It's Cupid, Stupid

"It's Cupid, Stupid" is the eleventh episode from Season 1 of All Grown Up!.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Dil
 * Chuckie
 * Phil
 * Lil
 * Kimi
 * Angelica
 * Susie
 * Harold
 * Stu
 * Didi
 * Betty
 * Chas (cameo)
 * Z
 * Nicole
 * Sean
 * Lil'Q
 * Fridge (non-speaking cameos)
 * Miss O'Keats

Plot
Dil is smashing a brownie in the scanner, but when a new boy in a sweat suit catches him, he claims to be making a lost poster for it. The boy introduces himself as Lil' Q, and he and Dil become friends almost immediately. He demonstrates a trick with a hackysack, but when Dil asks him to teach it to him with a piano, he says that it's something he was merely born with.

In English class, as Ms. O'Keats lectures the students about Valentine's Day, Angelica expresses her desire to be Sean's date to Susie. When Susie shows doubt about the possibility, Angelica tells her to back off, and that Sean was "her's."

After expressing his displeasure about the upcoming Valentine's Day dance, Tommy convinces Chuckie, and later Phil to go as a "guys in for the free eats" group together with him. But when Chuckie suddenly has his heart set on asking Nicole to the dance, Tommy reluctantly allows him to. But before Chuckie could go to ask, Angelica comes and mocks him about the possibility of Nicole turning him down. She then claims that Sean asked her to the dance, but he just "didn't know it yet."

At the Java Lava, Angelica makes Harold try to ask her to the dance in front of Sean, despite Harold DJing. Kimi, Susie, and Z witness her attempts, before they decide to attend the dance as a group. At another table, Tommy reluctantly tells Phil that he hopes Nicole turns Chuckie down, which Susie, Kimi, and Z accidentally overhear, so they could go as a group like they planned. The three mistakenly assume that Tommy has a thing for Nicole.

At school, Dil helps Lil'Q with his aim by setting one of his shoes on his head for target practice, but the hackysack lands in a boy's lunch instead. Meanwhile, a nervous Chuckie goes to ask Nicole to the dance after Tommy encourages him. Lil'Q decides to try and hit Nicole with his hackysack, telling Dil that he'll aim at her book. He kicks it over, and it hits her in the head, just before Chuckie trips on one of his shoelaces. When Nicole looks up, she suddenly falls in love with Tommy! Chuckie tries to ask her to the dance, but she runs over to Tommy, as Dil and Lil'Q watch in distress.

Later, Nicole asks Tommy to walk her to her locker and hold her books, but he gently turns her down, so she happily takes her books back and walks alone. Chuckie is suspicious that Tommy did something to make Nicole like him, but Tommy denies it. Outside, Lil'Q tries to fix the problem, but he hits Sean instead, so he falls in love with Susie. Angelica accuses her of making a move on him, but she denies it. In the halls, Tommy once again denies Chuckie's beliefs that he made a move on Nicole, before she finds them and gives Tommy a fancy, Mexican-themed Valentine card. Chuckie laments about Tommy getting the "special one", and Tommy apologizes, saying that the situation was like a "bad, after-school special." He expresses his desire to fix the problem, but Chuckie refuses his offer, saying "I think you've done enough", and walks away.

At the Java Lava, Dil and Lil'Q discuss the latter's problem with his aim, Dil saying that the school environment wasn't suitable for Lil'Q, and suggests he uses stationary objects instead of people for practice. Angelica comes over to Kimi and Susie's table after Z goes to order smoothies for them, and tells Kimi to keep Z away from Susie, the "boy swiper", but they laugh it off. Kimi shows that she trusts Susie by asking her to help Z with the smoothies. Lil'Q attempts to hit one of the smoothies with his hackysack, but ends up hitting Z's head. And with that, Z falls in love with Susie when she comes to help him. Just then, Sean comes in for Susie, but he and Z argue over her, so the latter forgets about Kimi. Now hurt, Kimi runs out of the café, and Susie runs after her, with Sean and Z closely following.

At the Pickles house, Dil has a two-board sign hanging on his front and back, with a target on the front for Lil'Q to practice with. When Lil'Q shows doubt in the plan, he throws the hackysack behind the chair, but it hits Spike's head, so he falls in love with the vacuum cleaner. When the phone rings, Tommy answers it and his parents think he's taking a survey because he sounded like he was answering questions. When Did asks him about it, he tells them that it was girl, who was madly in love with him. He also tells them that Chuckie was the one who liked her, and that he never had a chance to ask her to the dance. He then thinks of a plan: If Nicole figured out that Chuckie liked her, then she would like him instead of Tommy. After Tommy leaves, Stu wonders aloud about Spike's "sudden interest" in the vacuum cleaner.

At the Finster residence, Chuckie and Kimi discuss their problems together while doing the dishes, when Chuckie tells her that he knows how she feels. He says that he isn't going to let the problem ruin his friendship with Tommy, but Kimi tells him about how she heard Tommy hope that Nicole would turn him down. Although shocked, Chuckie denies it, saying that Tommy would never do that, but Kimi says that she thought Susie was the same, before she walks away sadly.

