This is what happens when you drive Oona to insanity, Olly.
Haunt SquadAirdates: October 16, 2017 note , October 26, 2016 note
Odd Squad is haunted by a ghost.
Tropes:
- Agent Mulder: Olympia is this to Otis's Agent Scully. She firmly believes that there's a ghost in Headquarters and consistently refuses to listen to Otis's explanations about why it isn't a ghost. Every time someone remarks that they saw a ghost, Olympia is quick to side with them and rub it in Otis's face all the while. It gets to such an extreme that when she asks Otis if he still thinks Crazy Eights is behind the hauntings after Coach O recounts how he was haunted, he says no, and she immediately goes full-on smug and tells him that he admits there's a ghost when he did no such thing. By the end of the episode, she realizes that Otis is right, and that the hauntings were just a series of coincidences and nothing more.
- Olly, as well as Coach O and Ohlm, are also this, as they all believe there's a ghost in Headquarters from having witnessed what it can do firsthand.
- Agent Scully: Otis is this to Olympia's Agent Mulder. He doesn't believe that there's a ghost lurking about in Headquarters, and is constantly attempting to explain various paranormal phenomenons by brushing them off as something mundane (the Ghostly Chill in the food storage room was a simple draft, the lights flickering are due to the Maintenance team running away in terror, etc.). However, when the ghost begins chasing him and Olympia, he changes his tune. He turns out to be right in the end, though.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Apparently, Olly's microwave can talk back to her, and it too refuses to believe in ghosts.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Otis, who works at a government organization dealing with all sorts of oddities, doesn't believe in ghosts, and brushes off things such as breezes and lights flickering as mundane things. Olympia, on the other hand, relishes in the chance to see a real ghost, and refuses to believe Otis when he repeatedly tells her that ghosts aren't real. Olly also sides with Olympia and firmly believes there's a ghost in HQ.
- Bedsheet Ghost: Coach O manages to scare both Otis and Olympia by walking towards them, moaning, with a bedsheet on his head.
- Buffy Speak: Ohlm refers to Ms. O's juice box sculptures as "juice box sculpture thingies".
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: A heroic example. When Olympia finds a broken gadget on the ground and concludes that Oona was also scared by the ghost, Otis responds in kind by saying that it's just a regular day where Oona drops and breaks a gadget and leaves it on the floor.
- By "No", I Mean "Yes": Coach O asks Otis and Olympia if they want to hear his imitation of a ghostly moan. Olympia says yes and Otis says no, both in unison. Coach O ends up doing it anyway. Shortly after, he asks the two of them if they want the sheet that he's holding, and again, Olympia says yes while Otis says no in unison, and he throws the sheet at them anyway.
- Character Tics: Otis apparently does math when he's scared.
- Chase Scene: One ensues between Olympia and Otis, and the ghosts. The agents are repeatedly cornered by the ghosts, and upon reaching the bullpen, they find themselves cornered, with the ghosts blocking off the automatic double-doors, the back wall exits, and one of the hallways. Eventually they are forced to retreat into the lab.
- Cobweb of Disuse: Tons of them are scattered throughout the halls as a result of the Maintenance workers fleeing in terror.
- Continuity Nod: A mummy once again makes an appearance. However, this one is real, and isn't just from a book.
- Frankenstein's Monster's hairstyle looks quite similar to Odd Todd's, down to having the signature skunk stripe.
- Ear Ache: Coach O loudly blowing his whistle doesn't bode well for Olympia's eardrums.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Played with. Olly, Oksana's (presumed) replacement, makes an appearance in this episode before her official debut in "Dr. O No". However, both that episode and "Xs and Os" come before this episode and "Safe House in the Woods" in production order; the latter two episodes were pushed back to coincide with the premiere of PBS Kids' 2017 Oddtober event.
- Electromagnetic Ghosts: The Scientists toy with Olly by creating a cold draft inside of the food storage room and messing with the lights. They later mess with the lights throughout the entirety of Headquarters.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Otis's nervous tic of doing math when he's terrified spurs Olympia to conclude that the ghosts are trying to tell the partner pair to rebuild gadget #23, which he himself states is a wild leap in logic. It turns out to be correct.
