Yet another of Skumm's schemes, this one involving mutated weevils that grow when exposed to pesticides, brings in the Planeteers... despite Linka having caught a cold at the time.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Foul Medicine: Linka considers Ma-Ti's herbal remedy to treat her sickness to be this.Ma-Ti: Speaking of herbs, it is time for your medicine, Linka.
Linka: Oh... I was hoping you had forgotten... - I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: Wheeler tries to tell Linka to stay on Hope Island while she's got a cold.Wheeler: I never thought I'd say this, Linka, but what you got, I don't want.
- Intentional Mess Making: Captain Planet messes up Skumm's lab after being summoned, singing a slightly rewritten version of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and quipping that he hopes Skumm won't be too mad.
- Magical Antibiotics: Discussed. Linka's original plan to treat her illness is to take antibiotics prescribed to her on an earlier occasion. However, Gi and Ma-Ti point out the holes in this logic.Linka: I will just take some antibiotics the doctor gave me last time I was sick.
Gi: You take antibiotics for a cold? (...) Be careful, Linka. If you take an antibiotic too often, it may not work when you really need to fight a bug.
Ma-Ti: And antibiotics can kill good bugs in your body as well as bad ones. - Nominal Importance: When Skumm is shown in his lab, working on growing the weevils, one particular weevil is named Sherman. Turns out that Skumm was growing him to be especially big in order to take on Captain Planet.
- Shout-Out: Wheeler makes a comment about Alien after hearing a researcher's plan to naturally kill off Skumm's mutated weevils by using wasps to lay their eggs in them and their young burst out of them.Wheeler: Cool! Just like in Alien!
- Strange Minds Think Alike: The viewer sees Verminous Skumm working in his lab, humming "I've Been Working on the Railroad" to himself. Later on, Captain Planet is singing his own version of the song — while tearing apart Skumm's lab, no less!
- This Is No Time to Panic: Wheeler tells the others not to panic at the giant mutated weevils right before blasting the bugs with his ring. When it fails to take effect, he says that they can panic now.
- Villains Want Mercy: Skumm begs Captain Planet to get the mutated weevils off him.
- Working Through the Cold: Despite having a cold, and both Wheeler and Gaia advising her to stay behind so that she doesn't infect the rest of the team, Linka insists on coming on the mission, using one of Ma-Ti's herbal remedies to cope.
