Recap / Calvin And Hobbes The Series S 1 E 24 Two Loons And A Kid

When Mom's sister is in town, Calvin and Hobbes are charged with the task of babysitting Calvin's cousin, Dana. But, of course, things are a lot more complicated than they thought.

One Friday afternoon, Calvin finds himself faced with a problem - his mother has left him to babysit his little cousin Dana while she's at the store, and his friends are coming over!^* This is the first appearance of Andy and Sherman in The Series, having previously debuted in Attack of the Teacher Creature. The duo resolve to be the best babysitters they can be (although it takes the other three a bit of begging to agree).

Their attempts at feeding her go unrewarded, and she finds herself abandoned when the five attempt to set up their ultimate water balloon trap. Unsurprisingly, she wanders out into open traffic, and Calvin and Hobbes take after her.

After a mishap involving accidentally picking up the wrong infant, the duo explode through the general store, getting kicked out. The MTM's tracking device shows her new location to be in the zoo... more specifically, about to go over a waterfall.

Thankfully, it's not all that deep, but the river splits - the duo go down one path, Dana the other. She seems to be fine, but Calvin and Hobbes are soon separated thanks to a whirlpool.

Meanwhile, Andy and Socrates get a call from Calvin's mom, who's coming home in half an hour!

After quite a bit, Hobbes and Calvin reunite and find Dana with ten minutes left before Mom comes home. Back at the house, Andy ends up having to cover for him, which leads to a lot of Blatant Lies, but thankfully he comes home soon.

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Tropes:

• Babysitting Episode: Calvin has to take care of his cousin Dana. Naturally, it doesn't go well. At all.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: The cast becomes this.
• Big "WHAT?!": When Hobbes finds out about the time limit.
• Casanova Wannabe: Andy.
• Covered in Gunge: Sherman ends up covered in green baby food.
• Deleted Scene: Apparently, there was one involving a bus.
• Flying Broomstick: Referenced.
  Calvin: OW! HEY! YEEK! HEY GET AWAY! YOU SHOULD BE RIDING THAT THING INSTEAD OF SWINGING IT!
• Inevitable Waterfall: Quite a few of them in the zoo.
• Invisibility Cloak: The MTM can make one.
• Medium Awareness:
  Calvin: There were gummy worms, and brooms, and rapids, and the MTM, and [a] great Deleted Scene that involved a bus, but we don't have to go too far into that.
• Parental Bonus: Calvin's rant against having kids is more or less incomprehensible to anyone in the (proposed) target demographic.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Calvin and Hobbes pull these out on Andy and Socrates. Sherman is unaffected.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Commented upon:
  And the five sort-of friends went upstairs.
  It's a weird friendship they all have.
  But they have it.
• Shout-Out: "Not now! Jimmy, Carl and Sheen are turning green!"
• Title Drop:
  It was truly a magnificent day for the two loons and the kid.
• We Could Have Avoided All This: After attempting to feed Dana for quite a while, Sherman simply notes that she's not hungry.
  Calvin: Why didn't you say that earlier?
  Sherman: Nobody asked me.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When Socrates does a Spit Take all over Dana as a form of revenge.
• Would Hurt a Child: The mother of the baby boy whaps a broom over Calvin's head.
• You Didn't Ask: See above.