"Big City Greens" Wraps Up Fourth Season with Big Flashbacks and Big Revelations

As we wrap up the fourth season of Big City Greens on Disney Channel, we get a rehashed version of a first season story, before quite possibly the biggest revelation we’ve seen on the show thanks to some old home movies.

Rehashed History

Cricket, Remy and Tilly are hanging out playing video games together. While playing, Cricket and Remy display their great teamwork considering that they are such good friends, with praise from Tilly while doing so. However, the boys both admit that they weren’t always this close and cite a very specific story from very early in their friendship that their entire friendship was almost ruined.

From there, we jump into a flashback which serves as the real episode here, a famously shelved idea from the first season called “Hands On History," and based on the sounds of Remy and Cricket…the voice recordings date back to that first season.

In the actual episode, clearly set at some point after the events of the first episode of the series “Space Chicken," Remy and Cricket head to the Big City History and Science Museum, as this is one of Remy’s favorite places. Because he comes here so much, he has a gold membership which grants him special privileges, like bringing a guest whenever he wants. But the real goal? The platinum membership.

As Remy is showing Cricket around, they come across the museum’s curator, Dr. Ponderstein, whose main priority is to educate the populace, with a bit of a sinister, Mark Hamil-y, undertone. Remy would much rather spend the day following Ponderstein with Cricket, but his new friend would actually have more fun messing with all the displays. Remy reluctantly agrees, and discovers the fun of experiencing the museum in this way.

Ponderstein catches the rambunctious kids terrorizing the museum while they are playing with dinosaur bones, catching Remy and revoking his treasured Gold Membership. But there is something about Cricket that Ponderstein finds intriguing, and offers Remy the chance of a lifetime - He’ll give Remy a platinum membership card if he helps Ponderstein capture Cricket for a new experiment. The boys reconvene and while Cricket is apologizing to Remy and promising to be a better friend and influence, Ponderstein captures Cricket, who is now more upset that his new friend sold him out. Of course, Remy appears to be filled with immediate regret, but it’s too late now. It’s only when he sees an exhibit featuring Louie and Kirk and hearing its pre-recorded lecture about their friendship that Remy decides to do something and rescue Cricket.

Why Rescue? Because Ponderstein has been placed - unwillingly - in front of a wall of television sets bombarding his young brain with historical facts, in an attempt to brainwash the fun and childlike behavior out of him and turn him into a walking text book.

Fortunately, Remy breaks in and is able to save his friend, bringing him back to normal and getting the chance to apologize, but Cricket doesn’t forgive him just yet. As they are making their getaway, Ponderstein blocks the exit, giving him two options: give the platinum membership back, or give him Cricket. Remy explains that he is learning more from Cricket than he has at the museum and throws the platinum membership card, which bounces around the museum destroying several displays.

Outside, Remy apologizes once again and this time Cricket accepts, and it seems that the two will be stuck together from now on.

Back in the present day, Cricket and Remy start bickering at who was at fault as they looked back at the situation, while Tilly explains to them that this is only one thing that made their friendship stronger, arguing still while

Back in the present, Cricket and Remy finish off that the reason why they barely talk about that past adventure is because of how the two betrayed one another and begin arguing over who betrayed who in the incident. Tilly explains that because of their respective selfishness, their friendship is stronger than ever. They agree before continuing to argue over who deserves the credit for the betrayal, during which Tilly proceeds to play their video game as they continue to argue as the episode closes out.

Unplanned

Cricket is playing with something my old self knows to be what we called a “camcorder." While it’s hooked up to the TV, the family guides him through old home movies. Some are cute, especially Nancy and Bill’s wedding day and some flashback (but not terribly different) footage of Gramma. We also see one of Bill with Tilly, clearly still a toddler, when Bill suggests that maybe they stop watching this video.

Why? Shortly after, Nancy appears in the doorway of the home revealing that she is pregnant again, obviously meaning it to be Cricket. What follows on the video is Bill having a full meltdown. There was never supposed to be another kid, they were going to be a “one and done" family. Bill never wanted a second child - so by association - he never wanted Cricket.

Nancy sees this thought process and tries to assuage Cricket’s fears and feelings at this point, reminding him that he is wanted and loved, while Bill is still panicking and trying to change the video.

That night, Cricket can’t sleep as he is still thinking about everything his dad said on that old tape and eventually decides that he will run away - giving his dad the “one kid" life he wanted in the first place.

The next morning, it’s a big family breakfast but Cricket hasn’t shown up. Normally, he’d be three pancakes deep by the time everyone got their plate, so this is a bit strange but he must be on the farm somewhere. Bill keeps insisting this, but he decides to wait on breakfast while they go out and look for him.

But Cricket isn’t out on the farm, he’s walking through the woods when he stumbles upon a circus tent with a giant trampoline that he starts to play on, since there are no parents who want him and can tell him what to do.

While he is jumping, many of the performers return and scare Cricket, but he isn’t in trouble or anything. He’s quite safe. We’re keeping this story out of the horror realm today.

The ringleader of the Fantasmico Circus (who sounds an awful lot like Richard Kind), asks what Cricket is doing there before he explains everything about the video. As his story makes it sound like Cricket isn’t wanted at all, even a decade after the footage was filmed, the circus folk take sympathy on the boy and invite him to perform with them in the next show. As he does, he takes on a new trampoline act gets a rousing applause, making him feel loved.

Meanwhile, the family has not found him anywhere on the farm when tilly comes back from Cricket’s room with a note she found that he is running away, telling Bill to “enjoy his one kid life." Bill now realizes how badly this hurt his feelings, regardless of the fact that the footage is so old. Bill is now filled with regret and sets out to look for his son beyond the farm.

At the circus, Cricket has been presented with an offer that can see Cricket stay with the circus as long as he wants. As he is pondering, Bill and the family have found Dweezil who says that he just saw Cricket performing in the circus. The family races to where the circus was, only to find it shut down, packed up, and on its way out.

Fortunately their train is just pulling out of the station, and Bill takes off running after it as he sees Cricket on the caboose. He’s shouting to his son, while maintaining quite the jogging pace to keep up with an accelerating train. He’s shouting to his son that he was scared when he found out Cricket was coming into his life, and didn’t realize he wanted him until he was there.

Cricket refuses to leave the train, but Bill finally starts slowing down and tells him that he is unstoppable, and no matter what Cricket wants to do, he still loves him. The train pulls away as Bill finally stops running and the train pulls away. The ringmaster overheard the whole conversation, and Cricket uses the circus cannon to get blasted off the train and launched to his dad further down the tracks.

The two hug and the rest of the family joins in, as we fade out and see old home movies of Cricket and Bill - including the origin of Cricket’s signature haircut - in lieu of the traditional credits during the show.

Almost two years after the first episode of the season, this concludes season four of Big City Greens. We do know a fifth is on the way, but unlike other season finales or other mid-season hiatuses, there is no big cliffhanger, and that’s refreshing.

You can catch up with this episode of Big City Greens on Disney Channel, the DisneyNOW website, and Disney+.