Second Time Around

"Second Time Around" is first episode of the first season of the 2021 series of Rugrats. It's also the first special of the new series, running at double-length of a normal episode but comprising a single story, a run-time of 43:49. It premiered on Paramount+ on May 27, 2021 and was also aired on Nickelodeon, August 20, 2021.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Chuckie
 * Phil
 * Lil
 * Susie
 * Angelica
 * Stu
 * Didi
 * Betty
 * Lou
 * Drew
 * Charlotte
 * Randy
 * Lucy
 * Spike
 * Silver Beagles
 * Graham
 * Jake
 * Jen Z

Summary
Tommy leads the babies on a daring adventure to help Chuckie after his big attempt to be brave goes horribly wrong. Warning: dinosaurs are involved.

- Description from Paramount+

Plot
The episode begins with a parody of the 1993 sci-fi adventure film, Jurassic Park, as we have an overview of a jungle. Tommy is seen adjusting the rear view mirror on the jeep he is driving, with Susie in the passenger seat and Chuckie, Phil, and Lil in sitting in the back. Tommy brings the car to a halt, climbing out to view the dinosaurs near by, as he comments about the dinosaurs that, "They said it was imposter-ble to bring them back to life." Susie comments on how that their location was not even on the map that she had as Tommy quickly shushes her due to not wanting to scare them with loud noises. Phil, unintentionally, makes a loud noise by stepping in the mud soon followed up by him passing gas as Lil scolds him.

Chuckie, already having enough fun, tries to hurry his friends along to get back home. A thudding sound is heard as the ground rumbles and shakes around them, frightening Chuckie in the process. Startled, all the birds in the area squawk and fly off as the babies themselves begin to panic and scramble back to the vehicle to get away from what ever was coming. However, Tommy has seemingly lost the car's keys, confirming so after checking in his diaper; this results in Chuckie commenting that "The driver has one job!" Assuming they were going to be eaten by dinosaurs, Phil and Lil hop out of the car and begin running off into the forest. Chuckie yells for them to wait up as Tommy was not quite a good runner yet; The dinosaur in question, a T-Rex then stomps down behind the car, growling as it stares at Chuckie, Tommy, and Susie. Tommy pulls out his screwdriver toy, which now has catchphrases upon flipping the switch, as he uses it as a makeshift car key allowing them to escape from the T-Rex.

The T-Rex makes chase as Tommy tries to drive away while Chuckie suggests to Tommy to go faster in a panic. Susie reassures Chuckie that it's alright as she looks at the reflection mirror, reading from it, saying that "Stuffs in the mirror are furtherer than they appear." However, this statement is false as the dinosaur is seen right next to the car trying to bite them all; Chuckie comments that the little kids should leave the reading to the adults. Wildly driving through the jungle wilderness, Tommy picks up speed and drives through various objects to get away. Suddenly, due to the large tree leaves smacking him, Chuckie drops the Reptar plush doll he was holding as he yells for Tommy to stop the car. Tommy slams on the breaks, bringing the car to a screeching halt, as Chuckie goes to grab the toy only to be stopped in his tracks by the T-Rex.

Phil and Lil are then seen riding in from the background with a hamster ball only for the dinosaur to stop it with its foot. Phil reassures that they'll be okay as he asks, "What's safer than a hamster ball?" The T-Rex flips the ball over and glares at the twins until Chuckie sneezes; the sneeze aggravating the dinosaur, as it hits the hamster ball with its tail sending Phil and Lil rolling away past the others. As the dinosaur leans down to glare at Chuckie, Chuckie questions if the dinosaur was there to supposedly give him a tissue. In response, the dinosaur roars in Chuckie's face while he screams for Tommy's help. Distracting the dino, Tommy pulls out his screwdriver and turns it on once again, as Tommy tells Chuckie to hurry and get away. However the batteries seems to be running low in the toy as the voice slowly dies out with each push until it completely stops. Tommy urges the T-Rex to be nice as he slowly reaches into his diaper to pull out his bottle. Tommy sprays the T-Rex in the face with milk, which is quickly revealed to actually be Angelica; Angelica yells at the babies, calling them dumb as she calls out for Didi.

