Recap / Stories Of Sodor S 4 E 10 Diplomacy

A diplomatic incident occurs while a French ambassador visits Sodor.

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This episode contains the following tropes:

• Armor-Piercing Question: Duncan asks Stanley if he knew that Sir Handel is half German, which causes Stanley (who earlier made a racist comment to a German couple at Crovan's Gate) to develop boiler-ache.
• Bilingual Bonus: As can be expected in an episode featuring the French ambassador. At one point, Edward (who learned the language from his time in France) teaches Bill the French for "jump in my cab".^note Saute dans ma cabine.
• Chekhov's Gun: Non-faceless engines can move by themselves but still have crews because of basic common sense. Bill utilizes this when he and his driver and fireman find Fifi; they stay behind so she doesn't run away again while Bill heads to the docks to get help.
• Cliffhanger: The last few seconds of the episode (as well as a comment made by Terence during his talk with the twins) tease the opening of the Little Western as well as Duck's official transfer to Sodor.
  • In addition, given what we see in the intro, it can be assumed that Oliver, Toad, William, Wendell, Owen, and the Small Railway engines won't be too far behind.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Duncan, who complains about everything, doesn't like racists.
  • Bill is revealed to dislike dogs, but as he tells Ben, that doesn't mean he wants him dead.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Stanley hates Germans, due to what happened in the World Wars, and actually approves of a visiting German couple getting lynched... until Duncan tells him Sir Handel Brown, the head of the SKR is half German.
    • Gordon admits that he used to feel similar to Stanley, until he actually interacted with some of them.
• Jerkass Realization: Gordon recalls smugly asking a crying German soldier what he was so scared of, and admits to being thunderstruck by the soldier responding that he'd never get to see his newborn son. Then Gordon made it to the concentration camps...
  • It didn't end there. After talking to more Germans, Gordon learned that the Treaty of Versailles left their native land in such a sorry state that they were willing to follow any man that promised to put end to it as soon as possible.
• Mythology Gag: Upon discovering that his dog-hating brother has brought Fifi to the clay pits in his cab, Ben exclaims that he thought he'd be painted blue before Bill let a dog ride in him.
  • Becomes a bit funny when one recalls what Douglas said back in Spectre and realizes that 'being painted blue' may very well be a common exclamation among non-faceless vehicles.
• Noodle Incident: Bill doesn't like dogs after one peed on his wheels. Though, this changes at the end of the episode.
• Silly Reason for War: Not a war, per se, but the international incident is the French ambassador's dog Fifi disappears while her owner tries to acquire papers that prove her health and a number of farm animals are mauled while she's missing. The papers revel in this, accusing the French of giving them a mad dog. The French in turn accuse the British of being xenophobic. Ben even lampshades the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: As Joey points out, dogs need to spend six months in a quarantine kennel before being transferred overseas.
  • The ending narration mentions that because of his refusal to confirm that he received Fifi's permission form (which kick-started the main conflict in the episode) , the foreign secretary was forced to resign.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After Bill's experience with Fifi, his attitude towards dogs becomes a lot nicer and comes to her defense when he gives Joey his statement.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Both Skarloey and Gordon tell off Stanley for telling a German family to go back to Bavaria.
  • Edward does this later with Bill when he finds out that he lied to Joey to protect Fifi.