"The Unusual Suspects" is the 21st episode of the first season of Pepper Ann. It aired on January 17, 1998.
Plot
In this parody of hardboiled detective stories and The Usual Suspects, the Hazelnut Middle School Otter Statue is stolen, and Principal Hickey calls up Pepper Ann and four suspects to find out the truth.
Synopsis
The episode is present with a back and forth between the actual events and the characters imagining a black and white noir scenario. Pepper Ann addresses the audience with the story of The Case of the Missing Otter. The Hazelnut Middle School statue of their otter mascot has been stolen and Principal Hickey suspects Pepper Ann, Milo, Nicky, Trinket and Dieter as the suspects and has them all come in one by one to give their testimonies.
Dieter explains that Pepper Ann gave him a tip for his food column for the school paper. He heads to a pancake house where he encountered Gwen and danced with her. With a strong alibi, Trinket gives her testimony next. She had left cheer leading practice early when she encountered Pepper Ann who gave her a coupon for her mom's clothing store. When she got there she got into an argument with the cashier over the prices. Nicky explains her story next; she was in the lab when Pepper Ann left and discovered a formula for a special kind of Mildew. She got into a fight with Mr. Carter who planned on getting famous from it, but Nicky managed to eat the formula to hide it. Milo, Pepper Ann's last hope, reveals that he and Pepper Ann were supposed to meet at the Brain Dead Arcade, but she was arriving late. Milo ends up going on a hopeless search for a quarter which leads to him losing his money.
Pepper Ann finally goes in to give her testimony, but Hickey immediately assumes that Pepper Ann stole the otter; giving a lengthy and ludicrous explanation that involved her selling the otter to a big time crime lord. Just when he is about to throw the book at her, Vera comes in and reveals that Hickey had actually asked her to remove the otter so that she could clean it. Humiliated and embarrassed, Hickey lets Pepper Ann go free. Pepper Ann summarizes that not jumping to conclusions is the best way to find the truth and reveals that she is actually in detention for releasing frogs in the chemistry lab. As she tries to tell the story, the episode irises out with her trying to tell the viewer not to leave.
Cast
- Kathleen Wilhoite as Pepper Ann Pearson
- Jeff Bennett as Dieter Lederhosen, Mitch
- Danny Cooksey as Milo Kamalani
- Clea Lewis as Nicky Little
- Don Adams as Principal Hickey
- Jim Cummings as Roland Carter, News Stand Owner
- Paddi Edwards as Vera Groober-Schwartz
- Kimmy Robertson as Gwen Mezzrow
- Jenna von Oÿ as Trinket St. Blair
Trivia
- The note Vera hands Principal Hickey is dated 4/18/87 and signed Vice Principal Hickey, meaning Principal Hickey was originally the vice principal of Hazelnut Middle School.
- This episode's title is a twist on the title of the 1995 film The Usual Suspects.
