“A Gold Bar in Fort Knox” has the Mysterious Benedict Society in peril, with the water polo team breaking pursuing them into the stateroom. Unable to find the kids, the water polo team leaves, and we see Reynie, Sticky, Kate, Constance, (Mystic Inscho, Seth Carr, Emmy DeOliveira, and Marta Kessler) hanging over the edge of the stateroom balcony. When they climb free, they hide in the engine room wondering how Mr. Curtain (Tony Hale) is behind the current predicament.
Mr. Benedict (Tony Hale) is complaining to Number Two (Kristen Schaal) about Curtain’s latest scheme. While Curtain is promising his followers the ability to find true happiness, Benedict knows that what Curtain is doing is nothing more than simple trickery. To Benedict, it is outrageous that people will become dependent on an artificial state of mind.
Number Two is only partially listening to what Benedict has to say. She is spending her time thinking of ways to escape from Curtain’s compound. At one point, Number Two talks about using the lemons that are grown on site to create a mold infestation, but Benedict interrupts her thinking. Benedict wants to help his brother, and he knows that Curtain has an undesirable need for Benedict’s approval.
On the ship, Cannonball (Joel de la Fuente) has been actively searching for the kids, while also confirming that the ship is running slower than it’s supposed to be. Informing Captain Noland (Fred Melamed), the third officer is ordered to find the kids, or else the blame for the lack of sugar, the stowaway kids, and being late will fall on his shoulders.
In the engine room, the kids are wondering what they will do. Being chased by the water polo team, and without adult help, the Mysterious Benedict Society is running out of money and direction. Close by they can hear the crew members in the engine room gambling. Constance tells the group that they need to take advantage of this opportunity and make some money, so they do. Sticky, Kate, and Constance are very successful, but Reynie is lost at the art of gambling.
Trying to cross the ocean faster than the kids, Rhonda, Milligan, and Ms. Perumal (MaameYaa, Ryan Hurst and Gia Sandhu) seem to be slowing down. The dirigible blimp has encountered bad weather, slowing their travels, but allowing Milligan to gain some time to talk about the struggles of being a father again to Kate. Ms. Perumal tells him that he can worry all he wants, but that worry will not armor him when something bad happens.
Back in the engine room, the kids have made it back to their hiding spot to count their winnings. While Sticky employed card counting methods, and Kate shaved down the dice for the craps table to ensure perfect rolls, Sticky talks about his failure. Learning that his friends had cheated to win, he shames them all in giving back the money. When they return their ill-gotten gains, the worker is impressed by their honesty, and decides to reward them with a small financial endowment. (As Constance says, this reward in no way equals what they just gave away.)
Though Reynie is pleased, the group is entrapped by the water polo team who is there to ensure they don’t find Mr. Benedict. Just when things are looking tough, Cannonball saves the day and prevents the water polo team from causing any problems for the Mysterious Benedict Society. The problem is that the kids are stowaways, and they must be taken to the captain.
Mr. Benedict has been sitting in the audience for one of Curtain’s happiness program recordings. While everyone around him seems to be taken by the edict of Curtain, Benedict is skeptical of what is promised. Curtain just wants to help others open their eyes to happiness.
Rhonda, Milligan, and Ms. Perumal may be landing in the Northern Iberian plains, the kids are about to face judgment before Captain Noland. Stowaways and the cause of the sugar shortage, Captain Noland is very annoyed at the predicament he has been put into. When Kate promises to fix the engine which will ensure that the ship arrives on time in Europe, Noland agrees he will let the kids go, but only if Kate can deliver on her promise.
The broadcast continues, and Mr. Benedict starts to revert from questioning to acceptance, but Number Two isn’t waiting around. She is working on a way to escape and finds freedom by sneaking onto a pie delivery truck. Freedom is apparent for Number Two, but Mr. Benedict looks like he too has been corrupted by the promise of happiness from Mr. Curtain.
In Europe, the “Shortcut” has arrived two hours early thanks to Kate’s work in the engine room. Grateful for getting the ship back on track, Captain Noland agrees not to have them arrested and assists in helping the kids get through customs. Constance gets revenge on the water polo team by planting unwanted fruits and vegetables in their bags, thus ensuring they won’t be followed. However, the team quickly learns that there are others waiting to pursue them, and the kids speed off in a taxi trying to elude another henchman of Mr. Curtain’s.
Bill’s Perspective:
While the action on the ship was fun, I am glad to see the kids getting on land, and now the real adventure begins. Cannonball and Captain Noland finally got their chance to show their true mettle, and I have to say, I love them. You know for sure that they are not done, at least I hope we get to see Noland and Cannonball help the Mysterious Benedict Society again.
I love how Tony Hale can split himself so perfectly between his dual roles. He makes Curtain this smarmy guru that is bad but promises easy answers. Mr. Benedict is such an opposite character, that only someone as talented as Hale could pull it off for each episode. It’s so much fun to watch the nuanced differences between the two.
Having Chris Parnell as the voice of the dirigible captain was perfect casting.