This week’s Big City Greens picks up where we left off last week keeping the story going, and then giving us the random chaos that we’ve come to expect and love from the series.
Bad Dad
Picking up where we left off last week, we see Grandpa Nick (Nancy’s Dad) return to the Green household in Smalton. Now that Nancy is doing well, of course he shows up. But why? Turns out he’s really got no place else to go. Bill and Gramma offer to stay and help, but Nancy knows how to handle her terrible father. After all, she’s been dealing with him for her whole life.
Devotees may remember his previous appearances where we see their relationship via flashback. Namely when Nancy met Bill and when Nancy was trying to figure out how to tell Cricket his rat tail haircut looks awful without hurting his feelings.
So, Nancy and the kids accompany Nick back to his former homesite, a location that was once occupied by some kind of trailer before it burned to the ground. Nick openly admits there’s a lot of people who would have burned it down and lists them off before he adds that he also might have just left the stove on.
Throughout, we learn just how irresponsible Nick is, who also can’t seem to remember his grandchildren’s names. “Crilly” and “Trumpet” I believe were used at one point.
Nancy stands by that he cannot stay with her in her house, the Green family farm, and sets out to get him a job so he can afford his own place. Seeking out Frank, Smalton’s Doctor, Lawyer, Dentist, and more.. Considering he’s tossing around AT LEAST eight jobs, surely he needs some help.
Well, Frank doesn’t need help, but his brother Hank does. Hank is over in Tinyville, and needs lots of assistance. Since Nick also needs a place to stay, he can be the security guard at the mattress store – not to sleep on the merchandise though, there happens to be a spare room with a metal cot.
While Nancy is arranging all of this, Nick takes the kids for a walk to go relieve some stress. They end up at an abandoned home that Nick likes to throw bricks and cinder blocks at. Tilly finds Nick’s stories and background strangely intriguing, while Cricket enjoys the senseless destruction and reckless abandon while still under adult supervision. A stranger in a van shows up, and at Nick’s advice, they approach and discover that their new friend Dweezle has a van full of axes to help destroy the place.
Nancy comes out to tell her Dad that she has him all set up with a job and place in Tinyville, but discovers he, and more importantly, the children are now missing.
She runs to the nearby diner where Wayne the waiter gets confused, assuming that the panicked mother is looking for her son, a cricket. Not a child named Cricket, whom he should remember! They bonded last season!
Wayne senses that she is stressed and suggests methods that she could use to relax, when she realizes that’s what her dad is doing and finds her way to the abandoned house he likes to throw things at. Also, why didn’t he just live there? Squatter’s rights or something, I’m sure.
Anyway, Nancy finds her dad and the kids and, rightfully, gets upset. They go to the train station and she is sending him to Tinyville for his new job. As she speeds away with the kids on the bike, he says goodbye to the kids, calling them their actual names. Surprisingly, the kids seem sad and Nancy explains why she had to do what she had to do. Which the kids completely understand. Nancy is taken aback, they can see how irresponsible their grandfather is because of how good of a mother she is to them. Maybe, if Cricket and Tilly do actually recognize on their own that Nick isn’t the greatest influence, it would be nice for them to still have a grandfather in their lives. After all, he is the only grandfather the kids have.
So they head back to the train station and discover that Nick has missed his train. Turns out, he traded his train ticket for a ferret, which is now on the loose somewhere.
Nancy invites Nick to stay at their house, but he has to participate in the farming chores too. So, get ready for more of Grandpa Nick this season.
Junk Junkie
We’re back in Big City for this episode, which I have to admit – is full of the crazy hijinx and random chaos that I love from Big City Greens.
As Bill is going over the finances of having both farms, Cricket, Tilly, and Remy are building a fort on the lawn and Gramma is on the porch. Bill begins to panic because he notices a slump in profits. Gramma assures him that little ups and downs are normal in running a business and he shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Conveniently, at the same time, Gloria sends a text to Gramma asking if she can come take a look at something at the cafe. She too gets worked up over nothing and jumps over the fence to the cafe next door, meeting Gloria in the office. All she wanted to do was show her a new reality show – Clutter Free with Serenity Spruce. She has new and inspired methods to help clean a cluttered home, which will help relieve stress and back pain!
Outside the house, Tilly tells her dad that she needs new shoes and Cricket needs a new set of overalls. Fearing that with the looming profit losses and possible bankruptcy (in Bill’s head), Bill feels that he can’t provide for his children. Russell arrives to pick up Remy and explains that he is also stopping by the local donation center to get rid of some things. Bill asks to take a look at what he has and discovers a pair of shoes for Tilly and a new outfit for Cricket. He takes all of the boxes off Russell’s hands, and gets seized with an idea. They’re going thrifting! Via montage, we see Bill and the kids go throughout the city collecting goods and filling the house with junk, just in the off chance that he or the kids might need it someday. Eventually, he turns the home into a full fledged donation center, collecting all the goods from Big City residents.
Cricket and Tilly love the idea, because now they have the materials to build even bigger forts. Gloria however, returning from work, does not. She lives there too after all, but doesn’t know what kind of rights she has, especially since she doesn’t pay rent. Panicked, she runs inside to start studying up.
Gramma is in her room, now hooked on the cleaning show, and thinks it's a bit hokey to say goodbye to things before throwing them away. Serenity Spruce suggests that everyone has their own way of saying goodbye, it doesn’t have to be the way she does. Gramma then discovers her own way, and dismisses her junk as though they were soldiers who did their duty.
The Kids are starting to become overwhelmed with the amount of junk filling the house and talk to their dad about it, but he just insists that he needs more space to store the stuff. Gloria asks to talk with him and he is inspired once again – the basement! Gloria has prepared documents to clarify the terms of her living there, and Bill suggests that she is family. As sweet as that is, it also makes her room now available for storage.
Gramma’s room, however, is now perfectly cleaned and she is ready to take on the rest of the house. Trouble is, while she has been in her room, Bill has completely filled the rest of the house with junk. She comes outside and is panicked, she can’t move anywhere and she can hear the kids but can’t find them. Bill is sitting atop a throne of junk and gets full-named by Gramma while she is screaming at him – William Robert Green. Note that somewhere. It’s good trivia.
Bill is explaining what’s going on, but worse yet, the ceiling is now collapsing and the children don’t like forts anymore! Gramma uses her new powers(?) from Serenity Spruce and clears the junk out of her way as the house begins to buckle. The day is saved, and Gloria somehow escapes the basement via a toilet plunger climb. The only person injured was an ill-timed mailman making a delivery.
Surely the profits will be down now.
This episode of Big City Greens is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can catch up with earlier seasons and episodes now streaming on Disney+.