"Present Tense" is the 36th episode of Season 2 and the 94th episode overall of Big City Greens.
Synopsis[]
Cricket struggles to get the best birthday present for Remy, but keeps ruining their fun together in the process.
Plot[]
The Greens are at Snuggly Pete's House of Pizza to celebrate Remy's birthday. Immediately, Cricket wants to spend time with Remy, Gramma is uninterested in all the games, and Tilly and Bill go off to play games.
When Cricket presents Remy's present to Vasquez, he is surprised by the amount of gifts he has compared to the meager bouncy ball than the bouncy ball he got Remy. Seeing this, Cricket is determined to get Remy the best present, a giant stuffed T. rex. However, it costs 10,000 tickets, so Cricket gets to work.
Meanwhile, Gramma is walking past the ball pit when she hears a mother asking for help, for her son Brian has gone deep inside and has never gone out since. Hearing the mother say "lost" triggers flashbacks from the war, where Gramma was never willing to leave a man behind. Using that as her mantra, she goes into the playground.
As Kiki looks in wonder at the stuffed plushies, Tilly and Bill look around for games to play. Tilly encounters a whack-a-mole machine, and immediately falls in love with the "moles", kissing each of them as they go up. Meanwhile, Cricket and Remy are dancing tango with each other. Remy is having fun, but Cricket is more concerned about the tickets; Remy tells him they don't get tickets from the game. Remy suggests to get a photo of a kawaii version of themselves taken at a nearby photo booth, but Cricket refuses, for it does not give tickets out either. Turning his eye into a nearby section of the arcade that promises tickets, Cricket pulls Remy into working to get tickets before gift time.
Gramma has made it into the playground; she comments it is "like a jungle in this jungle gym". Soon afterwards, she encounters a girl snacking on pudding. When Gramma inquires her about Brian, the girl is shocked by the mention of his name and points Gramma towards "no-kids land". The girl issues a warning: "You don't wanna go there. Someone ate too much pizza, and... you know." She loudly begs Gramma to not take her back in there. She doesn't and decides to give the girl a spoonful of pudding; Gramma bravely steps into the unknown.
Cricket and Remy are hard at work earning the 10,000 tickets, to the point Cricket doesn't notice Remy is becoming exhausted. While doing this, Cricket notices another large gift hauled in by Remy's parents. Now desperate to get the gift on time, Cricket decides to go up to the skee-ball targets himself and throws them in there, ignoring Remy telling him that it's cheating. As Cricket continues to insert the balls into the smallest target, Remy looks back at the photo booth, where two best friends are overjoyed.
Tilly continues to play peekaboo with the mole, but Bill decides to start playing properly, traumatizing Tilly into launching at him. When Tilly asks him what he's doing, Bill explains the moles are a farmer's worst enemy. He then continues to whack the mole repeatedly, causing Tilly to explain "Who are you...?"
Cricket and an exhausted Remy are playing a virtual-reality mouse simulator. Cricket gets more tickets than Remy. Cricket pulls Remy into more games, but notices Remy is now very exhausted. Cricket puts him on the pony ride and leaves him to get more tickets, much to Remy's dismay.
As Gramma enters the "no kids' land", a bridge surrounded by a large ballpit below them, she notices a completely deranged kid - Brian - acting as if he's the "king of the jungle". Gramma attempts to tame him, but her attempts are futile as Brian's toy bites off one of the straps holding the bridge together.
Tilly continues to watch in horror at Bill whacking the moles; this is until she unplugs the machine. Tilly explains her rationale, and Bill explains his. Cricket is about to ask Tilly for tickets, but she shushes him. As Bill plugs the machine back in, it produces tickets, to Cricket's surprise. A plan has hatched: should he turn off the power to the entire place, all the machines should spew out tickets, allowing him to get 10,000 tickets in a short while. This is when Rashida announces to gather around Remy's table; Cricket now has to do it swiftly. A saddened Remy notices Bill and Tilly walk in. When he asks where Cricket is, they don't know.
Entering a staff-only room, Cricket shuts off power to the entire place and turns it back on again. This has adverse effects around the place, even the no-kids' land; as Brian is momentarily distracted, Gramma pulls him down and they fall into the ballpit together. As the others sing "Happy Birthday" to Remy, Cricket goes full-speed on collecting all the tickets, allowing him to amass 10,000 in time, and gets the stuffed T. rex. As he rushes back to Remy's table as the song ends, Cricket doesn't notice a wet floor sign and trips on it, ruining Remy's cake and starting the sprinklers. Remy, depressed his birthday is ruined, goes under the table.
Under the table, a depressed Remy reveals he doesn't care about the T. Rex and his other birthday presents and only wanted to spend time with Cricket, as this was the first time he got to spend his birthday with a best friend. Cricket apologizes to Remy for ditching him, and decides to make up for it by doing everything Remy wants to do, even the kawaii photo booth; this inspires Tilly and Bill to go play a different game, more specifically air hockey. Gramma is able to fish Bryan out of the playground just in time for his dental appointment. The episode ends with a montage of photos Cricket and Remy got at the kawaii photo booth.
Cast[]
| Main article: Present Tense and Hurt Bike/Credits |
- Chris Houghton as Cricket Green, Kawaii Photo Booth Boys
- Marieve Herington as Tilly Green, Yogurt Girl, Worried Mother
- Bob Joles as Bill Green
- Artemis Pebdani as Alice Green
- Zeno Robinson as Remy Remington
- Lorraine Toussaint as Rashida Remington
- Colton Dunn as Russell Remington, Game Sargant
- Danny Trejo as Vasquez
- Monica Ray as Kiki
- Luke Lowe as Benny, Bryan
Additional voices[]
- Shane Houghton as Flashback Soldier, Janitor
- Michael McCafferty as Jimmy, Arcade Worker
Title in other languages[]
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Spanish (Latin America)
|
Tiempo presente | Present time | |
 German
|
Remys Geburtstagsgeschenk | Remy's birthday present | |
 Spanish
|
Un regalo envenenado | A poisoned gift | |
 French
|
Le plus beau cadeau | The greatest gift | |
 Japanese
|
プレゼント獲得作戦 | Present acquisition strategy | |
 Portuguese
|
Um Presente Envenenado | A Poisoned Present | |
 Vietnamese
|
Sống Cho Hiện Tại | Live In The Present |
Videos[]