- Evolving Credits: This episode marks the fifth and final change to the opening credits for Season 2. Old oddness slides are swapped out for new ones such as a floating fridge and a pool table being turned into an actual pool, and clips from episodes like "Where There's a Wolf, There's a Way" and "Two Agents and a Baby" replace old ones from episodes such as "Rookie Night" and "The Cherry-on-Top-inator". There is also a short clip from the Made-for-TV Movie World Turned Odd added. The opening credits wouldn't change again until the Season 3 premiere, "Odd Beginnings: Part 1".
- Fear Is the Appropriate Response: The reveal of there being a ghost in Headquarters causes a mass panic among all of the agents, who are shown running and screaming in sheer terror when Ms. O leads Olympia, Otis and Olly inside. The Director finds the panicking to be silly, and claims that her agents are acting "like a bunch of adults".
- Frankenstein's Monster: Presented as one of the odd cases offered by Ms. O to Olympia and Otis at the end of the episode, which Ms. O picks for them when they tell her it doesn't matter.
- Ghastly Ghost: Subverted. The ghosts that agents encounter appear to be these at first, but are eventually revealed to be Oona and the other Scientists, who are more than friendly, but seek agents' help in restoring them back to their physical states.
- Ghostly Wail: Every agent that Olympia and Otis come across who have seen the ghosts firsthand recall how the ghosts began to moan. Olly and Coach O manage to imitate it, and while Olly's is pretty accurate, Coach O's...isn't, mostly due to his baritone voice (it sounds more akin to a lion's roar than a ghostly moan).
- Halloween Episode: The episode revolves around Odd Squad agents being continuously spooked by ghosts, as evidenced by various objects like mayonnaise jars and tennis balls are floating. Olympia and Otis are ordered by Ms. O to get the ghosts so her agents can become peaceful again and return to work. While Otis initially believes that the hauntings are the work of various villains, it's eventually revealed that the "ghosts" are Oona and her fellow Scientists, who were accidentally turned into ghosts using a Ghost-inator gadget Oona had built for Halloween (which she had made to make ghost costumes, not turn them into actual ghosts). She explains that she had tried to zap herself with the Un-Ghost-inator, but due to being invisible, she had no grip on the gadget, causing it to fall and break, and was unable to put it back together.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Ohlm has gotten his head stuck in the hole of a table. He crawled underneath it to get a coin he dropped, punched a hole in it to get out, tried to get out, and didn't get any farther than his head.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the episode, Ms. O gives Olympia and Otis a choice of which odd case they want to solve, with their options being a Mummy, a vampire, or Frankenstein's Monster. Olympia and Otis say that it doesn't matter, and Ms. O ends up choosing Frankenstein's Monster.
- Hidden Depths: Ms. O is quite the incredible sculptor, as she is able to re-create Mount Rushmore with five juice boxes in place of the US Presidents.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: If the reactions of the other Scientists are any indication, none of them enjoyed the act of Oona turning them, as well as herself, into real ghosts.
- Insane Troll Logic: In order to keep furniture "fresh", the Maintenance department keeps it in the hallways of Headquarters and moves it around every half-hour.
- Ironic Echo: When Otis attempts to explain to Olympia that there is a reasonable explanation for the so-called "ghost", she refuses to listen to him and rushes off to the lab to see Oona for some ghost-catching gadgets, and he responds with "Okay, good chat." Later on, Otis, who believes that Crazy Eights is behind the paranormal acts, walks off without listening to Olympia, causing her to say, "Okay, good chat!"
- Irony: Ms. O complains that her agents panicking about a ghost being on the loose are acting like adults.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In "Dr. O No", Olly drove Oona to insanity with her Cloudcuckoolander antics. This episode has her and the other Scientists haunting Olly and effectively scaring her. note
- Left the Background Music On: Every time the Cold Open client goes to open his closet door, a horror music sting plays as BGM, and he becomes terrified. The source of the music turns out to be a cellist playing in his closet.
- Losing Your Head: Subverted. While Ohlm is initially viewed as having been decapitated, a Reveal Shot shows that he simply poked his head up from under a table and got stuck.
