When Principal Prickly is given a job offer as principal of Spiro T. Agnew Middle School, he is very happy, and so are the students of Third Street School. However, the Recess Gang's joy is soon to fade when Menlo informs them that the replacement principal will be much worse. So, it's up to T.J. and his friends to persuade Prickly to stay.
Tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Inverted and Parodied when the superintendent; Spinelli acts like a thirteen-year-old girl (played by a nine-year-old, of course) who has the hots for a paunchy, fifty-year-old principal. And it's the principal who's freaked out.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When the gang teases Menlo for hiding in the tunnel while everyone else is celebrating Prickly leaving, he retorts with one of these.Menlo: You fools, surely, I know he's leaving! But did you ever consider who might be coming to replace him?!
- Being Good Sucks: Miss Finster is probably the only one that could convince Prickly to stay, but she knows how much Prickly wants to be a middle school principal. She feels it's more important to do what's best for a friend and not be selfish, even as she calls this situation her own personal Hindenburg and openly weeps. Upon learning this, all of the kids (including Randall) end up agreeing with her reasoning; even T.J. expresses this to Prickly while admitting that he and the rest of the kids will miss him. Fortunately, Prickly changed his mind at the end, much to both Finster and the kids' complete relief.
- Better the Devil You Know: The reason why the gang decides to persuade Prickly not to leave them with Slicer. They even sympathized with Miss Finster as she sulks over Prickly's imminent departure.
- Big Bad: Dr. Slicer, the most meanest and dangerous administrator in the school district with plans to turn Third Street School into a prison-like environment as its new principal.
- Blatant Lies: In the final scene of the episode, Prickly decides to return to Third Street. When Finster asked why he changed his mind, Prickly claims that Skinner made a poor pay offer. Of course, when he gets back into the school, he smiles as the kids cheer for him, giving a clear reason why he decided to stay.
- Dean Bitterman: Dr. Slicer is an extreme version of this.
- Death Glare: T.J. walks up to Dr. Slicer to work some "Detweiler Magic" on him, only to find that Slicer is completely immune when he glares at T.J.; he even channels this further by admitting that he read over T.J.'s profile as a troublemaker and uses his backstory of when he got a scar from a troublemaker's prank that involved magnets.
- Delinquents: T.J.'s character during Skinner's visit.Superintendent Skinner: I notice you're not lined up with the other students.
T.J.: That's because I reject you, man! You and everything you stand for!
Superintendent Skinner: Well, that was disturbing. - The Dragon: Dr. Slicer's assistant Gilda, as she provides notes for Slicer's changes for the school; even adhering to his policies of extreme discipline.
- Eviler than Thou:
- Dr. Slicer is this to Principal Prickly. As Menlo describes it to the gang, Slicer happens to be the most strictest, meanest and toughest administrator in the school district, and boy, Menlo wasn't kidding about it. Even the gang is appalled to learn that Slicer's methods of discipline are more extreme than that of Miss Finster's.
- Silcer's assistant Gilda is this to Miss Finster, as she shares Slicer's methods of extreme discipline. Miss Finster even finds Gilda to be very annoying when the latter is promoted as the new groundskeeper of the playground.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Menlo normally admires structure and authority, but when he discovers Slicer is going to be Prickly's replacement, he's terrified; he even warns the gang about Slicer's reputation as the most dangerous administrator in the school district.
- Though Miss Finster has no qualms in striking fear into children when it comes to discipline, she has no love for Slicer's beliefs of extreme discipline, she is even outraged to witness Dr. Slicer degrading T.J. as "sappy" when the latter tries to be sentimental with Prickly. She is even annoyed of the fact that she has to become the assistant to Gilda when the latter becomes the new groundskeeper due to sharing Slicer's beliefs in extreme discipline.
- Gone Horribly Right: During Superintendent Skinner's big inspection, the gang try to scare Prickly off wanting the new job by acting like teenagers with various issues. Skinner observes Prickly handle these supposed teen problems and ends up commending his decisiveness, adding that the job is definitely his now.
- Goth: What Gretchen pretends to be during Skinner's inspection.
- Hidden Heart of Gold:
- Seeing how miserable the school would be with Slicer in charge, Prickly gives up his dream job and opts to stay. He insists it's only because the pay wasn't good enough and that he's leaving the second he has a better offer, but the smile he makes when he hears everyone cheering indicates that's not why he chose to stay.
