"The Way They Were" is the fifty-second episode of Pepper Ann. It aired on February 27, 2000.
Synopsis[]
Milo, Nicky, and Pepper Ann's latest argument causes the three to split up, while flashbacks show how the trio met up in the first place.
Plot[]
One day at school, Nicky pokes fun at Milo and Pepper Ann's failed science project, Milo makes some rather crude art of Pepper Ann and Nicky, and Pepper Ann has Milo and Nicky take part in a fundraising project that ends in disaster and gets all three of them in trouble. They argue at the Greezy 'n' Cheezy until they decide to end their friendship. Lydia is shocked to hear this as they have been friends for seven years since they moved back to Hazelnut. Throughout the episode, everyone wonders about their friendship as flashbacks set up their history.
Seven years ago, Pepper Ann and very pregnant Lydia arrive in Hazelnut and move into the duplex with Janie, still in her hippie phase, Jo Jo who has just entered the police force and their son Ned. After an encounter with Trinket and Cissy, Pepper Ann exclaims that she hates Hazelnut. In Kindergarten, Pepper Ann first meets Hickey, not yet a principal, before meeting a smartly dressed and calmer Milo who is always hiding and reading. She also meets Nicky, who wears a beanie and bullies the other kids, specifically Milo whom she loves to target.
When Lydia goes to the doctor, Pepper Ann runs away with Milo, but they run into Nicky. The girls get into an argument about their siblings and they go to Nicky's house where she realizes that her bullying is the result of pressure from her sister's success and asks that she go back down a grade. Nicky thanks them and gives her beanie to Milo who is empowered to be an artist. Lydia realizes that Pepper Ann ran away and goes into labor. Jo Jo finds them and Lydia gives birth with the help of Gerta Liederhosen, whose son Dieter, nicknames the baby Moose.
Back in the present, Pepper Ann, Milo and Nicky are called into Principal Hickey's office who knows that the incident was Pepper Ann's doing and orders her to be suspended. Milo and Nicky stand up for her, so Hickey suggests all three get suspended, but Pepper Ann defends them. Hickey finally gives them a janitorial punishment, with the three, now friends again, laughing it off as it is easily avoidable. In the last flashback, Pepper Ann and Nicky see Craig for the first time with Milo forced to drag them away.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Kathleen Wilhoite as Pepper Ann Pearson
- Jeff Bennett as Dieter Liederhosen, Shelf McClain (flashback only), Pink-Eye Pete (flashback only), Additional voices
- Danny Cooksey as Milo Kamalani
- Clea Lewis as Nicky Little
- Pamela Segall* (uncredited) as Moose Pearson (present only)
- April Winchell as Lydia Pearson, Abriola Stark (present only), Gerta Liederhosen (flashback only), Teacher (flashback only)
Additional voices[]
- Don Adams as Principal Hickey
- Cam Clarke as Stuart Walldinger (present only), Theater Patron
- Jim Cummings as Mr. Little (flashback only), Roland Carter (present only), French Man
- Paddi Edwards as Vera Groober-Schwartz (present only)
- Glenne Headly as Becky Little (flashback only)
- Tino Insana as Jo Jo Diggity (flashback only)
- Candi Milo as Constance Goldman, Nurse, 1st Graders*
- Kath Soucie as Cissy Rooney (flashback only), Muffy Appleseed, Mrs. Little (flashback only), 1st Graders*
- Cree Summer-Francks as Tessa and Vanessa James
- Susan Tolsky as Janie Diggity (flashback only)
- Jenna von Oÿ as Trinket St. Blair (flashback only), French Woman
* Marks an uncredited voice role
Other appearances[]
- Craig Bean (cameo in present; does not speak in flashback)
- Alf (present only; cameo)
- Cossie Van Tuttie (present only; cameo)
- Crying Girl (present only; cameo)
- Lamar Abu-Dabe (present only; cameo)
- Timid Boy (present only; cameo)
- Timmy (present only; cameo)
- Alter Ego (flashback only)
- Ned Diggity (flashback only; does not speak)
- Clowny Appleseed (flashback only; cameo)
- Gwen Mezzrow (flashback only; cameo)
- Wayne Macabre (flashback only; cameo)
- Chuck Pearson (mentioned in flashback)
- Dr. Goldfarm (mentioned in flashback)
- Lillian Lilly (mentioned in flashback)
- Leo Lilly (mentioned in flashback)
- Marie (mentioned in flashback)
- Ms. Ford (mentioned in flashback)
Desk Gag[]
(holding a plushie of herself) "A mini me!"
