Plot
The episode begins with the Pimâpotew Kinosewak in their shelter, now with their new teammate Sky, with Scarlett studying her REM while she sleeps. Scarlett concludes with telling her that she had slept well. Jasmine greets Sky with a basket of fruit, but when she seems saddened about not being with Dave, Jasmine tells her that she can't trust Dave, still scorned from what Shawn did to her. All the while Shawn is situated outside and watches the exchange, believing that they were chatting about love and considers the prospect of a double date with him, Dave, and their girls.
Shawn tries to cheer his friend up.
The episode continues with the Waneyihtam Maskwak in their cave, now with Max as part of the team. He awakens and begins complaining about how uncomfortable his sleep was, but Sugar begins to laugh at his mannerisms. Sugar then notices Dave and tells him to cheer up, as well as cautioning him to not waste the "evil genius" they now have on their team as they did with the wizard." Shawn arrives in the cave and finds a forlorn Dave, still distressed over losing Sky to the other team. Shawn offers Dave some tree-bark that he brought as food, but as Dave notices some mites running around on the bark he declines and states he would be fine with starving. Shawn attempts to cheer his friend up, by telling him now that their girls were together they would be conversing about them. This is finally enough to raise Dave's spirits, just in time for Chris to call everyone over for the challenge.
"The Lion's Lunch."
Chris explains the challenge, "Hush or Die," to the contestants. They first must race through "The Lion's Lunch"; a zone full of sleeping lions and rattlesnakes, where the rattlesnakes, if awoken, could cause a chain reaction that will result in the lions waking up. The second zone, "The Pasta Blaster," features a blindfolded Chef using his sense of hearing to determine where they are so that he can fire a pasta cannon at them. They must also keep quiet to avoid waking up "Pasta Bear" in his cave. The third and final zone is "The Avalanche Zone," where they must cross a cold, winter terrain underneath a snow-covered ledge to the finish line. When Topher continues to make fun of Chris and mock him for "running out of creative steam" and calling him "old," Chris decides to up the danger by forcing all the contestants to carry a baby, who must avoid crying in order for them to avoid the dangers.
Sky continues to help Dave out, despite being on different teams.
The contestants start the challenge, narrowly making it through the Lion's Lunch. Despite Jasmine insisting that Dave is the enemy, Sky quickly saves Dave from a rattlesnake before it can bite him, claiming in the confessional that it was just "a parting gift." Meanwhile, Max continues to show a strange parenting side whenever his baby begins crying, using baby-talk to calm it. This noticeably amuses Sugar on many occasions, with Max dismissing it as an act whenever she catches him. When Topher accidentally wakes up a lion with Chris's cell phone, Scarlett and Jasmine work together to appear more threatening to the lion, with Scarlett jumping on Jasmine's shoulders and roaring, scaring it away. Team Kinosewak successfully makes it through The Lion's Lunch, while only Shawn has finished from Team Maskwak.
In the "Pasta Blaster" zone, Chris reveals that there are booby-traps spread out on the ground. Topher steps on an air horn and alerts Chef, who blasts Topher and alerts Pasta Bear (which is Scuba Bear with a blindfold, using his sense of smell to find the contestants). Although Dave warns Sky of the same air horn, Sky places the same air horn in front of Dave to sabotage him (at Jasmine's insistence), which breaks Dave's heart. He insists on being left behind, though Shawn refuses to leave him and helps him throughout the challenge. To motivate Dave, Shawn tells him that Sky likes winners, and not quitters. This motivates Dave, but he cannot move as he was paralyzed by the snake bites.
Topher finally gets "the call" from "the producer."
Once Team Kinosewak reaches the Avalanche Zone, they must hand over their babies to an intern before they continue on to the finish line. Although Team Kinosewak is about to cross the finish line first, Topher gets the call he's been anticipating from a bearded producer of the show, asking if he'd like to replace Chris. Topher cheers excitedly, causing the snow above them to fall onto their team and bury them, while Team Maskwak slides across the snow, using Dave as a snowboard. As they celebrate, it is revealed that Max initially refused to give up the baby to the intern, due to his growing attachment to it, and hid it in his back.
At the elimination ceremony, despite Scarlett angrily telling Topher that he is eliminated, Topher is confident about what will happen. When Topher is the only one without a marshmallow, he happily declares he's not the one being eliminated, and that he'll be replacing Chris as host. This is short-lived, as Topher finds out that the "producer" he spoke to is actually Chris in disguise. Chris gives Topher one final piece of advice to "never play a player" in show business, then bids him good riddance as he blasts Topher away in the Cannon of Shame.