- Even Miss Finster counts out as well, as in spite of her draconian behavior when it comes to disciplining students, she genuinely cares for the children' safety and happiness; she is even appalled of the way Slicer acts towards the kids when they give their true feelings for Prickly.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
- Example involving Platonic Life-Partners: in spite of her grief at Prickly leaving, Miss Finster does nothing to make him stay, because "if you really care about someone, you forget about what's best for you and do what's best for them." Understanding the point, T.J. admits Miss Finster's true feelings (as well as the students') to Prickly and that they will all miss him.
- Upon hearing about about Slicer's changes for the school, Randall is initially thrilled as he tells Finster about it. However, Finster is less than impressed as she sulks over Prickly's imminent departure; she even confesses to Randall about it. Understanding how much this is affecting her, a sad Randall decides to abandon whatever support he had for Slicer; he even sympathizes with Finster by patting her back for comfort.
- Ironic Echo: T.J.'s failed attempt to greet Dr. Slicer has him call the man "Slicey". At the end, when Prickly has decided to stay, he sarcastically thanks Slicer for giving him a ride to the school, also calling him "Slicey".
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Spinelli's character in the acting scene is a cute Valley Girl who is apparently crushing on the principal.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Given to his extreme beliefs of discipline towards the kids of Third Street School, Slicer was denied running the school when Prickly changed his mind after seeing how despicable Slicer truly is. The last thing we see of Slicer is him driving away while declaring to Prickly that he's making a big mistake.
- Kick the Dog: Many of Slicer's imminent changes for the school involves striking fear into kids, applying new cover paint and fences in the school, turning the school's retired cannonballs into operational ones, creating school uniform and regulation haircut codes, tearing down tether poles, and turning the jungle gym into a guard tower. And when Prickly is all prepared to leave, he sees Dr. Slicer mocking T.J. for expressing the students' feelings for Prickly and demoting Miss Finster for defending T.J.. With that clear, Prickly's expression and mind changes.
- Mama Bear: Miss Finster is this for the kids; as despite her fear-mongering ways of disciplining children, she truly understands the importance of making others (especially children) happy; she even sympathizes with the children of their plight by telling them to be brave as they will have to face being under Slicer's control. She even was willing to defend T.J. when the latter gets unfairly punished by Slicer just because T.J. was expressing the students' feelings for Prickly.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Apparently has a "Ph.D. in discipline with a minor in punishment." God only knows what school he got that from.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When Prickly is prepared to leave, T.J. says that he and the other students (as well as Miss Finster and the staff) will miss Prickly very much, admitting that they understand Prickly's dream of running a middle school and that they will not get in the way of it, which leaves Prickly feeling very touched. However, Dr. Slicer mocks T.J. for his honesty by giving him a cap called "Captain Sappy" as punishment. When Miss Finster tries to defend T.J., Dr. Slicer demotes Finster by ripping off her whistle while promoting his assistant Gilda as the new groundskeeper. Prickly's expression changes afterwards.
- No Sympathy: Prickly is immediately aware that the kids only want him to stay because they're afraid of Dr. Slicer. He's unmoved at first, but when T.J. finally admits that they understand about Prickly's dream of running a middle school and how Slicer truly behaves towards the students, Prickly changes his mind.
- Noodle Incident: Dr. Slicer has a scar that was given to him by a "funny boy", and tells T.J. that "electromagnets were involved." Presumably, it was similar to whatever T.J. had planned to do to the Ashleys' clubhouse.
- Papa Wolf: Prickly ends up giving up his dream job when he finds out that Slicer is going to threaten to make life miserable in Third Street School, not only towards the kids, but also towards Miss Finster and the staff.
- Rise of Zitboy: Mikey covers his face with fake acne before Skinner's inspection.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Very nearly happens by the end of the episode. Dr. Slicer is not only immune to T.J.'s pranks at first go, he plans to turn the school into a prison (with a guard tower in place of playground equipment, and an operational cannon). Fortunately, Prickly averts this by staying at Third Street.
- Underage Casting: An In-Universe example involves T.J. and the gang dressing up like eighth graders in an extended scene. These kids are all fourth graders.
- Villainous Breakdown: An off-screen example. Towards the end, when Principal Prickly exits the limousine, we can hear Principal Slicer ranting about that Prickly is making a big mistake deciding to stay at Third Street School.
- Weight Woe: Vince pretends to have weight issues during his part of the inspection.
