"Wild Side" is the second segment of the thirty-ninth episode of Big City Greens.
Synopsis
Cricket's feral wild side takes over when Bill is unable to replicate their old camping trips.
Plot
Cricket and Remy are out punching cans when Bill calls them in for dinner. Cricket refuses to come in and begins acting wild and zany. Bill realizes that he has "the itch" and tells Remy that once a year, Cricket will star behaving erratically and that the only way to calm him is to take him camping out in the woods and away from "decent folk" so that Cricket can be himself for the night. Cricket agrees to be taken camping with Remy asking to go as well as he "[doesn't] get it" and wants to enjoy it like Cricket. However, Bill decides to have them camp in the backyard, which disappoints Cricket, and instead of building a fire Bill "neuters" it by using flashlights in its place. Cricket becomes enraged and animalistically escapes into the city. Bill and Remy have to get him back with Gramma Alice joining them under the condition that she get the TV to herself on Tuesday evenings.
Not long after they leave, Nancy and Tilly return home from spending time together and spot the makeshift camp setup in the backyard. They decide to have fun by making s'mores and telling ghost stories to one another with humorous results. Cricket, stripped down to his underwear and covered in mud, runs through Big City frightening civilians. As Bill stops to explain Cricket's condition to a lady, Cricket kidnaps Remy and takes him to Big City Park where he inducts him into being a feral child like him. Remy ends up taking to it just in time for Bill and Alice to catch up to them. The boys flee and come across a production of Romeo and Juliet (featuring Alexander as Romeo) and the boys wreck havoc on the stage.
Bill finally catches up to Cricket and admits that he wishes he can be wild and crazy like him, but that he is afraid of what other people will say about him. Cricket tells him to "do what make Bill happy" and Bill removes his shirt and swings over the audience as they all leave in disgust. As Nancy and Tilly wonder where the rest of the family is, they are amazed to see Bill, Cricket and Remy return covered in mud and acting wild. They join in as well as all five of them howl and cheer over an actual burning fire while Alice, who stripped naked, compliments her crazy family.
Cast
- Chris Houghton as Cricket Green
- Marieve Herington as Tilly Green
- Bob Joles as Bill Green
- Wendi McLendon-Covey as Nancy Green
- Artemis Pebdani as Gramma Alice
- Zeno Robinson as Remy Remington
- John Early as Alexander
Trivia
- This episode implies that Nancy might be claustrophobic, which may have been the result from her incarceration.
- Tilly begins her campfire story with "Picture if you will...", which was a common phrase used by Rod Serling for his series The Twilight Zone.
- The bystander who agrees with Cricket's behavior to the moon resembles Andrew Ryan from the video game BioShock.
- The phrase he says in response: "No kings or Gods. only Moon" is a reference to the same game.
- When Bill was unable to stop Cricket from escaping with Remy, Alice said: "Clever boy. (WISH HIS FATHER WAS MORE CLEVER!)", parodying Robert Muldoon's popular quote from Jurassic Park.
- This episode reveals that Alexander takes part in community theater with Terry, presumably, also having a hand in it as well.
- Bill once again displays his self-conscious worries about how Big City perceives him and his family.
- This is actually the second episode to imply nudity. The first one being "Swimming Fool".
- Irony: Bill could've just taken Cricket out of Big City into the woods as tradition.
- Gramma is the only character who did not get manipulated to be feral.
- Moral: Do want makes you happy, no matter what others may think.
International premieres
- February 2, 2020 (Canada)
- February 23, 2020 (Latin America)
- May 12, 2020 (Japan)
- June 26, 2020 (Southeast Asia)
- October 1, 2020 (Portugal)
