Freeze Tag

"Freeze Tag" is the first segment of the 1st episode of the seventh season of Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, and the 76th overall episode in the series. It premiered on August 27, 2019.
== ==
Poppy goes detective trying to find out who "it" is in a game of Freeze Tag, with every Troll gradually getting frozen.
== ==
The episode begins with Poppy scrapbooking a story of Fuzzbert and telling it to the kids; but before she can begin she is cut off by Smidge, who tells her to follow her and come see Cooper.
At the Fun Dungeon, an area is streamered off as Smidge found something earlier: Biggie doing chalk drawing, but also Cooper frozen. To the excitement of the Trolls, this means someone has started a new game of freeze tag. Except for one problem: no one knows who's "it". Branch steps in and says that they are not going to know as Cooper had been wiped clean of any evidence. Poppy wants to know how Branch knows this, to which he explains that Cooper is not the only one like this.
In the Troll Village Marketplace, a number of Trolls are also frozen stiff. Branch notes that the Trolls didn't know where "it" was coming from, so they were frozen with the look of surprise on their face; he points to a Troll with his finger up his nose. Since they don't know who is "it", they are overjoyed by this as they could be tagged at any point. Just then, their hug-time bracelets go off, but no one wants to hug in case they hug "it". Biggie, DJ Suki and Smidge run in different directions while Branch employs traditional tag avoidance methods. She points out traditional methods won't work and their only chance is to figure out who "it" is before they get tagged. Branch asks who if she knows where to start and Poppy has one idea but its a longshot.
Poppy takes Branch to an underground games club and with little effort they enter. Inside the Game Changers Club, the two see a large number of Trolls experimenting on games. She explains that the club is for Trolls who find traditional games too mild and instead play by their own rules, from reverse staring contests to tic-tac total nonsense. Poppy sees her father and goes to hug him, but at the last moment they're unsure if each other is "it" and so do a hug at the same time. Peppy shows Poppy the membership scrapbook, including a group of extremist taggers. Before Poppy arrived, the "Tag Team" ran out of the club to go to Meadow Sprigg's pod.
Poppy has called in the "Surprise Wonder and Awe Tactical Team" (SWAT Team) to infiltrate Meadow's pod. When they break into the Pod, they find that the entire Tag Team have been tagged.
Outside, Poppy doesn't understand how the Tag Team could all be tagged, as it has to be one of the 5 members. Branch notices something in the scrapbook, and upon enhancement it reveals a 6th member: DJ Suki.
At the Fun Dungeon, Poppy has gathered the last remaining untagged Trolls and locked DJ out. There is only her and Branch, King Peppy, Smidge, the SWAT Team, Satin and Chenille and a a small group of unknown Trolls left. Poppy tells Smidge that DJ's got no choice but to call "olly olly oxen free", as they're stocked up on supplies.
DJ appears at the Fun Dungeon window stating she was afraid that she was the only unfrozen Troll left. Poppy calls her out but DJ insists she wasn't it. Suki then points to Smidge and asks if she is the Tagger why is Smidge frozen. Poppy realizes she's trapped in the Dungeon with "it". The Trolls panic as they now are all trapped. Poppy turns around and DJ is frozen.
The room goes quiet and Poppy soon finds the only two Trolls left are her and Branch. She accuses Branch of being "it", but he claims otherwise. However, as she scrapbooks about how Branch did it, she comes to issues with her book and tries to iron out the details, but when she looks up Branch is now frozen pointing behind her. Cooper then reveals that he had been pretending to be frozen the whole time and tags her. The screen blacks out as Cooper goes to tag himself too.
== ==
;Trolls
*Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
*Skylar Astin as Branch
*Ron Funches as Cooper
*Fryda Wolff as DJ Suki, Satin & Chenille
*Kevin Michael Richardson as Smidge and Rufus
*Matt Lowe as Creek
*Sean T. Krishnan as Guy Diamond
*Walt Dohrn as Fuzzbert
*Abby Ryder Fortson as Priscilla
*Declan Churchill Carter as Keith
*David Fynn as Biggie
*Kari Wahlgren as Mags Gumdrop, Harper and Ripley Wisp
*David Kaye as King Peppy
*Ashly Burch as Meadow Spriggs
== ==
This episode is available on the "Trolls: The Beat Goes On! - Complete Seasons 5-8" DVD.
== ==
*Fuzzbert's story being cut off is a joke on how he plays almost no role in most of his appearances in the series, becoming more absent as it progresses.
*The premise of the episode is based on tropes from genres like horror, murder and mystery films. For example, where an unknown assailant is on the loose and takes down everyone one by one; as the remaining victims are picked off, those left behind progressively become mistrusting towards each other.
**The most notable film for this, and likely what the episode is based upon, it The Thing, as both "thing" and "it" are used as loose terms for something that is unclear. This made the trope popular as a concept, as the film goes on, more and more of the remaining cast become skeptical on who is "the thing", leading to mistakes and mistrust.
**The episodes use of "it" is also likely a reference to Penewise from Stephen King's novel It.
*Poppy's conclusion "it" was Branch was a nod back to earlier episode "The Giver", wherein Branch attempted to misled Poppy on who the Giver was.
Category:Episodes
Category:Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episodes
Category:TBGO Season 7 episodes
Category:2D animation