Looking For Jack

Looking For Jack	Gallery	Transcript

"Looking For Jack" is a Season 4 episode of Rugrats.

Characters Present[]

Tommy
Chuckie
Angelica
Charlotte
Spike
Didi
Jonathan (briefly heard on Charlotte's phone)

Characters Introduced[]

Synopsis[]

When Charlotte's mini van breaks down and she looks for a "jack", the Rugrats try to help her by entering a nearby Italian restaurant. They find a "Jack" there, but he happens to be a mobster with an interest in the Dummi Bears. - Description from Klasky Csupo

Plot[]

Charlotte, who’s a very distracted workaholic, offers to drive Angelica, Chuckie and Tommy to a Dummi Bears concert. Didi was originally to do this, but she didn't want to miss out on the yearly cheese festival, so Charlotte decided to take the task off her hands, much to Didi's despair. As Charlotte is driving out of the Pickles household, Spike sneaks into Charlotte's van.

While Charlotte and the kids are on their way to the concert, a truck in front of them drives over a pothole. An olive oil can fall off the truck, and Charlotte accidentally drives over the can splashed the olive oil, which causes her van to get a flat tire with all the warning lights on. Charlotte tells the children not to worry and exits the vehicle, then starts to assess the issue to her car is stranded with warning lights on eventually. Her minivan broke down, smelled like burning rubber bands and stranded to be flat as a pancake tire. She realizes that she has a flat tire with olive oil, however she doesn't have a car jack which is required to fix the tire. Charlotte then gets back in the van and makes a call on her phone to rectify the situation to call the insurance and dealership.

Meanwhile, the babies, who are anticipating going to the concert and confused to the situation at hand, as usual get into mischief. Angelica and the other children mistake hearing Charlotte needing a car jack as her needing a man named "Jack". So, the children begin their journey to look for "Jack" and sneak out of Charlotte's van and meander their way into an Italian restaurant.

Whilst in the restaurant, Chuckie and Tommy split up away from Angelica. Angelica bumps into a man who works at the restaurant, and explains she is looking for "Jack". After asking for Angelica's name, she spouts, and he explains "Jack" is not available right now. A waiter mistakes Angelica as "Jack's" daughter Gianna, to which Angelica uses the situation to her advantage and agrees that she’s, his daughter. Chuckie and Tommy, who secretly spy on her, are confused at first, but then understand that Angelica is fibbing.

After this, the man Angelica bumped into (who’s actually "Jack's" bodyguard) apologizes and tells her that "Jack" is extremely busy and he’s willing to accommodate Angelica until he’s available.

Angelica then asks for a substantial amount of free food as a big bowl of spaghetti, to which her orders are demanded. Chuckie and Tommy ignore her and continue to roam though the restaurant, flustered. The boys approach "Jack's" office door and attempt to turn the knob when they are spotted by his bodyguard, who’s concerned to see two unaccompanied children in the restaurant. He grabs them in his arms to find their guardian. He soon inadvertently drops them off at Angelica's table with a big bowl of spaghetti, after she demands to see "Jack".

Angelica gloats on her feast. Tommy and Chuckie explain to Angelica that they are worried about missing the concert and are still wondering where "Jack" is.

Angelica, who could care less about the concert at this point and enjoying her meal, tells her cousin and friend not to worry and gets a tableside accordion player to perform the Dummi Bears theme song, to which Chuckie enjoys. Tommy, however, does not.

Jack approaches Angelica's table and having spaghetti for lunch with parmesan cheese, when he realizes that she isn’t his daughter. Angelica unsuccessfully tries to play it off and convince him otherwise. Jack, however, likes Angelica's attitude, despite her lying about being his daughter. Jack then asks Angelica what her name is and where her mother is, to which she complies. Jack then begins to get to the bottom of the situation.

Back at Charlotte's van, she is still preoccupied and distracted on her mobile phone, trying to get her car repaired in a dealership, when she notices Jack walking up to her car with her daughter, Tommy and Chuckie in his arms. Charlotte, shocked and confused, snaps out of it and Spike then barks in the back of her van, to which she notices him as well.

Jack asks Charlotte if she’s having car trouble with a smell like burning rubber bands, to which she confirms. Jack then offers to give Charlotte and the babies a ride in his yellow stretch limousine to the Dummi Bears concert and gets them front row seats.

Trivia[]

It was initially established that the adults like the Dummi Bears more than the babies, who are more interested in Reptar. However, in this episode, the babies seem to actually like the Dummi Bears.
Charlotte, right before her car's tire goes flat, is chastising a delivery truck driver for his bad driving, when she is not only talking on her cell phone while driving, but weaving excessively through lanes, and runs over obstacles and dips into a pothole in the street that she should have seen.
This is one of the few episodes where Charlotte appears without Drew.
Jack possibly only helps Charlotte due to the fact Angelica reminds him of his daughter Gianna, who Angelica looks very similar to.
Jack is a part of the Italian American mob/syndicate. Many of them have network connections which explains how Jack was able to give them front row seats at the concert.
When Jack walks up to Charlotte's car, Spike barks and she notices him in the car. After asking if she has car trouble, Jack rapidly gives Charlotte and the babies a kind gesture to ride in his limo to the concert. It is unknown as to what happened to Spike in this episode after that. It is doubtful that Jack allowed Spike into the yellow limo. It's also against the law to leave children and/or a dog inside a car, so having him stay in Charlotte's van until they got back is also not plausible. The arena which they went to see the concert does not allow pets inside. So it's assumed that the following realistically happened: Jack probably asked one of his associates to babysit Spike, Jack asked one of his associates to drive/walk Spike back to the Pickles residence or Charlotte called Stu, Drew, Lou, or Didi and told them to come pick up Spike while one of the restaurant workers watched Charlotte's car in Didi's teal wagon.
In this episode, Charlotte's vanity plate is "CEO-2", even though it was previously seen as "CEO1" in "Chicken Pops".
Right before the kids sneak out of the car, a man dressed as Elvis Presley appears in the background, in reference to the '90s fad of Elvis sightings.
The concert takes place at the Monique Hart Arena, named for the story consultant at Klasky-Csupo.

Goofs[]

At one point, the tomato sauce on Angelica's mouth disappears briefly, and at another point is briefly colored brown instead of red.
In one scene, Jack's suit jacket changes shades of green slightly.
Charlotte describes Tommy as Angelica's friend to Jack, but he's actually Charlotte's nephew and Angelica's cousin.
Charlotte's car gets a flat tire, stemming from a pothole in the street which is the city's fault and not hers. Depending on your car insurance, if an event like this happens, you call your insurance agent, and they very quickly will send a roadside assistance worker with a car jack and a spare tire. In addition, Charlotte could have gone to a convenience store and bought a can of Fix A Flat and it would have fixed her tire temporarily enough for her to take the children to the concert and back home.
Jack's rings change color slightly in different scenes.