Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: B- | 1 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Hole Lotta Trouble
By Tippi Blevins | Season 1 | Episode 5 | Aired on 11.27.2011
Outside, the tremor is strong enough to knock Emma off her feet. She goes sliding down the side of the crater. Jiminy calls for Henry, then runs inside. Debris falls behind him, sealing off the entrance. Emma, outside, shouts for him and Henry. In the tunnel, Jiminy lights a match and is immediately engulfed by a fireball. Well, not really, but come on. I know it's a reference to Jiminy Cricket's matchbox, but this part's supposed to be in the real world. You don't go lighting matches in old mines, especially right after a bunch of heretofore pent-up gases may have been released. You could blow yourself up! On the other hand... Keep lighting those matches, Archie! He takes a few steps further into the tunnel with his deadly, deadly matchstick and calls for Henry. The boy comes bounding over, thrilled to see him. "You're here to help me!" Archie says they need to get out of there, but Henry is more determined than ever to prove his case and goes running deeper into the mine. Archie shouts after him to no avail and eventually follows him.
In the land of spells and fairies, the traveling puppeteers approach a cozy little cottage. Jiminy steps between his parents and the door. "Look, can't we skip this tonight?" His parents roll their eyes, fed up with his whining. It's only been twenty minutes and I'm fed up with it, and they've been listening to it for decades. Grifters or not, I kind of feel sorry for them. "We don't need the money," he goes on. His parents say it's not about the money. "It's about the principle - a commitment to excellence! Excellence at stealing money!" Heh. Dad whips out a little vial of "elf tonic" and gives it to Jiminy, who sighs wearily and knocks on the door. An attractive young couple answer and happily agree to give the three strangers a place to rest and food to eat. Jiminy looks like a kid who's been forced to go shopping for underpants with his parents.
At the dinner table, Mom stage-whispers to Dad about the horrible, horrible plague in the next town over. Naturally, the young couple overhear the conversation and begin to worry their guests might be infected. "Oh, no, we're immune," Dad says. "We have elf tonic," Mom says. "Made by elves from elves!" Cannibalistic lot, those elves. The young couple have never heard of elf tonic. In the background, this is Jiminy's cue to say, "Oh, no, you're going to die, you need elf tonic." Thus begins the haggling over a price for the elf tonic while Jiminy sits there looking embarrassed. In the end, the puppeteers leave with a sack full of the couple's meager belongings and a few coins. Jiminy gives the vial to the cluelessly grateful couple.