"I bet he's never smiled a day in his life."
Elliot, referring to Mr. Smiley
Plot[]
The episode opens with a group of preteens playing a game of dodgeball in gym class. Elliot proves to be a brilliant player, taking out two members of the opposing team. However, Mr. Jasper, their science teacher, decides to join in the game, and the gym teacher assigns him to play on the red team. Elliot remarks that Mr. Jasper might be too old to play, before throwing a ball at him. Mr. Jasper dodges, but just as Elliot is distracted and talking to the gym teacher, Mr. Jasper takes him out.
Elliot then throws a tantrum after his defeat, and shouts, "I hate you!" to his science teacher. In the outbox, Elliot proceeds to complain about how Mr. Jasper is failing him in science. Damien, one of his friends, suggests that he ask Mr. Jasper for tutoring sessions. Damien had previously been on the verge of failing, but thanks to some additional help, he is scoring A's and B's. Elliot wishes that Mr. Jasper would retire, before deciding to throw a ball at Mr. Jasper's back. He yelps out in pain, and Elliot gloats with laughter. However, Mr. Jasper dismisses it as friendly fire, and refrains from scolding or punishing Elliot.
In science class, Mr. Jasper hands the students their graded tests. Elliot complains after having received a C, but Mr. Jasper explains that he had curved the grade in order to prevent him from receiving a failing grade. He offers some tutoring sessions to Elliot, and suggests that he sit in the front of the class, but Elliot refuses.
To get rid of Mr. Jasper, Elliot had played a prank, in which he had removed the batteries from the classroom television remote control, and connected his phone to the screen. While Mr. Jasper attempts to turn on the television, Elliot decides to strike, and plays a Dhar Mann episode on the screen instead. Mr. Jasper proceeds to try to disconnect the power cable, but trips over it instead, falling on his knee.
The next day, Damien and Angelo, Elliot's two best friends, express worry about Mr. Jasper. Elliot is planning to play another prank, but Angelo warns him, saying that if Mr. Jasper leaves, they could end up with a worse teacher. His fears are later confirmed when Principal Meyers walks into their science classroom and informs them that Mr. Jasper is taking time off to recover from his injuries. Meanwhile, there will be a temporary substitute taking his place, and the substitute is none other than Mr. Smiley, an African American, muscular man.
Mr. Smiley proves to be the complete opposite of Mr. Jasper, and despite his name, is anything but smiley. Having served in the United States Marine Corps, he addresses the students in a manner similar to a drill instructor. However, Damien quickly reminds Elliot about the prank that he had set up. As Elliot tries to warn his substitute teacher, Mr. Smiley walks to the front of the class and gets blasted in the face by a bottle of ketchup. He angrily storms over to Elliot's desk and orders him to perform 100 pushups and planks after that.
As the students prepare for gym class, Angelo laments about how much he misses Mr. Jasper, and blames Elliot for their predicament. However, Elliot is not intimidated at all, and prefers to perform 20 pushups instead of dealing Mr. Jasper. At gym class, the students receive another surprise. The gym teacher decides to cancel dodgeball and allows Mr. Smiley to take over the class. Mr. Smiley orders Elliot to run ten laps, but Elliot refuses. As a result, Mr. Smiley proceeds to increase it to 25 laps, and the gym teacher warns Elliot to comply, as defiance would only prompt Mr. Smiley to further raise the count. The students begin running laps around the gym, and Mr. Smiley begins to shout a jody call, to which the kids repeat.
The next morning, Elliot meets up with Damien and Angelo, and tells them about his plan to get rid of Mr. Smiley for good; Mr. Smiley mentioned that the only thing he feared were snakes. Elliot thus decides to put a snake under Mr. Smiley's book, but Damien and Angelo simply shake their heads, warning him about the dire consequences he will face. In class, Mr. Smiley hands the students their tests, and says that he is extremely disappointed with some of them, but especially one of them. He rearranges the seating of the class, and orders the students with C's and D's to sit at the front of the classroom, while students with better grades could sit at the back. As Elliot is the only student to have received a F, he is ordered to sit right in front of the teacher's desk. He requests that Mr. Smiley curve the grade and tutor him during lunchtime, but Mr. Smiley angrily refuses. To make matters worse, he even brings up the fact that his mom just gave back his PS5 and tablet and fears she'll take it away again, but Mr. Smiley just brushes this aside.
