Mommy's Little Assets

"Mommy's Little Assets" is a Season 3 episode of Rugrats.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Drew
 * Charlotte
 * Angelica
 * Jonathan
 * Famous Ethel
 * Howard (mentioned)
 * Betty (mentioned)
 * Phil (mentioned)
 * Lil (mentioned)
 * Chas (mentioned)

Synopsis
''Charlotte takes Angelica and Tommy to work with her and puts them in the care of Johnathan, her assistant. Will the babies ruin Charlotte's business deal with Famous Ethel's Cookies? Maybe this will show her what happens when she shuts down the at-work daycare center at her company. - Description from Klasky Csupo''

Plot
In a nice change of pace, Tommy's the one hanging out at Angelica's house rather than Angelica hanging out at Tommy's house—as it would seem, their grandpa's off on a fishing trip with some friends of his and Tommy's parents are off on vacation together for a few days (possibly some kind of romantic getaway), so Tommy's staying with his Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Drew until they get back. It's breakfast time at Angelica's house, and Tommy's having some kind of mush with a bottle of milk while Angelica's having alphabet cereal and using the bits of it to spell out her name on Drew's tie that he happened to leave on the kitchen table. When Drew comes in looking for his tie, he takes it off the table and wrings the milk and cereal out it. When Drew and Charlotte are too busy to pay any attention to Angelica and Tommy, Angelica spills her milk on the kitchen floor to get their attention, but Charlotte and Drew just ask Angelica to clean up the mess before they both leave the kitchen for work.

However, Angelica's parents return just moments later when they realize that they haven't actually found anyone to watch their daughter and nephew for the day. Charlotte reminds her husband that she has an important meeting with the owners of Famous Ethel's Cookies (she's trying to convince to sell their company to MergeCorp), but Drew points out that he can't do it either because he's going bungee jumping in a hot air balloon with the CEO of Cybersystems International (noting that it would be way too dangerous for him to take the kids up in the balloon with him). When Angelica claims that she can look after Tommy, her parents (after humoring her on that) explain that they'd feel better if there was a grownup around to watch them. Drew and Charlotte then brainstorm about who could watch their daughter and nephew for the day:


 * 1.) Betty and Howard can't do it because they took Phil and Lil to the big tractor pull.
 * 2.) Chas can't do it because he went to a therapist's convention in the hopes of finding one for himself (and presumably took Chuckie with him).
 * 3.) After Charlotte questions if she and Drew know any other babysitters, he says they do but points out that virtually none of them are willing to come back a second time (not realizing that the sitters won't come back because of Angelica).

Charlotte then decides to just take the kids to work with her--Drew's a little skeptical, but ultimately agrees to it, since it's not like they have any other options. The scene cuts to Charlotte just driving into work at MergeCorp-headquarters. After Charlotte parks her car, she agrees to let Angelica help her work, and asks her to help carry her briefcase--which Angelica has trouble with due to how big and heavy the briefcase is and how small she herself is. While Charlotte's talking on the phone to her executive assistant, Jonathan, Angelica's asking her mom a bunch of questions about what working at MergeCorp is like, and Charlotte does her best to answer them.

While Angelica's asking her mom these questions, she accidentally sets off a high-tech alarm on a nearby car, and while she thinks it's cool, the loud noises make Tommy start crying in fear. After they get in the elevator, Charlotte calms down Tommy and Angelica presses all the buttons, making the elevator stop at every floor. Charlotte and the kids eventually get to the floor that Charlotte's office is on, where Charlotte's assistant, Jonathan, is shown pacing, having gotten worried about what made Charlotte take so long to get up there. Charlotte introduces the kids to Jonathan, who seems happy to meet Tommy but is shocked to see Angelica, who tells him, "I told you I'd be back!" (indicating that they've met at least once before). Charlotte asks Angelica to help Jonathan get her briefcase, which makes Angelica realize that she accidentally left it in the elevator. Jonathan dives in and manages to get it, but not before the elevator briefly closes in on him.