Goofs[]
- Early in the episode, Principal Hickey is briefly voiced by Jeff Bennett instead of Don Adams, presumably as a temp line.
- During the exterior of Hazelnut Elementary School, 7th and 8th grade students can be seen entering the school.
- When Moose's face is revealed following her birth, her teeth are miscolored pink (like Lydia's robe).
Trivia[]
General[]
- Pamela Adlon is uncredited for her single line as Moose Pearson.
- Vera, Mr. Carter, Ms. Stark, and Stuart are the only recurring characters to only appear in present day.
- In the French dub, the movie that Nicky and Stuart watch is in English with French subtitles, and the angry theater patron and Nicky speak English instead; between the two dubs, there are a few notable changes.
- Nicky calls the theater patron a "complainer" in her first line instead of when she retorts in English (where she calls him a little whiner" instead).
- The Theater Patron's French subtitles don't match with his actual dialogue; he calls Nicky a "cheeky girl" instead of a stupid girl, as per the French dialogue and English subtitles.
- Nicky's line is changed from "Ah, go climb the Eiffel Tower you little whiner!" to "Oh, leave me alone! Go and jump in the Eiffel!" with her subtitles roughly translating to "Leave me alone and get lost!"
- Ned Diggity is oddly not present for Moose's birth.
Continuity[]
- Going by production order, this episode would've been the series' introduction to Becky Little.
- Being that the series is set in 1997-98, the flashbacks in this episode most likely occurred in 1990-91.
- Nicky is revealed to have been a bully (albeit only briefly), and is shown with a tooth gap, in contrast to The Amazing Becky Little, which portrays her to be mild-mannered and nice.
- "The Amazing Becky Little" was produced after this episode, so it's likely that the latter's flashback was meant to occur prior to the events of this episode's flashbacks.
- In the episode's flashbacks:
- Clowny Appleseed is revealed to have a daughter (Muffy), and at one point, was homeless.
- Trinket is shown to be friends with Marie since kindergarten.
- Lamar Abu-Dabe is shown pulling Constance's pigtails, implying that he used to be her bully.
- Shelf McClain is shown to be cantankerous even as a kif, although ironically being upstaged by Nicky Little as the school bully. His strange "friendship" with Pink-Eye Pete is also foreshadowed.
- Pete is shown to have pinkeye far before Pepper Ann arrived at Hazelnut, which contradicts a later flashback in "Dear Debby".
- Ned inexplicably used to be friends with Wayne Macabre.
- Dieter moved to America with his mother in accordance with an obstetrician exchange program.
- Craig is similarly implied to be a new student, joining 1st grade after Nicky is assigned back to kindergarten, much to her chagrin.
- It's revealed that Pepper Ann's love of Fuzzy comes from her cousin Ned and Aunt Janie; they gave his collection of Fuzzy comics to her as he was growing out of them.
- Pepper Ann's use of "Fuzzy" as an exploitive also came from Aunt Janie.
- This episode reveals that Milo got his hat from Nicky, although "Crunch Pod" and "The Sellout" imply that his current hat is not that same one, despite sharing the same design.
- Milo gains his artistic personality after Nicky gave him her beanie. However, in "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Milo", he claims to have gotten inspired after visiting the supermarket with his mother and seeing the frozen foods section.
- Moose's nickname was inspired by Dieter's affection for chocolate Mousse, which Aunt Janie had brought for Lydia during birth.
- Said love for Mousse also influenced Dieter's sometimes-unhealthy admiration for American cuisine.
Allusions[]
- The title of this episode is a twist on the title of the 1973 film The Way We Were.
- Hickey's "ICE ICE" chain is a reference to the Vanilla Ice song, Ice Ice Baby.
- Pepper Ann tells Milo and Nicky "this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship," a famous line spoken in Casablanca.
- The funky disco music that plays during Craig's appearance in the ending is a homage to Yello's song Oh Yeah.
External links[]
