It's International Cousins Day and Owen and Gwen are dreading the fact that their cousins Max and Ella are spending the day with them. And soon, everyone else will understand why.
Plot[]
Part 1[]
Chef announces that today is a very special day. Cody guesses it's because it's his birthday, but Chef tells him that's not it. It's International Cousins Day, and he has invited Gwen and Owen's respective cousins, Ella and Max to the daycare. Gwen is excited and Owen is terrified. They admit they're both monsters, Owen in a negative way and Gwen in a positive way. Owen warns Chef about Max's behavior, but Chef thinks everything will be alright and that nothing scary has ever happened before, with Courtney accusing him of not remembering the antics that happen in each episode. Soon enough, Ella arrives and, to Gwen's horror, is revealed to be a sweet and charming young lady instead of the vicious beast she described her as. Gwen talks to Ella about how she looks so different from before, and Ella explains that she went to a school to teach her to be a proper lady. The only way her monster side can come out is if she gets agitated in some way. This prompts Gwen to do what she can to reveal and prove Ella's dark side. At that moment, Max arrives via an underground transfer hatch under the floor, revealing himself to be an evil genius. Gwen, Bridgette, Jude and Courtney will hang with Ella, and Owen, Duncan, Harold and Beth will hang with Max. Max decides he will test his guides to see if they would be suitable minions. Owen remembers that the last time Max had a "minion competition", he threw all of his stuffed animals in the lion pit at the zoo, which is so dangerous, they both got banned there, so he decides to join the competition to prevent his friends from getting hurt.
Ella's guides bring her over to the lunch table. She gives them all a big surprise: a plate of freshly-baked cupcakes. While Bridgette, Courtney and Jude help themselves, Gwen knocks the cupcakes out of Ella's hands and ruins them. At first, Ella seems like she'll unleash her monstrous fury, but the others eat the cupcakes that fell on the floor. While Gwen expects that from Jude and Bridgette, she's shocked that even Courtney is doing it. Courtney rebuttals with the three second rule being a rule. They love them so much that Ella calms down.
Meanwhile, Max is testing his minions-in-training with their first trial: to escape a sandbox that is filled with quicksand and a snake. Owen recognizes this test is one of Max's common torture methods which he used does every Thanksgiving and uses the snake as a lasso (while unintentionally hitting Cody the birthday boy with it) and pulls himself and the others out just in time. At first, the others are proud of Owen for saving them, but Max chastises them for failing the test, and the others side with Max over Owen.
Back on Ella's tour, her guides show her the arts and crafts center and the VR goggle sets. Ella wants to play a video game with unicorns in them, and this gives Gwen another idea to bring out the beast in Ella: a round of Robotic Unicorn Beatdown. The game starts up.
Max's next trial involves his guides wearing chestnut shaped helmets that will attract the pack of hangry squirrels they must avoid. He unleashes them to attack, and they head for the slide. But Owen realizes that's just what Max wants them to do. He makes it down the slide first and blocks his friends from falling into a wood chipper Max based down there, holding on to the end of the slide for dear life.
To Be Continued...
Credits (Part 1)[]
Izzy, Leshawna, Duncan, and Harold decorate a chameleon and place it on a now-glittered Chef Hatchet.
Part 2[]
Still holding on, Owen saves his friends from getting chipped while losing his shirt in the process. Before they can celebrate their survival, Beth reminds them of the squirrels and they get out of the way so the squirrels get caught in the chipper and lose all their fur. Cody offers some of his birthday cake which the squirrels want. Max berates Owen for ruining another trial and doubts the potential of his so-called minions. Owen tries to tell his friends that they have to stop Max before he kills them, but they're insistent on passing the test.
Meanwhile, Ella's guides are enjoying the game, but she's not, as the violence towards the unicorns upsets her. It upsets her so much, her monster form starts to kick in. Gwen wants everyone to notice as Ella breathes fire, destroying Jude's set. However, before Gwen can prove that Ella unleashed her fury, the others are still wearing their sets, so they didn't see what happened. She tries to get Jude to explain it, but he thought it was the unicorn in the game that did it, thus ruining Gwen's plan.
Max's next trial is crossing a plank that's over a vat of toxic waste which contains a cross-mutation of a lion and an alligator. Owen crosses easily and begs Max to end this, but Max refuses and orders Owen to remove the plank so the others fall into the waste. Owen refuses despite today being Cousins Day and Max deliberately does so. It seems as though Beth, Duncan and Harold have met their doom, but it's revealed Owen saved them at the last second, much to Max's disappointment.
