Recap: The Mob Ties of Nancy and Gloria and Nick's Knitted Knots in Smalton on Latest "Big City Greens"

Can Gloria and Nancy escape the Marinara Mob? Will Nick create the next tourist attraction in Smalton? All these questions and more are answered in the latest Big City Greens on Disney Channel.

Wise Gals

Devotees may recall that earlier this season Gloria moved out of the Green’s basement and into the apartment building next door, where Nancy will occasionally visit and share the rent as her roommate. For this episode, we go back to the apartment building and find Gloria having a wild night - doing the dishes while listening to an audiobook. 

Nancy interrupts the ‘fun’ and comes home with a box of old clothes from the country so she has some clothes handy if needed at the apartment. As she shows them off to Gloria, we find an old t-shirt from a Wraith and Ruin concert that has a blood stain from being part of the world’s largest mosh pit. 

The box also contains a number of pictures of Nancy living her best life, even with pictures of Nancy in a boxing match. While Gloria is admiring the photos, she says a detrimental phrase: “you were so cool!” 

You know, as in past tense. Not cool anymore. Gloria reassures her that’s not what she meant, sharing that she admires that she can run an entire farm, rent an apartment with her, and even find some cool slippers on sale. Despite Gloria’s best efforts, Nancy is now feeling the need to do something cool again. This time though, she’s teaming up with Gloria for a night on the town and doing something outrageous and cool. 

After a wild makeover, the duo goes out for a night of doing cool things like motorcycling and dancing on a shaking table. While Gloria may never had this much fun in her life, Nancy looks through her photos and decides to amp up the intensity of the evening. 

Back at the Green’s house, Bill and Cricket are reading their Farmer’s Almanac when Bill hears a strange sound. It’s exactly what he fears - a bat is inside the house. As the bat takes flight, Bill runs for his life while scolding Cricket for leaving the windows open - despite the lovely weather that Big City is having. Cricket also insists that the bat is the one breaking the rules as it would have to be invited in to even come in the house. 

That’s vampires. 

Tilly and Gramma are trying to stop the bat as well, but find themselves being chased by airborne mammal too. Bill opens all the doors and windows in the hopes of the bat finding its way out on its own, but keeps missing them and flies into the walls and shelves nearby. 

Nancy takes Gloria to a favorite spot from her youth - Ravioli’s Ristorante. Gloria - at first - is a little surprised considering its just a fun Italian restaurant. But wait, there’s more! According to Nancy, Ravioli’s is also a front for a secret casino run by the mob. Gloria thinks this might actually not be the best idea, but Nancy explains that that’s exactly why they should be doing it. Nancy approaches the door and does the secret knock when a man appears in a sliding viewing hole. She explains that they are they for an “extra special” dinner, and the man opens the door to reveal that every dinner is extra special at Ravioli’s, as the restaurant is now a full-blown family dining experience. Nancy eventually explains that she is looking for the casino, with the man, Gio, explaining that the casino was shut down when his uncle, Don Ravioli, retired. 

Gloria loves the food, but Nancy is underwhelmed, and wants something with more risk as she’s getting highly themed food like the Mugshot Margherita Pizza, or the Sleeping with the Fishes and Chips. Gloria is having a great time in the restaurant, but Nancy is still needing that rush. Gloria suggests that maybe Nancy is just not a fan of change, prompting Nancy to force Gloria into one of the highest-risk situations for a family-friendly eatery….the Dine & Dash. 

Gloria doesn’t want to at first, but is forced to when it’s revealed that Nancy also has Gloria’s wallet before she runs/walks casually out the door. Gloria follows, but they are both seen by Don Ravioli, who is forced to endure meet & greet photo opportunities as part of the restaurant’s old mob theme. He knows exactly what they are doing and sends his two guards to chase after them. The two are eventually caught - thanks in large part to Cricket’s ringtone on Nancy’s phone - and are apprehended and brought back to the restaurant. 

That phone call was obviously Cricket calling because they need help with the bat, and the whole family is now hiding under a pile of couch cushions. The two children decide to let the bat choose who’s hair the animal can nest in, but flies between the both of them causing another panic and getting Bill to try and save them. Alice uses her sword as the bat gets tangled in all their hair, freeing the bat and allowing it to fly toward the moon. The Greens can now celebrate their bat-free household. 

Back at the restaurant, Don Ravioli has Gloria and Nancy died above a giant vat of marinara sauce. Feeling the rush of his old mob roots, Don is ready to lower the two dine & dashers into the boiling sauce, making them pay for the meal with their lives. They are being lowered slowly when Gio interrupts and is shocked at the sight of these two patrons being lowered to their deaths, and insists that his uncle give up the whole mob stuff. However, Don says that its too cool and Gio is too young to understand. This triggers something in Nancy who can relate to aging out of her cool past. Drowning her and Gloria in pasta sauce isn’t going to change that. 

