Dial M for Merger

'''The teams are dissolved as the cast faces off in a spy challenge filled with lasers, explosives, bombs, and bad accents! As one castmate trusts their brain throughout the challenges, another, who still seems to be shunned, successfully makes an alliance with two others. After the blackmail plot of a schemer gets foiled, two winners get recognized and earn a trip definitely not worth the effort.'''

Plot
The episode opens up with LeShawna complaining about the show's food. She then notices the other six remaining contestants glaring at her. They are once again angry about LeShawna insulting all of them. LeShawna asks for her own team to support her, resulting in Harold sarcastically cheering her on by saying her name, and Duncan admitting he doesn't trust anybody anyway, so he is acting normal. Lindsay attempts to get into the girls' trailer, but when she touches the door handle, a camera comes out of nowhere. It scans her face, says "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" The stairs give way and Lindsay falls to the ground, and into a ditch. Duncan runs over to her, only to be shot in the neck with a tranquilizer dart, and fall in the pit himself. Courtney runs to Duncan's aid (calling him "Dunky" as she does so), and is knocked into the pit by a flying bowler hat. LeShawna, Justin and Beth run into the boys' trailer for safety (locking Harold out). In the confessional, Harold talks about being worried that the producers are actually trying to kill the contestants, during his confessional, an intern knocks him out with a stick. Justin worries what happened to Harold. Beth becomes worried, but Justin tries to help her by telling her to focus on his beauty. She begins crying, making Justin think he's hideous. A gas bomb is thrown though a window, releasing gas that knocks out Beth, Justin, and LeShawna.

Everyone wakes up in a cave. Beth accidentally elbowed Justin in the eye, while getting up, giving him a black eye. Justin runs off to find ice. Justin sees his reflection in a mirror, and once again thinks he's a hideous freak, and that his modeling career is over. Courtney loses her PDA, but Beth finds it and gives to to Courtney. Courtney accuses Beth of stealing it again. Chris appears on a projection and (in a bad Russian accent) tells the castmates that the challenge is based on the spy movie genre. Chris says that the castmates will need to defuse a bomb, and jump from an exploding building. Courtney asks if anybody has experience with bombs, and Lindsay claims to, but confesses that she was in a musical in which the director said it "bombed." Chris then announces that as of now the teams are merged and it's every castmate for themselves. Then the 6teen theme song parody comes on after LeShawna says they all have been through a lot together. The castmates try to find an exit and Justin finds one by accident. It leads to an elevator that leads to a fancy water tower. Chris then appears on a hologram screen and tells them they must get the bag in the glass at the center of the room. While they think it's easy it then shows that they also have to avoid the laser beams, which can slice them in half if they aren't careful. LeShawna, Harold and Duncan finally decide to form an alliance during the challenge. Beth and Lindsay fight about how they got stuck between laser beams, and Justin has some issues thinking for himself. Courtney shows her flexibility by jumping around and sneaking under the lasers, something which earns her an admiring howl from Duncan (who stares at her butt while she slides below the lasers) and getting the bag. Once she gets the bag, she finds out that there are just wire cutters and a grappling hook in it. LeShawna then remembers that Chris mentioned jumping off of an exploding building, and Chris begins the ten second countdown. Everyone begins to say how they don't want to die and begin to hug each other, Courtney hugging Duncan, Beth hugging Lindsay, and LeShawna hugging Justin, and say that they'll miss each others' smiles, and Chris then begins to laugh hysterically after he tells them it was just a joke. But then he begins the real countdown.

Courtney (being the only one with a grappling hook) offers the other players a quick escape, in exchange for half the prize money from whoever won the show. Although hesitant, the other cast mates agree and Courtney gets them all out. The next challenge is disarming a bomb (which are explosive timers tied to trash cans), should anyone fail to deactivate their bomb, it will explode and cover them in smelly garbage. Courtney tries to contact her lawyers to get her the best disarming experts, but is unable to reach them. Lindsay decides to cut the blue wire (as it it the most fashionable one). Courtney is hesitant to trust her, but tosses her the cutters. Lindsay cuts the wire and successfully deactivates her bomb, the other cast mates (in various ways) cut their blue wires. Lindsay's bomb is then deactivated after she cuts the wire. The cast mates relax, until they realize they can still hear the ticking. The other bombs explode and Chris (from a safe distance) explains that the producers aren't gonna program all the bombs the same way, it would be too easy for the interns. The cast mates then bathe in a tomato juice pool to get the smell out (even though Lindsay defused her bomb, she was still hit by the other active ones). The campers refuse to let Courtney join unless she calls off their obligation to split the prize money. Courtney weighs the options, and reluctantly agrees. Chris then tells Lindsay and Courtney that they've won a tour of a cheese factory. Courtney is unhappy, stating that she's lactose intolerant. Still unable to reach her lawyers, she sighs and dunks her PDA in the tomato juice.