During arts and crafts, Ella shows everyone how to make diamond tiaras. Gwen uses this opportunity to try again by spilling all her supplies on Ella. It seems to be working at first, but the glitter covers Ella so much, she becomes more beautiful than before. Jude talks to Gwen about how she's been treating Ella all day and thinks Gwen might be sweet as Ella and is just hiding it out of insecurity, much to Gwen's anger.
Owen meets up with a frustrated Gwen as they tell each other about the problems their cousins have been causing them. With this in mind, they decide to work together.
Ella and Max meet each other and Owen suggests that Max put Ella to the minion test. Max agrees and puts Ella through the same trials from earlier, but her ways of passing the tests (or failing them in Max's case) annoy Max so much that he disqualifies her and admits he doesn't like her. This angers Ella so hard that she completes her transformation into a dragon. while everyone is shocked to see that Gwen was right, Gwen takes great pride in this moment.
The enraged Ella attacks Chef and threatens to dip Max in the waste. Owen, fearful of his cousin's approaching demise despite him deserving it, and also because today is Cousins Day, takes Cody's snake friend and birthday cake. He uses the snake the same way he escaped the quicksand to save Max and throws the cake at Ella. Max thanks Owen for saving him and (reluctantly) promises to stop trying to kill his friends and his stuffed animals. However, Owen's endeavor to stop Ella only made her angrier and grow twice as big. She goes to destroy Chef's car, and Max chastises her for stealing his plan to destroy the school, vows revenge on Ella, and leaves. as Owen tells him to say hi to his aunt Bernice, he leaves as well. Gwen tells Ella that Max left, causing her to finally change back. When Chef approaches, Ella decides to leave before things get worse. Chef admits that due to her monstrous behavior, Ella is the worst. Gwen retaliates by kicking Chef in the shin and scolds him for insulting her family, but agrees with his statement on Ella.
Credits (Part 2)[]
As Harold rushes to use the restroom, he freaks out to find a dinosaur in it! He tells Chef about the dinosaur in the restroom, but Chef puts him in time out and the moment he enters the restroom, he was presumably eaten by a dinosaur that comes out of it.
Cast[]
| Voice actor | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Deven Mack | Chef Hatchet/Mutated animal |
| Sarah Gadon | Beth |
| Kristin Fairlie | Bridgette |
| Wyatt White | Cody |
| Emilie-Claire Barlow | Courtney |
| Drew Nelson | Duncan |
| Sunday Muse | Ella |
| Lilly Bartlam | Gwen |
| Darren Frost | Harold |
| Christian Potenza | Jude |
| Tristan Mammitzsch | Max |
| Scott McCord | Owen |
- Izzy and Leshawna appear in the first ending credits clip of the episode, however, they do not speak.
Trivia[]
General[]
- This is the second half-hour special of the series, with the first being Camping is In Tents.
- Courtney breaks the fourth wall when she asks Chef if he ever watched an episode of this show while pointing at the screen, complete with Jude, Beth and Chef looking at the camera.
- This episode establishes that Max and Owen, along with Ella and Gwen are cousins, despite their main series counterparts being unrelated.
- Cody is seen celebrating his birthday, making this the first episode of Total DramaRama that takes place on the birthday of one of the characters. Unlike the original series which takes place on April 1st (April Fool's Day), his birthday in this continuity takes place on International Cousins Day, which takes place on July 24th.
Continuity[]
- Ella and Max from Total Drama: Pahkitew Island debut in this episode, making them the first characters from seasons after Total Drama Island to appear in toddler form.
- This episode marks the first time in the franchise that Max isn't voiced by Bruce Dow.
- Several elements from Total Drama: Revenge of the Island are referenced in this episode:
- Max's challenge involving the toxic waste which mutates people is a reference to how Camp Wawanakwa becomes a toxic waste dump in season four.
- The presence of a talking lion-alligator hybrid that Max dumped into said toxic pool is similar to how the faunas of Camp Wawanakwa are mutated by the toxic waste.
- Similar to Dakota, Ella transforms into a large creature when she gets angry.
References[]
- The jingle that plays when Jude defeats Ella's unicorn in the VR game is the "lost a life" theme from Super Mario Bros 2.
- Ella's transformation to her dragon form when she gets angry is a reference to The Incredible Hulk.
- Coincidentally, Sunday Muse, Ella's voice actress, previously voiced Princess Arianna from Jimmy Two Shoes who can also transform into a monster when angry.
Goofs[]
- Ella's voice actress, Sunday Muse, is incorrectly credited as "Sunday Muise" in the ending credits.
- While Chef is talking with the kids about cousins day at the beginning of the episode, the lower part of Bridgette's shirt is colored white instead of blue.
Gallery[]
