"The Sellout" is the first segment of the thirty-fifth episode of Pepper Ann. It aired on February 13, 2000.
Synopsis
Nicky regrets giving her last ticket to an upcoming Flaming Snot concert to Pepper Ann, and the ensuing fight tears apart their friendship.
Plot
Pepper Ann, Milo and Nicky feel that they have not hung out in a long time and wait in line to get tickets to a Flaming Snot concert. Milo and Nicky end up getting the last two tickets before they are sold out, leaving Pepper Ann devastated. She goes to Lydia to ask Mick Snot, whom she knew as Harry Schitzer in college, but supposedly gets into an argument over the phone with the operator (who claims that Mick's in the bathroom) and hangs up on them. Having lost all hope of getting a ticket from Lydia, Nicky politely offers her ticket to Pepper Ann since she is a bigger fan. Pepper Ann gratefully accepts her ticket, leaving Nicky at a loss for words; she had just meant it as a gesture of good will. She decided not to tell her after seeing how happy it made Pepper Ann.
Later that day at the Greezy N' Cheezy, Nicky is left distraught with her choice, not helping when PA gossips about the spectacles the concert may offer (including a performance from the Hazelnut Junior Orchestra). Milo attempts to change the conversation by complimenting her salad, but when Pepper Ann asks to try some, Nicky becomes curt and gives her the whole salad and her schoolbooks; Milo swiftly prevents an attempt from Nicky of taking her shirt off in public to give to Pepper Ann. This only just gets Pepper Ann to realize that Nicky never wanted to give her ticket away, as she calls her out for not getting the hint. PA passive-aggressively offers her ticket back, but she refuses the ticket due to her insincerity and resentment behind the gesture. Milo decides to take it instead to give to Gwen Mezzrow, since neither Pepper Ann nor Nicky seemed to want it.
The next day, Milo finds Gwen and attempts to present her the surprise, but Nicky creates a distraction for Gwen as Pepper Ann replaces the tickets with an envelope full of banana peels; Gwen is sickened by this, as she is allergic to potassium, and storms out, leaving Milo to slip on the banana peel. Milo confronts them outside leading to all three friends attempting to scheme and backstab each other into getting the remaining tickets. After PA successfully gaslights Nicky and Milo into distrusting each other, they both give their tickets away to Dieter, preferring to be ticketless than go to a concert with a conniving backstabber. Pepper Ann lies in bed, still upset with her friends, when her Alter Ego convinces her that their friendship is worth more than some tickets. She begins to reminisce about her friends, admits to being selfish and wants to go back to being friends.
The next day, Dieter holds interviews for students to get his tickets. Meanwhile, Pepper Ann's apology to Nicky and Milo is short-lived after realizing both of them still care more about getting their tickets back from Dieter. Pepper Ann resorts to bribery to get the tickets from Dieter herself, soon followed by Nicky and Milo; Dieter swears off the tickets, enraged by the chaos brought in their wake, and throws them down the garbage chute. Pepper Ann, Nicky, and Milo, not learning their lesson, go down the chute themselves in search for the tickets, only to learn Ernie the Janitor found them first, who is most excited about spending the day with his best friend. Only then do the three come to their senses, realizing they'd been horrible to each other and make amends. Pepper Ann laments how they went crazy over Mick Snot; Meanwhile, Lydia has left numerous angry messages on Mick's answering machine, still upset with him for not leaving an answer.
Cast
Main cast
- Kathleen Wilhoite as Pepper Ann Pearson
- Jeff Bennett as Dieter Liederhosen, Ernie the Janitor, Ticketman
- Danny Cooksey as Milo Kamalani, Shamus On-You-Us*
- Clea Lewis as Nicky Little
- April Winchell as Lydia Pearson, Operator
* Marks an uncredited voice role
Additional voices
Other appearances
- Alter Ego
- Alf (cameo)
- Alice Kane (cameo)
- Caricature Couple (cameo)
- Constance Goldman (cameo)
- Cossie Van Tuttie (cameo)
- Crying Girl (cameo)
- Dieter's Friends (cameo)
- Lamar Abu-Dabe (cameo)
- Little Girl (cameo)
- Noah (cameo)
- Pimply Boy (cameo)
- Skater Boy (cameo)
- Surfer Boy (cameo)
- Timid Boy (cameo)
- Timmy (cameo)
- Tommy (cameo)
- Yassir (cameo)
- Fanny (mentioned)
Desk Gag
"Cool, a singing Dieter doll!"
Trivia
General
- This episode is also referred to as "The Sell-Out" on some guide listings.
- Nicky almost pulling off her shirt in public would've been the second flashing incident involving the main trio, following the trampoline incident.
- The third instance (second going by broadcast order) would be from "The First Date Club," where Pepper Ann pulls off either her or Milo's shorts, flashing her gym class once again.
- Going by package order, this is the first time we see Nicky get chased by a swan (as seen in Pepper Ann's flashback).
- Going by broadcast/production order, "You Oughta Be in Musicals!" would be the first instance of this occurring.
Continuity
- Pepper Ann recalls the events of "Snot Your Mother's Music" in an attempt to convince her mother to call Mick Snot.
- Gwen is shown to be slightly better at reciprocating Milo's affection, that is until Pepper Ann and Nicky ruin it for him.
- Gwen states that she is allergic to potassium, something Milo was also aware of; in spite of this, she had been shown eating a banana previously in "The Wash-Out".
- A flashback reveals that Pepper Ann and Nicky gave Milo a new hat for his birthday.
- According to "Crunch Pod," Milo claims he found his current hat in a dumpster.
- In the flashback episode "The Way They Were," Nicky is shown to have worn the hat in kindergarten during her stint as a bully before giving it to him.
- One of the flashbacks involves a swan chasing Nicky up a tree at Lupkin Park; she had mentioned this incident in prior episodes.
Allusions
- Dieter mentions Rita Moreno after Nicky and Milo give their tickets to him, even quoting a lyric from the song "America" from "West Side Story".