Hearing Angelica's distress, Didi runs over asking if Tommy was the one that sprayed Angelica. Angelica confirms that it was indeed Tommy, commenting on how babies were mean, as Didi goes over to lightly scold Tommy telling him that he shouldn't waste the milk. Angelica skips off from them with her doll Cynthia, commenting how she's getting diaper rash from the babies just by looking at them. Betty is seen playing with a football and eating deviled eggs on a picnic blanket while Lucy is seen also, sitting on the blanket and using her cellphone. Betty tells the men to go long and tosses the foot ball in their direction; Stu, Chas, and Randy all try to catch it, however, Chas bumps into Stu and falls onto his back and hitting his head. The adults all come over to check on a dazed Chas as Lucy checks him for a concussion, asking him how many fingers he was holding up. Betty, sniffing one of the deviled eggs, asks if it smells weird or if it was just her; Randy, taking a whiff of it himself, says that it's definitely just her as Betty goes on with eating the egg.

The babies are seen digging through the picnic basket next to them, Tommy pulling out and offering string cheese, in which Lil takes. Tommy offers mashed potatoes next as Phil takes a handful of the mushy food and places it in his diaper. Chuckie whines in disgust as Phil offers Chuckie some from his diaper in which Chuckie declines in shock. Tommy falls into the basket as Susie pulls out a plate of ribs, commenting on how they looked like Spike's food, as she tosses one out into the grass for Spike to pick up. Spike is seen burying the rib as Angelica can be seen walking back over to the babies in the background; yelling at them that they better had not eaten all the good food and were going to get into a lot of trouble for messing with the food in the first place. Angelica, however quickly retracts her threat, due to her knowing that the babies would get away with it due to them being babies. Angelica sulks off, commenting that life is unfair.

The parents and babies are all seen leaving the park as it zooms in on Chuckie. Chuckie stops in his tracks, seeing the dinosaur statue in the middle of the lake, as he whimpers in fear while looking at it. Chas walks up to him and comments that Chuckie doesn't have to be afraid of getting hurt due to the dinosaur being on the island in the middle of the lake. Chas encourages Chuckie by suggesting they be brave together, though not without being scared by a butterfly first, as he carries Chuckie home on his back. Chuckie, now on Chas' back, looks back at the dinosaur in fear while they move farther away from it.

The outside of Betty's coffee shop, Betty's Beans, is seen before cutting inside to Betty who has made a coffee for a teen named "Jen Z." The teen takes the coffee, takes a selfie while holding it, and places it back on the counter before walking away as Betty advises for the teen to tag her shop on social media. Didi and Chas are then seen walking into the store with Tommy and Chuckie in tow, Chas informing Betty that the twins were playing with mud. Betty tells Chas to be grateful that what the twins were playing with was mud after the supposed morning she had with them. Tommy and Chuckie walk over to Phil and Lil playing with mud from a bucket as Chuckie mentions that he has decided that, since his father said he was, that he was going to be brave from now on.

Lil questions if a brave Chuckie would still be a Chuckie in which Phil answers in disagreement, saying it wasn't possible. Tommy backs up Chuckie by saying that if he wanted to be brave then he was going to be brave. Tommy then suggests playing a game of pirate adventures to help Chuckie practice being brave, however the twins comment on how they're already playing a game of coffee shop. Chuckie comments on how that the coffee shop game seems nice, while Tommy questions how Chuckie can be brave playing coffee shop. Lil suggests combining the two games into a pirate coffee shop game as she and Phil put mud on their faces to mimic pirate attire such as an eye patch (Phil) and beard (Lil). Phil and Lil start by seating Tommy and Chuckie at the kid table made for them and bringing them "cappuccinos", which in reality just mud in a tea cup. Phil places some mud on a plate to stand in for pastries as he places them on the table; Chuckie stares at the plate before asking if there were any pastries without the mud, in which Lil denies of such a thing.

