate via video conference call. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a show whose third season was made at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it's a parody of Zoom, but doesn't function exactly like Zoom. note
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: A Party Crasher has the ability to shapeshift into any child who is celebrating a birthday and sucking all the fun out of that child's birthday party, and can shapeshift back into their regular form at will.
- When I Was Your Age...: Orla has to learn what video chatting is from Omar, and in response, she says this:Orla: In my day, we used to just tie a note to a rock.Osmerelda: And then send it to a friend?Orla: No. My friends were mostly rocks.
