Recap / Codename Kids Next Door S 6 E 13 Operation TREATY

"I'm the best there is."

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The KND and the Teens are about to sign the "You don't mess with us-We don't mess with you" Kid-Teen treaty. It is going to be signed by Numbuh 362 (the KND leader), Numbuh Infinity (the KND diplomat) and the Steve (the Teens leader), but it turns out to be a trap for the KND, making Numbuhs 1 and 274 set out to prevent it after being falsely convicted by the KND.

Tropes that appear in this episode:

• Airborne Aircraft Carrier: The Kids Next Door have a craft called the G.I.H.O.O.J.A.C.A.R.R.I.E.R. (see here for Word of God) that serves as their flagship and the location of the treaty signing.
• Arch-Enemy: Chad had minimal appearances after his defection in "Operation: E.N.D.", only playing the main villain in two episodes, but it was this episode that solidified him as this to Numbuh 1 — even though it turned out they were on the same side. The personal enmity between them here is arguably the worst seen in the entire show, which is only fitting considering their past friendship; not even Lincoln sisters can compare, especially considering the fact that, deep down, they still care about each other. Nigel and Chad's relationship, meanwhile, was dead in the water from the very moment Nigel was selected for the GKND promotion, and this episode just made it all the more obvious. Chad is also one of the only enemies, if not the only enemy, that Nigel has ever actively tried to kill. All of this becomes very ironic on Nigel's part when Chad's betrayal is revealed to be a ruse just as Nigel was about to kill him. Ultimately, as a result of their animosity, Chad's genuine negative qualities, and their Chained Heat situation throughout the episode, not even the truth changes anything between them.
• Arc Words: "I'm the best there is." These words were first stated by Chad in his first appearance. They're said again in the flashback to Nigel's cadet days, and reach their climactic finish here.
  Numbuh 1: You were the best there was!
  Chad: I! STILL! AM! (tries to punch Numbuh 1)
  (flash of white light)
  Numbuh 1: (catches punch) No. You're not.
• Berserk Button: Numbuh 48 Flavors hates people eating all his ice cream, having been forced to deliver it to each treehouse day in and day out with little to no thanks. It pisses him off so much that he eventually becomes an Omnicidal Maniac and tries to get rid of every KND operative and teenager on the planet by blowing up the Gihugecarrier so no one will ever eat his ice cream ever again.
• Bittersweet Ending: With heavy emphasis on the bitter. The Teens' plan is stopped and Nigel's name is cleared; however, his already tenuous relationship with Chad is irreparably damaged despite learning the truth about his allegiance, and Nigel is left with more questions than answers at the end.
• Bookends:
  • At the beginning of the episode, Nigel is looking forlornly at an old picture of him and Chad from his cadet days, sadly wondering why his old mentor went rogue. The episode ends with him once again looking at the same picture, having finally learned the truth about Chad — and realizing that, ultimately, it changes nothing.
  • In conjunction with the above, after looking at the picture, the rest of Sector V arrives and asks Nigel to help them with raiding one of the incoming supply ships, only for him to blow them off thanks to his solemn mood. The first time, they let him go; the second, they drag him with them, not taking no for an answer. Notably, the latter is the only time Nigel smiles in the episode, outside of the beginning flashback.
  • At the start of the episode, Nigel questions why Chad betrayed the Kids Next Door (which he would learn was a ruse). The ending has him once again with questions, only now he's left wondering what is it he's chosen for.
• Broken Ace: Chad was The Ace to many in the KND, including Nigel, but this episode gradually reveals that he was really this all along.
• Broken Pedestal: Nigel's main issue with Chad is this combined with We Used to Be Friends. Not even Chad being a Fake Defector restores their friendship nor Nigel's admiration for him due to Chad's obsession with being the best causing him to hate Nigel for real.
• Call-Back:
  • "I'm the best there is." — this exact phrase, stated in the flashback, is a Call-Back to Chad's debut episode, "Operation: C.H.A.D.". In that episode, and in the flashback, it was true. Towards the end of this episode, however, it becomes clear that Chad isn't the best anymore — Nigel is.
  • As Chad confesses to still being a KND operative, a very skeptical Numbuh 1 brings up the events of "Operation E.N.D." where he tried to send the Moonbase to the sun, to which Chad states he did it to stop Cree from doing the same thing.