Chuckie comments on how not everyone likes to eat mud to Lil and tries to get Tommy to convince her so. Tommy, however, is seen eating the mud himself as Chuckie asks him if the mud was any good. Tommy gives a thumbs up in his approval that it was "yummy" and suggests Chuckie tries it for himself. Chuckie refuses, in which Lil retaliates by reminding Chuckie that they wanted to play pirate coffee shop to help him learn to be brave. Chuckie, with a small bit of confidence, assures Lil and the others that he did want to play and that he was a "brave, pirate boy" and that he was going to eat the mud pie despite thinking he would not like it as brave pirates ate mud.

Chuckie gives a hesitant argh as he slides the mud from the plate into his mouth, gagging and coughing as he chews and swallows it, while Tommy, Phil and Lil watch. Chuckie cheers in triumph for having eaten the mud stating that, "It was only a little terrible!" Lil however spoils Chuckie's achievement by pointing out that there was a worm in the pie. Tommy points out that the worm was only half of one as Chuckie questions where the other half went; Lil answers pointing to Chuckie's stomach saying it's inside it. Chuckie cries out in distress realizing he ate a worm.

The Pickles' house is seen in the next scene as it pans into the backyard, showing Lou doing yoga with the babies. The babies try to follow along, however Phil and Lil get distracted by a butterfly flying by as Phil pulls out a sandwich from his diaper as they sit down and share it to eat, meanwhile Susie starts pretending to be a dog and copying Spike. Lou explains that it was good to embrace the silence, push back distractions that prevent peace of mind, and let someone else answer the bell; the doorbell can be heard being rung excessively as Lou says this. Lou, getting fed up with the ringing, goes to answer the doorbell telling whoever is at the door that he doesn't need any magazines and that he wasn't switching churches. However, it's revealed that it was Angelica ringing the doorbell as Lou answers the door. Lou offers Angelica a hug in which she responds to getting one later as she drives her Cynthia car through the front door.

Drew questions Lou as to why he wasn't using the door camera that Drew had installed for him; the doorbell camera is seemingly broken. Lou says that he's more of a face-to-face type of guy as a loud explosion is heard from nearby. Stu is seen coming out of the garage, smoke following behind, as he coughs and begins extinguishing whatever was inside. Stu greets Drew, however whatever was inside the garage catches fire once again with a small explosion as Stu rushes to extinguish it once more. Drew suggests inventing a door camera for Lou that Lou would actually use in which Lou prompts them to stop. Lou goes on to say that he doesn't need their "digital garbage", not the doorbell, and not the seniors dating app, Silver Beagles, they put on his phone. Stu questions what's wrong with the app as Lou answers that every time he tries to check the weather there's a pop up picture of a granny "tending her tomatoes." Lou goes on to make a deal with them, they don't interfere with his technology, and he won't tell them that they were acting like overgrown kids. Drew, in response, questions if they were just insulted by a Silver Beagle.

It cuts back to the backyard again as Tommy is seen rolling his toy ball to Phil who then tosses it away. Lil yells at him while Phil comments that "I guess I'm stronger than I smell." as Chuckie is heard whimpering. Chuckie is seen sitting behind the picnic table in the yard, as Tommy gets up to go over to Chuckie and ask him what was wrong. Chuckie answers, saying that life was hard, and the one time he tries to be brave he ends up eating a worm. Tommy chimes in with the fact that he had only eaten part of a worm; Chuckie, however, just sighs saying he was going to stay there and not be any "differenter". Tommy plops down next to Chuckie saying that he'll sit there too. Chuckie thanks Tommy and comments on how nice it is in the peace and quiet.

