Now entering Kids Next Door recap: Operation: S.N.O.W.I.N.G.
It's a snow day— first snow day of the year, in fact! That means all schools are closed (which includes Meyer Elementary, Kendall Prep, and Gallagher Elementary, according to the radio DJ) and while everyone is out having fun, Numbuh 1 is stuck at home, lying in bed with the flu, and his dad Monty expects him to stay in bed, staring at the ceiling all day while the kids play in the snow (he said he saw it in "the paper"). While Numbuhs 2 and 4 are playing in the snow and patrolling the snow day, Lizzie comes along and shows Hoagie and Wallabee her special chicken banana fritter soup with extra curly fries she made to make him feel better. But it's poorly made (she must've got a bad grade in Home Ec.) and Hoagie and Wallabee give Lizzie bad comments about her soup. Just before she gets mad at them, they pretend to act nice.
Because of Nigel stuck in bed, staring at the ceiling with the flu, things could only get worse— the 4th Grade President, namely Jimmy, now looking more evil, is upset because he called a special assembly in which he crowns his queen, but no one is attending the assembly because of the snow day. He orders the Hall Squad to deploy robots called Bus Walkers to capture all the kids and take them to Gallagher Elementary. The Hall Monitor nervously says to him "Yes, Jimmy.", but Jimmy prefers to be called "Master President" and tells the Hall Monitor to send the Walkers and he does so. Jimmy asks Anna if Nigel is indisposed of and she says yes, and tells him it's easy to arrange if your uncle has the common cold (judging by this, Anna happens to be the Common Cold's niece). Jimmy then, sends in the Honor Roll (nerds covered in books) and tells them Anna laid down the groundwork by infectucating Nigel and sends them to acquire his target. He tells Anna that this assembly will be his "crowning achievement".
The kids' fun in the snow is interrupted when the Bus Walkers arrive to take them to school. Abby, not allowing this, then tells the kids that President Jimmy has gone too far and rallies the kids to fight back, because they all deserve a day off after working so hard at school and that they should fight for their rights to play during a snow day. She yells out, "Everyone, battle stations!".
Wallabee and his group shoot snowballs at them, while Hoagie and his group provide aerial assistance, but they are captured after being hit by a barrage of textbooks. While Abby's group acts as a distraction, Numbuh 3's group uses streamers to trip up one of the Bus Walkers, but it doesn't work and they are captured as well. Wallabee and Abigail are soon captured themselves as a Bus Walker stomps on the camera.
While Lizzie is taking care of Nigel at his house, Nigel tastes Lizzie's soup which Lizzie told him it had cottage cheese, but spits it out. He looks out the window and asks Lizzie what's happening outside. Lizzie at first tells him that there is mud on the soup for extra minerals, but then says Jimmy's planning to take everyone to school for an assembly. Nigel decides to go help the others as Lizzie told him that he’s feeling better only for him to sneeze at the window. Lizzie suggests...
- Lizzie: Use the soup, Nigie...It's fortified!
Nigel, now in winter gear, heads into the living room and activates a strange rocket made out of his fireplace: the KND FLIERPLACE (Flaming Log Ignited Explosive Rocket Plane Lifts And Careens Effortlessly) to take down Jimmy's Bus Walkers. Lizzie wishes Nigel good luck but is distracted when shadows appear. Jimmy notices Nigel out of bed and orders his troops to blast him. Numbuh 1 launches a banana peel and aims it for one of the Bus Walkers. The Hall Troopers (the Hall Monitors wearing the Stormtrooper costumes) in one of the Walkers see this and laugh at him about lacking ammo, but the Bus Walker trips on the banana peel. The Bus Walkers shoot Nigel down and he crashes! After Nigel gets shot down, the Honor Roll tells Jimmy they brought the target. Jimmy tells them to bring the target to his ship. Anna thought Nigel was the target, but he wasn't, and Jimmy says he was planning to crown his target his queen, and his target, his true love, happens to be none other than Lizzie!
Transmission Interrupted
Out in the snow, Nigel is visited by an apparition of Lizzie, who once again tells him to "use the soup", despite his protest that her cooking is disgusting. After he passes out, Joaquin, one of the tree house's power-providing hamsters, revitalizes him.
In Jimmy's ship, Anna tells Jimmy that the Honor Roll brought Lizzie. Jimmy tells Anna to check on the prisoners, and he doesn't want any surprises, especially from the KND. He tells Anna he wants to be alone. The Honor Roll arrives with Lizzie and Lizzie demands to know what is going on. Jimmy tells her he turned completely evil to impress her and wanted Lizzie to be his queen. Lizzie refused, sticking by Numbuh 1, but Jimmy is using a boyfriend helmet as the crown— he rewired the helmet to work on Lizzie!
