Big City Greens is back with new episodes as their fourth season continues, and this time we get taken to some of the darkest corners of the internet with Tilly, while Cricket helps another Big City resident learn to make friends.
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It’s a hot one today in Big City, so when the local ice cream truck comes rolling around, all the kids rush over to get their hands on their favorite goodies. Each of them gets exactly what they want, save for Tilly. She likes the Croblins Ice Cream Bar, complete with gumball eyes.
However, the ice cream vendor tells her that his boss told him they aren’t selling well, so the corporate office discontinued them. As such, they are no longer available.
Heartbreaking news for Tilly, but she knows that something is amuck. They were one of the most popular treats, and she remembers everyone loving them. So, with a little help from Remy and his tablet, she takes to the internet because surely the internet is full of truthful and honest answers.
After Bill sees his daughter investigating, he warns her of a particular danger on the internet – misinformation. After all, he found “The World’s Best” Pea Soup recipe on the internet, and it….was not.
Regardless, Tilly knows that she is a smart girl and dives head first into the internet (almost quite literally) aboard a high speed search engine, asking why Croblins Ice Cream Bars are no longer available.
The engine takes her through the busy streets of the internet, passing signage and pop-up ads and plenty of other distractions that all have something to do with Croblins or ice cream.
Appropriately enough, running in the distance there seems to be a white rabbit who might know exactly what Tilly is looking for. Doing her best to avoid distractions (which are wildly accurate for any internet user), it’s after asking her question on a message board (again, the accuracy of the depiction here) that leads her closer to the white rabbit who beckons her into a…rabbit hole, looking for the truth about the Croblins bars. In the darkest corners of the Dark Web, Tilly catches up with the White Rabbit who tells Tilly her name is Agent Information, and will have all her answers. As she falls down the rabbit hole, all she has to do is reach out for threads that will feed her the truth. As she reaches out, she hers multiple reasons, including Big City’s Mayor has investments in Big Froyo, and thus banned the popular ice cream treat. She keeps gripping and grasping until she is tangled in a web, caught up next to another user. That user has been there for quite some time it seems, and as Agent Information beckons her further into the darkness, the other user warns her not to follow. He’s seen many people go down, but never any come back up.
As Tilly ponders why Agent Information would lead her astray, the other user said she used to go by a different name – Miss Information. MISS INFORMATION!? It couldn’t be!
As Miss Information keeps tempting Tilly and monologuing, Tilly remembers that all she has to do is just close the internet tab, so she reaches out and closes the window. Whew. What a ride.
The nearby kids are all playing with ketchup and Tilly is quick to join but can’t help but wonder still, why did the Kroblins Ice Cream bar go away. Fortunately, Bill is coming home and shares that he heard from one of the regulars at the Farmer’s Market who is a dentist that the frozen gumballs were chipping kids teeth, so they were recalled. While this might not be the real reason exactly, there is some pretty substantial proof after Bill gives her a leftover Croblins bar he had stashed away for Tilly. Protecting his daughter, he removed the frozen gumballs and threw them into the yard – where Cricket soon found them and put them in his mouth, potentially chipping his teeth.
Guiding Gregly
Devotees may recall one of Big City’s youngest and grumpiest residents, Gregly. Throughout the series, he has appeared sporadically shouting his very vocal opinions on things, and typically they are negative. Well, he finally gets the light shone on him in this episode as there is a Big City Potluck.
Gregly is there, despite it not really being his scene because he’s unhappy. He’s unhappy because he has no friends, so his mom suggested that he goes to try and make a friend. When Cricket and Remy are discussing this with him, Gregly says that he doesn’t want to be friends with them, but would rather be friends with Kiki, Wheezy, and Benny.
Cricket and Remy, who have brought Chicken Tenders and Kranch (Ketchup and Ranch) to the potluck are now on a mission to guide Gregly (Hey!) on how to be more approachable, agreeable, and likable. And they are going to use the Kranch that Gregly finds so disgusting. Through a series of trials, Cricket and Remy will say things that will trigger Gregly’s negative opinions – like whether or not Croblins is fine cinema. If he shouts, screams, or shows displeasure, they will splatter him with the Kranch.
This approach seems to work, and Gregly approaches Kiki, Wheezy, and Benny who invite him to play a game of Mermaid tag. What’s mermaid tag? A totally, NOT-stupid, version of tag where once tagged and “it,” the kid has to pretend they have a mermaid tail and pose appropriately.
Clearly bubbling up with rage, Gregly knows Cricket and Remy are waiting with the Kranch, and he plays. You could tell throughout many of the games that they are all playing together that Gregly is seriously uncomfortable. When Tilly and Andromeda come bounding around in their BFF shirt, Cricket asks what they think will happen when someone is suppressing all their emotions and anger. Tilly, in her Tilly way, suggests that eventually, it will boil up and explode, and with Gregly that could prove quite disastrous. Cricket panics and sees that it’s about to happen, as the kids are playing Mermaid Tag and Gregly is cornered, about to become it (thus having to do that pose). Cricket dives in front of the tag, and gets poked directly in the eyeball.
Gregly erupts anyway, and pushes the new friends away. Having a bit of an emotional breakdown, Cricket sees how unhappy Gregly is. Cricket found Remy, and they are great friends, and Tilly found Andromeda, and they are great friends. So there must be away to find friends that are perfect for Gregly.
Well, earlier in the episode, Cricket called Gregly someone who is grumpier than a grumpy old man! That’s it! They take Gregly to a nearby senior housing center and he makes friends with all the grumpy old folks!
Despite it sounding a little insulting, Gregly is truly happy, as are all of his new friends. So much so that there’s even a song about it! A look into the credits will reveal that this tune was provided by Phineas and Ferb creator, Dan Povenmire, which explains a lot about the song too.
There was also a B storyline in this episode wherein Bill was seeking out friendly neighbors who would wave back at him, which he couldn’t find in Big City, eventually leading him to driving back to Smalton. Call me crazy, but we’ve established that Smalton is a hefty drive away, several hours at least. We know Bill is a friendly guy and would do it just to get that neighborly charm, but this episode made it look like it was just across the bridge.
This episode of Big City Greens is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can catch up with earlier episodes and seasons of the series streaming now on Disney+.
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