Their rest break is interrupted by the arrival of Angelica in her Cynthia car. She declares herself a doctor by way of her "Doc Mcdingaling" bag and examines Chuckie. Meanwhile, Didi chats with Betty, telling her that she wasn't sure about the family moving into Lou's house at first, but that it's been great having him to watch over the kids. As they continue to chatter, Stu and Chas enter, surprising them with the news that their favorite band of all time, Y2K, is reuniting. Back outside, Angelica tells Chuckie that he has "wormy-oliosis" and that he's going to turn into a worm. Tommy asks if she can fix it, but she tells him there's cure then takes off, saying she'll send the bill. That evening, Chaz was reading a story to his son. As he left, Chuckie has a nightmare in which he is falling through the ocean, fish hooks waving around him and Angelica singing about him being a worm boy. He lands in the dirt on a lawn, where he hears a narrator describes him living a sad, solitary existence as a worm-boy eating bits of rotten fruit. He then scuttles away from a giant-sized Phil before getting eaten by Angelicrow.

The next day, he describes his nightmare for the babies before hiding in a closet, saying he has to practice being a worm boy. Tommy says they have to help him and Phil and Lil declare that they'll get the worm boy food. They scrounge from the refrigerator even as Lou has a chat with Didi in which she starts to outline childcare tips, but he declares that nothing gets past him. Later that day, Drew and Charlotte arrive with Angelica, dropping her off before the concert. Back inside, Susie tells Tommy that she looked inside her mother's medicine book and found a cure for wormy-oliosis, that you need a dinosaur tooth to wish away the worms. Tommy reports this news to Chuckie, who finally leaves the closet, but goes back into hiding after hearing just what the cure is. The adults take off for the concert, though Didi fusses about having to leave Tommy. Angelica moans that she thought they'd never leave, then moans when Lou tells her that they all to have share the cookies he's baking and to watch over the babies.

Tommy tells Angelica that they need a dinosaur tooth and she tells him that they can find one in the park. She offers the keys to her Cynthia car, but Chuckie objects, saying she told them that she'd bite off their fingers if they ever drove it. She replies that she says a lot of things, asking if they want the car or not. She returns to the kitchen, telling Lou the babies wanted to be alone. As he struggles to make cookies, she grabs his smartphone and starts playing around with it, inadvertently calling up a seniors dating app named "Silver Beagles" and thinking it's a "grandma store." Outside, the babies take off on a wild ride, causing several near-accidents as they careen towards the park. As the sun starts to set, Angelica continues to goof around on Lou's phone, which receives a call from Didi. As Lou continues to make a mess in the kitchen, he asks Angelica to take the call. She puts him on briefly and he tells her that there's not a peep out of the kids, but when Didi asks to see Tommy over the videophone, Angelica balks, pretending she doesn't know how, then disconnects the call.

The babies drive through the site of the concert even as Didi is shouting at Angelica. Back at home, there's a ring at the door and Angelica opens it to find a glamorous woman who says that she was delighted to get Lou's reply. She is surprised to see Angelica, who directs her to the kitchen, even as she ignores another call from Didi. Outside, Spike races after the babies, on the scent, while the babies come to a halt on the edge of a small pond in the park, Chuckie saying that he's starting to feel a little wiggly. He worries they won't find the dinosaur in time, but they plow through some bushes, finally arriving at the statue of the "Tree-Rex." Chuckie steels himself, saying he can do this. Back at home, Angelica greets another woman, who is actually now the third one to arrive. She brings her to Lou, who gets a sudden suspicion and asks Angelica why all these women keep showing up. Just then, another individual, this time a man named Graham, arrives at the door. As he greets Lou as a "Silver Beagle," Lou realizes what is happening and tells him that there's been a mistake and that he isn't gay. As Graham leaves, he realizes the playpen is empty and asks Angelica where the babies are. "Who?" she asks.

