"The Clean Team" is the first segment of the eighth episode of Ariel. It premiered on June 28, 2024 alongside "Clamming Up" on Disney+ before making its Disney Jr. and Disney Channel premiere on August 2, 2024.
Plot
Ariel and Flounder wake up ready for for the day. They then hear King Triton singing about doing chores, which Ariel knows very well. Ariel and Flounder planned to play finball with Fernie and Lucia, but today is chores day. Triton states that the chore vortex is fun. He shows how it's done, and Ariel picks the card which contains cleaning a room, as always. Ariel and Flounder notice the mess. After Ariel mentions it, Triton states that no magic is needed to do chores, as it doesn't fix everything.
As Triton continues his chores, Ariel and Flounder clean up. Fernie and Lucia then arrive while playing finball. Ariel tells them that it's chore day and mentions everything that recently happened. Lucia and Fernie wonder if they can use magic to clean the room, but Ariel is unsure about it. She eventually accepts as she wants to play finball with the others. Lucia uses the ingredients and recites the spell to clean the room with a magic sponge. At first, things go great, but it starts to go too fast and makes things messier. It also puts too many toys in a treasure chest, which flings them all over.
Fernie has an idea of trapping the sponge with a flanker dooper, although it is just for decoration. He catches it at first, but the sponge splits into smaller sponges that escape with the others giving chase. Ariel and her friends need to split up before they make a mess in the palace. So far, they have no luck, even when Lucia pours an ice potion on a sponge, which sends it to Flounder. Lucia decides to stop using magic today. As Ariel continues the chase, King Triton almost notices. After a sponge wrecks a table and sends kelp soup all over Flounder, Ariel admits Triton was definitely right about not using magic to clean her room.
Fernie wonders if there is a way to get the sponges out the front door. Flounder wishes the sponges would try and clean him, as he is covered in kelp soup. This gives Ariel an idea. She, Fernie, and Lucia will get the sponges to chase and try to clean Flounder. Ariel then puts more decorations on Flounder before showing the sponges a big pile of toys they forgot to clean up, which are decorated on Flounder. He then swims away, and the other sponges follow him out of the palace. Meanwhile, King Triton is continuing his chores.
The sponges soon clean Flounder, who later tells Ariel and her friends what happened. Lucia apologizes for what happened, and Ariel recaps that King Triton warned her that magic doesn't fix everything. She would've cleaned her room by now if he just listened to him and cleaned up her room without using magic. Ariel decides to clean her room up herself, and Fernie, Lucia, and Flounder decide to help, as they can play finball some other time. They then call themselves the Clean Team. Soon, everything is back to normal just as King Triton arrives. Ariel tells him what happened, and he is so proud of her. Meanwhile, the sponges clean a squid.
Cast
- Mykal-Michelle Harris as Ariel
- Elizabeth Phoenix Caro as Lucia
- Cruz Flateau as Fernie
- Gracen Newton as Flounder
- Taye Diggs as King Triton
Song
- "Chores!"
