Miss Finster, thinking that the children don't take her punishments seriously, creates a new punishment called "The Box". TJ gets the honor of being the first one sentenced to it and gets scared out of his mind.
Tropes:
- All Crimes Are Equal: Miss Finster declares that any infraction of rules no matter how slight are punishable by being sent to The Box.
- Bait-and-Switch Compassion: Randall seems horrified when Miss Finster suggests keeping TJ in The Box for two extra minutes, but gleefully calls her a genius, at which point they both share a laugh.
- Break the Cutie: Poor, poor TJ. After one trip to The Box, he's terrified by the sight of squares, completely brainscrewed, and reduced to Miss Finster's errand boy. He gets better though.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Gretchen decides that the only way for TJ to be cured of his fear of The Box is through Exposure Therapy. The gang get TJ into trouble and he gets sent back to The Box. However, they feel guilty for this later. Luckily, Gretchen turned out to be on to something and TJ does indeed get over his fear.
- For the Evulz: Miss Finster takes glee and amusement in punishing TJ to the box and seeing him suffer.
- Freudian Excuse: The reason why Miss Finster was trying the Box was because her regular punishments weren't working. Also, it's her job to keep order.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: What the point of The Box is. It's supposed to isolate the kid from everyone else until said kid snaps like a twig.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Miss Finster during her Villainous Breakdown. It even makes Randall feel uncomfortable.Randall: See ya later, Miss Finster. A lot later! (exit)
- Madness Mantra: "TJ's a good boy, good boy".
- Which is nothing compared to "This old man, he played two... He played knick-knack on my shoe..."
- Sanity Slippage: TJ after one stay in The Box, he's left singing This Old Man and rocking back and forth by the end of it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once Miss Finster starts sobbing hysterically over her inability to break TJ with the box, Randall is immediately creeped out and scurries off.
- Spanner in the Works: That one kid who accidentally throws a kickball at TJ during the latter's second time in the box, and even goes so far as to walk into the Box to retrieve said kickball. For some reason, he didn't catch the memo that nobody is allowed near it in order to preserve its isolating quality. If it weren't for him, as Miss Finster put it, TJ would've been reduced to a "blithering Jell-O mold". But because of this unnamed kid's part in the story, he unwittingly reminds TJ that his dreaded prison is all in his head and merely a square drawn on the ground.
- Third-Person Person: TJ refers to himself this way while he's in his Sanity Slippage mode.
- This Cannot Be!: Miss Finster's reaction to seeing TJ no longer terrified of The Box.Miss Finster: But you're supposed to be a blithering Jell-O mold?!
- Tuneless Song of Madness: By the end of TJ's sentence, he's in a Troubled Fetal Position while singing "This Old Man".
- Unishment: The reason why Miss Finster creates The Box is due to thinking that the children are taking her punishments lightly, such as being sent to The Wall where their friends can just walk up and chat with them.
- Villainous Breakdown: At the end of the episode, Miss Finster is reduced to a sobbing mess when she fails to psychologically break TJ.