Quotes
Courtney: (in confessional) And that's the only million LeShawna will ever see. My lawyers are working on it right now.
 * LeShawna: (walks in carrying a sandwich) I keep eating like this, and my booty's gonna get bitty! You see now that's not kosher. I've said I'm sorry for the teensy spa lie a million times!

Harold: Go LeShawna. Go LeShawna. LeShawna: Careful. You get windburn from moving so fast.
 * LeShawna: Even my own team mates? Teamies?

Courtney: Door, meet door knob. Lindsay: Oh, yeah!
 * Lindsay: (to door) Door? It's me Lindsay, from this morning! You remember!

Courtney: (gasps) Dunky! (rushes over to Duncan's aid) Harold: (to LeShawna) "Dunky"?
 * Duncan: (runs over to the pit Lindsay fell in) What the?! (is hit in the neck with a tranquilizer dart, groans, and collapses into the pit)


 * Harold: (in confessional) I used to think the producers were mean. But now I think they're actually trying to kill us! If you ask me, it's a conspiracy to- (An intern knocks him out by hitting him in the back of the head with a stick)


 * Justin: Hey, where's Harold?

Justin: Beth, it's gonna be alright. Just focus on my calming beauty, and my soothing complexion. Beth: (cries) Justin: Ah! I'm hideous!
 * Beth: We're all gonna die!


 * LeShawna: Oh no! This is not happening to me. (a gas bomb is thrown inside, and Justin, Beth, LeShawna get knocked out)

Beth: I'm so sorry! Are you okay? (Beth touches his elbow) Justin: Ah! I bruise easier than a clingstone peach. Must prevent swelling... I need ice! Ice! (Justin runs away, then looks at himself in a mirror) I... am... a hideous beast! No one will ever hire me again! My modeling career is over! I'll have to go work in the circus as one of those... circus freaks.
 * Justin: (After Beth elbows him in the eye) My eye! My beautiful, un-insured eye!


 * Courtney: Hey! Where is my PDA?

Beth: No, I was just trying to give it back! Swearsies.
 * Courtney: Trying to steal it again, I see.

Duncan: Dude, what's with the bad Jamaican accent? LeShawna: Jamaican? More like Japanese. Courtney: No, Swedish! Beth: French! Harold: Kinda sounds Italian to me... Chris: Um... hello? It's Russian.
 * Chris: Velcome to the Cloak and Dagger. Home of Spy movies, mon and womon.

Lindsay: Oh, I do! I do! Lindsay: (in confessional) I was once in a musical about the environment called "The Three Rs." I was recycle and my best friend Marci played reduce. She paints her nails grapefruit, just like me! Anyway, only three people showed up and the director said it bombed so, yeah. I know a thing or two about bombs.
 * Courtney: Does anyone know anything about bombs?

Duncan: I don't normally trust technology, but in this case I'll make an exception. (He follows Courtney) LeShawna: Honey, that direction only leads to a broken heart and tears on your pillow.
 * Courtney: The GPS indicates that there is an exit somewhere over there.

Duncan: You really are such a dork.
 * Harold: There aren't enough rare tresskilling yellow 1855's in the world to ever make me work with him.


 * Justin: Now that I'm a hideously deformed circus freak, I have to rely on my brains to win this thing. You hear me brain? Yeah, I'm speaking to you!


 * LeShawna: Fitting under there is not gonna be easy for this bountiful booty.


 * Justin: (in response to the challenge) Brain, got any ideas?


 * Beth: What kind of BFF are you anyway?!


 * Justin: Okay, brain, it's all up to you. I know you haven't had a lot of exercise in the past um... sixteen years, give or take, but you can do this.


 * Duncan: (in confessional) Nothing grips my wheel more than a chick with a furious spin-heel-flying jump kick. After that mixed martial arts display, Courtney shot way up on my "you're all right" meter.


