John the Terrible

**"John the Terrible"** is the forty-sixth episode of the first season of *Sammy & Co*. It premiered on February 29, 2016, on Netflix.

## Synopsis

To convince the other seagulls that he is not a traitor, John pretends he will eat Ricky and Ella, but Sammy and Ray think it is happening for real.

## Plot

The episode begins at the island where Ricky and Ella both arrive on shore to search for a coconut for their school report. But just when they thought they’re safe, Paul, Ringo, and George all show up and they’re about to eat them up. Luckily for Ricky and Ella, John arrives just in time to stop his flock from devouring his turtle friends, reminding his flock about the rule. However, Ringo finds a loophole that the rule “only applies to John” and remarks that he and the rest of the flock never promised Sammy they would protect the turtles so he doesn't see what could stop them from eating Ricky and Ella. Realizing that his flock won’t listen to him since they’re too hungry to obey him, John lies to them that he noticed some enormous fish washed up at “the other side of the island”, which gets his flock to all for his trickery and they leave Ricky and Ella alone to get to the other side of the island. Ricky thanks John for rescuing him and Ella, but John directs the two juvenile turtles to hurry back into the water before the other seagulls become unhappy if they find out the so-called fish who he claimed to saw is a lie.

Just as John thought, when he arrives to see his flock on the other side of the island, his flock is all unhappy to find out about his lie to protect the turtles. However, this is the final straw for his flock that they have enough of him siding with Ricky and Ella as well as being friends with them despite they're all supposed to be their predators. To take matters into their own hands, Paul, Ringo, and George all agree with each other to fire John from being their leader as well as permanently excluding him from their group, which saddens John.

Meanwhile, Sammy has arrived at the shore of the other side of the island with Ricky and Ella so he could protect them from the seagulls while they're retrieving their coconut. Ella voices out her frustration about having enough of the seagulls always trying to eat her and Ricky every time they show up at the island and wonders out why isn't it ever the turtles who eat the seagulls for a change. Sammy explains to his granddaughter that it's the way it is for life, but that doesn't necessarily mean the destiny of all turtles is to end up in the stomach of a seagull. When Ricky and Ella both leave to grab a coconut that's on the ground, Sammy sees a crying John nearby so he walks over to comfort him. While pushing a coconut to the water, Ricky and Ella both overhear the conversation between the two so they stop to investigate. John explains to Sammy that while he likes his friends from the reef village ever since he made a promise to always protect them after Sammy and Ray saved his life seven years ago, he is very sad that the other seagulls see him as a traitor that they've decided to exclude him from the group. Sure his flock always has a desire to eat the reef inhabitants at any chance they got but despite all their faults, John sees Paul, George, and Ringo as his family and likes being around them. Sammy advises John to never try to change his true nature in order to please his fellow seagulls. Instead, he has to stay true to himself since it's the only way he'll ever find real happiness. John takes his word for it since he knows that he needs to move on.

However, for Ricky and Ella, they both feel bad for John being rejected by the other seagulls just because of his friendship with the two and they want to do whatever they can to help him. At playground, Ricky and Ella are at the clubhouse and they're trying to find a solution since they own him as much. Just then, Pipo arrives and he asks them if they're going to work on their class report after he saw the coconut they brought back from the island. Ricky and Ella both decline to help since they have something more important to do before Ricky tells Ella that he has an idea to help John.

Back on the island, Ricky and Ella inform John about their plan to help him regain his position as the leader of his seagull flock. After discussing him about what they have in mind, Ricky and Ella both get onto a floating wood and use themselves as bait to get the attention of Paul, George, and Ringo, which is part of the plan. After the seagulls notice them from the sky they all swoop down to catch them for their meal. But then John arrives and catches Ricky and Ella first with his feet before he flies away, which impresses the three seagulls. Unfortunately, because Ricky and Ella didn't inform him what they're doing, Pipo witnesses the entire thing from underwater and he mistakenly thinks John has captured his turtle friends to eat them up for real. The butterfly fish immediately swims away to warn Sammy and Ray about John's supposed "betrayal", without knowing the full context of what's really happening.

