"Big City Greens" Tests Spin-Off Potential...Kind Of... In Latest Episode
As we approach the fourth season conclusion with a fifth season of Big City Greens on the way, we might want more from some of the other residents of Big City - don’t worry. Big Tech has a device for that in this week’s episode, before Tilly’s positivity gets her behind the wheel of a poorly engineered go-kart.
Spinned Off
It seems that many of Big City’s residents are in attendance at a new demonstration and product reveal from Big Tech and their CEO Gwendolyn Zapp. Isn’t she supposed to be in space or underground or something? I can’t keep tabs on her anymore.
Anyway… while Officer Keys shatters his phone knowing that there will likely be another new phone announced, we instead get treated to a demonstration of AI tech that can create consumable content based on the thoughts, lives, and history of anybody that the system scans. From there, it is turned into new programming for the Big Tech network. So, much like the title (and considering the Greens are nowhere in the audience), these are all about to be playful stand-alone shows (or Spin-Offs) based on the other residents we’ve come to know and love.
To show off the tech, Zapp sends a drone into the audience looking for a volunteer, and discovers Vasquez who is very much trying to hide from the machine. Alas, he cannot, and he is scanned into the system where he is programmed into a family sitcom - “Three Many Remys" - wherein we discover that somehow Remy has cloned himself three times over and Vasquez must protect each version of him as they get into wild antics and comedic foils. Of course, the real Vasquez is offended, but Zapp isn’t done showing off the tech just yet, and now wants an enticing reality series showcasing the wild life of a young, single, twenty-something with the machines landing squarely on Gloria. We then get to watch “Gloria in the City" - which turns out to be mostly her doomscrolling on her phone in her bedroom. Zapp even scrubs through the footage looking for something more enticing and exciting to occur - but alas. The footage was not found.
We also see shows based on the friend group of Benny, Wheezy, Kiki, and Gregly, a late-night comedy act with Doug Perkins, and a conspiracy-hunting Scooby-Doo and Snagglepuss-esque show featuring Andromeda and Myrglepurr. Zapp even makes the suggestion that the audience isn’t liking any of these shows because everyone in the city is well-known and established. As such, she sends the drones far away - to Smalton, of course. There, they scan Frank and we get a whole scene based on his many professions in the country, including doctor, police officer, lawyer, and party clown. To be fair, I honestly thought we were going to land on Wayne, or really anybody else. We also get a different type of show with some name power, when we see Community Sue helm “Commusical" allegedly starring Broadway legend Idina Menzel.
Finally, the audience is beginning to revolt and Zapp demands to know what they want in a show, with the crowd calling out traits that make up the show we already know and love. That said, we then get the intro to Big City Greens once again, revealing that the Greens have been in the crowd this whole time after all.
That said, while most of these were obviously playful and not real ideas, I couldn’t help but think of just over a year ago when we were at the Big City Greens The Movie: Spacecation premiere when an actual spin-off of the hit series was teased. If you don’t remember that, you can go find out more over here.
Go Karted
Out in Smalton, there’s a big go-kart race about to happen and Lupita has built a new kart that she can race with her brother, Hector. Hector, however, is looking for a more reliable vehicle that he could use to win the race and impress his girlfriend, Sunday.
Lupita is disappointed and hurt that Hector doesn’t trust her kart building skills, but in all fairness this thing does look like it will fall apart at any moment. However, Cricket and Tilly are there and Tilly, always the positive thinker, encourages Lupita, who now plans to race on her own. Cricket, somehow the voice of reason this time around, points out that the kart is literally falling apart and she, let alone anybody, should be racing it at all.
At this point, it’s too late, and Lupita has hit the road and crashed almost immediately. Later, finding herself in a body cast, she’s ready to race again and Tilly keeps encouraging her. When the race is about to start, Lupita takes a seat and discovers that her body cast keeps her from being able to manipulate the steering wheel. Tilly’s positivity and encouragement once again gets misconstrued and she finds herself in the driver’s seat of this malfunctioning kart and Cricket insists that she does not drive this vehicle.
His words of running go unheeded, and he and Lupita now serve as Tilly’s pit crew keeping in touch with her throughout the race. As Tilly gets comfortable behind the wheel, she realizes there are no brakes, which Lupita explains were removed because they weighed too much and nobody is trying to stop during a race anyway. This is when Tilly becomes nervous and maybe not as positive as she was moments ago.
At the race’s start, she taps on the apparently very touchy gas pedal and takes off into the lead. While rocketing down the track, much of the kart begins to fall away, piece by piece. Eventually, she starts to fall behind and Lupita reveals that she has built a nitro boost into the kart, activated by a switch under the dash. The kart falls apart just enough to reveal the gas tank for the boost, which is blatantly marked as explosive. Cricket, panicking, tells Tilly not to hit the switch and that it’s time to tell Lupita the truth. What truth? That Lupita’s kart is a piece of junk, and that’s why she’s not hitting the boost.
While she is trying to get the kart to stop, she hits a rough patch in the track that has rocks causing her to bounce and her knee to hit the boost switch. She takes off and rockets ahead of the other racers and into the sky, getting airborne as she goes over the finish line. The tank explodes and the kart rolls with Tilly in it. Don’t worry she’s mostly okay, as we see moments later as Frank is finishing up the last of the body cast tape wrapping her up too.
Now that everyone has learned their lesson, Cricket is out. It’s his turn to go race. Guess we’ll see that another time, though.
From there, we get a bit of a heartfelt moment where Lupita apologizes to Tilly for getting her all banged up in her kart, but still retains the positivity with Tilly saying that Lupita has a lot to learn but will get there someday. Just after, Hector shows up and is impressed with how fast Lupita’s kart went, and plans on building one together with her for next year’s race. Perhaps something to look forward to in Season Five.
This episode of Big City Greens is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW website. You can also catch up with earlier episodes streaming now on Disney+.