After a bit of hiatus, Big City Greens has returned after leaving us with a cliffhanger wherein we see the series’ main antagonist, Chip Whistler, scheme to rid the Greens from Big City once and for all with a new Wholesome Foods location built around and above their land.
Chip and Cricket have had a back and forth throughout the series, usually ending with Chip’s plans backfiring in someway, inevitably leading to him chipping a tooth. These schemes were recapped in the previous episode, “Chipwrecked,” which sets up the cliffhanger that led into today’s newest episode, “Chipocalypse Now.”
As we saw in the prior episode, Chip and Wholesome Foods purchased Big Coffee and we learn early on in this episode that he also bought the apartment building neighboring the Green’s house and land, booting out all the residents. He is also in possession of a petition signed by the residents of the city that they all agree that the Greens need to go, and seizes their land with approval from eager-to-please-everyone Mayor Hansock (voiced by guest star Andy Richter). This all before, during, and slightly after a special opening number parodying the actual show opening where we see Chip’s construction efforts and plan mirroring the Green’s move and life in Big City.
This is a lengthy story to tell, so this episode consists of two parts, three if you count “Chipwrecked” as a piece of it as well. The events are also recapped by the Greens telling Nancy, who is now out of jail. Wholesome Foods is complete after being built in a week, and now surrounds the Green’s home on three sides, and literally above the home as well. Chip is moving forward with the mayor to evict the Greens, and Cricket, Tilly, and Nancy go to the Mayor’s office to stop it, learning more about the petition that was signed by members of the community. Nancy attempts to steal the tablet that the online petition is on, and causes the mayor to panic, calling for security. Officer Keys shows up and Nancy is arrested, again, and returns to jail. Not wanting to lose anyone else in the family, Bill gives in and starts packing up the home and looking for new apartments (in their price range) to move to.
Cricket, Tilly, and Gramma will not go down so easily and continue to fight. Before Nancy was arrested she managed to forward the petition to the family, and Cricket realizes that his pal Remy has signed it. Going to confront his friend, they discover that the signatures are fraudulent, as Remy didn’t sign it yet his signature was there, adding that he would never try and get rid of his closest friends. Remy, Cricket, Tilly, and Gramma all start causing trouble in the Wholesome Foods, but get stopped by Gloria, who now works there since she was fired from Big Coffee as a result of the Chip/Cricket rivalry.
Gramma begins reinforcing the home while the kids tell a still unbudgeable Bill that they have proof that can save their home and property. Chip arrives at their home with a fleet of construction equipment and workers ready to destroy the home at the stroke of midnight. With the knowledge that the signatures are fake, Remy and Cricket sneak back into the store to find the evidence in Chip’s office. Chip, losing patience, says “it’s 12:00 somewhere” and orders the workers to begin destroying the house.
Gramma has successfully laid traps and defenses to protect the home which she and Tilly enact, thwarting the first efforts and frustrating Chip. Remy, seeing they’re in trouble, also calls Vasquez in to help them defend the house. Before getting to the office, Remy and Cricket once again encounter Gloria. Cricket pleads with her about their past and how they are “family,” to which she obliges, and helps them gain access to Chip’s office with her key card. Knowing she will be losing this job as well, she takes a guard down the trash chute so that they cannot stop Cricket and Remy.
While all this is happening, Maria Media and her news van come screeching in and begin reporting on the battle taking place outside the new Wholesome Foods location. Nancy, watching from jail, is rooting for her family, and Officer Keys goes back and forth with himself about letting her out to help, which he does. And after a little “pleading,” they stop to pick up Mayor Hansock as well. We also learn that not only is Nancy watching, but many residents of Big City are watching as well. After hacking into Chip’s computer by trying various rude nicknames for Cricket that he might use as a password, Remy and Cricket access the petition to discover that all the signatures came from the same IP address, which shouldn’t happen if they came from different residents and residences around the city. Printing the evidence, Chip shows up and the chase is on. Remy distracts the guards by pretending he is a lost child looking for his daddy and they immediately drop everything to help him. Chip chases Cricket to the roof, where Cricket says he has the evidence but Chip shows up in his new helicopter, causing a gust of wind that sucks up the papers into the blades of the chopper and shreds the evidence just as the Mayor shows up with Nancy and Officer Keys.
Chip, excited that once and for all he has stopped Cricket, is thwarted again when the residents of Big City show up to stop the destruction, saying that the Greens are not perfect, but that they don’t want them to leave Big City. The Mayor, wanting to please everyone in town, calls off the order and permanently bans Chip Whistler from town. Angered, Chip aims the chopper forward pointing the blades at Cricket and pushes him off the roof. He safely (after yelling that somebody had better catch him) gets back to the ground, with Chip coming after him, tangling up his chopper in some power lines as he tries to get closer. The lines stop him suddenly and his face rams into the control stick of the chopper, chipping his teeth, before acting like a bungee cord and launching Chip and the Chopper out of town. Despite the permanent ban, this is probably not the last we’ve seen of Chip Whistler.
The new Wholesome Foods is closed and demolished, with the construction workers helping to fix the Green’s home in areas that they had damaged. However, Big Coffee is still closed, leaving Gloria without work after losing her job twice. No longer able to afford her own apartment, the episode closes out with her barging into the Green’s home saying she will be living with them from now on, possibly hinting at further antics in the episodes to come.
The latest episode of Big City Greens, “Chipocalypse Now” is now available on the DisneyNOW app, and airs on the Disney Channel.