The relatability is through the roof on this week’s Big City Greens with an all-too-familiar card game and a never ending quest for the perfect social media picture.
Listen Up!
While chasing a rat in the garage, the kids stumble upon a box of “dangerous” toys. One of the items happens to be a board game called “One-O,” and the other is a little toy tank filled with actually dangerous popping pyrotechnics that create a lot of noise. While Tilly and Remy are ready to play with the whimsical fun of the seemingly innocent board game, Cricket is ready to cause some mayhem with the new box of goodies. Bill is ready to introduce his son to the toys, though he was saving them for when he was a bit older. As his father tries to tell him that the toys can be dangerous, Cricket fades out and starts imagining the pranks he can pull with the popping noise discs, and doesn’t hear a word his father is saying.
Bill finally gets his attention again, and asks for Cricket’s help with three chores today. As his dad leaves the garage, Cricket realizes that he can put all the poppers together and create one big bang…which he does. After coming to, viewers and Cricket only hear an annoying ringing sound. Cricket realizes that the mega blast caused some temporary hearing loss, and must now hide the fact that he didn’t listen to his father from his father. As Bill comes back to ask for his help with those chores, Cricket can’t hear or understand anything his father is saying and must now use gestural and context clues to help.
Inside, Gramma, Nancy, Tilly, and Remy are ready to play One-O. After explaining the rules (which let’s be real— it’s Uno), the family thinks it's just a safe kids game. Anybody who has played Uno knows…danger is lurking around the corner.
Outside, Cricket is trying to help his dad with the Kludge and can’t figure out if his dad wants a high-five or a wrench. Bill seems suspicious but shrugs it off for now. Back inside, tensions are building as the game of One-O continues. Nancy is about to win, but a “Turn the other way” card is played, thus making it so her winning turn is now postponed. Her eye twitching is all too relatable. Remy starts dishing out some “Draw 5″ cards, and the betrayal Gramma feels, again, all too familiar.
Out in the chicken coop, Cricket is trying his best to listen to his dad, and wakes up the rooster, even though we learn Bill said “Don’t wake up the Rooster” instead of “Go Shake Up The Rooster.” The angry rooster isn’t the only infuriated creature. Inside, the game is pressing on and Gramma is now out for blood in the game and chopping up the cards with her sword. Nancy is still close to winning, but keeps getting skipped over. As Tilly starts jumping like she won, she refuses to say One-O, but why? Because she has a mouthful of cards—CHEATING. Remy discovers that the whole family has been cheating, and then takes a closer look at the happy family on the box. They’re not happy, they’re all fighting! That’s why this game was in the box of dangerous toys! Because it truly is dangerous! They decide to finish the game, permanently, and burn it piece by piece to ensure nobody else ever plays this dangerous game again.
On the roof, Cricket is still helping his dad screw on a pipe near the chimney, and realizes that was the third chore so his day of keeping his dad from finding out about his hearing loss from not listening to his father is over. His celebratory rooftop dance is cut short when wind blows leaves into him, and he falls down the chimney – you know, the chimney for the fireplace where the rest of the family is destroying a dangerous card game below.
He still can’t hear anything, and tries to figure out what his dad is saying while trying to help. Cricket realizes the only thing he can hear is the crackling flame, but that means he can hear again! Suddenly, everything his dad is saying becomes very clear and he’s able to save himself. However, some of the One-O cards are blowing out of the chimney and into the hands of Benny— could this dangerous game begin with someone else?
Big Picture
It’s family night with the newest member of the Green family, Gloria…who only now is coming to the realization that she is a Green. Too bad she’s more concerned with her Snap-A-Gram account and making her life look exciting as opposed to enjoying the time with her friends family at the drive-in where they are about to watch a 90’s throwback film, “Honey, You Turned Me Into A Monkey.”
The movie has a lengthy runtime for Gramma, who decides she should probably use the restroom first. Bill, afraid to leave his older mother alone for fear of her getting lost or worse, follows to make sure she’s okay. This leaves Nancy with Tilly alone in the back of the Kludge to enjoy the film. Inside the truck, Gloria and Cricket are holding an impromptu photo shoot for her Snap-A-Gram account, and just when she has the perfect picture, she realizes her friends are starting to post better ones featuring a pool of popsicles, making Gloria think her life is far less exciting by comparison.
Fortunately, the drive-in is also holding a meet and greet with the star of the movie, the monkey, as part of the special showings. Gloria and Cricket try to get in on that fun, considering that would be a better picture than the popsicles.
At the bathroom, both Bill and Gramma realize they are both, in fact, lost and don’t remember where the truck is parked. Tilly is with Nancy and is enjoying the movie but has questions. It seems this 90s comedy classic is rather outdated, and some of the content—like a female lab assistant who needs an authoritative man figure to unlock a chemical cabinet — is lost on fresh eyes.
Gloria is getting ready for her picture, but fails to acknowledge the rules of meeting Mr. Bananas, and touches him in a pose for her picture, causing the monkey to have an outburst. Cricket took plenty of photos, though none of them are Snap-A-Gram worthy. Good thing they saw Mr. Bananas head over to his trailer, so they know where to find him for a second attempt.
We get to see more of the movie through Tilly and Nancy’s eyes, and the chase scene is about to begin. Cricket and Gloria break into the trailer, but the camera’s lighting wakes the monkey — right during the chase scene of the movie – so we see the parallels. While Gloria is concerned about her “not exciting” life (while being chased down by a celebrity monkey, no less), she takes a heartfelt moment with Cricket while the monkey stalks the two in the shadows behind the big screen.
The monkey attacks and the three go flying out of the screen into the crowd, some members of which find it to be a great use of 3D. They’re eventually caught by the monkey’s handler, and Gloria explains that she just wanted a good picture for her account. Gloria didn’t get her picture, but Mr. Bananas did, and the handler takes a picture and posts it to the monkey’s account with #FanFail attached.
Cricket still doesn’t understand the idea, considering she has just had a great and exciting night, why does she have to share it with the world? Fortunately, Bill and Gramma found the truck, and the family all left together as a group, despite their separate misadventures.
This episode of Big City Greens is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can also catch up with earlier seasons of the series on Disney+.