Tattletale Heart is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Recess, which was first broadcast on September 22nd, 1999.
Summary
When somebody starts a food fight, Finster takes to individual questioning. Somebody tattles and the blame goes to Gus.
Plot
Gus is in the lunchroom with his friends enjoying his chocolate milk. Mikey tells him that maybe he shouldn't have finished his milk first and saved some for when he eats his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Once Gus takes a bite out of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he gets thirsty, so he went over to look for more chocolate milk. That's when somebody threw some mashed potatoes at him.
A food fight then ensues, and when it's all over, Gus emerges from the dust of the battle and tells his friends that he saw who started the food fight. Just then, Ms. Finster arrives and punishes the kids by making them clean up the mess and taking away their recess until she finds out who is responsible for starting the food fight. While Gus is cleaning, he tries to tell the gang that he can end it if he just tells Ms. Finster, but the kids tell him that it would make him a tattletale, which is against the Kids' Code of Honor, and that the delinquent person would have to stick his/her head in a garbage bin.
Later, while sweeping, Gus consults with Guru Kid about telling on the kid and he tells him the same thing. Soon, Finster starts interrogating the kids individually. When she gets to Gus, he is really nervous and couldn't speak a word. By the time it's all over, Finster announces that the investigation is closed, and that the culprit is none other than her own snitch, Randall Weems. Randall was upset at Gus, thinking that he had tattled on him, which made the kids go and attack Gus, until Finster stops them and tells him that Gus and his friends had told her nothing in the investigation, and that she suspected Randall, took his fingerprint, matched it with the one found at the scene of crime, and caught him.
Gretchen said that her explanation wasn't good enough, she asked what made Randall the prime suspect. Finster explains that though Gus and his friends didn't tattle, they were the only ones who didn't, and that everyone else had tattled on Randall. King Bob pardons everyone by royal decree due to a shortage of garbage cans.
Goofs
- While the gang is cleaning and stopping Gus from tattletaling, Phil appears multiple times as a background character, putting him at 3-4 places at once
Trivia
- Adam Abel is mentioned by name for the first time in this episode.
- When Miss Finster was calling each kid in alphabetically by last name, she called in Cornchip Girl (Teresa LaMaize) before Gus (Griswald). While this may be seen as an error, Cornchip Girl wasn't given a full name at the time of the episode's airing.
- This is the final episode where Geoffrey has a speaking role.
Cast
- T.J. Detweiler - Andrew Lawrence
- Vince LaSalle - Rickey D'Shon Collins
- Ashley Spinelli - Pamela Segall-Adlon
- Gretchen Grundler/Kid #2 - Ashley Johnson
- Mikey Blumberg - Jason Davis
- Gus Griswald - Courtland Mead
- Miss Finster - April Winchell
- Randall Weems/Dave - Ryan O'Donohue
- Guru Kid - Justin Jon Ross
- King Bob - Toran Caudell
- Cornchip Girl - Aria Noelle Curzon
- Ashley Armbruster - Anndi McAfee
- Singer Kid - Michael Shulman
- Earwin Lawson/Buster/King Bob's Guard #1 - Erik von Detten
- Jeffrey/Kid #3/Kid #4 - Kath Soucie
- Lunchlady Irma - Tress MacNeille
- Adam Able - Miles Marsico
- Jerome/King Bob's Guard #2 - Justin Shenkarow
- Kid #5 - Patrick Renna
- Officer/B.O.E Scientist - Gregg Berger