Candice Candice Revolution

*Season 3,* *Episode 2b*

**"Candice Candice Revolution"** is the second segment of the eighteenth episode (and the thirty-fifth story overall) of *Close Enough*.

## Synopsis

Candice’s mind is blown when she first tries breakfast-for-dinner, opening up a world of anarchy.

## Plot

Candice and her parents have just come home from kinder garden on a Friday, the day in which Josh consistently makes hot dogs for dinner. But Josh is shocked to discover that Alex has eaten all of the hot dogs and is now stuck inside the refrigerator after having gotten really high on marijuana. As a last ditch effort to save dinner Josh uses the one food item left in the kitchen, instant pancake batter mix, to cook pancakes as a substitute. Candice is obviously perplexed to have a food traditionally served at breakfast for dinner, however Josh mildly replies to her that some rules are meant to be broken. After taking the first bite out of a pancake Candice experiences a trance in which she comes to believe that any and all rules are meaningless and are meant to be broken so long as it makes her happy, especially after being told so by an imaginary Robin Hood.

That following weekend Candice begins breaking all kinds of rules around the house for amusement, such as: eating lasagna off of the floor for breakfast (which she poorly cooked on the stove), drinking French-press coffee which makes her act aggressive, shredding her toothbrush in a paper-shredder (believing that dental hygiene is unnecessary), watching television with her head against the screen, jumping up-and-down on her parents bed early in the morning, while cussing and wearing all of her mother's makeup on her face. Eventually, Candice is dropped off on Monday morning at school by her parents, however this proves to only aggravate the problem even more. She proceeds to instigate her fellow schoolmates to disrespect rules. As a result Chamomile is taken over by the unrestrained students, who begin committing several acts of vandalism. One student in particular, Jade Cartwright, takes an especial liking to Candice's revolt and shreds her permanent record after having been scolded by the principal for falling behind on her school work. The school staff have barred themselves inside a classroom to device a solution for stopping the students outbursts. Timothy Campbell proposes the only viable solution, to phone Josh and Emily to have them stop her daughter. He informs the young couple, who had just finished grocery shopping, about the dire situation in the school. Worse still, he reveals to them that Candice has rallied the students into building a baking soda volcano big enough to cover up all of Los Angeles city in baking powder and vinegar. Without any hesitation Josh and Emily drive back to the school shortly after they hear the children breaking into the closed-off classroom.

Emily and Josh arrive at the school and are bewildered of how much damage the children have managed to accomplish. They try to convince Candice into stopping the revolution and not to go along with the volcano idea. She denies any wrong in what the students have been doing by using the breakfast for dinner as an argument. Josh however points at that at least nobody got hurt while breaking that rule and Emily continues by pointing out how the revolution has caused the children to become violent towards each other. As Candice begins realizing the consequences of her actions, Jade decides to step up as the new leader. At first she demanded that Candice should throw her parents into the volcano, but Candice refuses, which prompts Jade into turning the students against Candice, then ordering them to bind Candice and her parents with rope and take them on top of the volcano.

On the volcano top the students have just pored several gallons of vinegar into the volcano and are about to throw Candice and her parents in. But Candice decides to take responsibility and tries talking the students out of igniting the volcano. She tells them that some rules can be broken as long as nobody has to suffer because of them, then points out how breaking rules has allowed bullying to be normalized, which does cause the others into realizing the error of their recent actions. Jade once again retaliates, especially after Candice informs the other children that if she was willing to endanger Candice than she would likely do the same to anyone else. A fight breaks out between the two girls and Jade accidentally falls into the volcano, but Candice grabs her hand. As Jade is clinging for her life she tells Candice to let her die. Since she had been failing in school Jade fears that she will be held back a grade, but she does not want to repeat kinder garden. Candice informs her that that will not be the case if she puts in the minimal effort considering that the school year had barely started. The two reconcile and Jade is lifted out of the volcano. Just as the children begin celebrating a return to normality Ethan, one of Candice's class mates, tosses his pickelhelm which hits the crane that is suspending the baking soda above volcano, causing the volcano's ledge to break and sending the baking soda down the volcano shaft. The volcano erupts, sending a burst of vinegar/baking soda into the air which covers the entire school with white foam and sweeps the children and the adults across school grounds.

An ambulance arrived shortly after to help the children and the teachers, who are cleaning up the mess left behind by the volcano. Meanwhile, at the nearest intersection, Candice and her parents are waiting to cross the street. Although she is being punished for having started the riot by not being allowed to watch television for a week Candice agrees and realizes the importance of rules. Josh is frustrated that the cross light isn't turning green, to which Emily tells him that they should jaywalk just this once, since there aren't any cars in sight and that one time couldn't do any harm. As they each take one step on the road the police spontaneously arrive, with a helicopter to arrest the family, demanding that they get on the ground.

## Characters

* Candice
* Josh Singleton
* Emily Ramirez
* Jade Cartwright
* Timothy Campbell
* Principal Becket
* Candice's Classmates
	+ - Ethan
* Chamomile Staff Members
* Naval Officer Teacher
* 80% On-Model Robin Hood
* Alex Dorpenberger

## Trivia

* This episode reveals that on every Friday night Josh makes dinner, which is always hot dogs much to Emily's lackluster response as whenever she cooks dinner she always makes something different.
* This episode takes place in the month of October according to Candice.
* Josh seems to find mini-toast and baking soda to be distasteful.
* Josh and Emily have been lying to the zoo that Candice is three-years-old for some time now, presumably so that they cane get her in for a lower admission price. This would mean that they have committed a minor offense.
* It is revealed that Candice is not allowed to drink Coffee because it makes her aggressive.
* Timothy Campbell reveals that he normally calls up Josh and Emily in order to get them to raise money for the school. This is an obvious throwback to the Season 1 episode Room Parents wherein Josh became room parent for life.
* Ethan says that the school nurse administers to him tranquilizers whenever he gets overstimulated, hence why Chamomile has these drugs on supply.
* One of the school teachers is an elderly, and likely retired, naval officer who specializes in tying knots. He had proudly served in the navy as a knots-man for twenty years and has been teaching the students at Chamomile how to tie especially tight knots.
* This episode reveals that Candice is one school year away from passing into first grade. Also, given that she could explain to Jade how to pass kinder garden it is likely that Candice might have improved her learning skills, unless the principal had merely been exaggerating in order to get Jade to work better at her subjects, as well as Jade likely taking those words to heart.

### Pop Culture references

* The episode's title is a reference to the video game series *Dance Dance Revolution*.
* The 80%-On-Model-Robin Hood is clearly meant to be a pastiche of Disney's 1973 version of the character, who is an anthropomorphic red fox. Unlike the Disney counterpart, he is wearing a sleeved undershirt, trousers, boots, yellow feathered arrows and eschews the pointed hat. He is more closer in design to the anthropomorphic animal characters from J.G. Quintel's previous work *Regular Show*.
* Candice is watching the original *Jurassic Park* during the scene where she has her face stuck against the television screen.
* Candice and the children's revolution leads to them behaving akin to the characters from the novel *Lord of the Flies* and dressing up in *Mad Max* wild-child style clothing.