Calvin and Susie get paired off to work on a report for school on the planet Mercury, with the two working together about as well as would be expected.
Tropes
- Comically Missing the Point: Calvin believes he's one of those kids who do poorly in class because they're too smart.Calvin: You know how Einstein got bad grades as a kid? Well, mine are even worse!
- Hope Spot: When Calvin actually starts giving his report in front of the class, he opens with a true fact about the mythology of Mercury and the origin of the planet's name, and it seems like he might have actually managed to pull off a decent report against all odds...only for him to then go into an unrelated tangent about florists and make it clear that he only had that one fact to work with.
- Idiot Ball: Calvin gets assigned Susie as a partner for a report on the Planet Mercury, each needing to do one half of the report, and they will share the grade the report earns as a whole. Since Susie needs Calvin to do well on his half to get a good grade, giving her tremendous incentive to make him do well, Calvin can easily get a great grade by just doing the bare minimum and leaning on Susie. Given how often he tries to cheat or get answers off Susie on exams, he should be jumping at the opportunity to use her work ethic and smarts. Instead, Calvin puts even less work into the report than he does his typical schoolwork, as if he's intentionally trying to get a bad score and anger Susie, not doing the report until the morning of it being due and doing a very poor job on it.
- Imagine Spot: Susie is lecturing Calvin on the need to do his half of the report and threatening to get him in trouble with Ms. Wormwood if he doesn't get it done over the weekend. Cut to Calvin's perspective, where he's imagining himself as Spaceman Spiff facing down a hideous alien, trying to communicate with him with a language he doesn't understand.
- Mr. Imagination: Susie is lecturing Calvin on the need to do his half of the report and threatening to get him in trouble with Ms. Wormwood if he doesn't get it done over the weekend. Cut to Calvin's perspective, where he's imagining himself as Spaceman Spiff facing down a hideous alien, trying to communicate with him with a language he doesn't understand.
- Shout-Out: Calvin's part of the report references how Mercury is used as the logo for Florists' Transworld Delivery (FTD).
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Calvin and Susie have to work together on a report for school. Beyond the two having a mostly vitriolic relationship, the two approach the report very differently (that is to say, Susie actually does the report and Calvin doesn't), which leads to friction.