 * Duncan: (after seeing Courtney flip through the lasers) If I were a wolf I'd howl... oh what the heck. (Howls)


 * Courtney: (in confessional) For the record, what I gave Duncan would properly be classified as a "Pity Hug." He was clearly scared out of his mind. Probably would have died of fright if I hadn't wrapped my arms around him. (daydreaming) His little heart was beating so fast. So..... no! Pity Hug! Pity Hug. Plain and simple.


 * Justin: Okay, pros and cons of being a circus freak; pros: travel, cons: the bearded chick.

LeShawna: You've got to be kiddin'. You're willing to bargain... with our lives? Courtney: Uh, duh. And the offers better be good. I already have a PDA. Lindsay: Well, how about a bottle of my face brightener? Papaya's really good at perking up an ashy complexion. Harold: My prized action-figure Transistor man, still in the box? Beth: My French maid's outfit? (everyone looks at her) What? I played a French maid in the school play. Courtney: Sorry, none of these pathetic offers interest me. Harold: What do you want, woman? Time's running out, can't you see? Courtney: I share the prize money with you 50-50 if you win...
 * Courtney: Uh, not so fast. What do I hear for a ride to freedom?


 * Chris: (while scene is paused) I knew there was a reason we picked Courtney. She's nasty. I love nasty.

Lindsay: Oooh, look at all those different colored wires! Ooh, that one matches my toenails. And that one matches my eyes, and... oh! That one matches my hair! Duncan: Shouldn't an uber geek like you know which wire to cut? Harold: Shouldn't an uber delinquent like you know how to defuse a stink-bomb? LeShawna: Oh yeah, this alliance is working gangbusters. Courtney: I'll e-mail this pic to my lawyers. Those sharks will have a bomb expert back to me in seconds! (her PDA beeps) Out-of-office reply? Nobody sends Courtney an out-of-office reply! Especially not when I'm paying them 20% of my settlement! Justin: OK, brain, now's the time to bring it... eeny, meeny, miney, moe... Oooh! Or is it eeny, miney, meeny, moe... brain, don't be messin with me now!
 * (the cast runs to the bombs)


 * Harold: Get ready for the fireworks!


 * Harold: Aw, man! Another false alarm?!

Harold: (lifting up his pants, showing a yellow spot on his underwear) Yeah... nearly...
 * Beth: I nearly peed my pants!


 * Justin: Brain, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.


 * Lindsay: (to Courtney) We get to cut the cheese together!

Courtney: NOOOOO!!! (The stink bombs explode. Chris is out of the range drinking tea) Chris: What? Naturally, we're not going to wire all the bombs the same way, that'd be too easy for our production crew... and less fun for me. (sips tea)
 * Justin: Brain, we are so over!