- Mummy: Presented as one of the odd cases offered by Ms. O to Olympia and Otis at the end of the episode.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Presumably, Shmumbers has a juice box flavor called Thomas Jefferson Punch.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Just when things have calmed down in the bullpen (for the most part, anyway), Olympia excitedly and loudly states her confirmation that there's a ghost in Headquarters, which causes everyone to start panicking again. Cue her giving a Jaw Drop of surprise.
- Ominously Open Door: Inverted. The Cold Open client's issue is that there is something in his closet (where the door is closed), and every time he goes to open the door, a horror music sting plays and he becomes overwhelmed with nerves. Otis tries to open it, but also becomes fearful. Eventually Olympia takes the helm and swings the door open to reveal that the source of the music is a cellist who mistook the client's closet for the concert hall.
- Our Vampires Are Different: One is shown as one of the odd cases offered by Ms. O to Olympia and Otis at the end of the episode.
- Overly Long Gag: Both Olly's and Coach O's imitations of the ghostly moans they heard from the ghosts fall under this territory.
- Poor Communication Kills: Oona, and by extension the other Scientists. By a landslide. Oona reveals that all of them were messing with other agents in order to tell them to rebuild gadget #23 and restore them to their normal physical states, and states that their spooking of other agents was meant to be a clue, which Olympia and Otis just so happened to catch on to.Otis: That seems like a pretty complicated way to give a clue.Olympia: Yeah.Oona: You're both here, and I'm not a ghost, so, uh...looks like I nailed it.
- Punny Name: Ms. O calls her own Mount Rushmore-inspired structure... Mount Juicemore. Quite the innovative name.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Oona greets Olympia and Otis with a "howdy-do, you figured out my clue". They respond in kind by saying her name in absolute disbelief.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Olympia and Otis become confronted by the ghosts themselves, they're quick to take off running. However, they are repeatedly cornered by the ghosts holding up the juice box sculptures, the mayonnaise jars, and the tennis balls.
- Super-Strong Child: Ohlm may be ditzy, but he's apparently strong enough to punch a clean hole straight through a table.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Coach O asks Olympia and Otis if they want to hear his imitation of a Ghostly Wail, Olympia says yes, while Otis says no. Coach O pretty much doesn't care, and says that he's doing it anyway, causing Otis to have this reaction.
- Visible Invisibility: The only thing signifying Oona and the other Scientists' invisible states are the objects they hold, which float in mid-air.
- Vulgar Humor: In the Cold Open alone, we have a joke made about bodily gas (Rob Gasser, the client), a joke made about snot (Julie Snotgrassbowen, the cellist), and a joke made about a car being parked in the bathroom (Julie's car).
- Wild Take: This being a Halloween Episode with lots of scares, there are quite a few of these, such as this one
◊. - You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: Olympia says this to a frightened Olly, before she explains that she really did see a ghost.
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This is no ordinary safe house...
Safe House in the WoodsAirdates: October 16, 2017 note , October 26, 2016 note
Owen and new recruit Ozlyn wait out a storm while transporting a creature.
Tropes:
- Bad "Bad Acting": Debbie tells Doug and Owen that she's been taking acting classes, and suggests that she and Doug act out scenes that would convince Ozlyn to join the Security department. As it turns out, her and Doug's acting is incredibly stiff, which isn't helped by the fact that they know next to nothing about the departments of Odd Squad.
- Big "NO!": Owen, Ozlyn and Debbie give Doug one of these when he suggests he feed the creature more egg salad.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: The creature can glow in a variety of different colors. It normally glows red, but can also glow green and blue, which is an indicator for someone to feed it a specific amount of creature slop. Along with the ability to glow, it also sprouts various features such as horns and stripes.
- Bottle Episode: A majority of the episode takes place inside an Odd Squad-owned house, with a brief scene in the ice cream truck at the beginning of the episode.
- Comically Missing the Point: Ozlyn witnesses Debbie and Doug, two longtime adult rivals, fighting. Her immediate response is to ask if people fight this much in Security — an Odd Squad department of which Debbie and Doug don't work in whatsoever. It may be justified, however, due to her naivety.
