In the Cosy Room, Four is grumpy because the Beeper (a timer that beeps) isn't working despite his attempts at repair. Three tries to keep time instead by beeping, but doesn't do a very good job. She then has fun playing make-believe, pretending to be a skittle, but he's still grumpy. She asks him if he's ever had to repair the Beeper before and he says he has, so she asks him how and he reluctantly tries the same thing again. And it works! Four is happy and Three pretends to be the launcher. Then, the alarm sounds, so they go to the control room.
There, agent 22 shows a boy with a whole lot of bowls but only one grain of cereal. Five is launched due to her pity for the boy (with Jasper on the couch) and lands on a pole.
Then, Agent 38 reports a woman with a too-big hat and too-small shoes, and Agent 83 reports a man whose lunch has moved from his lunchbox to his pocket. He's also sitting on the bin. Five asks the agents if the problems have a pattern to them and they reply that, no, they don't.
The Puzzler arrives and confirms that the problems aren't the same, so they'll have to find a different solution for each one. He gives them a mnemonic "What, how, check", because the Numberjacks have to identify what the problem is, how to solve it, and then check that the problem is solved.
So, first off is the boy with his cereal. The agents identify what the problem is (he has the wrong number of things), and the Numberjacks identify how to fix it (with brain gain). They make brain gain to change the number to one bowl and fifty cornflakes. Four thinks that the number of cornflakes is still insufficient, so Three uses the brain gain to add fifty more, making it a hundred.
The next problem is the lady with her hat and shoes. The agents identify the problem as being related to size, so the Numberjacks make brain gain to make the hat smaller and shoes bigger.
The Puzzler points out that the Numberjacks didn't check back and they realise that the brain gain keeps adding fifty more cornflakes over and over. They correct the number to a hundred, solving the problem once and for all. Then, they realise that the woman's hat keeps shrinking and her shoes keep growing. They amend the brain gain to specify that the clothes need to fit, and this works.
Five then imagines eight spiders with one leg apiece turning into one normal spider, a dog with a too-small basket having its basket enlarged, and a house in the ocean being moved back on land.
Finally, the man's problem needs to be solved: the problem is that things are in the wrong place. In fact, now his pants are on his head. All's well, except for the fact that the Puzzler is around. He then clones himself and the two Puzzlers grow big.
The agents point out that it's the wrong number of Puzzlers, they're the wrong size, and they're in the wrong place, so Three makes brain gain to vanish the clone, shrink him, and send him away.
Then, Five comes back, they recap the mission, and all the protagonist Numberjacks tell the viewers to solve a problem with the "what, how, check" method.
This episode provides examples of
- An Aesop: The episode has the moral of "always check back on your work and think things through".
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: The man ends up with his pants on his head, exposing his long johns. Three, when making the brain gain, says to put everything in place, especially his trousers.
- Gone Horribly Right: The Numberjacks ask for the woman's hat to be smaller and her shoes to be bigger, but then they end up too small and too big respectively.
- Speak in Unison: The Numberjacks say, "Hooray!" in unison at the end.
- Wearing It All Wrong: The man ends up with his pants on his head.
