| “ | Your super punches generate heat, and heat makes us divide. Got it? I can use you to make millions of me and take over the world! | ” |
"Too Many Crooks" is the first segment of the twenty-eighth episode of the first season of Hamster & Gretel, and the fifty-fourth episode overall. It is paired with "President Fred" and premiered on Disney Channel on November 11, 2023.[2]
While the rest of her class is having a school trip at the zoo, Gretel has to deal with a villain who can multiply herself. Gretel has to do it on her own, since Kevin and Hamster are sick.
Plot[]
During a school field trip to the zoo, Bailey is given the role of rule monitor, much to her delight. Gretel receives a notification that a villain is committing robberies around town. With Hamster and Kevin ill and Fred out of town, Gretel insists that she fight the villain alone. However, the villain, Mary Mitosis, is revealed to have given herself the power to multiply. Moreover, each time Gretel attempts to subdue Mary with her signature punches, the heat her punches generate causes her to multiply.
Mary realizes that she can use Gretel to create even more of her and take over the world so she tries to subdue Gretel and bring her back to her lab. Gretel tries to get away by flying but the Mary's climb on top of each other and manage to grab Gretel's leg and start pulling her down.
On the verge of giving up, Gretel realizes she must use her brain to come up with an "overly complicated plan" similar to Kevin's plans and asks Bailey to pull a lever that opens the roof of the polar bear enclosure, much to the chagrin of the zoo's tour guide. Gretel then drops the Mary duplicates into the polar bear enclosure, causing them to revert to one Mary, leading to her defeat.
Cast and characters[]
- Meli Povenmire as Gretel Grant-Gomez
- Priah Ferguson as Bailey Carter
- Debra Wilson as Mary Mitosis
- Michael Cimino as Kevin Grant-Gomez
- Beck Bennett as Hamster
- Lauren Tom as Ms. Jamanpour
- Liza Koshy as Veronica Hill
Additional voices[]
- Debra Wilson as Mary Clones
- Keith Ferguson as Inferior Scientist
- Liza Koshy as Therapist
- Raffael Ponce-Valencia as Zoo Worker
- Richie Moriarty as Tour Guide
Songs[]
Running gags[]
Super Punch[]
Gretel: QUADRUPLET PUNCH! |
News report[]
Veronica Hill: In an unusual move, superhero Gretel is working solo today, flying above us with what appears to be a giant ball of angry ladies. Reminds me of Christmas with my aunts. Back to you in the studio. |
Veronica Hill: Not only did you take down
the evil geneticist, but you did it alone. Wasn't that dangerous and risky? Gretel: It definitely was scary, and I almost gave up, but then I just stopped punching and started thinking. Kind of like someone really important taught me. Veronica Hill: So are you going solo from here on out? Gretel: No way! It's so much better saving the world with my awesome team. Bailey clears her throat Gretel: Which includes this young citizen right here. |
Imaginary floating head[]
Gretel: Oh, no, I can't fly, I can't punch... Maybe I can't do this alone. A floating head of Gretel appears Floating Gretel head: You can do this, Gretel. A second floating head of Gretel appears alongside the previous one Floating Gretel head 2: You just gotta think. A third floating head of Gretel appears. She appears to be enjoying some ice cream before looking at the other two floating heads and the actual Gretel. Floating Gretel head 3: Uh, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Gretel: You're right. I mean, I'm right. The three floating heads disappear |
Image scene transitions[]
(used to transition to the bank robbery)
(used to transition back to Gretel being held by the fifty copies of Mary)
Memorable quotes[]
Tour Guide: Any questions so far? Gretel: Yes. What's that lever for? Tour Guide: This lever here? Gretel: Yeah. Tour Guide: DO NOT PULL THIS LEVER! Ms. Jamanpour's class screams. Tour Guide: It opens the roof; air conditioning is expensive. Rule Fourteen. |
Kevin: (groans) Can you grab the remote? I feel like I was hit by a train. Hamster: I feel like I was dragged fourteen miles through a cactus patch, and then thrown into a wood chipper. Kevin: Uh, is that a yes or a no? Hamster: Don't force me to turn my head and glare at you with contempt. |
Mary: So you're the famous Gretel. Mary 2: You think you can fight all four of us... Mary 3: ...at the same... Mary 4: ...time? Gretel: Aw, you even finish each other's sentences! That'll be so cute... in jail! |
Kevin: (groans) This is exhausting! I feel like I just rolled down a mountain of jagged rocks into a pool of chopped jalapeños. Hamster: Well, I feel like I drank ten pounds of warm, clumpy milk, then got sucked into a black hole the size of a poppyseed. Kevin: Well, I feel like my brains were scooped out and put into a blender with some hot sauce and chili peppers, and fed to an overweight bullfrog with digestive issues, who then climbed back into my head with my brains in its stomach. Beat. Hamster: You don't know what that feels like. Kevin: Well, you don't know what the poppyseed thing feels like. |
Tour Guide: This is our last stop: the polar bear gift shop, where allowances come to die. |
After Bailey opens the roof to the polar bear enclosure. Tour Guide: NO!!! YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE, BAILEY! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BRING BALANCE TO THIS ZOO, NOT JACK UP ITS AIR CONDITIONING BILL! |
Tour Guide: YOU BETRAYED ME, CHOSEN ONE!!! Bailey: You're not my father! |
Transcript[]
Click here to read the full transcript of "Too Many Crooks".
Gallery[]
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| Click here to view the image gallery for Too Many Crooks. |
Background information[]
Trivia[]
- This is Churro's final appearance in Season 1.
- This is one of the last two episodes to premiere on Disney Channel alongside a new episode of The Ghost and Molly McGee, as both shows would premiere episodes separately from each other on said network until the latter show concludes it's run in 2024. The other episode being "President Fred".
Allusions[]
- The title may refer to the idiom "too many cooks spoil the broth", or "too many cooks spoil the soup"; which means that if too many people are involved in a specific task, then the end result will wind up in failure. The idiom is also referred shorthand to as "too many cooks", and many titles are named after this shorter version.
- Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary - The song Mary, Mary references this nursery rhyme in its lyrics.
- Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith - When Bailey is about to break the rules and pull the lever for the roof of the polar bear habitat and the zookeeper tries to prevent her from doing so, the conversation they have is paraphrased from the confrontation between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker (with a couple phrases replaces for the narrative) near the climax of this 2005 movie.
- Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back - At the end of the episode, when the zookeeper yells that Bailey betrayed him, Bailey yells back that he isn't her father, possibly referencing the famous line of Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker near the climax of this 1980 movie ("No, I'm your father"), which has been referenced and parodied multiple times in pop culture.
Errors[]
- In the second shot of Gretel being reeled in by Mary and her clones, Gretel's legs are mistakenly colored maroon.
References[]
| Previous: I Was a Teenage Mad Scientist |
Episodes | Next: President Fred |