After he gets her briefcase, Charlotte asks Jonathan is everything's set up for the meeting with Ethel and Abe, and Jonathan shows her two models that he made especially for today (he claims it took all night and fourteen cups of coffee to do it). One side shows a replica of a small, boring town (presumably a metaphorical representation of what Famous Ethel's Cookies currently is), but then he pulls a lever to reveal the other side: Famous Ethel's Cookie World entertainment park, a large amusement park to (metaphorically) show the company's potential by selling out to MergeCorp. Charlotte and the kids are impressed with the model--Angelica wants to play with it, thinking it's a toy, but Charlotte explains that it's not a toy and that she really needs it for work. When they get to Charlotte's office, the kids start playing around with the décor, with disastrous results, including a broken fish tank (which housed Charlotte's fish named Vesko and Boski). When Angelica puts the fish in a pitcher, Charlotte asks Jonathan about the company daycare center, but Jonathan points out that she got rid of it—Charlotte then decides to reinstate it. After seeing how stressed his boss is, Jonathan suggests postponing the meeting with Ethel and Abe. But Charlotte doesn't want to give up on it, so she asks Jonathan to watch her daughter and nephew while she's at the meeting.

Once her mom leaves, Angelica tricks Jonathan into leaving as well by asking him to get her a glass of water. Once he's gone, Angelica tells Tommy that they're going to look for the "toy" town from earlier. Tommy wonders if that's a good idea, but Angelica assures him that it's fine, since her mom's the head of the company. Just after they leave, Jonathan returns, asking what kind of water Angelica wanted, but when he sees her and Tommy are gone, he leaves to find Charlotte, as he knows he'll be in a lot of trouble if anything bad happens to them. At the boardroom, Charlotte's talking to Ethel and her husband, who still aren't sure about selling to MergeCorp—Ethel explains that despite the fame/popularity/success of their cookie brand, the company they have is still pretty small. Ethel and her husband figure that executives from a big company like MergeCorp wouldn't have to really "coddle" it like they could, but Charlotte tries assuring them that she could do it as well as they could. Meanwhile, Tommy and Angelica look for the room with the Cookie World model, and they end up making a mess of the stock room on the way over—Tommy puts a million-dollar contract through the shredder, and Angelica starts typing on one of the computers, causing MergeCorp's stock to plummet.

Back in the boardroom, Charlotte tells Ethel and Abe that by selling their company to MergeCorp, their business will increase one-thousand fold. Jonathan then runs in and tells her that Tommy and Angelica have gone missing. Charlotte is outraged when she hears this, but then calmly asks Ethel and Abe to excuse her, and that Jonathan will look after them while she sees to a minor crisis. As she leaves, Jonathan tells Ethel and Abe about their fax machine, saying that their company's cover letter says, "Just the Fax," a reference to the TV show, "Just the Facts, Ma'am." Ethel admits that she and her husband don't really watch TV (claiming that they think it's "evil").

Tommy and Angelica find the room with the Cookie World-model. They climb onto it, and Angelica tells him that she'll play The Amazing Gigantic Girl, a giant version of herself, while he can play the normal-sized townspeople. Tommy asks her what he is supposed to do, and she tells him to run and scream while she tries to stomp him. Angelica then begins to play, causing severe damage to the model. Tommy, while running from "giant" Angelica, trips the switch that operates the model, causing it to spin rapidly before trapping Angelica on the Cookie World side. Charlotte runs down the hall looking for Tommy and Angelica. When she stops at the water cooler (which now has Vesko and Boski in it), Charlotte realizes that the kids are most likely where the Cookie World-model is, and rushes to it. When she gets to the room, she's relieved to find that Tommy's okay. When she wonders where Angelica is, her nephew responds by rotating the model once more, showing his cousin among the wreck that was once Famous Ethel's Cookie World-entertainment park.

After Angelica initially tries blaming everything on Tommy, Charlotte firmly scolds Angelica and points out that she not only wrecked a very expensive model and ruined a very important business deal, she deliberately disobeyed her and set a bad example for Tommy. After Charlotte assures Angelica that she's her daughter (and won't fire her) and will always love her, she also tells her that the next time she asks her to do or not to do something, she wants Angelica to be a good girl and do as she's told. Jonathan's outside the room with Ethel and Abe, who have witnessed the entire event. Ethel says that she and her husband might have picked a bad time for business and that she and Abe will come back to them with their final decision. Jonathan asks Charlotte if they're going to accept her bid, to which she tells him she doesn't think they will. Charlotte also fires Jonathan for not keeping a closer watch on her daughter and nephew, and after he leaves, Charlotte and the kids go back home.