- Lizzie: You want a boyfriend?Jimmy: NO! I rewired it to work on YOU!
Jimmy calls in the Honor Roll and tells them to get her ready for the ceremony. Lizzie tells the cruel class president that Numbuh 1 and his team will stop him and rescue her and Jimmy tells her if Numbuh 1 survived the crash, he won't be able to penetrate his deadly defense perimeter, which are actually basketball hoops that function as high-powered lasers, as well as a metal wall surrounding the school. As the Bus Walkers park in the school's driveway, Nigel rallies the power-providing hamsters to take him to Gallagher Elementary, dodging Jimmy's defenses along the way and wants to notify the other KND operatives he's on his way to save the day. Teach Jimmy and his minions a lesson, Numbuh 1!
In the hallways, the other members of Sector V are now shackled and making their way into the assembly hall with the other kids. Abigail's communicator starts ringing the Rainbow Monkey theme, much to Wallabee's dismay and she asks Kuki to try getting it out of her coat pocket. However, they are caught by Anna who asks what's going on. After Kuki tries to lie, the communicator rings again as Anna takes the device and says it is just what she needs.
Later in the auditorium, the kids are all sitting down, with the Hall Squad standing guard and keeping watch for any escapees and intruders. He says it is all perfect. Anna comes and tells Jimmy she was attending to last-minute details. The assembly starts and all the kids start booing at Jimmy. Jimmy pays no attention to the booing and tells the kids that months of planning have culminated in the afternoon's coronation of his queen, Lizzie Devine and explains they may have noticed that he turned totally evil, because it was a part of his plan. Before he can finish his speech, he hears a familiar sneeze and the scene pans out to reveal Nigel now inside the auditorium.
- Nigel: It's a snow day, Jimmy, and I'm planning to spend it...with MY GIRLFRIEND!
Jimmy grows furious about this and doesn't know how Numbuh 1 got inside the school, but he knows he's not getting out. The battle is on! The Hall Squad prepares to attack Nigel but the other members of his sector, now free thanks to Anna, intercept them, allowing Nigel to go save Lizzie, with the other kids cheering on. Nigel heads up to the stage, right after Abby throws a ruler to him. He tries to free Lizzie, but Jimmy lassos him and pulls him up to the rafters where they start to clobber each other in a ruler and mop fight, like the Lightsaber duels Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker had in Cloud City, only Numbuh 1 is armed with a ruler and Jimmy is armed with a mop. Batter up, Numbuh 1, or rather, Ruler up! The KND race up to the stage, pulverizing Hall Monitors getting in their way. After putting the Hall Squad out of commission, they try to get the helmet off Lizzie, but they couldn't get it off, because the helmet's fusing to her head. To Nigel's dismay, the now-brainwashed Lizzie announces that she loves Jimmy, and Jimmy knocks off Nigel's ruler, sending him to the ground and prepares to finish him off. Nigel then remembers Lizzie's advice to use the soup. Realizing It's the Only Way, he uses the soup thermos to block Jimmy's attack. The thermos breaks and the soup falls out (in slow motion) and onto the helmet, causing it to short-circuit and the building explodes, scattering the students in every direction. The now-free children continue to play in the snow and Lizzie is free from Jimmy's control.
While Lizzie and Nigel cuddle up, Jimmy is arrested by the KND and learns that Anna helped them, because she was in love with Jimmy and jealous of his feelings for Lizzie. Jimmy is touched that she did all that for him, and the feeling appears to be mutual. In other words, Anna loves him! As they are led on board the KND's S.P.R.A.Y.S.H.I.P., Wallabee expresses disgust at their mushiness and says "you'll never catch me saying 'I Love You' to anyone!". This angers Kuki, who pushes him in the snow for saying that, leaving Wallabee to wonder, "What'd I do?"
End Transmission
During the end credits, Lizzie is making a much better soup (out of oat bran, cream, tomatoes, steak, orange juice and tons of salt) for Nigel who has wrapped himself in a blanket. As she mixes the concoction, she tries to get him to try it, only to find out that he's gone, much to her shock. She tries the soup herself, although it is poorly made, like the one Nigel used against the Modified Boyfriend Helmet and gets her mouth lit on fire. Over the Vanity Plate, she says "Yummy!" after tasting the soup.
Tropes included in this episode:
- Arc Words: "Use the soup, Nigie!"
