"Reindeer Games" is the special Christmas episode of the PBS series Odd Squad, originally aired as the fifth episode of the show's first season.
Synopsis[]
Odd Squad Headquarters is decked out for Christmas. Otto reminds Olive that it's Christmas Eve and they should relax, but Olive insists that they have "important business" to take care of. Otto asks what's more important than Christmas and suggests that they should be at home preparing for the arrival of Santa Claus when Olive directs his attention to the lab. There stands Santa himself. Otto happily greets him, but inquires as to what he's doing here. He explains that while his elves are usually quite capable at toy-making, every so often he gets a particularly odd request and has to get help from the Odd Squad. A messy Oscar shows up wheeling a spaghetti bike, complete with meatball horn. Santa remarks that he's not sure whether to ride or eat it. Otto asks how it fits in his bag, and he answers and demonstrates that he uses a Shrinkinator (a gift from Oscar). Olive tells Otto to grab a bag, and adds that someone has to help Santa haul his toys back to the North Pole. As they each pick up a bag, Otto remarks that he loves his job.
As Olive, Otto, and Santa leave Headquarters, the latter is stopped by Ms. O, who reminds him that he can just leave her Christmas gift in her office as she is working late. He tells her that there's a little problem, and when she requests details, he explains that she is on the Naughty List. She can hardly believe her ears and asks how she was naughty. He answers that she has a tendency to raise her voice, and she shouts that it isn't true. Oscar steps up, explaining that he heard the raised voice. Ms. O discreetly tells him to shut his mouth and Santa to check his paperwork. Santa shows Ms. O that her naughty acts, 60, outnumber her nice ones, 53, and adds that she won't be getting any presents, much to her dismay. Oscar suggests that she do a few nice things to raise the other side of the score. Santa approves the idea, and when Otto calls from the tube lobby, heads off. Ms. O commands Oscar to assist her in being nice, hastily adding a "please" and "thank you".
At the tube lobby, O'Shea sends Olive, Otto, and Santa off to the North Pole. They arrive in the North Pole reindeer stables. Otto is clearly excited to be there, and gets even more so when an elf named Lloyd appears. Santa asks Lloyd to put the Shrinkinator in his office, but he drops it as he gives it to him. It lands on the floor without event, and Santa is relieved that it didn't go off. Suddenly, it activates and shrinks all nine of Santa's reindeer. Olive assures him that they can be regrown and pulls out a gadget with which to do so when every reindeer takes to the air and flies out the window. Santa laments that without them, he can't deliver presents and Christmas will be ruined. He continues that they, due to their speed, could be anywhere in the world. Olive reminds him that the Odd Squad has agents all over the world (except in Moldova, due to lack of oddness).
At Headquarters, Oscar is decorating Ms. O's office when she walks in, dry of ideas for being nice. She kicks over a pile of empty juice boxes in her frustration, and Oscar tells her that didn't help her cause. She argues that she has to do something to flip the greater than/less than symbol, which she confuses since she can't even think straight. Oscar shares his analogy of an alligator eating the bigger number and starts to demonstrate when Ms. O orders him never to do that again. He readily agrees. Ms. O flops onto her couch and declares that she needs a juice box. Oscar gets an idea and calls Olaf into the office. He tells him that Ms. O wants to share a juice box, but she adds that she doesn't have any. Oscar brings up the juice bar, and Olaf goes to town. Oscar tells Ms. O that it wasn't so hard, and she adds that being nice is easy as she rips apart a pillow. Using a tablet, Oscar notes that she has now done 54 nice things, then asks for a juice box. She starts to deny his request before sliding into a "yes", adding that she would also like one.
At the North Pole, Olive tells Santa that some calls have been made to other Odd Squad offices, and reindeer sightings have been abundant, as she makes some final notes on a chalkboard. She adds that Otto ate Santa's candy cane phone. Otto, indeed, has half of it sticking out of his mouth. He hastily apologizes, and Olive continues that the reindeer have been traveling in pairs, except for Rudolph. She concludes that studying where they have been may help them in predicting where they will go, and asks Santa if he has a world map they can use. He asks if Mrs. Claus likes boughs of holly (the answer is yes) and rolls one out for them. Olive says to put a grid on it, and Otto uses a gadget to do so. When Lloyd inquires what the lines are for, Olive explains that the coordinate system of the grid will assist them in plotting where the reindeer have been seen. Otto reads off the board that Dasher and Dancer were first spotted at coordinate 5H on the map. Olive finds the coordinate and gives a "Ding!" She explains that she likes that word for finding coordinates. They move on to the next coordinate, 5F.
In the tube lobby, O'Shea thanks Ms. O for trying his homemade Christmas cake, and adds that it means so much to him. It looks disgusting, and Ms. O starts to say she can't, but Oscar silently reminds her of what's at stake and she hurriedly makes her statement, "I can't wait to try it!" She eats a single spoonful of cake and almost gags, but tells O'Shea it's really good. He explains that he used six different kinds of worm. Ms. O drops her spoon and dashes off, calling for a bucket, but Oscar calls after her that she's doing well. He then tries some of the cake and inquires if worms were used. When O'Shea asks how he knew, Oscar informs him of his presence at the Great Worm War.
At the North Pole, all the coordinates for Dasher and Dancer are plotted. Olive points out that they seem to be moving in a square pattern. Otto concludes that the missing coordinate of the final square is 11H - France. Olive immediately gets on the Agent Ouellette in France. She reports that she has not seen Dasher and Dancer, and Olive responds to her in French. She notices them flying around the Eiffel Tower and goes silent. When she picks up again, she has caught them in her uniform's beret. Olive instructs her to use a Regrowinator on them and send them back through the tubes. As the group celebrates, Santa reminds everyone that seven more reindeer are still on the loose and says not to crack open the eggnog just yet. Otto runs in wearing a party hat and holding a carton of eggnog, then offers to put it back in the fridge. As Olive notes the awkwardness of the situation, Part One draws to a close.
Trivia []
- While Ms. O sends Christmas presents through the tubes, Oscar reads out the names of the families receiving them so that she knows where to send them. Two of the names that he reads are the Davis family and the Kyer family - the real last names of the actors in the scene (Millie Davis and Sean Michael Kyer).