- Compressed Vice: This episode has Owen at his absolute worst when it comes to how much Pride he has in himself and his department. He is constantly telling Ozlyn that she has no future in departments such as Investigation and Science, and a majority of the episode is spent attempting to manipulate her to come and join Security. Owen hasn't displayed much Pride in any past episodes, for either him or his department.
- Continuity Nod: When talking about possibly becoming a Scientist, Ozlyn brings up Oona's Oonabots.
- Doug and Debbie are seen together once again, with their last shared onscreen appearance being in "Mystic Egg Pizza".
- Contrived Coincidence: There are various mathematical tools such as pan balances and rulers inside the Odd Squad house. When feeding the creature for the first time, Owen manages to find an open, Odd Squad-branded box that has various glass jars — a 5-quart one, a 3-quart one, and a 1-quart one. No explanation is given for how the box got there, why it's open, or why it happens to have glass jars in it.
- Denied Food as Punishment: While not necessarily as punishment, Owen believes that the creature he and Ozlyn are transporting can wait to be fed until the van is out of the mud and they return to Precinct 13579. However, Ocean convinces him to do the right thing and feed the creature slop.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Or in Ozlyn's case, Desperately Looking for a Department in Life. Most of the episode revolves around her being unsure of which department to join, with Owen constantly attempting to convince her to join Security. By the end of the episode, she actually does join Security. It's revealed that Owen also went through the same thing when he was a new agent, trying out each department to see which one is the best fit.
- Dreadful Musician: Though not to the extent of those like Season 1 Ms. O, Doug's singing ability is definitely not the best.
- First-Name Ultimatum: When Debbie admits that she fed the creature pizza when she wasn't supposed to, Doug uses her full first name, Deborah.
- Gilligan Cut: When the creature inside of the cage starts to growl, Owen tells Ozlyn that it's no big deal. Whip Pan transition to Ocean on the phone with him, telling him that it's absolutely a big deal.
- Doug attempts to find a compromise with Owen and Ozlyn, asking them to stay until the storm passes, and stating that they won't know he's here. Transition to his Leitmotif, "All I Really Want is Eggs", playing as he sings aloud, much to the annoyance of both Owen and Ozlyn.
Ozlyn: I'm noticing he's here. - Good News, Bad News: Of the "There Is No Good News" variety. After Owen finds out what happened to the van for it to make a sudden stop, he tells Ozlyn the "good news" is that the van is stuck in the mud and transportation of a creature the pair are carrying onboard will be delayed by a whole 6 hours. When Ozlyn asks him how that's good news, Owen responds in kind by saying that it gives him more time to convince her to join Security.
- Haunted House: The house Owen, Ozlyn, Doug and Debbie stay in gives off this vibe, which isn't helped by the creature the former two are transporting, which growls angrily if it's hungry.
- Hostile Weather: The majority of the episode takes place during a bad thunderstorm.
- House Squatting: It's revealed that Doug has been using an Odd Squad house in order to make his egg salad sandwiches, without explicit permission since he never asked. Owen is quick to bluntly tell him that he can't stay, to which he asks him and Ozlyn if he can stay until the storm passes. By the end of the episode, Ozlyn tells Owen to just let Doug stay.
- Insistent Terminology: When Ozlyn tells Owen that Doug's making of egg salad sandwiches explains the rotten egg smell she noticed when she first entered the house, Doug is quick to correct her by saying that they're not rotten, they're ripened.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: The creature manages to escape while Owen and Ozlyn are pouring 2 quarts of creature slop. When they, Doug and Debbie see it for the first time, Owen remarks that it doesn't look so scary...up until the creature shows them its tentacles, which come from what appears to be its mouth. Cue all four of them running around and screaming in panic.
- Minimalist Cast: The only characters that appear prominently are Owen, Ozlyn, Ocean, Doug and Debbie. Orson also makes an appearance.
- Mucking in the Mud: The ice cream truck gets stuck in the mud, causing a delay in the transportation of a creature. Orson is eventually able to dig the van out...but it takes him 6 hours to do so.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Doug manages to agitate the creature Owen and Ozlyn are transporting by feeding it egg salad, after the two agents had fed it its preferred food of choice, creature slop.