• Chained Heat: The primary plot of the episode, between Numbuh 1 and Chad Dickson. Unlike most instances of this trope, the situation worsens their relationship and they're legitimately trying to kill each other by the end. This, along with Chad's legitimate negative qualities, prevents their friendship from being salvaged, in spite of Chad never being a traitor.
• Conflict Killer: Upon learning Numbuh 48 Flavors plans on blowing up the G.I.H.O.O.J.A.C.A.R.R.I.E.R. and killing every KND Operative and Teen Ninja on the planet, Numbuh Infinity and Sector V completely forget their conflict in favor of stopping him.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: When Wally asks what are Numbuh Infinity and Numbuh 48 Flavors arguing about, Kuki says Numbuh Infinity is probably asking for an extra serving of ice-cream at the treaty luncheon. This results in an annoyed look by Wally as he and the others think 48 Flavors is part of the conspiracy. At the end of the episode, it turns out Kuki was right - Infinity was trying to get extra ice-cream. Kuki then smugly looks at Wally.
• Darker and Edgier: This episode is notably darker than most episodes. Not only does it explore a personal relationship that has turned sour with no hope of getting better and instead gets worse, along with the consequences of betrayal, it also has a Duel to the Death — Numbuh 1 was going to kill Chad after he finally won their fight, and you can bet that Chad would have done the same had their positions been reversed at the time.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Initially, The Steve, but after Nigel and Chad accidentally foil his plans, he's quickly shunted aside for Numbuh 48 Flavors. Alternatively, for Nigel, it's Chad, even though the latter was never actually a villain.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Numbuh 48 Flavors resorts to trying to kill every KND operative, as well as the teenagers by blowing up the Gihuecarrier all because everyone kept eating his ice cream.
• Driven by Envy: Ultimately why Chad tries to kill Nigel — he can't stand the fact that people (including his higher-ups) consider his rival a better operative than him.
• Driving Question: "Why did Numbuh 274 betray the Kids Next Door?" — This question is the driving force behind Nigel's hostility; deep down, he just wants understand why one of the most important people in his life betrayed him, the Kids Next Door, and everything it stood for, everything they both once believed in. The answer? He didn't.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Numbuh 48 Flavors flips out because he is sick and tired of the lack of appreciation he gets for his daily deliveries, as well as how people always swipe extra ice cream right off the ship (which comes out of his rations).
• Duel to the Death/Final Battle: With their relationship essentially irreparable, Chad decides that one of them has to go. Nigel agrees, and the two continue fight even as the ship they're on falls apart.
• Everyone Has Standards: All conflict between Infinity and Sector V is forgotten when they are confronted by Numbuh 48 Flavors and he explains his plan to destroy the ship — the same ship where every single Kids Next Door operative and teenager on the planet is on. They immediately try to take him down, but ultimately fail in stopping him.
• Fake Defector/Good All Along: This episode reveals that Chad, like Maurice, is also a secret teen operative for the Kids Next Door, and has been since his betrayal in "Operation: E.N.D". Deconstructed in that by the time everything comes to light, Nigel has spent a long time genuinely thinking he was betrayed with no idea why, and Chad has lost himself to his obsession with being the best to the point of being willing to kill Nigel.
• Fatal Flaw: Chad's greatest flaw and the true crux of his conflict with Nigel is his obsession with being the best. When he was denied the honor of being Earth's representative for the Galactic Kids Next Door and it was given to Nigel in his place, Chad was so Driven by Envy that he tried to kill Nigel in retaliation and it makes the latter unable to admire him again even after learning he was a Fake Defector.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: At the end of their Duel to the Death, Nigel exclaimed that Chad was "the best there was", to which Chad angrily states that he still is. While what he said reveals his obsession with being the best, it also hints that he was never a traitor. Sure enough, just as Nigel wins their fight and is about to kill him, Sector V arrives to stop him from doing so with Numbuh 5 revealing that he's still on their side, which he confirms.
• Foreshadowing: The beginning of the episode starts with a spar Numbuh 1 and Chad (at the time Numbuh 274) had when Nigel was a recruit. Not only does the ending of the fight play out again in their Final Battle down to the dialogue (just with their positions reversed), it also foreshadows Chad's obsession with being the best.
  Chad: (laughs and helps Numbuh 1) You are pretty good kid! But just remember, I'm the best there is.
• Good Is Not Nice: Chad is revealed to be a Fake Defector, but over the course of the episode, it also becomes clear that he still isn't someone to be admired — at least, not anymore. Even in the flashback from when Nigel was just a newbie cadet, Chad was rather quick to brag about being the best and pat himself on the back for proving it.