Cast
| Voice actor | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Christian Potenza | Chris |
| Clé Bennett | Chef Hatchet |
| Daniel DeSanto | Dave |
| Katie Bergin | Jasmine |
| Bruce Dow | Max |
| Kristi Friday | Scarlett |
| Zachary Bennett | Shawn |
| Sarah Podemski | Sky |
| Rochelle Wilson | Sugar |
| Christopher Jacot | Topher |
- An intern appears; however, he has no lines.
- Several babies appear; however, they only make baby sounds.
Still in the running
 Beardo 14th |  Leonard 13th |  Amy 12th |  Rodney 11th |  Samey 10th |  Ella 9th |  Topher 8th |
 Dave Waneyihtam Maskwak |  Jasmine Pimâpotew Kinosewak |  Max Waneyihtam Maskwak |  Scarlett Pimâpotew Kinosewak |  Shawn Waneyihtam Maskwak |  Sky Pimâpotew Kinosewak |  Sugar Waneyihtam Maskwak |
Trivia
General
- It's a possibility that Max's fondness towards the babies could be from babysitting; which he first mentioned in his audition.
- If one counts This Is The Pits!, this episode marks the sixth time in a row that the Pimâpotew Kinosewak have lost, setting a record for most consecutive losses in Total Drama history.
- With Topher voted off, the Pimâpotew Kinosewak is now composed entirely of one gender. Unlike Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot and the Toxic Rats resulting in all males, this is the only time in the series prior to the merge where a team consists of all females.
- This is the third of four times that Cartoon Network has aired two episodes together; in this case, it was with This Is The Pits!. The first times were The Enchanted Franken-Forest and Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown, and So, Uh This Is My Team? and I Love You, Grease Pig!. and after it, Pahk'd With Talent and Lies, Cries and One Big Prize.
- On Netflix, the A in the title is shown to be in lowercase, appearing as "Three Zones and a Baby".
Continuity
- The music that plays when Sugar believes she has passed the first zone is also played when Leshawna first arrives at Camp Wawanakwa in Not So Happy Campers - Part 1.
- Chris's mother, mentioned in this episode by Topher, is previously mentioned by Dakota in The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean.
- Jasmine's warning to Sky about Dave turning against her foreshadows the events that happen in the finale after Dave discovers that Sky already has a boyfriend.
- This challenge is similar to multiple different challenges of the past:
- The first zone, crossing a path of lions, is similar to the safari challenge from African Lying Safari.
- The second zone, involving the avoidance of a target-shooting Chef, is similar to Eat, Puke and Be Wary.
- The final zone, involving being quiet in an avalanche zone, is similar to the Eine Kleine music challenge from Slap Slap Revolution.
References
- The title of the episode parodies the 1987 comedy film Three Men and a Baby.
- At one point while Max is in the confessional, he holds his pinkie close to his mouth, something Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers film series often does, a further reference how similar Max is to Dr. Evil.
- When Max hands the baby to the intern, he seems to whistle the first few notes of In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg.
Goofs
Sky has two earrings per ear.
- Scarlett recognized Pasta Bear as Bling Bear despite her never being shown encountering it in the previous episode.
- However, she did encounter him as Scuba Bear in A Blast from the Past.
- In the confessional, Topher says Chris's mother sent him a picture of a cat sleeping in a shoebox. However, when he shows the picture to the camera, the cat has its eyes opened.
- After Sky sabotaged Dave in the challenge, she has two earrings on each ear instead of only one.
- When Topher is in the Avalanche Zone, he says he has "all four bars," but in the previous episode, Chris's phone is shown to have a maximum of five bars.
- After Topher drops Chris's cell phone on the snow, it changes from a touchscreen phone to a black flip phone design, shown in The Final Wreck-ening.
Gallery
See also
| Total Drama: Pahkitew Island episodes | |
|---|---|
| Pre-merge | So, Uh This Is My Team? | I Love You, Grease Pig! | Twinning Isn't Everything | I Love You, I Love You Knots | A Blast from the Past | Mo Monkey Mo Problems | This Is The Pits! | Three Zones and A Baby |
| Post-merge | Hurl and Go Seek | Scarlett Fever | Sky Fall | Pahk'd With Talent | Lies, Cries and One Big Prize |