As he is about to begin the lecture, Mr. Smiley picks up his textbook, and finds a snake underneath. He shrieks in terror, and the children laugh. He charges at Elliot, threatening to give him a harsh punishment for his actions. Elliot begs and pleads for mercy, saying that it was just a prank. At that moment, Principal Meyers enters the room and tells the class that Mr. Jasper has recovered. The children are extremely relieved to see their teacher again. However, Mr. Smiley furiously fumes, telling Principal Meyers about Elliot's prank. Principal Meyers promises to discuss things with Elliot's mother, before he and Mr. Smiley leave the room.
Elliot gives Mr. Jasper a hug and thanks him for returning. Mr. Jasper is pleasantly surprised, and allows the students to return to their old seating. However, Elliot requests to be allowed to sit in the front of the class, and for Mr. Jasper to tutor him during lunchtime, to which Mr. Jasper happily agrees.
A month has passed, and Elliot's performance at school has improved significantly. He shows his mother an A that he had received on the test, and she is impressed. Elliot asks to receive his tablet and PS5 back. However, his mother refuses, because of the prank that he had played on his substitute teacher. He screams as she drags him by the ear.
Cast[]
Main Characters[]
Elliot - Winston Vengapally
Damien - Shaun Dixon
Angelo - Anthony Bashian
Ricky - Connor William Barrett
Coach - Derek Grauer
Mr. Jasper - Michael Minnis
Mr. Smiley - Moses Mathew Jackson
Supporting / Minor Characters[]
Student 1 - Bijan Ali
Student 2 - Bubba Ali
Student 3 - Daylyn Alaysia
Student 4 - Ian Massimino
Student 5 - Grace Loggins
Student 6 - Hope Loggins
Principal Meyers - Sean Harris
Mrs. Alvarez - Maricella Ibarra
Trivia[]
- This marks the first time Winston Vengapally worked on an episode with Shaun Dixon, Connor William Barrett, Derek Grauer, Maricella Ibarra and Sean Harris.
- The mother says that Elliot isn’t getting the PlayStation 5 or tablet back for a long time, and stretches out the word “long”. The exact length is unknown, although it might be until the rest of the school year. It could also mean he’ll never have them back again, and she may, in fact, sell the PS5 and tablet for pranking Mr. Smiley, and use the money on herself. One would also think he still has his phone, but his mother says “You’re lucky **IF** I let you keep your phone.”, implying he would get that taken away as well.
Allusions[]
- Mr. Smiley is similar to Sergeant Roderick from "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired," an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. They are both substitute teachers who used to be and act like drill sergeants and wear olive green.
- The episode is similar to the "Miss Nelson" book series by Harry Allard. In each of the three books, schoolchildren misbehave in front of a kindhearted, gentle teacher, only to have the teacher replaced by Viola Swamp, a notoriously strict, harsh disciplinarian whose personality is extremely similar to that of Mr. Smiley's.
- The episode is similar to the Hey Arnold episode "New Teacher" when Arnold's classmates pull different pranks on their teacher, Mr. Simmons who's nice and caring and then he gets replaced by a man named Lieutenant Major Goose, a mean and cold hearted teacher who's also a drill sergeant.
Errors[]
- Despite what the title says, neither Mr. Jasper nor Mr. Smiley quit their jobs.
- This episode takes place on February 30th and 31st, 2022 according to the whiteboard. However, February is only 28 days long (29 days long in a leap year, which occurs every four years).
- However, this calendar came from as February 30th Swedish, Artificial and Fictional also Myths for: Soviet and Early Julian. Although one of the pictures of a gravestone shown as a person died on February 31st as of now the chance for February to have 30 or 31 days would be impossible.
- Elliot would be unable to pair his phone with the TV when it was unplugged. He also would be unable to turn the TV on/off using his phone.
- Mr. Jasper plugs the TV into the lower outlet. In the shots facing the whiteboard, it is plugged into the upper outlet. But in the shots facing the window, it is plugged into the lower outlet again.
- When Mr. Jasper "falls" after tripping over the power cord, his right foot touches it twice and he does not actually fall. Instead, he steps over the power cord with his left foot and pretends to fall.
- The second line of Mr. Smiley's Jody call is supposed to match the cadence of the first line, but it does not.
- When Elliot shows the fake snake to his classmates, it is blue. But when it scares Mr. Smiley, it is green.
- When Elliot shows his mother his new test score at the end of the episode, we see that it is a history test, not a science test.
- It would be unlikely for the school principal to inform Elliot's mother about his prank on his substitute teacher a month after it had happened. However, it is possible that despite Elliot's drastic improvement in behavior, he continued playing pranks and possibly pranked another substitute teacher.