Lou takes off on his bike, Angelica riding in the seat behind him. He asks how she could lie to him about the babies and she blames it on Susie and "her dumb medicine book." He tells her they're going to have a long talk when he's not so out of breath. She says that she knows she's been bad, but nobody expects her to be an angel. Just then, Graham pulls up next to them on a motor-scooter. Lou asks there's room for two more and he winks. Back at the park, Spike arrives as the babies are crossing a rope-bridge to reach the dinosaur statue. As Tommy steps forward, Chuckie tells him he doesn't have to do it, but he replies that he said he would and he's going to. He crawls up the statue, finally reaching the top. Seeing Tommy struggling to reach one of the teeth, Chuckie shouts at him, telling him that it's okay, that he can be a worm boy if he has to. He joins Tommy at the top, who tells him that even if he becomes a worm boy, he won't be alone because they'll still be his friends and he'll still be Chuckie on the inside. He declares that nothing can keep them apart, but then slips, hanging off the edge. He falls, but then snags one of the teeth. He then falls again, only to be caught by Chuckie. The tooth then breaks off in Chuckie's hand and they both fall, but Spike arrives and catches them both, the two of them landing on his back.

They all cheer Spike and Tommy thanks Chuckie for saving him. He sees that Chuckie got the tooth and tells him to make a wish. Staring up at the dinosaur, Chuckie wishes not to have Wormy-Oliosis so that he can stay with his friends and keep being hugged by his daddy. As the sun goes down, lights illuminate the statue and Chuckie declares that he doesn't feel either wiggly or squiggly. They cheer his being cured as Lou, Angelica and Graham arrive. Lou thanks Graham, who takes off, promising to text him about Tuesday night bingo. Lou tells them it's time to go home, but Spike, sniffing the ground, runs off. They follow him and Lou, panting, encounters a man, telling him to not ever get old, before recognizing him as an old friend named Jake. As the two catch up, the babies and Angelica wander off after Spike, ending up on stage with YRK as they perform the big hit "Second Time Around." In the crowd, Charlotte starts to take a selfie with Drew, then walks off to take a call from the mayor. Drew then joins Stu, Didi, Betty and Chas, who are singing and dancing along with the song. On stage, as the bandleader Bug calls for everyone to sing along more, Spike howls and the babies follow along with him as we walks across. Bug goes along with it, stating that fans just keep getting younger and younger. The babies all dance and Angelica decides to get in on the fun, saying to Cynthia that they'll show them a real star.

As Angelica dances, the adults all realize what is going on. Back at home, Stu says the band has gotten better over time and Lucy agrees that Bug was on fire. She says she thinks she's in love and Randy starts to agree, then comments "You what, now?" "With my husband," Lucy amends. Didi tells Lou that she appreciates he wanted to take the babies to the park, but that they shouldn't have been out at night without reflective clothing. He says it's duly noted and Betty asks him how he had time to watch the kids and make three different kinds of cookies. He tells her he had a little help as Spike wanders into the living room. In the playpen, the babies are all resting in sleeping bags. Chuckie tells Tommmy he's been thinking that when they play tomorrow, he can be the brave one and Tommy can be the not-so-brave one. Tommy agrees whatever he wants is fine, but Chuckie continues that maybe they don't have to worry so much about this stuff. Tommy agrees that this sounds nice too.

Trivia

 * When Susie tells Angelica that a kid can't be a doctor, Angelica presents her with her "Doc McDingaling" bag. The name, as well as the image on the bag itself, are an obvious parody of the Disney Junior series Doc McStuffins, featuring a character by the same name.
 * The dating app Silver Beagles found on Lou Pickles's smartphone is a parody of SilverSingles, a dating site targeted at those ages 50 and older.
 * In this episode, Chuckie mentions the watermelon seed he ate in the original series episode "The Inside Story".
 * Angelica playing doctor, and diagnosing Chuckie with a fake disease is used from a similar episode plot in the episode "Rhinoceritis!" from the original series.
 * This is the first episode to premiere ever since "Golden Boy" in 2008.
 * Angelica states that the southern woman from the Silver Beagles looks like the old man from the chicken box, but in a dress. This is a reference to Colonel Sanders.