Recap / Odd Squad S 2 E 13 Drop Gadget Repeat 20 Questions

A never-ending cycle of gadget-dropping...and face-touching.

Drop Gadget Repeat

Airdates: November 9, 2016 ^note PBS Kids premiere, October 24, 2016 ^note TVO Kids premiere

Agents Olympia, Otis, and Oona are caught in a time loop.

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Tropes:

• Bait-and-Switch: When Olympia asks Orchid for gadget #7 in a more polite tone than the first go-around, Orchid thanks her for asking politely, before denying her the gadget.
• Beat: Olympia, Otis and Oona all resolve to wait until time resets so they can get the gadgets needed to build a new Before-Now Machine. What follows is a rather long period of awkward silence between the trio, before Otis and Oona begin discussing the latter's toast, at which point time resets again and all of them race off.
• Big "WHAT?!": Olympia and Otis have this reaction when Oona tells them that she brought them into the time loop.
• Book Ends: The episode both starts and ends with Oona looking directly at the camera.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Oona borrows Ms. O's "Well, what are you waiting for? Go!" catchphrase, only she says "go get 'em" instead of just "go".
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Otis and Olympia offer Orchid a cake, a pie, and then a pie in a cake.
• Call-Back: Oona drops and breaks the Before-Now Machine, which was last seen in "6:00 to 6:05".
• Can't Believe I Said That: Olympia has a moment when regretting not being able to make a new Before-Now Machine.
  Olympia: We can't make 50, we'll never make a time machine! Words I thought I'd never say...
• Chekhov's Skill: Oona's ability to lasso, which she's learned over the course of numerous time resets, comes in handy when the trio can't meet up and assemble the time machine together, but rather, Otis and Olympia throw their gadgets at Oona for her to lasso and catch.
• Do You Want to Haggle?: Otis and Olympia each attempt to trade various things with Orchid for the gadget: a teddy bear, a cake, a pie, pie inside of a cake, a bouncy ball, a not-bouncy ball, and a teddy bear (again). Orchid shoots down the trade offers each time, stating that she wants experiences to be traded rather than objects.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Coach O slips into this when he allows Olympia and Otis to get the gadget, but only if they beat him in a game of ping-pong. He ends up snarling at them at one point, which manages to scare both of them.
• Face Palm: Oona does one when Olympia brings a pillow into the second time loop.
• Failure Montage: Quite a few throughout the episode.
  • Olympia and Otis both attempt to get gadget #10 sitting in the Odd Squad Warehouse, and fail spectacularly each time due to time resetting before they are able to get to it. They run, jump, and at one point, Olympia even attempts to throw Otis towards the gadget (and vice-versa), but fails. Oona eventually resorts to getting it on her own, which ends up failing.
  • Olympia and Otis play ping-pong against Coach O in order to get gadget #7, only for them to completely miss nearly every time. The one time that Olympia does manage to get a point, Coach O scores another one as she and Otis knock paddles similar to a high-five.
  • Olympia and Otis then attempt to get gadget #3 from Orchid, which, of course, leads to hilarious refusals. The first time, the pair try asking her directly, then Olympia asks more politely, then they resort to pleasing her with objects such as teddy bears and experiences like magic shows. Eventually, they use Reverse Psychology in order to get her to give up the gadget.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Oona ends up dropping the Before-Now Machine, which causes a time loop to occur. The plot of the episode revolves around Olympia and Otis — who become part of the time loop with Oona at her insistence — attempting to find gadgets in order to build a new Before-Now Machine and set the timeline right again. It's implied that Oona has been stuck in the time loop for years as she has attempted to figure out a solution to break free of the loop, before Otis and Olympia offered to help her out.
• Idiot Ball: Both Olympia and Otis share it when bringing various things during each loop of time. Otis brings a stopwatch to record the time it takes between each loop, and Olympia brings a pillow to stop the gadget from breaking. They fail to realize that it's a time loop, and nothing they bring to the lab will remain when time resets again.
  Olympia: I see how this works now!
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Otis, Olympia and Oona agree to split up to get the gadgets to build the Before-Now Machine. While Otis plays ping-pong against Coach O and Olympia uses Reverse Psychology on Orchid, Oona gets the gadgets in the lab and combines them to make a new Before-Now Machine.
• Meaningful Echo: Every time Coach O scores a point, he says "bam". When Olympia and Otis manage to beat him at ping-pong through training, they punctuate their win with a unisonant, more confident-sounding "bam".
• Overcrank: Used when Olympia, Otis and Oona get their gadgets and meet up in the bullpen, with the latter running to meet them with her lasso.
• Reverse Psychology: Olympia and Otis end up using this on Orchid, thanks to the former's Tranquil Fury-fueled moment wherein she tells Orchid to keep the gadget, only for her to be ordered to take it instead.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: None of the Main 3 lose any memories of the previous time reset with each loop. Olympia and Otis end up exploiting this when they train to get better at ping-pong during each window of time, so they can beat Coach O and get the gadget they need. Oona also exploits this trope as she shows Olympia and Otis how she's learned to lasso.
• Running Gag: Toast once again makes an appearance in the episode, as Oona is revealed to have been toasting some when the time loop issue occurred.
• Ship Tease: There is some to be found with Olympia and Otis both touching Oona's face rather than her shoulders, at her insistence.
• Stage Magician: Otis becomes one in order to retrieve gadget #7 from Orchid, with Olympia as his assistant (who is suspended in mid-air). It ends up failing.
• Time Loop Fatigue: It's made abundantly clear that the time loop issue has mentally worn on Oona, and she brings Otis and Olympia into the loop just to have some company. The episode even opens up with her looking at the camera in sheer despair just before the partner pair walk into the lab.
  • The trope is averted for Olympia and Otis, however, as they feel no ill effects from each of the loops.
• Tranquil Fury: Olympia nearly outright snaps when all of her and Otis's attempts to retrieve a gadget from Orchid fall completely flat. It ends up being exactly what the partner pair need to retrieve the gadget.
  Otis: Listen, Orchid-
  Olympia: Just stop! It's no use.
  Otis: Olympia, we have to-
  Olympia: No. We ask politely, we ask not politely. We offer her things, we perform shows! Nothing. Ever. Works. You're not gonna give us that gadget, and you know what? I'm done asking! So just keep it, and skippy-doo down the hall!!
• World-Healing Wave: The Before-Now Machine's activation causes a blue wave to envelop the bullpen and blow nearly everyone back, including Otis and Olympia. It also manages to destroy the time loop effectively.
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: Oona says a variant of this when Otis brings a stopwatch into the first time loop.
  Oona: It's clear you have no idea what we are dealing with-
  [time resets]