• The Heavy: While The Steve and Numbuh 48 Flavors are the actual villains of the episode, Chad is the one who drives the action for Nigel's side of the plot, even though he's technically not a villain. Even the climax of the episode is entirely focused on their battle, with the former two quickly forgotten — the episode doesn't even show what happened to 48 Flavors after he blows the ship in half with chocolate sauce.
• He Knows Too Much: Non-lethal variant. After Chad reveals to Nigel that there are other operatives higher up, Numbuh Infinity stops him and orders him to return to base, seeing to it that he and Nigel never see each other again.
• Hourglass Plot: Emphasized by the color of their clothing. At the beginning, Nigel was wearing blue and Chad was wearing red. At the end, Chad is wearing blue and Nigel is wearing red.
• Irony: Chad is the only Arch-Enemy Nigel has ever tried to kill, steaming from his betrayal, only for the latter to learn that the betrayal wasn't real as the former is a Fake Defector.
  • Also, despite Nigel figuring out Chad's "betrayal" back in "Operation E.N.D." and wondering why he would do so, Chad bitterly notes that Nigel never once realized he was faking it by secretly helping Sector V when he was against them, making Nigel briefly perplexed over this being pointed out to him.
• Ironic Echo: The two fights between Chad and Nigel in this episode end the same way, but with their positions reversed.
  "My shoelaces...?"
  "Tied together. Oldest trick in the book."
• It's Personal: Numbuh 1 and Chad's fight had this dialed up to eleven.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As Chad admits to being a Fake Defector, he bitterly notes that Numbuh 1, in spite of wanting to know why he would "betray" the KND, never once gave him the benefit of the doubt by not realizing that he had been helping him and Sector V in secret, especially when he was being antagonistic towards them. While it's wrong of Chad to want to kill Numbuh 1 due to jealousy over being surpassed, it's also hard to blame him being angry at Nigel for automatically accepting him as a traitor despite the close friendship they had and admiration Nigel had for him. Nigel is even briefly bewildered and doesn't dispute Chad's claim.
• Last Episode, New Character/Minor Major Character: This episode marks the first and only appearances of the Steve, the leader of the teenagers, and of Numbuh Infinity, the KND's top diplomat and member of the KND splinter cell/GKND.
• Literal Metaphor: Chad telling Numbuh 1 that Number Infinity was working for somebody "higher up" than Numbuh 362 or even the teenagers. He was of course referring to the Galactic Kids Next Door.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Numbuh 1 (and, by extension, the viewing audience) remains completely unaware of why Chad is so angry at him, outside of being pissed that Nigel is considered better than him. The Grand Finale revealed it was because Nigel had been chosen as Earth's representative for the GKND.
• Meaningful Echo: Everything evolving Chad and Nigel at the beginning of the episode is echoed in some way by the end. It's meant to highlight how badly their relationship has deteriorated, most notably with the situation mentioned in Ironic Echo above. The first time that exchange occurred, it was during an intense, but ultimately friendly sparring match. The second time, it's during a bitter, anger-fueled death match.
• Mood Whiplash: The episode ends with Numbuhs Infinity and 74.239 ominously say that Nigel is ready at long last and will be taken away. Infinity then scolds 74.239 for continuing to use the voice changer, leading to some goofing around.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Numbuh 48 Flavors, and over ice cream of all things.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Chad doesn't care if his boss wants a piece of Numbuh 1 — nobody offs his rival but him.
  Chad: (offscreen) No! (comes into view) That kid is mine.
• Poor Communication Kills: The Fatal Flaw of Nigel and Chad's relationship. Beneath all his belligerence, Nigel is just a young boy who wants to understand why his idol, who was also one of his closest friends, betrayed him and everything they both believed in; a question he isn't able to voice until the end, and only until he is so angry that he can't keep it in anymore. Chad, meanwhile, is a deep cover agent who can't exactly tell Nigel the truth — and he isn't particularly inclined to after he learns Nigel took the GKND promotion from him. With Chad acting like Nigel betrayed him, the situation gradually gets worse and worse until it blows up into a confrontation that would've gotten one of them killed had it not been for Abby.
• Punch Catch: Chad does this to then-cadet Nigel during their sparring match, which allows him to decisively end it. Numbuh 1 doing this to Chad during their last fight symbolizes how he's Surpassed the Teacher.
