Synopsis

When Agent Ori's first day on the job turns into a worst case scenario, with him accidentally releasing the Centigurps, other Odd Squad agents share their own 'worst first day ever' stories and help him catch all the Centigurps.

Learning Goal

Numbers and Operations: partitioning and dividing, adding and subtracting

Plot

Otto and Olive are helping several people at headquarters with odd problems when they encounter a man whose head has turned into a beach ball. Otto immediately assumes that is the issue, but Olive points out that the man’s real problem is actually his tentacle feet. Before they can investigate further, they meet Agent Ori, a brand-new recruit on his very first official day at Odd Squad. Excited and eager to help, Ori proudly introduces himself and announces that his favorite color is blue. Ms. O reminds him that he is supposed to be taking a container of Centigurps down to storage instead of stopping to chat. As Ori leaves with the container, Olive suddenly realizes they forgot to warn him not to open it. Otto confidently insists that Ori seems far more responsible than he is, so everything should be fine.

Unfortunately, everything is not fine. While carrying the container through headquarters, Ori becomes curious and opens it slightly to peek inside. He immediately thinks the tiny creature inside looks adorable. Just then, scientist Odelia rushes around the corner and warns him to close the container immediately. She explains that the creature is a Centigurp, a species that multiplies into one hundred copies if exposed to light for too long. Before Ori can react, the single Centigurp instantly clones itself into one hundred identical creatures. Panicking, Ori worries that Ms. O is going to fire him. Odelia calmly introduces herself and explains that she is temporarily replacing Oscar while he participates in a lab-director exchange program with a Japanese family. She tells Ori the only solution is to round up all one hundred Centigurps and contain them before they spread through headquarters.

The two head to Odenbacker’s workshop to collect storage boxes. Odenbacker reluctantly agrees to help, though he complains that Oscar never returned the last boxes he borrowed. Ori asks how many Centigurps each box can hold. Odenbacker explains that the largest boxes can hold 20 each. To help Ori figure out how many boxes are needed, Odelia uses one hundred jacks to represent the creatures. She divides them into groups of 20, showing that five boxes will hold all one hundred Centigurps. Odenbacker hands over five boxes, and Odelia gives Ori his first clue: Centigurps are attracted to spheres. She suggests checking the ballroom first.

Ori successfully captures enough Centigurps to fill three boxes, meaning he has already caught sixty of them. However, while watching people dance in the ballroom, he becomes distracted. During that moment, two of the boxes are accidentally crushed by one of Owen’s machines. Frustrated, Ori groans that this is the worst first day ever. Owen disagrees and immediately begins describing his own terrible first day at Odd Squad, which involved recurring nightmares about accidentally leaving a creature door open. After insisting Ori’s situation is not nearly as bad, Owen offers to help him get replacement boxes.

Back at Odenbacker’s workshop, Ori learns that only smaller boxes remain. These new boxes hold eight Centigurps each. Since the destroyed boxes contained forty escaped Centigurps altogether, Owen uses forty jacks to help Ori calculate how many replacement boxes are needed. Dividing the forty jacks into groups of eight results in five groups, meaning Ori will need five new boxes.

Armed with more containers, Ori heads to the basketball room after realizing basketballs are spheres too. This time, he only brings three boxes inside and leaves the others safely on a cart outside. Or so he thinks. When Ori returns, he discovers the remaining boxes have been destroyed again. He dramatically declares that his first day has somehow become even worse. At that moment, Orchid appears and casually tells Ori that his day still is not as bad as hers. She explains that she accidentally destroyed the boxes after politely asking them to move out of her way. Confused, Ori points out that this literally just happened moments ago. Trying to help, Orchid gives Ori three choices: she can apologize, help him, or take him to a movie. Ori quickly decides that help would probably be the most useful option.

The pair return to Odenbacker one final time. Unfortunately, the only containers left can hold five Centigurps each. Ori now needs to replace two destroyed 8-capacity boxes, meaning 16 Centigurps are still loose. Using sixteen jacks, Ori groups them into sets of five. The groups fill three boxes completely, but one extra Centigurp remains. Orchid points out that they can simply use a fourth box for the final creature, even if the box is mostly empty. Impressed, Odenbacker gives Ori four additional boxes along with another cart. Now down to the final sixteen Centigurps, Ori tries to think of every sphere-shaped location left in headquarters. He has already checked the ballroom, basketball room, and even the gumball machine. Suddenly, Orchid remembers that Ms. O ordered matzo ball soup for lunch. The matzo balls are spheres.

Horrified, Ori rushes to Ms. O’s office and discovers her completely covered in Centigurps. Nervously, he admits that he opened the containment unit earlier. To his surprise, Ms. O is not angry, since every Odd Squad agent has made the exact same mistake — including Otto and even Ms. O herself when she was an agent. In fact, she jokes that failing to open the container at least once would almost make Ori less official. Relieved, Ori joins Ms. O in gathering the final Centigurps. Together, they successfully recapture all one hundred creatures.

Back in the lab, Odelia asks Ori whether he wants to combine the Centigurps back into one creature. Excited, Ori reaches for a blue button on the machine, but Odelia quickly warns him not to press it. Instead, she instructs him to use the red button. Ori presses the red button, instantly restoring the one hundred Centigurps into a single creature. Odelia congratulates him on surviving his first day as an agent. Curious, Ori then asks what the blue button does. Before anyone can stop him, he presses it. Alarms immediately blare throughout headquarters. Ms. O hears the sirens and instantly realizes Ori pushed the blue button. Hoping this is somehow another first-day tradition, Ori nervously asks whether every new agent does that too. Ms. O bluntly replies, “No.” Seconds later, headquarters begins warping and distorting around them, forcing everyone to evacuate in panic.

Far away in Japan, Oscar happily thanks his host family for dinner when his badge phone suddenly rings. After listening for a moment, he sighs heavily and asks one simple question: “What did Agent Ori do now?” Realizing he needs to return immediately, Oscar excuses himself from dinner and begins preparing for an emergency trip back to headquarters — and possibly for another new pair of shoes.

Trivia

• According to the Facebook page, it is the sister episode of "The Trouble with Centigurps".
• It aired on September 2, 2015, though on some stations it aired on July 22nd.
• It is revealed that the blue button is used for sounding emergencies.
• This is the third time an agent has ever opened the Centigurp Box and released the Centigurps. This time, it's Ori's turn.
  • In addition, it is revealed that every agent in the squad, including Ms. O, has opened the Centigurp Box, and that not doing so is potential grounds for being fired.
• Otto says that Ori is more responsible than him, but it turns out Otto is more responsible than him.
• Odenbacker's mention of Oscar not returning the Centigurp boxes he loaned to him is a callback to "The Trouble with Centigurps", when Otto opened the Centigurps and Oscar had to get Centigurp boxes to catch all of them.
• The scene where Owen says to Odenbacker, 'Do I amuse you?! Am I a clown to you?!' is a reference to a famous scene from the 1990 film Goodfellas.

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