Tommy and the Secret Club

"Tommy and the Secret Club" is a Season 3 episode of Rugrats.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Chuckie
 * Phil
 * Lil
 * Angelica

Synopsis
''Angelica is forming a new club, and has a contest to see who will become a member. Will the rest of the Rugrats want to join when they learn that the members of the club have to become Angelica's servants?'' - Description from Klasky Csupo

Summary
When the babies learn that Angelica has started her own secret club, they soon envy her. This gives the mean-spirited girl the idea to make the babies "compete" to see who joins her club. However, unlike what they imagined, the club's no fun because all it does is give one of them a chance to be Angelica's personal servant while the others are left in the dust.

Recap
Angelica constructs an elaborate fort out of spare furniture and sheets at Stu and Didi's house. When the babies ask what it is, Angelica says it's her private secret club. Moments later Angelica announces there's an opening for a new member, but just one! In order to decide which baby gets to join, Angelica announces several tests must be passed.

The first test involves drinking a full bottle of milk. Chuckie, Phil, and Lil do poorly, but Tommy manages to succeed (but not without feeling ill afterwards). For the second test, the babies must recite a unique poem given to them by Angelica. Chuckie only remembers the first half of his poem. Lil remembers most of hers except for the end, which she ad-libs "And Angelica is the best!" Angelica likes her save and moves onto Phil. Lil explains he still feels unwell from the milk he was forced to guzzle earlier, but Angelica forces him to recite anyways. Phil tries to speak, but falls over backwards instead. Angelica moves onto Tommy, who is able to recite his poem perfectly (with great articulation as well).

Angelica holds a ceremony to declare the winner and new member of her secret club. Unsurprisingly, the new member is Tommy. Inside Angelica's Secret Club, there is a private ceremony for the new member, complete with a piece of paper with a scratch-n-sniff strawberry sticker on it. Then, Angelica begins to have Tommy run official secret club errands for her, and even outlines a plethora of rules to him (one of them being that he can't talk to "non-secret club members").

Tommy starts feeling bored and lonely without his friends to hang out with, but every time Tommy tries talking to Chuckie, Phil and Lil, Angelica screams at him for it. The twins start to think that Tommy feels they and Chuckie aren't good enough for him anymore now that he's part of Angelica's club. Chuckie doesn't believe them, feeling that Angelica's just making Tommy act like that, and goes to try and talk to Tommy. When Angelica leaves the club headquarters for a little bit, Chuckie comes by and Tommy whispers the secret password to him so he can come in. When Chuckie finally sees the inside of the club and Tommy tells him about what he and Angelica do, Chuckie realizes that the club isn't nearly as fun as he, Phil and Lil thought it would be, and points this out to Tommy. But Tommy misinterprets this as Chuckie and the twins being jealous that Tommy got into the club while none of them did.

Chuckie gets mad at Tommy for thinking that, and says that Phil and Lil were right about Tommy changing, and he leaves in an anger-fueled huff. When Angelica returns, she finds out Chuckie was there and angrily scolds Tommy for it. Angelica tells Tommy that he can't be friends with Chuckie as long as he's part of her club. This gets Tommy mad and makes him realizes that Chuckie was right about Angelica's club being no fun, and quits being a member of it.

Later, Angelica passes by the babies playing in the backyard. They say it's their own secret club. Angelica asks if she can join, but Chuckie, Phil, and Lil refuse after how cruel she was to them and think they should give her the same tests she gave them. However, Tommy says she can become a member because his secret club is open to everyone.

Goofs

 * Revealed in this episode, neither of the twins can withstand too much milk. In another episode, the more known side of the babies gets more milk than the average (from this episode).
 * Angelica makes a reference to Saddam Hussein (Iraq's former dictator) in this episode.

Trivia

 * The credits music is different from the usual.
 * No adults and Spike appear in this episode, even in passing.
 * When Tommy asked Angelica why there aren't clubs that allow anyone and everyone to join, Angelica explains that it's because a club can't really be a club unless there are some people who aren't allowed to be in it. But in reality there are some clubs that are open to everyone.
 * Moral: Don’t be rude and bossy. Always remember who your real friends are and never take them for granted.