The Lucky Ring

## Episode guide

**"The Lucky Ring"** is the thirty-first episode of the first season of *Nate Is Late*.

## Synopsis

Nate and Malika meet a construction worker (Griselda) who gives Nate a magical lucky ring.

## Plot

Nate and Malika set off for school where they have an assignment to memorize a poem. Nate has trouble doing so as he finds what the poem to be about ridiculous. As they discuss it, they pass by a construction worker. Upon hearing Nate mention he would be lucky to memorize the poem, she goes to the pair and offers Nate a ring, claiming it as lucky. Malika is suspicious why she would give something that valuable away, but Nate dismisses this concern and accepts the offers. The worker introduces herself as Griselda asks Nate to help get the ring off since its swollen on her finger.

Nate succeeds in doing so, but no sooner then they get it off, Griselda runs off, wishing Nate luck. This only adds to Malika’s suspicions but Nate waves off the concern and puts on the ring. Instantly some money falls Nate’s way to his joy.

Terry shows up and threatens to put gum in their hair, only to be stopped by Dwayne who chastises him for littering and carries him off to pick up trash. Intrigued, Nate decides to test the power of the ring further. They walk by the candy shop where the shop owner claims Nate is the 1000th customer and gives him free candy, they come across Gideon who’s tossing out some video games and offers to let them have some, the ring somehow influences Susie to toss away her mp3 player and headphone which Nate catches and they meet the pop idol Marco Vega and hang out with him for a bit. What’s more, he drops the two off near the school where they’ll be able to reach it before it starts. Nate wants to use the ring’s power for one more thing. But when he tries to, it suddenly doesn’t seem to work. Malika notices a piano that was being hoisted by movers suddenly has its rope snap and falls toward Nate. She barely manages to push him out of the way in time.

The piano turned out to belong to Mrs. Rainford who scolds the mover about what happened, but the mover is confused since the rope was brand new. Nate thanks Malika for the save just as Mrs. Rainford accidentally knocks over a garbage bin on top of him, covering him in trash. Nate wonders if the ring is starting to give him back luck and tries to take it off, only to find it stuck, getting tighter the more he tries to remove it. He tries to get Malika to help pull it but she becomes hesitant to do so sensing the ring could be dangerous and suggest they go find Griselda and learn more about the ring. They reach the construction area where they ran into her, only for Nate to nearly get hit by Melanie on her bike if not for Malika pushing him out of the way. Melanie crashes but is unscathed though wondering how her bike went wobbly due to having checked the brakes. Malika asks Melanie if she’s seen Griselda who state she saw her near Cosmos’s. Nate falls into a manhole just as he’s about to head there. After climbing out, they head to Cosmo’s shack and asks him of her whereabouts. Cosmo can’t recall but state she brought some lottery tickets. Luckily Griselda threw the non-winning ones on the ground, giving the duo a trail. Before they follow, Nate grabs a pillow and a colander and wears them to give himself some protection.

The two follow the tickets to the park where they find Griselda there scratching some more tickets. When they call out to her, she becomes frightened and runs off. The duo follow, but Nate keeps running into one misfortune after another (A ball hitting him in the head and pushing the colander over his eyes, temporarily blinding him, stepping on a rack that whacks him in the face, a wasps nest falling on his head, a comet of all things nearly falling on him and setting him on fire, forcing him to jump into the lake to put it out, etc). The duo eventually catches up where Griselda in a tree, scared the bad luck will affect her but Malika assure her it only targets Nate, proven when a batch of apples fall off the tree on him. Convinced, she comes down and reveals that she found the ring while working, put It on and rubbed it to clean it off. Like Nate, she had some good luck before it suddenly soured and the only way to make it stop was to give it to another. Though she apologizes for tricking Nate into taking it. Nate at first suggests giving the ring to someone else but is dissuaded by Malika who suggests they need to destroy it. She hits upon the idea to have Griselda use the steam roller at the construction site to do so.

Griselda hesitates since they don’t really know what they’re dealing with but is convinced to help. They go to the site and put the plan into action, first by having Malika take the ring off Nate’s finger.