- Banana Peel: Used as ammo for Nigel's FLIERPLACE. However, the vehicle came to a crashing end when a Bus Walker accidentally slips on the banana peel in the snow and it fired back at the F.L.I.E.R.P.L.A.C.E. instead.
- Body Wipe: Used with a Bus Walker before Abby gets captured, the vehicle's foot engulfs the camera, causing the screen to go black.
- Chekhov's Gun: The soup Lizzie made that has been teased throughout the episode is eventually used to short out the Boyfriend Helmet before it can fully fuse with Lizzie's head.
- Cool Plane: Nigel fights the Bus Walkers in his FLIERPLACE.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Lizzie's soup for Nigel is made of some of the most disgusting ingredients (including literal mud) one could blend together all suspended in an aged grease broth.
- Embarrassing Ringtone: Numbuh 5's ringtone is the Rainbow Monkey theme, something one wouldn't expect from such a tomboy.
- Evil Wears Black: Jimmy has transitioned from a white suit in his previous appearance to a black one.
- Funny Background Event: Numbuh 4 expresses complete disgust with how lovey dovey Jimmy and Anna get, saying right in front of Numbuh 3 that no one will ever catch him acting like that. Numbuhs 2 and 5 immediately start wincing over this because they know how badly Numbuh 3 will react.
- Ignored Enamored Underling: Anna to Jimmy, though at first she doesn't realize she is ignored and fully believes she is the queen he is crowning. Then she finds out differently.
- Illness Blanket: Nigel is wrapped in one during the Credits Gag.
- Love Confession: Anna gives one to Jimmy as the reason why she sabotaged his plans to make Lizzie his queen.
- Love Hurts: Anna is in love with Jimmy, and though she has never said as much to him, during the first half of the episode it's clear she believes those feelings are reciprocated. It doesn't help that Jimmy inadvertently leads her on with his flirty behavior. Thus when he reveals to her that Lizzie is the true object of his affections, she is left totally blindsided and heartbroken.
- May the Farce Be with You: The episode is mostly an homage to The Empire Strikes Back.
- Mistaken for Gay: When Jimmy reveals to Lizzie that the "Queen's crown" is a Boyfriend Helmet, causing a confused Lizzie to ask "You want a boyfriend?!" to which Jimmy explains he reworked it to work on girls.
- Not What I Signed on For: Anna is more than happy to assist Jimmy with his villainous plans while believing that she will be the queen crowned at his assembly. When she learns that Jimmy has his sights set on Lizzie instead, that changes everything for her and she becomes determined to stop him.
- Oblivious to Love:
- Numbuh 4 has no idea why Numbuh 3 gets angry after he declares that he wouldn't be caught dead acting lovey-dovey with anyone. While she's standing right in front of him, nonetheless.
Numbuh 4: What? What did I say?- Jimmy was completely unaware that Anna, his longtime advisor and secretary, was in love with him until she outright told him.
- President for Life: Jimmy refers to himself as this for the fourth grade.
- Ship Tease: For all of Numbuh 4's talk about being too manly for love at the end, he has an adorable drawing of Numbuh 3 in his room.
- Shout-Out: When directing an attack against the Bus Walkers, Numbuh 2 quotes Marty from Back to the Future directing his fellow bandmembers to play Johnny B. Goode.Numbuh 2: Watch me for the changes, and just try to keep up!
- Sick Episode: Nigel is stuck in bed with a cold during the first snow day of the year.
- Sled Dogs Through the Snow: Nigel uses this with hamsters for him to get to Gallagher Elementary.
- Slow Motion: Used twice:
- The first one is used when Nigel tries Lizzie's poorly made soup.
- The second one is shown near the end, after Nigel blocks Jimmy's attack, the soup falls slowly for a bit before landing in the helmet.
- Soup Is Medicine: Lizzie has made a chicken banana fritter soup with extra curly fries, cottage cheese, and mud in attempt to make Nigel feel better from the flu.
- Stock Shout-Out: The entire episode parodies The Empire Strikes Back.
- The Tag: Lizzie prepares a new soup for Nigel, but he runs away while her back is turned. She tastes some herself only for it to be so spicy that her mouth catches fire. Nevertheless, she declares it yummy.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: James demands that everyone call him "Master President."
- Villainous Crush: James has one for Lizzie. His assistant turns out to have one on him, which he seems to replicate when she confesses.
- Woman Scorned: Jimmy's plans only fail because he didn't expect his Ignored Enamored Underling assistant Anna to sabotage them from jealousy after finding out he loves Lizzie.
- Working Through the Cold: Nigel is forced to save everyone while still sick from a cold. Jimmy had hoped this would keep him out of the way (His assistant Anna is the Common Cold's niece).
