A Tween Halloween
It's almost Halloween, and Milo is all set to go trick-or-treating. Pepper Ann loves Halloween and is initially excited to go with him, but after a fourth grader asks if she isn't a little too old to go, she begins to speculate that maybe she is too old and worries that it wouldn't be "cool". Milo, on the other hand, is not the least bit concerned and still tries to get Pepper Ann to go trick-or-treating with him, but after she runs a poll and finds out that no one else is going out, she tries to blow him off.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: You shouldn’t let whether everyone else is doing something determine whether or not you do it as well.
- Brick Joke: At the beginning of the episode, Pepper Ann hands Crash the last pumpkin in her “Halloween Rocks” jack-o-lantern sign and has him sit on the railing with it because it doesn’t fit on the ledge with the rest. When she comes back home later in the day, he’s shown to still be sitting there.Crash: Do I still have to hold this?Pepper Ann: I don’t care, Splash.
- Faux Horrific: The entire cafeteria gasps in horror when Pepper Ann announces that she’s going trick-or-treating in her Imagine Spot. A girl can even be heard crying.
- Growing Up Sucks: After Pepper Ann causes Milo to realize he’s being too immature for a preteen, he forces himself to grow up and becomes a depressed shell of his former self in the process.
- Halloween Episode: Pepper Ann’s excited for Halloween until she realizes she’s too old for trick-or-treating.
- Hypocritical Humor: Despite lecturing Pepper Ann about how bad refined sugars are at the beginning of the episode, Nicky is revealed to have gone trick-or-treating after all and excitedly eats a “Whatchamachocolate”.
- Idiosyncratic Wipes: This episode has some Halloween-themed ones like a witch on a broom and a black cat.
- Jerkass Ball: Pepper Ann grabs it when she goes off on Milo at Brain Dead, which actually makes him question his entire identity.Pepper Ann: You’re a pre-teen, start acting like one! Halloween is for kiddies! Can’t you see that you’re making a fool of yourself?!
- Noodle Incident: According to Pepper Ann, Dieter once tasted the goop inside his lava lamp.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: In the past, Pepper Ann and Milo’s Halloween costumes have been named “zaniest in the second grade” and “most flame retardant for the fifth grade”.
- The Reveal: It turns out, all the kids who told Pepper Ann they weren’t going trick-or-treating actually did go and just made sure their costumes hid their identities; even Trinket and Crissy went!
- Rousing Speech: Pepper Ann has an Imagine Spot in which she gives one of these in the cafeteria to encourage the other kids to go trick-or-treating. Apparently they were all Dressed in Layers, with Halloween costumes underneath their school clothes that they show off after Pepper Ann inspires them. In reality, she chickens out and never gives her speech.
- Shoulder Angels: The different forms of herself Pepper Ann talks to in this episode are one made out of fallen leaves and her reflection in her sandwich bag.
- Too Old to Trick-or-Treat: Pepper Ann starts to rethink going trick-or-treating after some little kids say she and Milo are too old to do so. Milo doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, though.Milo: I don’t care if I’m the oldest trick-or-treater in the nut-tropolitan area!