Later that afternoon, Drew returns home as the kids are playing in the living room. After Angelica explains to her dad that her mom had a bad day at work, Charlotte comes downstairs. Just as Drew's about to comfort her, the doorbell rings. Jonathan's at the door, and he apologizes for interrupting her and her husband but explains that Ethel and Abe are with him, who called him and insisted that he take them to Charlotte's home. Charlotte tries apologizing for what happened earlier, but Ethel stops her and explains that she and Abe were so impressed by Charlotte's maternal instincts towards her daughter and nephew that they've decided to sell their company to hers based on it. Ethel then suggests that she and Charlotte go out for a celebratory dinner that night with their husbands. Drew and Charlotte, ecstatic to hear that, join them, and Charlotte rehires Jonathan and gives him a promotion—but she makes Jonathan the new supervisor for the company daycare center that she's reinstating. She also makes him babysit Angelica and Tommy that night while she and Drew have dinner with Ethel and Abe, which Jonathan obviously isn't looking forward to, mostly because of Angelica.

Goofs

 * When Charlotte closes her eyes and says to "take deep healing breaths", her eyeshadow on her eyelids is missing.

Trivia

 * Famous Ethel is a parody of the real-life cookie brand, "Famous Amos".
 * Angelica's line "Let's make like a tree and get out of here" is a reference to a line spoken by Biff Tannen in the movie Back To The Future.
 * For some reason, Drew and Charlotte didn't think of the Carmichaels to watch Tommy and Angelica. Although it's possible that they were unavailable too.
 * Tommy and Angelica are the only Rugrats seen in the episode. Also, although Chuckie isn't mentioned, it can be assumed that Chas probably took his son with him to the convention.
 * Things having to do with Charlotte:
 * According to Jonathan, she was kidnapped by eco-terrorists at least once.
 * She claims that she would never call one of her employees "Sweetie", at least not since the Clarence Thomas hearings (referencing the Anita Hill-scandal).
 * It is revealed that Charlotte becomes stressed out throughout the episode because of:
 * She and Drew were unable to find a babysitter or a friend to watch Tommy and Angelica.
 * Angelica kept bugging her by asking her a lot of questions while in the parking lot, waiting for the elevator.
 * A car alarm went off after Angelica accidentally bumped into a parked car.
 * Angelica pushed all the elevator buttons.
 * Angelica accidentally leaves Jonathan’s briefcase in the elevator.
 * Angelica and Tommy misbehaving (mostly Angelica).
 * It is revealed that Tommy hates loud noise; he starts crying in fear after the car alarm went off, but Angelica liked it. In reality, any loud noise can frighten infants and toddlers—kids at the age of 6 or under dislike loud noises.
 * She makes references to the visual artists Norman Rockwell and Robert Mapplethorpe.
 * She has two fish in her office named Vesko and Boski, which are references to Robert Vesco and Ivan Boesky, notable white-collar financial criminals from the 1980s.
 * She refers to her meeting with the Famous Ethel's Cookies-representatives as a "coup," implicating intentions to take over the company.
 * In this episode, she's shown to be the president of MergeCorp, but in episodes after this, she's said to be the chief executive officer (commonly called a "CEO" for short).
 * Things having to do with Jonathan:
 * He was voiced by Rene Auberjonois in this episode. However, he is now voiced by Dan Castellaneta in all subsequent episodes.
 * Although he's very dark-skinned in this episode, in the later seasons, his skin tone is considerably lighter.
 * While he's been mentioned lots of times before this (through Charlotte talking over her cellphone with him), this is his first on-screen appearance.
 * Jonathan's line, "Just the facts, ma'am", is the catchphrase of Joe Friday, the protagonist of the television series Dragnet.
 * Moral: Don’t put yourself into a lot of stress, because too much stress is not good for your mental health, and it makes you lose track of your tasks.