Back on the island, John places Ricky and Ella on a rock on the island when Paul, Ringo, and George all arrive. Ringo asks John if he could share Ricky and Ella with them since it's a bit much just for him alone. John refuses to share the turtles to his former flock members and since they're the ones who kick him out, he "[begins] a brand-new solo career". John then carries Ricky and Ella away while the two turtles "plead" for their life. John flies to the other side of the island and places Ricky and Ella behind a rock to initiate the next phase of their plan. John moves his head up and down to make it an illusion that he's attacking Ricky and Ella. The two turtles pretend to cry in pain and they manage to fool Paul, Ringo, and George into thinking John is "attacking" them so he could eat them. However, the plan falls apart when John, Ricky, and Ella all hear Sammy and Ray arriving on the other side of the island. Since they didn't get informed about the plan and they only get the news based on what Pipo saw earlier, Sammy and Ray both angrily arrive on the island to rescue Ricky and Ella from being eaten up for real by John. Ray even wields a stick so he could prepare to beat up the seagull when he and Sammy mistakenly assume John is a traitor to all of the reef inhabitants. John tells the kids to stay where they are so he could leave to clear up the misunderstanding to Sammy and Ray. But as soon as John leaves them alone, Ricky and Ella both walk away to get back to the water before the rest of the seagulls could notice them.

On the other side of the island, John finds Sammy and Ray searching for Ricky and Ella. John is about to clear up the misunderstanding, but Ray demands John release Ricky and Ella immediately. John looks back and sees Paul, Ringo, and George are all nearby so he needs to act like he's still the traitor in the eyes of his flock. John shouts out loud so his flock would hear that he won't set Ricky and Ella free before he immediately whispers to Sammy and Ray that it's only just a ruse he and the kids came up with and he didn't really capture them. But while John continues to explain to Sammy and Ray what he and the kids are actually doing, his flock all mistake the conversation between the three as a fight, and the seagulls decide they must intervene. But before they could go see what's happening, they notice Ricky and Ella are both heading to the water so they immediately capture the two kids.

John, Ray, and Sammy are all surprised to see Ella and Ricky being captured by the trio despite John's earlier claim that the two kids are okay and not in danger. John tells Ray and Sammy that it's not his fault and what they saw isn't what was planned, but Sammy tells John that only him alone can get them out of this. John expresses his worry that he helps Ricky and Ella, then his friends will find out about the ruse and they'll be mad at him forever. Ray reminds John that the reef inhabitants are also his friends and they're already mad at him for his false betrayal. John realizes how he cares so much about wanting to return being with his flock that he forgets about his real friends in the ocean. He's so desperate that he went as far as to pretend to be someone he's not to regain his status which puts everyone he knows and loves in real danger. He apologizes to Sammy for not listening to his advice about his true nature which is to save Ricky and Ella and he should have moved on from his rejection instead. In frustration, John accidentally slaps sea foam onto the left side of Sammy's face, but it gives Sammy an idea to save the kids.

Nearby, Paul, Ringo, and George have placed Ricky and Ella on a palm tree and the three are ready to devour the kids. However, Ringo and George suddenly start arguing with each other over which one of the two should they eat first based on the color scheme. Their argument gives an opportunity for Ricky and Ella to escape and they slide down from the tree to land safely on the ground. But the seagulls all notice Ricky and Ella are getting away so they get down from the tree and land in front of the two kids to stop them from leaving. The three seagulls are about to eat the kids, but John warns them that he wouldn't do that if he was them.

