"A New Leaf" is the seventeenth episode of season two of the family sitcom Dinosaurs and the twenty-second episode overall.
Plot[]
After a nasty argument with his parents, Robbie goes for a walk in the woods to meet up with Spike and happens upon a strange plant along the way. Upon eating the plant, Robbie and Spike discover it makes them overly ecstatic. Robbie returns home and give some of the "happy plant" to his father, as well as Charlene. Soon the house is full of family bliss. But things are falling apart elsewhere. Earl gives some of the happy plant to his coworkers, then gets called into B.P. Richfield's trailer. Richfield has had it with Earl's ineptitude and terminates him. Earl takes the bad news as feeling like a great weight has been lifted from his shoulders and leaves some happy plant with Richfield.
The Sinclair residence is now a mess. Earl, Robbie, and Charlene are spaced out. Baby has been neglected. Fran comes home empty-handed whereas Baby protests he is thirsty. Fran says she could not acquire any food as the check bounced at the supermarket. Fran then went to the bank, where she learned the Sinclair's account has a zero balance as Earl's income dried up. Earl says he was fired and suggests they "live off of love". When Fran sees the happy plant is causing all this, she demands Robbie and Charlene sober up. As for Earl, she takes him to Wesayso to get him to beg to get hired.
Wesayso has become as lackadaisical as the Sinclair residence. Roy and the others are goofing around instead of working. One dinosaur named Ed feels everyone is conspiring against him, despite constant reassurance that no one wants to hurt anyone. Fran and Earl go into Richfield's trailer. Fran sees B.P. Richfield as a stoner, with colored horns who listens to acid rock. When Earl apologizes for his past misdeeds, Richfield is forgetful about the earlier termination and apologizes. Richfield proposes a new job; hang around here like the other guys and just chill and get money for nothing. Just then the general manager of Wesayso calls. Richfield says he has been terminated for lack of productivity. He reacts to this by saying "Bummer". Fran has had it and takes Baby to live with Monica.
As Earl, Robbie and Charlene sober up, they hastily head back to the woods to get more of the happy plant. They find Spike wallowing in filth and singing to himself. The three realize that this is what happened to them when they became addicted to the plant and decide to finally give it up for good. While Robbie and Charlene suggest burning the plant, Earl suggests that it remain as it is to remind others to ween off temptation. This is immediately followed by the family, including Fran, burning the plant anyway.
The whole episode is revealed to have been a filmed PSA special with the Sinclairs, still in character, as actors and with Robbie addressing the audience. The message at the end starts off as an anti-drug message, but quickly turns into an anti-anti-drug special message with Robbie informing the audience to stop taking drugs so that Dinosaurs and other sister sitcoms don't have to make drug specials that shove the message down people's throats.
Trivia[]
- In the Portuguese version, an instrumental version of "It's a most unusual day" is played.
- This episode is currently not available on Disney+. The episode deals with drug addiction (particularly with a leaf that is meant to be a stand in for cannabis) and it was most likely not included due to the rather strong message.
- When Fran takes Baby to stay with Monica, Baby tells Earl, "This is your brain on the leaf," before hitting him over the head again with a frying pan. He then adds, "Any questions?" This is a nod to the famous drug commercial depicting an egg on a frying pan and the narrator stating, "This is your brain. This is your brain on crack. Any questions?"
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