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Games of 20 Questions usually aren't this high-stakes...

20 Questions

Airdates: November 9, 2016 ^note  PBS Kids premiere, October 24, 2016 ^note  TVO Kids premiere

A villain has set off a backwards bubble and Agent Olympia and Otis have only 20 questions to get the forward bubble from the villain.

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Tropes:

• Armor-Piercing Question: For the final question, Ms. O asks Backwards Bob if the numbers on the briefcase containing the cure for the backwards bubble go backwards from three, befitting his name. He is hesitant to answer, especially seeing Otis and Olympia's smug faces as they know they've gained the upper hand in the interrogation, but eventually cracks and says yes, which allows them to obtain the cure and reverse the bubble's effects.
• Bound and Gagged: While not bound by anything, Ms. O puts tape over her mouth in order to stop herself from asking Backwards Bob irrelevant questions, and offers Olympia some tape to put over her mouth when she stays behind with the Director, which she happily accepts.
• Call-Back: In "By the Book", there is an interrogation rulebook that agents must abide by, with Ms. O remarking that she should re-write the rulebook at the end of the episode. This episode trashes the idea of the rulebook entirely (and by extension, the rule that one can only interrogate a villain for 20 minutes before they must be set free), but there are still rules in place in regards to interrogations, and Ms. O is revealed to have had meetings with the villains to discuss them. The end of the episode even has the Director giving gifts to Backwards Bob and resolving to bring Olympia and Otis to meetings with villains in the future, much like how things such as spa treatments and comfy chairs were given to Goopy Gus and Gooey Randall during the interrogation, which caused her to resolve to re-write the rulebook in order to prevent strife for Olive and Otto during future interrogations.
• The Coats Are Off: Olympia takes off her jacket at one point during the interrogation, but takes it with her when heading to the apartment building where Backwards Bob's mother lives, and keeps it on for the remainder of the episode.
• Comically Small Bribe: When Ms. O declines Jamie Jam's proposal of a rule that allows agents to ask interrogated villains up to 20 questions, the villainess sweetens the deal...by throwing in a single juice box. Ms. O being The Alcoholic that she is, she is unable to resist it and agrees to the proposal.
  • Ms. O later declines Jamie's proposal of the "20 questions" rule to be extended to villains' mothers, and closes her eyes so she isn't tempted with juice. However, Father Time puts a guava-flavored juice box near her nose, and she is immediately overtaken by the smell of West Indonesian guava, which wins her over.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Backwards Bob is revealed to have kept the cure to the backwards bubble with his mother, who is more than happy to uphold the "20 questions" rule along with him.
• Evil Gloating: Backwards Bob is incredibly prone to this.
  Backwards Bob: Four questions left, for a three-digit code. Kids, welcome to Donesville, population: 3, plus me! I'm the mayor, Bobby Done. My family started this town generations ago! [chuckling]
• Evil Is Not Well-Lit: The meeting with Ms. O and the villains is nearly pitch-black save for the table at which the Director, Jamie Jam, and Father Time sit.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Otis does this with Olympia upon entering the bullpen.
  Olympia: Uhh, partner, does it seem like everything's moving-
  Otis: Uh, backwards? Yeah.
• Flaw Exploitation: Jamie Jam manages to use Ms. O's addiction to juice boxes twice in order to get her to agree to the villains' proposals for new rules regarding interrogations. The second time around, Ms. O closes her eyes in order to not see the juice — however, she can still smell it, and ultimately can't resist the smell of West Indonesian guava.
  Ms. O: They found my weakness.
• Game Show Host: Parodied with Ms. O, who acts much like a game show host when she presents a brand-new washer to Backwards Bob, complete with assistants rolling it out along with a golden background.
• Gold Makes Everything Shiny: The guava-flavored juice box that Ms. O is offered by Jamie Jam and Father Time is covered in gold, up to and including the straw.
  • The washer gifted to Backwards Bob at the end of the episode has golden strings attached to the background of the stand it sits on.
• Great Big Book of Everything: It's revealed that there is a database that contains the addresses of all the villains' mothers. However, for those who live in apartment complexes or any place with multiple homes, it doesn't list the number of the apartment/home/etc. the mother lives at.
