YMMV / The Puzzle Place

• Awesome Music:
  • The theme song, and just as awesome is the instrumental version that plays during the end credits.
  • Many songs within the show too. "Children of the Earth" is one of Peter Linz's best vocal performances, "I Can Sing" is one of Carmen Oshbar's best, "Changing Channels" is very catchy, "Picnics" is soothing, "When I Think of You" is sweet and poignant, "Dancing Dragon" is a catchy tribute to Lunar New Year, and "Holiday Lights" is a beautiful holiday heartwarmer.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the last episode, "I'm Talking to You," Skye and Kiki try to speak to a girl they've never met before. They think she's ignoring them, but she turns out to be deaf. In a 2006 episode of Sesame Street, the same thing happens to Telly and Rosita. Carmen Oshbar portrays both Kiki and Rosita.
  • While we are on the subject, in another episode, Kiki’s accent gets made fun of, so she decides to pretend to be an alien. In a 2004 Sesame episode, Rosita's accent gets made fun of, so she decides to stop talking. In the end both girls learn to be themselves again and be proud to be bilingual.
• Retroactive Recognition: Skye and Nuzzle are performed by Peter Linz, who would go on to perform Tutter, Pip, Theo, Snook, and Walter.
• Tear Jerker:
  • "The Ballad of Davy Cricket" which talks about death in light of the passing of Jody's cricket. Pretty depressing for a children's edutainment series.
  • "I Scream, You Scream" focuses on Jody and her relationship with her father, and her fear that he loves his new girlfriend Debbie more than her.
  • "Party of One" deals with racism as Leon is banned from attending a friend's birthday, by the friend's mother, due to the former being African-American.
  • "Big Boys Don't Cry" deconstructs the Men Don't Cry trope, and the boys admit that crying is okay for any gender. It's especially poignant when Ben admits that he still cries sometimes because he misses his late father.
  • Kiki crying in the greenhouse in "Accentuate the Positive" because kids at school laughed at her accent and she mistakenly thinks her friends just laughed at it too.
  • In "The Mystery of the Fabulous Hat", Leon is trying to solve a mystery, but he wants to do everything himself, despite accepting Ben's offer for help.
    Ben: Why are you mad at me? I'm... I'm just trying to help you!
    Leon: Oh, no, Ben. You are not helping. You, Ben, are... fired. YOU'RE FIRED!
    (Beat)
    Ben: What? What? B-B-But Leon, we're supposed to be a team! We're supposed to... work together! You know, help each other out and—
    Leon: You heard me. Turn in your hat. You don't know how to help.
    • Ben leaves in a huff afterwards.
  • In "Finders Keepers" Skye is distraught after losing an Apache pollen pouch that he brought in to show his friends, (Julie had found it but was too enamored with it to give it back) and he sings a mournful song "The Sacred Ways of My People" expressing how much it meant to him and his grandfather.
    • When Julie finally does return the pouch and confesses she had it all along. The two get into an emotional argument about the matter, that ends with Skye storming into the greenhouse to think things over, leaving Julie in tears about the damage to their friendship that she unwittingly caused. at the end of the episode, it is implied that the two quietly start to mend fences over a box of popcorn.
• Toy Ship: The kids have moments like this in various pairings throughout the series. Most obviously Ben/Kiki (in more than one episode she gives him a heartfelt pep talk when he's discouraged, and is the only person who ever calls him Benny) and Skye/Julie (see their "good night" exchange in "Rip Van Wrinkle," which ends with Julie sleepily murmuring "I love you" and a shocked Skye stammering "I love you too"). In "Deck the Halls," there's also a Julie/Kiki moment where Julie gives Kiki "love" as a metaphorical Christmas gift and Kiki kisses her cheek.

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