She succeeds though is briefly bewitched by it until Nate snaps her out of it sway. She throws the ring toward the steam roller which Griselda drives towards. Before she can run it over, the ring suddenly rolls on its own in the opposite direction. Nate and Malika give chase not wanting it to affect someone else. But the ring suddenly stops, faces them and uses its power to try and drop some debris on them. Nate manages to push Malika out of the way but ends up landing his feet in cement while Malika is snagged on her left arm by rope. Griselda tries to help but the ring makes a pigeon fall toward her, causing her to break the steering wheel and send the roller toward the duo. Nate realizes the ring will keep countering their efforts to stop it. But Malika wonders if it can change good luck to bad, then maybe the opposite will work as well and tells Nate to run to the steam roller. While hesitant, Nate puts his trust in her, slips out of his shoes and jumps at the steam roller. The idea works as the bad luck changes to good, allowing Griselda to put the wheel back on and steer it toward the ring, finally crushing it and ending its threat.

Griselda thanks the two for their efforts and once more apologies for the whole situation. She tries to give a speech about how good friends are better than good luck but the duo realizes they’re late and run off. They arrive at the school late and tell Principal Prudence what happened. She doesn’t believe them of course but is called to attend to a matter with a sink by Maurice. She let’s the duo through to go about their school day claiming them lucky, though reminds Nate that his teacher will likely have him recite a poem today to his nervousness.

## Characters

- ***Main***

* Nate
* Malika
* Griselda
* Terry
* Dwayne
* Mrs. Rainford
* Melanie
* Cosmo
* Principal Prudence

- ***Cameo***

* Candy Gnomes (Seen briefly when Nate is declared the 1000th customer. Apparently now working with a more benevolent shopkeep than Mr. Sweetlove)
* Gideon (Throwing out some video games and offers the duo some)
* Susie (Walking by the duo when Nate uses the ring to influence her to throw away her MP3 and headphones)
* Marco Vega (Rides up to the pair and seen in a brief montage of them hanging out)
* Maurice (Seen nervously nearby when Nate suggests giving the ring to someone else and slips away. Later seen at the end calling for Principal Prudence for an emergency with a sink).

### Continuity

* One to "*The Candy Factory"*, when Nate and Malika pass by the candy shop and the gnomes are briefly seen when Nate is announced as the 1000th customer.

### Allusions

\* Most obviously to ''***The Lord of the Rings***" as the ring is modeled after the one in the book/film series. The bewitching look Nate and Malika get when they first hold it alludes to the one Frodo gets when he first gets possession of the ring. Likewise the ring being sentient and evil and even glowing like the Eye of Sauron.

## Gallery

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## Transcript

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## Names in other languages

* **Basque:** Eraztuna, zer astuna!
* **French:** L'anneau de la chance
* **German:** Der Glücksring
* **Mandarin (China):** 幸运戒指
* **Spanish (Spain):** El anillo de la suerte

 Season 2 | 1. "The Lady of the Lake" • 2. "The Thunderbird" • 3. "The Crocodile Man" • 4. "The Golem" • 5. "The Hairdresser" • 6. "The Mood Enhancer" • 7. "The Chess Game" • 8. "The Drone" • 9. "The Astronaut" • 10. "The Gorgon" • 11. "The Dimensional Rift" • 12. "The Reptilians" • 13. "The Enchanted Bracelet" • 14. "The Ink Thief" • 15. "The Tiki" • 16. "The Puppet" • 17. "The Mandrake" • 18. "The Vampires" • 19. "The Sphinx" • 20. "The Pendulum" • 21. "The Giant Fish" • 22. "The Wedding Dress" • 23. "The Home Spirit" • 24. "The Great Pili-Pala" • 25. "The Endless Recess" • 26. "The Chicken Cop" • 27. "The Kitsune" • 28. "The Collector" • 29. "The Kappa" • 30. "The Beanstalk" • 31. "The Demigod's Test" • 32. "The Glitch" • 33. "The Tiny Tops" • 34. "The Magician's Top Hat" • 35. "The Chromapix" • 36. "The Gingerbread Family" • 37. "The Alphabet Agency" • 38. "The Wild Beasts" • 39. "The Return of the Cuddly Toys" • 40. "The Race Car" • 41. "Inside Professor Toybos" • 42. "The Asteroid" • 43. "The Time Travellers" • 44. "The Nebulons" • 45. "The Witches' Convention" • 46. "The Kobolds" • 47. "The Superstars" • 48. "The Goblin's Cousin" • 49. "The Golden Crown" • 50. "The Scarecrow" • 51. "The Banana Peel Part I" • 52. "The Banana Peel Part II"