The seagulls, Ricky, and Ella all look and see John is being "attacked" by Sammy and Ray who have sea foams around their mouth and are grabbing onto John's wings. John claims that the turtles suddenly contact a "virus" that makes them get rabies and "want to eat seagulls". Paul questions John how did the turtles catch the so-called virus, which John claims that he doesn't know and it must be something they ate. Ringo jumps into conclusions that it must be the coconut the turtles came to get which causes them to get rabies. John wonders out if "the little ones ate some as well", which lets Ricky and Ella know it's just another ruse to get the seagulls to leave them alone. Ricky and Ella pretend to get rabies too and start roaring at them to go along with it. After Ray and Sammy both let go of John's wings, he tells his flock to stand back so he can take care of Ricky and Ella. Paul, Ringo, and George all fly away and take refuge in a palm tree. They watch John grab the kids and fly above to the middle of the water, which lures Sammy and Ray away from the island. John deliberately drops Ricky and Ella into the water to make their escape before he flies away.

While the turtles head back to the reef, John meets up with his flock. The three seagulls are all impressed by John for "saving their lives" from the "rabid" turtles that they all agree to let John return to their group and become their leader once again. Since the three seagulls all fall for John's trickery, they all wonder what they're going to eat since all of the animals "catch [the] virus" that makes them get rabies and they don't want to get infected by them. Paul notices a piece of wood nearby and suggests they should eat those instead despite it's a bit dry, much to both George's and Ringo's chagrins but to John's amusement.

## Characters

### Major characters

* Ricky
* Ella
* John
* Sammy
* Ray
* Paul (antagonist)
* Ringo (antagonist)
* George (antagonist)

### Minor characters

* Pipo
* Mika (background)
* John I (mentioned)

## Trivia

* In the French version, the episode is called "John le terrible".
* Despite this episode is the forty-sixth to aired on TiJi like its US airing order, it's the twenty-third episode to aired in France on M6.
* This is the third episode of *Sammy & Co* in which Annabel is absent.
* This episode reveals that John is named after both his grandfather and father.
* This is the fourth episode that heavily features Ricky and Ella having to avoid getting themselves eaten by the seagulls after "Trapped", "Flying Turtles", and "Feathered Turtle".
* Ringo reveals that he wants to eat Ella since he likes the color green, which explains why he constantly chases after Ella the most whenever she and Ricky visit the island.
* In this episode, John got temporarily kicked out of his flock because of his friendship with Ricky and Ella. Since the seagulls are all named after a member of The Beatles, this is a parallel to when John Lennon departs from the band because of infighting between his bandmates. The way Paul leads his fellow seagulls into agreeing with him to fire John from the group is also a parallel to when Paul McCartney becoming more dominant within the band and challenged Lennon's leadership which leads to the band breaking up.
* While John and Sammy are having a conversation, John mentioned the events of *A Turtle's Tale 2: Sammy's Escape from Paradise* when Sammy and Ray both saved his life after John was accidentally captured by a group of poachers in the film.
* The way Sammy and Ray both place seafoam around their mouths to pretend they get infected with a "virus" is a lot like when an animal gets infected with rabies and there's saliva all over their mouth. In real life, only mammals can get rabies and not reptiles, but Paul, Ringo, and George all fall for the turtles' trickery when John came to "rescue" them from the "rabid" turtles.

### Errors

* When Paul, Ringo, and George are all flying in the sky, George asks Paul if his motor is breaking down before Paul corrects him by saying that it's his stomach. But in the episode, the identity of Paul and George is mistakenly switched when Paul said, "No, Paul, it's my stomach", and the dialogue is supposed to have George's name instead of Paul's.
* When John flies away from Sammy and Ray as part of his scheme to trick his fellow seagulls into thinking the two turtles have rabies, John's character model is accidentally used for Paul when he's about to fly away despite John is already in the sky.
* In one frame after John intentionally drops Ricky and Ella into the water to "rescue" his fellow seagulls from the "rabid" turtles, Ella's irises turned black.

## References

1. ↑ https://instantwatcher.com/title/80042306
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://playtv.fr/programmes-tv/m6/13-11-2014/
3. ↑ https://playtv.fr/programmes-tv/tiji/29-03-2015/
4. ↑ https://www.netflix.com/title/80042177