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Recap / Rugrats S 3 E 23 Passover

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The twenty-third episode of the third season of Rugrats (1991).

While stuck in the attic on Passover, Grandpa Boris tells the babies the story of Moses, which Angelica imagines with herself as the Pharaoh, and the babies playing the other roles.

This episode provides examples of:

  • Amphibian Assault: One of the plagues that Moses unleashes on Pharaoh when she refuses to let the babies go is the Plague of Frogs.
  • Continuity Nod: When Chuckie thinks that Boris and Minka don't have any toys for them to play with, Tommy tells them they do, however, they're in the attic.
  • Didn't Think This Through: The morning after Pharaoh (Angelica) agrees to let Moses and the babies go, she wants to have Reptar cereal for breakfast, when the Taskmaster Baby informs her that the slave baby who was sent to get the cereal was set free. When Pharaoh tries to take her mind off it by drinking a glass of goat's milk and taking a bath, the Taskmaster Baby informs her that she also set free the slave babies that brought her the milk and ran her baths.
  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: A delayed-reaction example takes place during an Imagine Spot where the babies are all characters from the famous Moses and the Ten Plagues story. Angelica plays the hard-hearted Pharaoh in this retelling, and interestingly she's still her child self, rather than an adult. Of course she refuses to let Moses' people go even after most of the plagues, so eventually God gets to the last one, killing off the "firstborn" of every Egyptian. Angelica laughs it off at first... and then she asks her father who the firstborn of her family is. Her father explains that since Angelica is an only child, the firstborn would be her! Her father doesn't know about the coming plague, but the implications certainly sink in for Angelica, whose reaction is this trope.
    Angelica: I think I'm in trouble.
  • Extra-Long Episode: The last double-length episode of the pre-hiatus run.
  • Face Palm: Drew does this when Charlotte closes the attic door.
  • Gender Flip: Pharoah is played by Angelica in the Imagine Spot, and thus is female.
  • Grapes of Luxury: In Angelica's Fantasy Sequence, she eats a whole cluster at once on her royal barge. Technically, no one feeds them to her, but they are played as a luxury.
    Angelica: Ah, this is the life!
  • Jerkass Ball: Boris, when he refuses to let Minka use her mother's wine glasses, since he wants to use his father's which they do every year, saying that "his way" is better. Then he suddenly storms out when Minka makes a snide remark about his father's wine glasses, making it seem he ran away. Actually, he felt guilty for the way he acted so he went to the attic to get her mother's glasses, only to get locked inside.
  • Locked in a Room: Grandpa Boris gets locked in the attic because the attic door locks from the inside. More people join in eventually as the episode unfolds.
  • Moses in the Bulrushes: As Tommy takes on the form of Moses in Boris' story, he is found by Angelica in a basket in the bulrushes.
  • Never My Fault: Pharaoh (Angelica) blames Cynthia for being drowned by Moses.
  • Never Say "Die": In his story, Boris says that Moses announced that the final plague he unleashed on Pharaoh would be that the firstborn of every Egyptian family would be "taken away".
  • Noisy Shut-Up: Stu, Didi, and Minka enter (without slamming the door) just as Boris is about to tell about Moses parting the sea.
    Minka: There you are!
    [Everyone starts talking at once.]
    Stu: What's happening here? What is everybody doing here?
    Angelica: QUIET!
    [The others shut up.]
    Angelica: I want to hear the end of the story!
  • Parting the Sea: When Pharaoh corners the babies, Moses parts the sea to create a path for him and the others to walk through. Pharaoh follows, but unfortunately, she's still in the path when Moses has the water collapse.
  • Pet the Dog: Angelica opens the playpen for Tommy and Chuckle.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Angelica lets Tommy and Chuckie out of the playpen so that they can go to the attic to play with Boris and Minka's old toys.
  • Rooting for the Empire: An in-universe example; Angelica immediately identifies with Pharaoh and feels sorry that she loses.
  • Relative Button: Minka's so upset with Boris apparently running away after their fight, that hearing his name causes her to breakdown into tears. Which becomes somewhat of a Running Gag.
    Minka: BORIS?! [cries]
  • Rule of Three: The three adults who get themselves stuck in the attic with Boris and the kids are Chas, Drew and Charlotte.
    • First, Chas comes to find the kids:
      Chas: Chuckie! Tommy! Boris?
      Boris: Don't close the...!
      [SLAM!]
      Boris and Angelica: ...door.
      Chas: [struggles to open the door] Oh, it's locked!
      Boris: Bingo.
    • Then, Drew:
      Drew: Angelica? Chas? Boris? What's going on here?
      Chas: Don't close the...!
      [SLAM!]
      Chas, Boris and Angelica: ...door.
      Drew: [realizing the situation] Let me guess, we're locked in.
    • And finally, Charlotte:
      Angelica: Mommy!
      Charlotte: So, this is where everyone went.
      Drew: Don't close the...!
      [SLAM!]
      Drew, Chas, Boris and Angelica: ...door.
      Chas: It doesn't open from the inside.
      [Charlotte tries to open the door, to no avail.]
      Charlotte: I wonder if there's a fax machine here?
  • Running Gag: Whenever another adult finds Boris in the attic, someone tries to tell them not to close the door, but they do so anyway before he can finish his sentence.
  • Schizo Tech: Pharaoh engages in technology much more advanced than the Ancient Egyptian time period.
    • She receives a high-tech Rockstar Cynthia playset with a revolving stage as a present.
    • She is also able to call Drew on a touch tone telephone.
  • Sibling Seniority Squabble: Both Phil and Lil claim that the other is the firstborn child who will be "taken away" (before being told that they're both safe from the plague).
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • In the Bible/Torah, Moses killed the Egyptian attacker for striking a Hebrew, but here in this adaptation, Moses/Tommy shoves the attacker to the ground for hitting a Hebrew; the attacker gets up and blows Moses' cover by reporting the attack to Pharaoh.
    • The Pharoah and his army also drown after Moses unparts the sea, while here, it merely causes Amusing Injuries with the Pharoah sulking underwater.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: Played for Laughs with Angelica, who feels bad about the Pharoah losing in the end. This is not out of any pitiable qualities on the character's part, however, but simply because Angelica identifies with a tyrant not getting their way.
  • Tear-Apart Tug-of-War: Phil and Lil pull a cube-shaped stone in separate directions, causing it to break. The twins then argue over who is to blame.
  • Universal-Adaptor Cast: This special has Tommy's maternal grandfather Boris tell the babies the story of Moses, which leads to the babies imagining themselves acting out the story.
  • Upside-Down Blueprints: Chuckie builds an upside-down pyramid for Pharaoh Angelica, who is shocked when she sees how he's built it. Chuckie tells her that he followed the instructions the way she wanted him to. Angelica then turns the instructions right-side-up, and Chuckie realizes his mistake.
    Chuckie: ...oops.
  • You Say Tomato: As the second act begins, Stu says, "This bitter herb that we eat", only for Didi to remind him that the H in "herb" is silent. Stu tells her he always thought herb was pronounced the way it was written, and that a lot of people say it that way. She doesn't care and tells Stu to continue reading.

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