Trivia

 * Title Reference: This episode's title is a reference to the 1954 film, Dial M for Murder. This is the first episode where the title and the challenge are drawn from different movie genres--murder mysteries and spy movies, respectively.
 * Running Gag: Justin talking to his brain and Chris getting attacked by a cat.
 * The Killer Grips and Screaming Gaffers are merged in this episode.
 * This episode features the first of two references to another series created by the creators of Total Drama Action (6teen theme song). The other being in The Aftermath: IV.
 * During the 6teen parody, Harold is in the place of Wyatt and Justin is in the place of Jude when they are playing music.
 * Lindsay, Duncan, and LeShawna are the only contestants to make it past the merge in both seasons without returning to the game after being eliminated.
 * Due to their being seven people (as opposed to the original six) the 6teen parody features an extra square in the beginning.
 * In this episode, Courtney coerced all of the other contestants into splitting the prize money with her, 50-50, if they win, but was later coerced herself into calling off the deal.
 * The prize was an all-expense paid trip to a local cheese factory.
 * When Lindsay bumps into a cardboard cut-out of a pit exit, she says, "Ow! Not again!" which could be a reference to when she bumped into a locked door in One Flu Over The Cuckoos. Or she could have been talking about when the door threw her into the pit, earlier in the episode.
 * This is the sixteenth episode of the show and the teams merge, whereas in the previous season, they merged in the fifteenth episode after a one-off "halftime show" rejiggering of the teams in the fourteenth episode. The teams merged later in season 2 because Izzy and Courtney returned before the merge, where as Eva and Izzy returned after the merge in Season 1.
 * The 6teen parody is an abbreviated version of that show's opening titles, with the seven remaining contestants standing in for the main 6teen cast.
 * In this episode, LeShawna successfully made the alliance she had been trying to make since "One Flu Over the Cuckoos," even though Heather, who she originally wanted to make the alliance to get rid of, was eliminated in the previous episode.
 * The 6teen parody pretty much follows the first half of the opening frame by frame, however it jumps over the part of the song that says "In a place where we belong." As a result it simply goes "We like to be together, I'm 6teen." It then jumps to the slide in scene on the opening and then jumps to the ending. This may have been done simply because of time constraints, plus the parody was really following being together rather then working though the world (like the original song talks about).
 * This episode reveals that Courtney is lactose intolerant, making her the second (known) castmate to be so. The first was LeShawna.
 * Although Courtney claimed to have no use for the cheese factory tour, a preview for the next episode shows her boarding it off-screen.
 * The scene of Courtney going through the lasers is a reference to the film Entrapment.
 * There are many references to the James Bond film's franchise:
 * 1) In the beginning of the episode when Chris appears in front of the camera throwing a tomato on it.
 * 2) The scene where Courtney is hit by a bowler hat, making a reference to Oddjob, a villain from James Bond franchise.
 * Although Beth was confirmed to have dotted eyes in Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island when Ezekiel shook her hand and her glasses came off, this episode now fully confirms it as her glasses were off completely.
 * Beth nearly wet her pants in this episode. Harold claims to nearly wet his pants like Beth, but he says it sarcastically as if he already did.
 * LeShawna, Harold and Duncan form an alliance in this episode. Notably, LeShawna had once tried to form an alliance between each other in One Flu Over The Cuckoos, eight episodes ago.
 * Though LeShawna says that the alliance is a secret, she mentions it aloud many times.
 * LeShawna has talked about her "bountiful booty" twice.
 * This is the first episode in the Total Drama series that doesn't feature Heather, with the exception of the recap.
 * The music that played when Courtney was sliding under the lasers is the same music as when Cody arrived on the island in Not So Happy Campers - Part 1.
 * Justin says he hasn't used his brain much his whole life, but in Monster Cash he claims to be a master strategist.
 * The way Justin knocked on his head and talked to his brain in the confessional stall was very similar to the way Izzy knocked on her skull talking to her imaginary friend, Phil.
 * In this episode Harold is knocked out while in the confession stall, yet earlier episodes suggests that confessions are made after the challenges. This suggests that castmates can make their confessions anytime as long as they got access to the confessional stall.
 * If one looks closely during the 6teen musical reference, at one point Courtney's hands are around Justin's waist.
 * Chris seems to like Courtney in this episode despite showing disdain for her in Ocean's Eight - Or Nine and One Million Bucks B.C.
 * The bombs in this episode look similar to the one Cody had to defuse in Phobia Factor.
 * Justin, in the 6teen shadow effect, is the odd-one-out having a green background, unlike every one else, who has a close match with theirs.
 * This episode may have foreshadowed Courtney and Justin's actions in The Princess Pride.
 * One, in the 6Teen theme song, Courtney had her hands around Justin's waist.
 * Two, Justin jumps into Courtney's arm when the cast realizes there's a bomb.
 * This episode marks the third time that a competitor is drugged (in this case, Duncan).
 * The first time was Owen in Search and Do Not Destroy, the second one was Heather on Wawanakwa Gone Wild!

Goofs

 * The time on the bomb's countdown appears to be shorter than three minutes, though this is common in cartoons.
 * The countdown in the building is also much longer than thirty seconds, although this is common in cartoons as well.
 * Even though the teams had dissolved, when Courtney is in the confessional the Killer Grip symbol is shown.
 * Assuming that the bomb-defusing challenge takes place on top of the same building that Courtney harpooned to:
 * The bombs are not seen when Courtney aims.
 * The harpoon is not seen during the challenge.
 * Courtney states she is lactose intolerant, but in One Million Bucks, B.C., she is eating a lobster with Belgian chocolate, which contains milk.
 * This goof-up is also present again in Get A Clue, when Courtney eats the cheese-puffs Chris gives her as a reward, although cheese contains dairy.
 * This goof is once again present in Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen, when Courtney is offering to share her cheese puffs with Beth to try to lure her into an alliance.