A Journey Into the Deep and an Attempt to Save the Mutants Take Center Stage (Literally) in This Week’s “StuGo”
The kids go into the deep and discover that they aren’t the only ones doing meaningless tasks on the island, before being tasked with an important job - saving all the mutants on the island - on this week’s StuGo!
Deep Trent
The kids have discovered a mysterious tube sticking out of the water while they are nearby helping Lullah clean up a submarine. Merian is, of course, hoping this will get them a better job on the island with more responsibilities, but the other kids are too busy dropping things down into this tube, including gummy bears and scorpions.
While they are noting what the tube doesn’t like and does like, they are arguing with Merian explaining that the submarine job - like so many others - is simply busy work to keep them out of her hair for the day.
So, Merian strikes a deal that if they help clean the sub, they’ll go down beneath the surface and investigate the mysterious tube.
Far in the depths, the kids discover how dark it truly is beneath the sea and turn on some exterior lights attached to the sub, revealing a human in a diving suit square in the center of the window that terrifies them all. In fact, it scares them so bad that Francis immediately jumps into an escape pod (the only escape pod) and leaves the other kids alone screaming in the sub, firing torpedoes at the other human.
Of course everything is destroyed and the kids find themselves in an underwater lab with the mysterious woman, who we come to learn is named Mariana Trent.
We have lots of questions from the jump and even moreso when we learn that she too was on the island and hired by Dr. Lullah who gave her the task of sitting down under the sea and counting fish - despite holding actual degrees in Marine Biology. She clearly has been down there for years (LOTS of questions) and we also learn that the mysterious tube is her breathing apparatus ... so those scorpions probably weren’t too pleasing at the other end.
Merian is a bit disheartened after discovering Mariana, as this proves that the other kids were right in that Lullah only cares about pushing the kids away with meaningless tasks and wasting their potential.
Still, Merian brings Mariana back to the surface with the kids, and argues with Lullah about the underwater fish counting job. Instead, this presentation leads to the firing of Mariana, who actually enjoyed her counting fish job, PLUS! She thought the fish were traveling in some kind of code that she was so close to figuring out!
Merian once again goes back to Lullah, complete with presentation boards, to get Mariana’s job back and instead finds herself in the position now, deep below the surface and counting fish. While she is down there, she too notices a pattern in the fish, and takes it back to the still-unemployed Mariana up on the surface, who is still longingly counting her goldfish crackers (which were also her severance package).
They compare their findings and discover that there is a code, and we the viewer are treated to a short scene where we see different Mermen who are sending the fish to each other as part of a morse code-esque language that they two decode, discovering a plot to attack those on the surface. The news is then brought to Lullah, who clearly has a past with the Mermen, and she braces for attack on the shore. When the Mermen show up, Merian and Mariana get in between the fighting to find a peaceful resolution using those crackers to speak the same language, realizing all they wanted was to have Lullah stop dumping toxic waste into the ocean. As a thank you, Lullah offers Mariana and Merian any job on the island that they want, which sees Mariana return to the undersea lab, and Marian become the “Tube Manager," sending food down to Mariana as we saw at the beginning of the episode - though this time, no scorpions.
Disaster Play
It’s tea time with Dr. Lullah and Mr. Okay and they want some very fresh honey. As such, they are reaching for one of the island’s giant beehives to get the best of the best. This is the very start of the episode, so you know something has to set up the next 11 minutes, so when two attempt to retrieve the hive off the tree, it accidentally slingshots through the sky and lands in the crater of the island’s volcano, where we see not only essentially plug up the volcano, but simultaneously heat the giant hive and anger all the bees within. Disaster is imminent.
This volcano looms over the Mutant Market and neighborhood, and the mutants are all completely oblivious to the danger that lies in wait. However, Lullah has a bit of a past when it comes to destroying the mutant towns unintentionally, so she takes the kids and asks that they figure out a way to warn the mutants of the “hot hive" that is only hours away from destroying their village.
But how? Through an informative play, of course! Francis did this previously at her school, so it’s bound to work here as well, right? Everybody is taking some kind of role in the production, with Sara headlining and Pliny directing, but much to everyone’s surprise, Merian is ready to be Sara’s understudy. This is a bit out of character for Merian, who typically has no interest in acting because it’s another form of lying. However, she recently found a book in the dirt pile - “How to Act using the SPEB Method."
She shows off some of the techniques, including Projecting and using Broad Gestures, much to the other kids chagrin as they already can tell this isn’t going to go well considering how terrible her acting is. However, they continue with their plan. Chip is setting up large amounts of fireworks, and Larry is working on the sound while Francis is setting up the rigging for high intensity wire-fights. All of which are needed for an informative play, I guess.
Time is ticking and the Hot Hive is nearly ready to explode, so the play must go on. The kids are fully set up with a nice stage just outside of the mutant gates, but they need to attract an audience to get the word out. Finally, it’s some of Chip’s fireworks that get some fighting mutants to look their way.
Finally, a full crowd is watching their play, but the message of impending doom is completely lost. Sara, dressed as a dinosaur next to a clock, seems to have a bit of a message before she takes off in the wire fighting rig and spins into a set piece, knocking herself out. As one could predict, this means that the understudy must take over with Merian coming to fill in with her SPEB method acting. It seems to be appealing to all of the mutants except for one Chimp-like mutant who is getting more and more agitated with the performance. Pliny is holding Merian’s book and wipes more dirt off the cover, revealing that the book is actually titled “How NOT to Act Around Chimps If You Want To Live." Chaos reigns as the chimp charges the stage and knocks over the backdrop - revealing to the audience the hot hive that is ready to burst at any moment - something that was completely forgotten about by the children - sending the mutants into a panic and running back into their village.
The Hot Hive erupts and a giant wave of boiling lava and honey is rushing toward the village, but fortunately, picks up the stage in the flow and presses it upright against the gates of the village, protecting it. The kids have also survived, climbing high above the flow on Francis’ wirefighting crane. In the distance, we see Dr. Lullah in a flying machine with Mr. Okay, descending quickly to get the fresh honey for her tea, before rapidly getting out of there. Why?
The swarm of angry bees! We forgot about those! As did everyone else…
This episode of StuGo is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW website. It, along with other StuGo episodes, will arrive on Disney+ later this spring.