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<\/a><\/figure>\nPlot<\/strong>: During a big talent show, Linus Santiago, an aspiring magician, makes a boy\u2019s robot dog disappear. His attempts to make it reappear fail, leaving Santiago under suspicion of being a thief. It doesn\u2019t help that Santiago is a recently reformed \u2018criminal\u2019 casting even more doubt on his innocence. To make matters worse, Santiago refuses to explain how he did the trick, vowing to uphold the magician\u2019s code. Without explaining how he did the trick, Folsom doesn\u2019t believe a word out of his mouth.<\/p>\n However, Fillmore and Ingrid don\u2019t quite believe Santiago is guilty. They think he\u2019s being set up. But figuring out the who and why is much more complicated than they anticipated.<\/p>\n Breakdown<\/strong>: This is one of those cases where the overall ride was really engaging and enjoyable, but it was marred by a very unsatisfying ending.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve already had a couple cases where it seems like someone with a rap sheet is being framed when they\u2019ve gone straight, but Santiago is probably the nicest and least conspicuous one.<\/p>\n It\u2019s honestly hard to believe that he used to be a troublemaker. He doesn\u2019t raise his voice or get even a little upset. He\u2019s respectful and sweet the entire episode. While it does make you really want to root for him to be cleared of all charges, it does make it a bit hard to swallow that no one but Fillmore and Ingrid (And his assistant, Rita) believe he\u2019s innocent.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s easily forgiven. If someone really has turned over a new leaf, it might make sense for them to work on their overall disposition to ensure they stay out of trouble.<\/p>\n The pool of suspects is kinda big in this episode, and they do a good job of steering your attention in various ways. Was Santiago the real target or was it the dog? Or was it the $200 in prize money for winning the talent show? Or did Santiago actually do it and is just playing innocent?<\/p>\n Like I said, all that intrigue kinda falls flat once you find out who did it and why.<\/p>\n I feel like spoiling<\/mark><\/strong> this one, so here\u2019s your warning.<\/p>\n The culprit was Kip, a ventriloquist who won the talent show when Santiago lost due to the dog incident. You\u2019d initially think his motive was the prize money or the attention, but no. He dislikes all the attention he\u2019s supposedly getting from the press, and he doesn\u2019t mention any particular reason for wanting the cash.<\/p>\n Kip is shown to be a lonely kid. He\u2019s even a member of a Loners\u2019 Support Group in the school, which, comically and sadly, has only one member besides him. (The other member I thought would be a stealth suspect, but no. He doesn\u2019t get any lines, we never learn who he is, and he just sits in the background the entire scene.)<\/p>\n This is immediately contradicted when his friend, Dewey, arrives in the Loners\u2019 Support Group room to call Kip because his mom\u2019s there to drive them home. Dewey, who is also the boy who lost his robot dog, is Kip\u2019s long time friend and neighbor. They carpool every day.<\/p>\n His connection with Dewey and the fact that he won the talent show over Santiago is enough to make him a strong suspect, but there\u2019s just not a lot to work with in regards to motive if he\u2019s annoyed by the attention and doesn\u2019t seem to covet the $200 too much.<\/p>\n So, if he\u2019s the culprit, why did he do it? And how?<\/p>\n Well, Kip explains that his only friend is a wooden puppet. However, his dog recently gave birth to a litter of puppies, so they\u2019ve been his friends now. Why his dog wasn\u2019t his friend before, I guess, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n Dewey only got a robot dog because he wanted a real puppy. But he\u2019s, as Kip describes him, a disaster with everything. His mother didn\u2019t trust him to get a puppy so she told him to take care of this robot to prove he was responsible enough to take care of a real dog. Terrible idea. Two completely different things. You\u2019d be better off telling the kid to take care of a tomogatchi for a certain time to prove they\u2019re responsible with a living being.<\/p>\n But anyway\u2026<\/p>\n Kip made this plan to steal Dewey\u2019s robot dog so his mother wouldn\u2019t allow him to adopt one of his puppies.<\/p>\n Yup, that\u2019s the motive.<\/p>\n Even during that brief moment where I felt some empathy for him, especially since I\u2019m a big animal and dog lover, the show itself crumbles his motive. Dewey brings up that he\u2019s his friend, so he didn\u2019t understand why he was acting as if he was completely alone. This is further supported, by the way, by the fact that in the only other two scenes these characters are in, they\u2019re hanging out at each other\u2019s houses.<\/p>\n He also didn\u2019t understand why Kip didn\u2019t even bother just saying he wanted to keep the puppy. It\u2019s not as if Dewey would insist he get the puppy. He\u2019d be perfectly happy to find another dog somewhere else.<\/p>\n Once Dewey expresses his disappointment in Kip, Kip asks for forgiveness and even willingly offers one of the puppies to Dewey and they mend bridges. Kip announces in a press conference that he took the robot dog (which was named Barcode. This was obviously meant to be a pun, but it fails if they don\u2019t spell it \u201cBarkode\u201d\u2026.) relinquishes the comically large $200 check to Santiago, even if it still has Kip\u2019s name on it, and clears Santiago\u2019s name.<\/p>\n As for the how he took the robot dog, he explains that he figured out how Santiago did his trick. By just watching him do it backstage, I guess. I should note that Fillmore, who is the equivalent to a detective in this universe, has been trying the entire episode to figure out how Santiago did his tricks and couldn\u2019t get a single one. And Santiago is very protective of his magician secrets to the point where he\u2019s willing to get expelled from school. But this ventriloquist could figure it out just by watching him do it.<\/p>\n Oh, and he decided to go through with this overly elaborate plan to take Barcode instead of just\u2026.taking Barcode because Dewey supposedly never let Barcode out of his sight. So he\u2019s paranoid about something happening to this dog so much that he never lets it out of his sight, but he\u2019ll also willingly let it be thrown into the air to be used in a disappearing act?<\/p>\n Also, Kip just kept Barcode in a box in his closet in his house instead of just throwing the dog away or something. Let me remind you that Dewey regularly visits Kip\u2019s house.<\/p>\n So, yeah, while the overall ride was pretty fun, the conclusion was just blah and didn\u2019t make a lot of sense.<\/p>\n Also, the opening scene, while being funny, was a bit out of place. It just seemed like a clunky setup to get them to the talent show when the episode could have just started out in the talent show instead of having all that stuff about popcorn.<\/p>\n I did appreciate how sweet Rita and Santiago were together, though. You don\u2019t often see overtly romantic relationships on this show, and these two are as close as they\u2019ve ever gotten.<\/p>\n Next episode\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n