Something's up with Tari's arm
Tari is practicing for an upcoming job interview today when something strange happens; Clench, her cyber-bionic arm suddenly comes to life and runs amok, attacking anyone in sight and generally causing mayhem for his owner. Can the two get their act together before the big event?
Tropes
- Arm Cannon: When Tari tells Mario that he needs to apologize to the gorilla that he angered and he refuses, she gets angry enough that when she repeats herself, the anger gets channeled into Clench and the talking arm transforms into a blaster, which Tari promptly threatens Mario with.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Tari, easily the sweetest character in the series, gets angry when Mario refuses to apologize to the gorilla after finding out he hurt its feelings. When Clench transforms into the aforementioned Arm Cannon, she has no qualms with threatening Mario with it.
- Call-Back: During the mock interview, Tari references several of Meggy's most iconic scenes over her years in the series showing her multidisciplinary background and accomplishments (compared to Tari's "absolutely nothing"). We also get a good shoot of the back of Meggy's coach jacket – it reads "Splatsquad 17", referencing her Turf War team name and the year she joined the series.
- Comically Missing the Point: Once Mario sees Tari's bionic arm has gained sapience, he assumes Clench is a hand puppet and makes his own left hand into a puppet dubbed "Mini-Mario".
- Curse Cut Short: Clench was about to call Tari's attempted reasoning with the monkey "a load of"... something, until he starts reading the primate's mind, leading to a resolution.
- Innocently Insensitive: Clench, having only very recently gained sentience, spends most of its time getting excited by every new thing he sees and trying to touch it, often resulting in unnecessary harm and destruction. Regardless, he does care about Tari and stands up for her when Bob disses her (though this does end with Bob evaporating from shame, leading to Tari failing her interview).
- Mysterious Past: For some reason, Clench is unable to say where Tari came from. Clench lampshades how he's apparently not allowed to remember that information.
- Older Than They Look: Among the things that Clench knows about Tari is that she's apparently "stupid old."*
- Ordered Apology: Tari makes Mario apologize to the gorilla for insulting it. When he refuses, an arm cannon pointed at him sets him straight.
- Riddle for the Ages: How did Tari's cyber arm come to life?
- Shout-Out: Right before Tari's arm turns into a blaster, her arm sings the Transformers theme song.Clench: Transformers! More than meets the eye!
- Suddenly Speaking: All of a sudden, Tari's arm can speak.
- Telepathy: When Tari tries teaching Clench about compassion by resting him against an angry monkey's forehead, he suddenly discovers that he has the power to read its thoughts, allowing him to discover that the monkey's been having a hard day and just wants a friend to give it purpose.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After being put through the frustrations of having an hyperactive sentient arm and failing her job interview, Tari manages to get a job at the zoo as an animal whisperer after Clench discovers his ability to read animal thoughts.
