Season Four of the hit Disney Channel series Big City Greens has officially begun, and we quickly are reminded that this season will be going back and forth between Big City and Smalton – with a truck stop and a mega company downtown.
Truck Stopped
As you may recall from the end of Season Three, The Greens will now be splitting their time between Smalton and Big City. Tilly puts it best: It was the countriest of times and it was the cityest of times. Now, Bill lives with Grandma in Big City still, and Nancy runs the farm back in the country town of Smalton, but as the family spends time between both locations, they have a long drive in between whenever they go back and forth.
Bill, who enjoys being a punctual person, has a plan for this drive to make it a timely trip to and fro each time. In fact, whenever they go they always stop at Truck-Ee’s – a large truck stop and gas station. However, they have never actually been inside to enjoy the glory that is this location, so when Tilly and Cricket want to go inside for some road snacks, Bill obliges as long as they are prompt.
That’s why when Bill hands over $5.00 for the siblings to get some snacks, Cricket says he’ll make the decision so they can be in and out. After all, Tilly can be very indecisive.
And there is no worse place for her to go than the vast selection of snacks available at Truck-Ee’s. What follows is a debate of epic snacking proportions, on top of the fact that Cricket was right, he needs to be the one that makes the decision, and even the Truck-Ee’s mascot became overwhelmed alongside Tilly.
Cricket would pick the first thing he saw, so he can’t be trusted either and must be —disposed of. Fortunately, there is a soda fountain nearby that could inspire Cricket – to use the restroom – and buy Tilly some time on her own.
Outside, Bill and Gramma are waiting for the kids and looking at some novelty bumper gear, which is tragically made of chrome, reflecting and blinding the pair while they are staring. As Bill regains his vision, he thinks Tilly and Cricket have got back in the Kludge and departs, heading to Smalton without them.
Alas, the pair are still in the store fighting over who gets to choose the snacks. The rambunctious battle continues until Cricket takes a stand, holding a novelty-flavored bag of snacks hostage knowing that at any moment their dad can walk back in at any moment and make them leave, with no snacks at all.
Eventually their arguments reaches a breaking point, with the pair chasing a five dollar bill throughout the store which leads to the demise of the cash, leaving them just as Cricket feared…with nothing.
As Tilly is reflecting on her inability to make a decision, the Truck-Ee’s Mascot appears again, sharing that they can feel overwhelmed sometimes, but puts down some blinders so they can focus on what’s right in front of them. Not that it matters much anymore in this exact instance, as the cash has already been destroyed. But she will definitely take note for the future.
However, Bill comes back into the store after driving nearly all the way to Smalton before realizing he left his children behind. He was so apologetic to the kids (who had no idea he had left in the first place) that he gave them whatever they wanted, which was of course, more snack money. Tilly uses her new advice, and instead of focusing on every item on the shelf, narrows her decision down to what she would like the most, and would be good on the rest of their trip. Even Cricket agrees that the Truck Nuggets were a good choice.
Jingled
Another Tilly-Centric story, we start off at the Big City Farmers Market, where Tilly is singing catchy jingles to entertain the crowd – and bring in the customers. Despite Bill’s best efforts to get Tilly to focus on the commerce aspect of the arrangement, driving customers to the Green Family Farm stand at the market, she would rather focus on the entertainment side of the deal, making sure everyone can be happy because of the tunes.
Someone from a nearby Jingle agency overhears, and decides that they want Tilly for their firm. Cricket poses as Tilly’s agent, and the adventure is set into place.
At Big Jingle, the sibs meet Rick Razzle, who is the leading Jingle writer at the company. You may have never heard of him, but you’ve surely heard his jingles before. Rick Razzle might sound a bit familiar (yeah, that’s actually Michael Bolton) and Tilly wants to be as successful as him at Jingle writing. He entertains the world with his jingles and makes everyone happy. So if she ends up just like him, it would be great.
Tilly gets her first products and starts cranking out the tunes in her office (complete with built-in test audience) and each one is a hit. Crowds start to gather around her office before Rick pulls Tilly and Cricket into his own, bequeathing his Jingle Jacket to her and crowning her as the new head jingle writer. Rick does have an affinity for the long notes, and he can’t hit those in a jingle. Now, with Tilly taking the lead, he is free.
Back at the Farmers Market, Bill is trying his best at formulating his own jingles with Gramma right there critiquing each one. Despite Gramma’s initial concerns, Bill starts to enjoy himself with the Jingles and starts cranking out some gems.
Back at the office, Tilly is becoming overworked and despite now having the biggest name in the agency – Mamaroni’s Pizza – she can’t come up with a jingle for the city’s favorite pizzeria. She decides to take a stroll for inspiration and comes across her father and grandmother at the Farmers Market who are having a blast performing their tunes for the crowd, though nobody seems to be buying anything.
That’s when Tilly realizes…she’s not having fun with the jingles anymore. She heads back to the office, and just before pitching a new Mamaroni’s tune, she gives a powerful speech saying that in her tumultuous 6-hour jingle writing career that started earlier this morning, she lost track of why she started jingle writing in the first place – to have fun. So she leaves Big Jingle, and heads back to the Green Family Farms stand at the Farmers Market. As for Mamaroni’s….I think they’ll be okay.
You can catch this episode of Big City Greens now on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can catch up with the rest of this series now streaming on Disney+.