"Penny Potter" is the forty-first episode of The Proud Family.
Synopsis[]
At 3:30 in the morning, Oscar awakens Penny, Trudy, Suga Mama, Puff and the twins to watch a commercial promoting Proud Snax, much to their disorientation. After Oscar gets a prank call from his own mother, the screen on the television switches to a commercial promoting a telekinesis mind blower starter kit, advertised by Suga Mama’s older sister and Penny’s great aunt Spice, who has the ability to move objects with her thoughts. She is coming in to town to do a show at the Wiz Arena later on in the week. Suga Mama, however, is less than thrilled.
After school, Penny and her friends go over their year books and Zoey is shocked to discover that LaCienega’s picture is over her own. Because of this, she falls into an identity crisis, believing that she doesn’t exist and there is nothing special about her. At the Proud Family’s house, the gang sees a limousine…belonging to Aunt Spice herself. With her, is her pint-sized assistant Shaza who has a habit of using his own name as a verbal tic. She is introduced to the rest of Penny's friends and takes an interest in the despondent Zoey. She also comes into the house to meet up with Oscar, who is her favorite nephew, along with Trudy and the twins. Oscar offers Spice to stay over at his house and she uses her telekinetic abilities to forcefully remove Suga Mama from the premises. In return, Trudy and Oscar go over to Suga Mama's house to apologize, only for Suga Mama, who has been working out, to punch her son in revenge. Trudy, however, is more curious to know why Suga Mama doesn't like Spice and the older woman lets loose all of the resentment she had held in Spice's life, saying that everyone, even her own parents paid more attention to her (“They didn’t even know I existed,” finishes Suga Mama). Oscar quickly recovers and bolts out of the house, but not before Suga Mama warns Trudy that Spice "ain’t nice like my boys” and that she is an evil woman who is not to be trusted.
Later on Spice invites Penny's friends over for a demonstration of her powers being passed on to another. She chooses Zoey and gives her a brain activator, which looks more like a rock, and she uses it float Penny into the air. With her confidence restored, Zoey fully accepts her new position as Spice's apprentice. Spice then breaks the bad news to Oscar that Wizard Kelly bumped her from the Wiz Arena for a Sir Paid a Lot concert. Oscar offers Spice to perform at the Proud Snacks Factory parking lot, who in turn, offers him ten percent of the gate, along with covering advertisement, security and a small appearance fee. Unbeknownst to Oscar and the rest of the Prouds, Spice has ulterior motives: She and Shaza plan to swindle Oscar out of his money and bilk town.
Penny invites her schoolmates to see Spice’s show, but one boy is skeptical of Zoey’s powers. Luckily Spice comes to the rescue and gives her a brain activator. She lifts the boy into the air and with the crowd convinced, Spice encourages the kids to tell their parents about her show. Spice manages to seduce the entire town to see the show, which instigates an investigation from Wizard Kelly when he and Sir Paid a Lot notice that the concert hall is empty. Wizard Kelly searches the entire town, finding no one but Suga Mama and Bobby in a movie theater. Bobby tells him about Spice’s show and the trio decide to put a stop to things. At the show, things are going smoothly for Spice until the Wizard and Suga Mama arrive to tell the audience that they have been tricked. He then offers a one million dollar wager that Zoey cannot lift a single football by herself. Spice makes her exit, leaving Zoey and the brain activator. She meets up with Shaza at the parking lot and they hastily load the box office into the trunk of her limo just as the crowd begins to figure out that Zoey is “a zero.” (It is implied that the brain activator really was a rock after all and that Spice had been using her telekinetic abilities to create the illusion that Zoey had been doing it herself.)
Suga Mama eventually confronts Spice and she is shocked to find out that Spice never liked Oscar in spite of his claims. After she refuses to move, Suga Mama and Spice engage in a battle in which the younger sister uses the lid of a trash can to deflect the older’s powers back on to her. After Suga Mama gives her sister a well-deserved thrashing, Spice and Shaza make an off-screen retreat and she and Oscar reconcile.
A pre-credits scene reveals that Spice has left town according to a newspaper and has been exposed as a charlatan. In the meantime, Zoey has been giving autographs to her fans, finally getting the attention she deserved.
Notes[]
- The episode title is a play on Harry Potter.
- Sista Spice's infomercial is a parody of those done by notorious psychic Miss Cleo, who was later sued for fraud and spoke with a fake Jamaican accent.
External Links[]