- Debbie also later manages to agitate it by feeding it pizza.
- Non-Answer: When Doug explains that the Odd Squad house is where he makes his egg salad sandwiches, Owen asks him:Owen: Did Ms. O say you could work here?Doug: Well, she didn't say I couldn't. Technically I never asked. But... [drags the "but" out] That's the end of that sentence.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Somehow, Orson is able to get an ice cream truck that is far heavier than he is out of the mud. However, he manages to do it in the span of 6 hours.
- Ominous Knocking: A variant — shortly after Ozlyn, Owen and Doug feed the creature, the doorbell rings loudly, scaring all three of them. It turns out to be Delivery Debbie, whom Owen ordered pizza from earlier.
- One Crazy Night: The episode takes place in a single night.
- Pride: While Doug has been shown to have a very high view of himself and his egg salad products, this episode cranks it up a bit.Doug: My product is superior.Debbie: It is inferior.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode's title is a reference to the Little House on the Prairie series of books.
- Pungeon Master: Yep, Doug's still got the pun streak going of only making bad egg puns.
- Raincoat of Horror: While staying in a very spooky-looking house, both Owen and Ozlyn wear Odd Squad-branded raincoats. They later take them off after feeding the creature.
- Reluctant Gift: Doug snatches Owen and Ozlyn's 1-quart container out of their hands, claiming that it's his, and that he needs it for his egg salad. Ozlyn, having had enough of Doug's antics, grabs the jar in an attempt to grab it back, followed by Owen, who also grabs the jar. What follows is a brief tug-of-war between Doug and the agents before Owen ends up yanking the glass downwards, causing it to slip out of Doug's grip, fall, and shatter.
- Remember the New Guy?: This episode introduces Ozlyn, a new agent of Odd Squad who is unsure of which department to join.
- Running Gag: Owen repeatedly stating that the Security department is about "securing the perimeter", only for Ozlyn, Doug and Debbie to not know what that means.
- Series Continuity Error: Played with. "Mystic Egg Pizza" showed Doug and Debbie as rivals, before becoming friends at the end of the episode to the extent that they open a restaurant combining each of their specialty foods. While future episodes have depicted them apart with their relationship unknown note , this episode confirms that they're still rivals. Whether this means that the events of "Mystic Egg Pizza" are Retconned or not is never explained.
- Sinister Silhouettes: Delivery Doug is first shown in pure silhouette when entering the house, with his identity revealed when Owen calls out his name.
- Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish: Owen is able to perfectly understand Orson's coos.
- Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Upon the 1-quart jar breaking, Doug performs a brief Jaw Drop before angrily remarking that "this is why I can't have nice things!"
- Worldbuilding: Played with. It's not specified if Ozlyn is a recent graduate of the Academy; she is only referred to as a new recruit with no set department, but is shown wearing the typical outfit that agents-in-training attending the Academy wear. However, her predicament in this episode implies that Odd Squad employees may have a choice of which department they wish to go in.
- It's played straight with the introduction of Odd Squad houses. The one Owen and Ozlyn stay in is implied to be directly owned by Precinct 13579, and by extension, is owned by Ms. O. Considering the title of the episode, these may be safe houses (where villains would likely stay), but the house Owen and Ozlyn stay at isn't referred to as one.
- You Are in Command Now: While the others are panicked and running around scared, Ozlyn — a new recruit below the rank of Owen, in Security — steps up as leader, directing Owen to lock the front door and Doug and Debbie to block all entrances in the house so the creature doesn't escape, while she circles it. Eventually, the creature is corralled back into the cage and is fed the 3 quarts of slop, causing it to fall asleep. As it turns out, this act of leadership is what inspires her to learn more about Security after she finds out that what she did was "securing the perimeter", and in "The Deposit Slip-Up", she is shown having been promoted to the Security department.
- You're Just Jealous: When Doug begins to complain about Owen ordering pizza, Debbie tells him not to be so jealous, causing a brief argument to erupt between the two.
