"Family Tree" is the first segment of the eighty-seventh episode of Big City Greens.
Synopsis
While Bill is intent on beating early morning traffic, Tilly stays in a tree and soon her whole family wants to join her.
Plot
At an incredibly early time in the morning, Bill excitedly wakes his family so that they can beat the traffic back to Big City. Cricket is still groggy, Gramma Alice reluctantly cooperates, and Nancy does not have enough time to say anything as she has to get to work on the farm. As Bill is preparing to leave, he suddenly realizes that Tilly is not with them. He finds her sitting up in a tree and ask that she come down, but she refuses, instead insisting on staying up and enjoying the view. Bill becomes agitated as he wants to get back to the city before the traffic gets worse, as it progressively does so throughout the episode.
Bill asks Cricket to go up into the tree to get Tilly down, something that he finds bizarre. As Cricket climbs the tree, Tilly convinces him to relax in it and he finds himself enjoying the sturdiness of the branches. Cricket refuses to come down now and Bill gets angry. He begs Nancy to go up there and get them, voicing her stress about the work she needs to complete, but Tilly hands her an apple, quenching her hunger and she relaxes with them. Bill finally calls upon Alice to go and get them, forcing her to use her anger, but when Alice climbs the tree she is reminded of the smell of her youth and decides to also relax in the tree, leaving Bill furious; he soon discovers the GPS now shows fat chance of making it back before traffic.
His plans ruined, Bill, finally having had enough of the procrastination, declares that he will cut the tree down using his car keys, but Tilly stops him and tells him that he needs to stop and listen because he is too stressed out and ask that he simply climb the tree. Bill reluctantly does so, noticing all the things that Cricket, Nancy, and Alice picked up on upon climbing and reaches the very top with Tilly. He sees the sun rising in the distance and finally understands why the tree is so important: it is the same tree he grew up with in his youth. All the Greens climb to the very top of the tree and witness the sun rise as they sing together, basking in the warm glow.
Cast
- Chris Houghton as Cricket Green
- Marieve Herington as Tilly Green
- Bob Joles as Bill Green
- Artemis Pebdani as Alice Green
- Wendi McLendon-Covey as Nancy Green
Trivia
- This episode reveals that the traffic between Smalton and Big City tends to get rough during the day.
- Despite earlier being established that Nick Mulligan lives with Nancy now, he is not seen at all in the episode.
- The way the Greens discover and relax in the tree is akin to the five human senses:
- Tilly: Hearing (Listening to the wind and nature's symphony)
- Cricket: Touch (Feeling the soft branches)
- Nancy: Taste (Eating the apples)
- Alice: Smell (Smelling the apple blossoms and getting a burst of memory)
- Bill: Sight: (Looking out to the sunrise and the view from the treetop)
- Morals:
- Sometimes it's good to relax for a while.
- Take time to look at the bigger picture instead of only one detail.
International premieres
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