Something About the Drama Teacher

**Something About the Drama Teacher** is the eighteenth episode of the tenth season of the Cartoon Network series.

## Synopsis

Zayats's school has a new drama teacher with a secret.

## Plot

### Cold open

The episode opens at the school gym, where Professor Fukuro tells his students that they've been assigned to do a play of Shakespeare's famed tragedy *Romeo and Juliet*, much to their excitement. Fukuro gives them the roles: Mirana as Juliet, Zayats as Romeo, Frost as Tybalt, to which Zayats says "sounds familiar?", and Mano and Lucille as Lord Montague and Lady Capulet respectively.

### Episode

The class quickly goes from excited to upset when he reveals that it's gonna be a musical. Fukuro is confused as to why his students are so against doing a musical before Zayats explains that close to none of them know squat about musical theater. Fukuro attempts to convince them that they'll get the hang of it pretty soon.

At that moment, Professor Taka calls out how they'll never get the hang of it. Fukuro, as usual, attempts to rub their class the other way, telling them that Mr. Pheasant will direct them throughout the play. Taka then says "Will he?" as he shows a video of the previous year's schoolplay: Coon, Frost, Milo and Ursino in an ill-prepared play, costumes and props falling apart, and all four of them sing off-key the entire time. Zayats, Mano, Lucille and Mirana are relieved to not have taken part in that mess of a play. In a back-and-forth against Taka, Fukuro tells them that the blunder led Mr. Pheasant to call it quits and this time around, they got someone who actually knows what they're doing.

Taka finally takes the time to go back to his classroom while sarcastically mocking the new drama teacher before the doors are slammed open on him by a cat named Linden. Fukuro introduces Linden to his class as their new drama teacher and director for the schoolplay. Excited, Linden belts out an introductory speech encouraging the class to get their act on. The students are quick to get rehearsing, and Zayats and Mirana get the hang of it rather quickly. Linden compliments them on their great effort, "it's almost like you're naturals at this!" he says to them. Zayats is so happy to get the role of Romeo for Mirana's Juliet, and he fearlessly admits to Linden that she's his girlfriend.

On the second day of rehearsal, an extravagantly made-up female cat with strikingly similar fur and voice to Linden's shows up at the gym. Zayats, not too convinced, asks why she is there and where Linden is, to which she replies "Oh, the bus wouldn't pick him up, so he had to stay at home. As for what I'm doing here... Well, there HAS to be a narrator, don'tcha think?" Zayats, still unconvinced, agrees.

After rehearsing for the musical and the cat sharing acting tips with her students, the schoolbell rings, and the students must leave off to their classrooms. As Zayats leaves the gym, he overhears a loud screech coming from the teacher's restroom, and decides to eavesdrop, trying to masquerade it as him lending "her" a bottle of water, before finding out that the cat that had walked in was actually Linden the entire time. Having been found out, Linden begs Zayats not to reveal his secret because he just wants to be a star and not just another annoying theater kid. Zayats, while believing he shouldn't carry on hiding it, agrees, ending the first half of the episode.

The other half of the episode takes place on the night of the play, where everything goes out as planned, and at the closing number, Linden, now in even more elegant drag, tries to deliver the final line: "Love ALWAYS wins!" but his gown gets stuck on the prop stairs and he falls down. Zayats, in a last resort to avoid the show from ending badly, pulls Linden's dress from behind, which only results in Linden's wig falling off instead, accidentally revealing himself to hundreds of people watching, even Principal Eagle.

After the play, Zayats, still in his costume, heads home with his mother when Leonidas congratulates him and the rest of their friends for their performance. Zayats is about to give probs to their director before finding Linden sitting in a bench carrying a box jam-packed with his belongings. Zayats finds out that the gaffe caused Linden to get fired from the school, and goes up to him to apologize for ruining his teaching career, before realizing that Linden wasn't mad about it, but rather he saw the incident as a wake-up call to be honest with himself and how he wants to live his life. Linden had actually just gotten another job opportunity at a nightclub in West Town. Zayats hugs Linden as the bus arrives and Linden gets on before announcing his new stage name: **Linden Vangelista**, before the door closes and the bus goes away.

The final scene of the episode has Zayats asking both his mom and Leonidas about the nightclub Linden talked about, to which Lucia replies: "I'll tell you when you're older...", ending the episode.

## Characters

### Main Characters

* Zayats
* Linden (debut)

### Minor Characters

* Mano
* Lucille
* Leonidas
* Mirana
* Dante Fukuro
* Coon
* Frost
* Milo
* Ursino
* Professor Taka
* Lucia Tabaryet
* Julius Kashner (cameo)
* Principal Eagle (cameo)
* Dillis Nightingale (cameo)

## Trivia

* The episode was produced to promote the drag reality competition series *Dragissima!*, which premiered on November 3, 2021.
	+ The show is hosted by Linden's voice actor Lazuli Magzhadtpom, who goes by the drag name Bella Noir.
* This is the last episode in the Japanese dub where Lucille is voiced by Sayaka Aoki, now being voiced by Sumire Morohoshi.

### Continuity

* As pointed out in the cold open, Zayats, Mirana and Frost being given the roles of Romeo, Juliet and Tybalt respectively is a likely callback to "Frost and Mirana are Lovebirds!".

### Cultural References

* The schoolplay is a musical version of William Shakespeare's famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet.
* Linden's references throughout the episode:
	+ Linden's main outfit strongly resembles Valentina's confessional look on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.
		- Coincidentally, in the English dub, Linden is voiced by drag queen Manila Luzon, who placed as a runner-up on the show's third season.
	+ During his introduction:
		- Linden as the Phantom of the Opera when mentioning Broadway.
		- Linden in drag recreating Marylin Monroe's famous white dress blown upwards from the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch when mentioning Hollywood.
	+ As he gets on the bus, Linden adopts the stage name *Linden Vangelista*, a play on his own name and Linda Evangelista, one of the top supermodels of the 1990s.

## Censorship

* The episode was very controversially skipped from several dubs due to the representation of a drag queen.

## Gallery

American English Dub title cardJapanese Dub title card