Back at school, Chuckie witnesses Tommy trying to tell Nicole that Chuckie wants to take her to the dance, but she mistakenly assumes that Tommy wants to take her instead, so she goes to tell everyone, including Chuckie. When Tommy tries to tell him that Nicole got the wrong idea, Chuckie accuses him of lying. When Tommy denies it, Chuckie even says that thinking he was his best friend was a mistake, before he walks away, as Lil'Q witnesses the scene. Later, with Phil as a witness, Tommy tries to tell Nicole that he can't take her to the dance, but she still believes that he wants to take her, and walks away after kissing his cheek. Meanwhile, when Angelica confronts Susie again, Susie tells her that she keeps turning Sean and Z down, but they never listen. Angelica concludes that Sean is the kind of boy that likes rejections, so she starts to make a plan for that.

At the Java Lava, Chuckie is working his shift when Susie sneaks in, while wearing a hat, trench coat, and sunglasses to hide herself. She vents about the holiday making people "go nuts", and her problem with Kimi as he makes a smoothie. Chuckie vents about his problem as well, but is cut off by Susie expressing the point of best friends, that they trust each other, no matter what. She then wonders if that's crazy, but Chuckie assures her that it's not. She then asks him to the dance, but just as "guys", aka friends.

At the dance, Chuckie tells Kimi what Susie told him, so the girls become friends again. Dil tells Lil'Q to "let it go", not think so hard about where to aim his hackysack. After Tommy comes out of hiding, Chuckie tells him that he isn't letting the Nicole situation ruin their friendship. Meanwhile, Angelica is trying to use reverse psychology on Sean, claiming that she can't stand him, but her plan fouls up.

Then, Harold turns the music up, and students start dancing together. Sean and Z come up to Susie, but she rejects them both, to their disappointment. Tommy urges Chuckie to ask Nicole to dance when they see her alone. Lil'Q follows Dil's advice, and kicks his hackysack at Nicole again, and this time, she falls in love with Chuckie. She immediately accepts his request to dance with him, to his delight. Dil remarks that he'll never understand the game, but Lil'Q says that his idea worked; He then hits Z again, and he falls in love with and dances with Kimi. He then hits Sean, so he reluctantly dances with an eager Angelica. Lil'Q then hits a net full of roses with his hackysack, so the roses come showering down, but Lil, who was put in charge of decorating, is in distress because the rose shower wasn't supposed to happen yet. Phil quietly asks Tommy to dance with Lil so he can have a cupcake, because since they were formed in a certain way, she didn't want it messed up. Tommy goes to dance with Lil, but before Phil could grab a cupcake, Susie pulls him away and dances with him. He's unhappy when somebody takes the cupcake he wanted, but shrugs it off.

Dil grabs a cupcake that looks like a green alien, but Lil'Q is gone when he tries to show him. He finds a note on the table, reading "Dil, thanks for the pointer. Heart, Lil'Q", and his hackysack is under it. Dil tries to kick it away, but he flubs it up a bit, so it lands on Ms. O'Keats' head. She then wishes that the hackysack was Cupid's arrow.

The episode ends with the students dancing all around.

Quotes
Susie: No, no, no, and yes. Sean: Got it! A definite maybe!
 * Sean: Who are you going to the dance with? Do you wanna go with me? Do you wanna go steady? Am I being too pushy?

Kimi: Oh, really? You suddenly realized you have a crush on Z and your best friend is a backstabber? Chuckie: Not exactly. Susie: I've seen worse… oh wait, that was Angelica, too! Angelica: Dance? Love to! Sean: But I don't wanna… Angelica: DANCE! Tommy: You mean since five minutes ago? Chuckie: She gave me a nice "hello." Phil: I don't have to buy you two corsages, do I? Angelica: Nicole could get a cramp in her side from laughing so hard before turning you down. Angelica: Of course! He... just doesn't know it yet.
 * Chuckie: I just wanted to let you know that the same thing that is going on between you, Z, and Susie is going on between me, Tommy, and Nicole, so I know how you feel.
 * Kimi: Is it me, or is it kinda pathetic?
 * Sean: Hey, Angelica…
 * Chuckie: I feel like I've emotionally developed since our promise.
 * Dil: Brownies with blue cheese and sour balls? Tell me I'm not on to something!
 * Tommy: So, I guess it's safe to say that you want to go to the dance with me and Chuck.
 * Chuckie: I mean, what's the worst the worst that could happen?
 * Phil: Whoa! Sean asked you!

Trivia

 * It is unknown how Nicole knew Tommy's phone number.
 * Sean asked Susie who she was going to the dance with, but she answered "no."
 * It is mentioned that Tommy and Chuckie have been best friends for nine years, yet it's not true. In the show, they are all nine years older than they were in the first chapter of Rugrats ("Tommy's First Birthday"), yet in Rugrats, Chuckie said he knew Tommy since he was 8 days old, which means they are friends for almost ten years, not nine.
 * After Nicole thinks Tommy is taking her to the dance, Lil Q says "dang," but his lips don't move. Although it's possible that he only said it in his mind, not out loud.
 * When Sean is hit by Lil Q's ball at the dance, he doesn't seem to be affected by it, unlike Nicole and Z.
 * When Lil' Q kicks his hacky sack for the first time, and accidentally kicks it into this one boy's lunch, so he is covered in pudding, his hair is black. But right before that, his hair was brown. From a different episode, his hair was brown, but during the rest of the episode, it was black. Since he's not a major character, and just a regular student, you don't really catch it.
 * Chuckie mentions the "Chongo Incident" from "Chuckie's in Love".
 * In one scene, the "N" on Nicole's necklace is backwards.
 * According to the CoolToons website, this episode is based on Shakespeare's "Midsummer Nights Dreams.
 * In this episode, the timeline is in February 2001.
 * Ending Tagline: "And I thought the rule of thumb was complicated." - Dil