The twelfth episode of the second season of Rugrats (1991).
Aunt Miriam:
Grandpa Lou's cousin, Miriam, comes over for a visit.
The Inside Story:
The babies have a "Fantastic Voyage" plot as they go to retrieve a watermelon seed from Chuckie's stomach (Angelica having told them that a watermelon would grow from the seed and make Chuckie's stomach explode).
"Aunt Miriam" provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Miriam constantly misnames Didi. She calls her "Dolly", "Sally", "Kelly", "Ginny", and "Fifi". At the end of the episode, Stu picks up her habit and calls Didi "Fifi", much to her ire.
- An Aesop: Always forgive and never hold grudges. People can change for the better.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Lou and Miriam look for Tommy and Chuckie, Lou finds what appears to be them in the closet. However, when he pulls them out, they are revealed to be a globe and a feather duster, respectively.
- Berserk Button: Didi does not like being misnamed.
- Broken Tears: Lou cries in his sleep as he has a flashback dream about his cousin Miriam stealing his favorite ball.
- The Dreaded: As a kid, Miriam was this in the same vein as Angelica, being a bully who picked on everyone to cover up her insecurities. She's mostly just annoying as an adult, though the babies are shown to find her a tiny bit creepy every now and then.
- Drives Like Crazy: Miriam. When she drives her car, she knocks over a pair of trash cans, frightens a dog, and parks her car in Tommy's front lawn.
- Elderly Blue-Haired Lady: Miriam has blue hair, which Tommy doesn't think is natural. It turns out he's right -it's a wig.
- Evil-Detecting Baby: Tommy and Chuckie scream and run away when Miriam tries to hug them. They also visualize Miriam as a giant ant when she tries to hug Lou.
- Generation Xerox: It is heavily implied that Lou and Miriam had a relationship similar to Tommy and Angelica as children. Lou even relates a story about how Miriam threw his favorite ball into the next yard, and another where Miriam opened a window which made Lou sick. Miriam also mentions that Lou was friends with twins named Bill and Jill, and Tommy is quick to notice the similarities between Miriam and Angelica at dinner.
- Hartman Hips: Miriam is revealed to have these.
- Jerkass: Miriam isn't very nice to Didi, and Lou mentions that she gave him grief when they were kids.
- Jerk Justifications: It is later revealed that that the only reason she bullied Lou when they were kids was because she was jealous of him for being the one who had real friends.
- Machiavelli Was Wrong: After Lou expresses his true feelings towards Miriam near the end of the episode, she reveals that her stories weren't always truthful;Miriam: (to Lou) Remember when you got your head stuck in the fence and those two kids we used to play with, Bill and Jill helped pull you out?
Lou: Yeah?
Miriam: Well...no one would've done that for me. They all liked you.
Lou: But they respected you.
Miriam: No they didn't. They were afraid of me! - "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Near the end of the episode, when Miriam needs Lou's help finding Tommy and Chuckie after they run away from her, Lou gives one of these to Miriam for bullying him throughout his childhood.Miriam: I don't understand it, Louis! They took one look at me and ran away! And I'm usually so good with kids!
Lou: Yeah, right!
Miriam: It's true! When we were growing up, you adored me!
Lou: Adored you?! Mim, you stole my toys, you got me into trouble, and you were constantly threatening to pound the living daylights out of me! I was plumb terrified of you!
Miriam: Louis, I had no idea you felt that way about me! I don't know what to say!
Lou: Don't say nothin'! Just help me find the kids! - Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Miriam. In her first visit to Tommy's house, she shows off her lumbago, doesn't remember Didi's name, chides her niece-in-law for "not feeding Stu enough" and for not being a stay-at-home-mom, criticizes her cooking, and even remarks to the woman she certainly has been eating well.
- Self-Serving Memory: Miriam tells all sorts of stories about the trouble she and Lou would get into as children. But Lou corrects her about what happened, as she tells them in ways that make it seem he was a troublemaker and she was a victim when it was the other way around. Culminating in her telling Lou that he adored her when they were kids, and Lou corrects her that he was scared of her, that he hated her then and still hates her now, leaving Miriam distraught.
- Stay in the Kitchen: When Miriam is helping Didi cook dinner, she asks her when she's going to quit teaching and become a full-time mother.
- Telegraph Gag STOP: When the Delivery Boy sends the Pickles Family a telegram from Aunt Miriam, Stu asks if it's a singing telegram. The Delivery Boy tells him it's just a regular telegram, but Stu asks if he could sing it anyway. The Delivery Boy tells Stu he will, as he gets asked that question a lot.Dear Stu and Didi, Stop!
I'm coming to visit this weekend, Stop!
Looking forward to seeing you, Stop!
Especially baby Tommy, Stop!
Love, Aunt Miriam! - Waking Non Sequitur: Upon being woken up by Miriam, Lou stutters "What is it Colonel, are we under attack?".
- You Are Fat: After saying that Stu "never filled out", Miriam has remarked to Didi that she certainly has been eating well.
"The Inside Story" provides examples of:
- All Just a Dream: Much of this episode's events are revealed to be a dream of Chuckie's. Jarring because there was no Art Shift to indicate the starting of the dream sequence and the ending of the dream looked like film getting ripped out of a projector.
- Though Chuckie may have already started dreaming when he fell asleep, and woke up right before they'd turn on the lamp to shrink themselves.
- Baffled by Own Biology: Chuckie remembers throwing up in the car when his father sang "Old MacDonald" to him. He thinks it was the song that made him throw up when it was probably motion sickness since they were in the car.
- Didn't Think This Through: Chuckie swallows a watermelon seed and an Imagine Spot begins with the babies shrinking in to get it out. Angelica later reveals her secret motive to actually water the seed so it will grow and Chuckie's stomach will explode. When she succeeds, she begins her Evil Gloating, until Tommy points out Chuckie's stomach will explode with her still inside (not to mention that the explosion would force the rest of Chuckie's body outward, thus killing him and leaving Angelica with a murder charge).Angelica: *beat* Uh oh. I never thought about that...
- If you think about it, the scientist who plans to detonate the atom bomb inside the President's stomach in the movie the grown-ups are watching. If he goes through with his plans and the bomb explodes just like he planned, he'll die with the President.
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: The babies travel into Chuckie's stomach to remove a watermelon seed before it sprouts inside of him. Angelica, however, goes along with intention to make the seed grow and Chuckie's stomach explode.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the episode, Chuckie burps up the watermelon seed, only for Spike to eat it. Angelica then asks the babies if they've ever been inside a dog before.Angelica: Has anyone ever been inside a dog before?
Chuckie: Uh oh! - Imagine Spot: Much of this episode's events are revealed to be those of the babies.
- Literal-Minded: At the beginning of this episode, Lou jokes about how if the babies swallow a watermelon seed, a watermelon will grow inside their bellies. Incidentally he gave Chuckie a pat in the back, making him accidentally swallow a seed. Angelica tricks the babies into thinking that what Lou said was true.
- Oh, Crap!: While inside Chuckie's nose, they're beginning to sink into his mucus.Babies: BOOGERS!!
- Parasol Parachute: Angelica does this with her umbrella as she descends into Chuckie's stomach.
- Shout-Out: In addition to the whole episode having a "Fantastic Voyage" Plot, the movie that the adults are watching looks like a variation of the trope namer.
- Taking You with Me: The scientist in the movie may fully be aware that if the bomb explodes inside the President, then he'll die as well.
- With Friends Like These...: Chuckie brings up he time he threw up in the car while his dad was singing "Old MacDonald". Tommy, Phil and Lil then start singing "Old MacDonald" before Chuckie yells at them to stop.