• Rage Breaking Point: Nigel and Chad are both put through the ringer for the entire the episode: Nigel arrives at Moon Base and finds an old photo of them during his cadet days, then is reminded of his break up with Lizzie, and then is framed by Numbuh Infinity. Chad learns that Nigel has been chosen over him for the GKND promotion, confronted by Nigel himself soon afterwards, and then is captured by Numbuh 86 and her squad. And then they're chained together. After that is a downward spiral of constant bickering, building tension and stress, culminating in them being forced into a Teen Ninja bike together and trying to avoid being shot down by both the Teen Ninjas and the Kids Next Door — at which point they promptly are, and crash-land into The Steve's ship. After that, the two snap and try to kill each other for the rest of the episode.
• Red Herring: Played with. While Sector V was correct in assuming that Numbuh Infinity was a member of the Splinter Cell, the Splinter Cell is not a malicious rebel faction. Played straight in regards to Numbuh Infinity supposedly collaborating with Number 48 Flavors to sell out the KND to the teenagers — Infinity was actually trying to bully 48 Flavors into giving him an extra serving of ice cream at the luncheon.
• Serious Business:
  • Some teens chase Numbuh 1 and Chad, who had stolen one of the teens bikes, into KND airspace. The leader tells them to stand down or be shot down, but as soon as one of the teens says the guys they are chasing stole one of their bikes, the leader orders the KND to open fire on the "bike snatchers."
  • Again, Numbuh 48 Flavors' obsession with ice cream, to the point of trying to commit mass murder over it. Even Numbuh 5, who has gone on several Indiana Jones-esque quests for rare sweets (including the fabled fourth flavor of ice cream), thought that was insane.
• Shout-Out: While playing with his voice changer, Numbuh 74.239 shouts, "Nigel Uno, I am your father!"
• Sophisticated as Hell: Numbuh Infinity's reaction to Numbuh 48 Flavors' plan to destroy the ship?
  Numbuh Infinity: (straightens tie) This calls for some diplomacy. (clears throat) GET 'IM! (points at 48 Flavors as 4/5ths of Sector V charges)
• The Starscream: Numbuh 48 Flavors was a reluctant subordinate to Numbuh Infinity's plans, and immediately turns on him as soon as he gets a chance.
• Surpassed the Teacher: When he was a cadet, Nigel was a pupil of Chad's, who was indisputably the best Kids Next Door operative on the planet. Three years later, Nigel defeats Chad in one-on-one combat, proving that he has surpassed his teacher and that he, not Chad, is the best Kids Next Door operative of all time.
• Villainous Breakdown: Chad has a slow burn of one over the course of the episode. It begins when Infinity informs him that Nigel was chosen for the GKND in his place, and gradually gets worse as the episode continues when he and Nigel get into a Chained Heat situation and constantly chafe against one another. By the end, he and Nigel are trying to kill one another, their climactic fight ending when Chad charges at his rival, screaming that he's still the best there is (as if trying to convince himself of that fact), before being defeated with a move he taught Nigel years ago.
• Violence is the Only Option:
  • The treaty is a trap for the KND — in reality, their enemies had no interest in peace.
  • Thanks to Numbuh 1's lack of knowledge and Chad refusing to tell him what was going on, and their inability to talk with each other, the Chained Heat situation deteriorates and they start brawling all over the ship.
• We Used to Be Friends: Nigel's other main issue with Chad. Chad had been his idol, his mentor, and his friend — the betrayal of such a significant figure in his life cut him deeply. Even after learning the truth, too much has happened between them for there to be any hope of reconciliation.
• Wham Episode: Chad is revealed to be a Fake Defector and his attempt to send the Moonbase to the sun in "Operation E.N.D." was because he learned of Cree arriving to do the same thing. He bitterly reveals to Nigel that he's chosen for something he's unaware of while also revealing that Splinter Cell doesn't exist. As he reveals what it is he's chosen for, Numbuh Infinity stops him and they teleport away but not before stating Nigel will know what he's selected for in due time.
• Wham Line: Numbuh 5 stopping Numbuh 1 from killing Chad to reveal he's still on their side, which Chad confirms by revealing he's a Fake Defector.
• Wham Shot: About halfway in, Numbuh Infinity is revealed to be one of the shadowy overseers from previous episodes. The last scene reveals that Numbuh 74.239 is the other one and that he's been using a voice changer to make himself sound cooler.
• World's Best Warrior: It's implied that part of why the fight happens is because Chad wants to prove he's still the best, at least to himself and perhaps to Numbuh 1. Nigel must have realized this at one point, as he outright tells his rival that no, he isn't the best, before defeating him.