Don agrees, and sets them free - before Gio decides they must be punished for dining and dashing - forcing the two to clean all the restaurants dishes together. A cool story after all, and one that calls for a cool Gloria/Nancy selfie. 

Big Sweater

We’re leaving Big City for the next half of the episode and heading to Smalton, where Nancy, Tilly, and Remy are at the local tourist attraction - the third-biggest sweater in the tai-state area. Remy is glad to be able to see something so cool, but Grandpa Nick thinks Remy is just talking about his new boots, not the giant sweater. A little offended, Nick storms off though the spur on his new boots have latched onto the giant sweater. 

As Nick drives away, the sweater unravels and is no more. 

This could be a problem for Tilly and Cricket’s new business venture: selling a collection of t-shirts that read “I 👍 BIG SWEATERS.”

It’s a legitimate cash grab, but one that Grandpa Nick also wants no part of - especially if the shirt is commemorating “a dumb sweater.”

After Nick inadvertently destroys the sweater, he is arrested and sent to court. There, the judge finds him guilty and sentences him to re-knit the sweater or else he'll become the newest roadside attraction himself: trapped in a pillory and subject to fruit pelting.

In a fantastic callback, Remy agrees to teach the inexperienced Nick how to knit - which fans of the series may remember Remy has a particular knack for doing after Gramma taught him how to knit back in season three. 

Remy starts by making a K1 P1 rib rectangle with a motivational message, but Nick mocks him just before he accidentally stabs himself in the leg with his needles. Remy commends this attempt but prefers Nick not bleed so much next time. 

Remy's lessons continue, and Nick's next attempt is better as he finds art in something "so stupid, yet so beautiful”.

Tilly and Cricket begin selling their t-shirts. While Cricket tries to keep the business as legitimate as possible, Tilly points out that it's going to be hard to sell souvenirs for an attraction that no longer exists. The kids try and get Patti to start selling the shirts in her gift shop, but refuses to sell them due to a misinterpretation of the thumbs-up symbol, which is supposed to translate to the word "like." Not to mention, Patti thinks that this is another one of Cricket's schemes. 

Nick has successfully knitted the whole top row of the sweater and begins to experience a strange warm feeling, and he wonders how amazing he'd feel if what he knitted wasn't dumb, knowing that this will become “the big dumb sweater” he got annoyed with earlier. 

Remy thinks the town will be happy if what he knits draws tourists, and it gives Nick the idea to knit the least dumb thing he can think of: himself.

Cricket and Tilly come out of a store not having a sold a single shirt as most of the Smalton residents think that their business is a scheme. Cricket insists they need someone who doesn't overthink things; and find Wayne in the middle of the street. 

Wayne has a number of questions of his own - why he would wear a t-shirt if he likes big sweaters so much? Cricket suggests wearing a big sweater over the t-shirt, but this confuses Wayne even more because then folks won't know he likes big sweaters if the shirt is covered by the sweater. 

Tilly insists the message will make more sense once Grandpa Nick finishes re-knitting Smalton's biggest sweater. This finally gets Wayne to buy a shirt, but only after checking Nick's progress.

Nick has taken up knitting a tourist attraction of himself to replace the sweater, currently creating a daisy stitch for his elbow. Remy admires his artistic ability, though the knitted sculpt of himself was not the original plan. Wayne becomes disinterested and walks away - not buying the shirt -  and destroys Nick's confidence. Despite Remy’s attempts to turn him around, Nick quits and takes up the pillory penalty, where is he pelted with a giant watermelon.

Cricket and Tilly are at the grocery store, and failing to sell even one t-shirt. Tilly finds a shirtless man - Trey - and insists upon selling one to him. Unfortunately, Trey prefers being shirtless but Cricket gets the idea to sell a shirt to Tracy, because she likes literal "big sweaters" (as in, sweat). 

Not only does she buy a shirt, she buys all the shirts to prevent other people from stealing her husband or just so much as claiming their affinity for him.

Remy tries to talk Nick out of his situation by reminding him that trying is a good thing. A citizen then declares the new roadside attraction to be awful and much prefers the doll-head gazebo in Tinyville because the creative process of the latter clearly took real effort, while an idiot in stocks is a dime a dozen. This is surprisingly encouraging enough to get Nick to finish knitting the big version of himself. 

Nick finishes and he creation attracts many people, including the Greens. The judge frees him from the pillory and the attraction is thereby dubbed "World's Biggest Knit-Iot." 

This episode is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW website. You can catch up with earlier episodes, now streaming on Disney+.