After hearing the catchy jingle of a Taco Crunchies commercial on TV, Hamster and Gretel seem to behave strangely at night: stealing goods for a mysterious figure while having no memory of it other than weird dreams about a cobra. Worried about them potentially becoming criminals, Kevin tries to get to the bottom of this.
Tropes:
- Call-Back: At first, Fred isn't quite convinced that specifically Hamster and Gretel are stealing stuff at night, thinking it could've been any little girl with a rodent, quick to remind Kevin that they have fought a girl and her gerbil a couple days ago.
- Ear Worm: The Taco Crunchies jingle, which is written by someone who calls himself the Earworm as well, and designed to specifically hypnotize Hamster and Gretel to do his bidding. Additionally, It's a Big Big World is an even more powerful Ear Worm.
- Impractically Fancy Outfit: The Earworm's costume (which consists of a large green worm tail in which the legs go, and a large, ear-shaped collar) is only for show: for the Visual Pun, to be specific (it's a little on the nose, in fact). The worm tail-like pantleg drastically impedes movement, as the Earworm can only shuffle around in his costume, so when Hamster and Gretel snap out of their hypnotic spell, the Earworm's escape is so pathetically slow that Gretel thinks punching isn't even necessary to stop him.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: After Dave mentions the "It's a Big, Big World" song, Kevin told him that he thought they agreed they'd never talk about it again.
- Mind-Control Eyes: When Hamster and Gretel are hypnotized by the Taco Crunchies jingle, their eyes turn into spinning blue/white whisk-shapes.
- Mind-Control Music: Played straight this time: the Taco Crunchies jingle is designed in a way that it can hypnotize Hamster and Gretel in particular. Only an Ear Worm greater than the Taco Crunchies jingle can break the hypnosis.
- Mundane Utility: The Earworm uses Hamster and Gretel to do various chores. He originally has them steal donuts and clothes as a test run of his control, but he continues to have them do chores just for the sake of it.
- Only One Finds It Fun: Dave was actually enjoying the "It's a Big, Big World" song in Giddy Land.
- Renaissance Man: Coming from a family of judgmental overachievers, the Earworm is talented in at least three fields: hair styling (which he got to be on television for only a week after following an online tutorial), science, and music writing (which he passed cum laude only after a couple months).
- Stating the Simple Solution: The B Plot involves Dave and Carolina arguing on which lyrics are correct for their song, then at the end, Kevin told them that they could've searched up the lyrics online.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: The Earworm has shades of this, as the stunt he attempts in this episode is in order to prove that he's better than his judgmental, overachieving family. Apparently, they think he's a loser, as the Earworm admits about himself when finally defeated.