• Idiot Ball: Ms. O grips the ball hard enough for her knuckles to turn white when she asks Backwards Bob three questions, all of which are completely nonsensical, and all of which count towards the question total. Her final question even has her telling Bob he's wrong if he thinks he's going to trick her into asking another question...only for her to tack on "Aren't you?" to the statement, causing the counter to go down by 1.
• Literal-Minded: A "hair towel" in the world of Odd Squad adds hair to whatever it touches, up to and including dishes and an actual head of hair.
• Moonwalk Dance: An agent does one, but Ms. O states that he's not actually doing the moonwalk; he's just a weird walker.
• No-Sell: Played with in the case of Ms. O, who is presumed to be completely unaffected by the backwards bubble, but is instead doing everything backwards so that it comes out forwards, which takes a toll on her as she claims it's "exhausting".
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Backwards Bob, who upholds the "20 questions" rule with glee.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Both Olympia and Ms. O ask irrelevant questions of Backwards Bob that he counts towards the 20-question total, to the point where both of them end up taping their mouths shut and staying silent while Otis visits Bob's mother.
  Olympia: [rolling up her sleeves; acting smug] You think we're gonna run out of questions?
  Backwards Bob: Yes.
  [he hits the counter, moving the question count down to 18]
  [Olympia exhales worryingly]
• Rewind Gag: When Ms. O creates a forwards bubble, the usual heroic BGM track is played in reverse to accompany the agents walking backwards before the bubble bursts, causing everyone to move normally, with the track playing normally as well.
• Screen Shake: One occurs when Backwards Bob hits the counter and changes the amount of questions remaining to 0.
• Sdrawkcab Speech: Oona does this as a result of the backwards bubble bursting. Luckily, Ms. O is able to translate for her.
• Smug Snake: Backwards Bob has this demeanor throughout nearly the entire interrogation, and it only gets worse with each question the Main 3 waste on him.
• Spiritual Successor: The episode can be considered one to "By the Book", as both share a few common themes.
  • The same number theme of 20 (20 minutes/20 questions).
  • A rule that agents must abide by (only 20 minutes to interrogate a villain/only 20 questions to ask a villain).
  • Villains getting special treatment (spa treatments, staring contests, etc./movie tickets, a fruit basket, and a brand-new washing machine).
  • Ms. O resolving to change something about doing interrogations as a general practice (re-writing the interrogation rulebook/asking Otis and Olympia to attend all future negotiation meetings she has with villains).
  • Ms. O helping out the two main agents/the interrogation in some way (checking up on Otto and enforcing the rules/asking questions of Backwards Bob to get him to crack).
• invoked Squick: An in-universe example (though it can qualify as an audience reaction as well) — Olympia and Otis both have this reaction to Oona attempting to eat a sandwich, only for her to actually throw it back up pure and whole as a result of her doing everything backwards, like it was never chewed and digested. The eating sounds definitely don't help matters.
• Surprisingly Creepy Moment: The music that plays when Backwards Bob is left near-silent by Ms. O's Armor-Piercing Question swells up in suspense, then immediately becomes distorted as it's played backwards when Bob goes to hit the counter's button. Despite the fact that it fits the scene quite well, it's very creepy.
• That Wasn't a Request: When Olympia realizes that Backwards Bob's mother lives on Floor 15 of a nearby apartment building, she states such, then quickly and sternly tells Bob (who is about to hit the counter button) that it was a statement, not a question.
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Backwards Bob tells the Main 3 that he prefers to be called "Bob Backwards". Ms. O is quick to remark that they're not going to call him that.
• This Cannot Be!: A heroic variant — Olympia remarks "How is this happening?!" upon realizing that any questions her partner asks Backwards Bob's mother count towards the total.
• Translator Buddy: Ms. O translates Oona's Sdrawkcab Speech for her.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Olympia does this to Backwards Bob quite a few times when she believes she has the upper hand. Spoiler alert: half of the time, she doesn't have the upper hand.
• Villainous Mother-Son Duo: Downplayed. Backwards Bob's mother isn't out-and-out villainous, but she still supports him in his villainous misdeeds (even stating that she wants grandchildren) and counts the questions Otis asks her towards the overall count.

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