"A Monstrous Homecoming" is the eleventh episode of Monsters at Work. It aired on April 5, 2024, and is the first episode of the second season.
Synopsis[]
It's homecoming weekend at Monsters University, and Tylor Tuskmon is being celebrated as a former Scream King.
Plot[]
Tylor, still living with his parents and grandmother, (the latter of which who recently moved in with the family), continues to live his new life as a jokester and maintains a closeness with Val who drives him to work. The success of Monsters, Inc.'s transition to laugh power as gained much attention with some split on the issue, such as the centipede body connected talk show hosts Jack and Jill. While Sulley is happy with the attention Monsters, Inc. is receiving, Mike is angered over the fact that Jill calls him "Weirdzowski" and throughout the episode tries to call her to speak his mind to her.
At work, everyone is doing their part to collect laughter from children, but Tylor is noticeably not collecting as much with his donut routine. He voices his concerns to a child named Ben that his college homecoming is coming soon and he wants to make a positive impression on everyone to show that he is a success. Val afterwards tries to give him encouragement and reminds him that he is still technically accomplishing his dream job working at Monsters, Inc.
Tylor and Val arrive at Monsters University where the latter reminds the former that she came here too, but left due to her student debt. Tylor regrets not hanging out with her more often. During the football game, Tylor encounters Johnny Worthington III, a former fraternity president of Roar Omega Roar, who has since married Claire Wheeler, a former Greek council president for the Scare Games, and has raised two children, Lorelei and J.J., with her, and is now the head of Monsters, Inc's competitor Fear Co. Johnny reveals that he knows of Tylor and admires him due to him topping his old score at MU.
During the halftime game, all the top class graduating monsters take the stage as they reveal their accomplishments. When Tylor corrects Professor Knight over the fact that he is a jokester now, he ends up humiliating himself on live television when he fails to make anyone laugh at his jokes, including the one that his father taught him. Tylor is shunned by everyone on campus, though Johnny comes and offers him some encouragement.
Rather than head home, Tylor decides to go back to Monsters, Inc. to see if he can finish filling up his tank with another laugh. When he goes to perform his donut routine to a little girl, he accidentally scares her and fills up the remainder of the canister with scream energy. He leaves and puts the now full tank back where the contents proceed to fester with the mix of laugh and scare energy.
Cast[]
- Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski
- John Goodman as James P. Sullivan
- Ben Feldman as Tylor Tuskmon
- Mindy Kaling as Val Little
- Henry Winkler as Fritz
- Lucas Neff as Duncan P. Anderson
- Alanna Ubach as Cutter, Maria, Carla Benitez
- Nathan Fillion as Johnny Worthington III
- Jenifer Lewis as Virginia Tuskmon
- Aisha Tyler as Millie Tuskmon
- Ali Wong as Jill
- Joe Lo Truglio as Jack
- John Ratzenberger as Bernard Tuskmon
- Stephen Stanton as Needleman and Smitty
- Christopher Swindle as Thaddeus Bile, Rudy, Additional Monsters
- Roxana Ortega as Celia Mae
- Dee Bradley Baker as Banana Bread
- Alfred Molina as Professor Knight
- Alan Kim as Ben
- Aubrey Plaza as Claire Wheeler
- Julia Butters as Lorelei Worthington
- Sander Argabrite as J.J. Worthington
- Nohely Quiroz as MNN Receptionist, MU Student
- Natalie Lashkari as Little Girl Monster
- Max Mittelman as RΩR Bro, Large Monster, Student Monster
- Carlos Alazraqui as Josh Rivera, Jebediah Krakenson
- Hiromi Dames as Lanky Schmidt, Student Monsters
- Kimberly D. Brooks as Additional Monsters
Trivia[]
- This episode takes place 3 months after the events of the final scene of Monsters, Inc. as well as the previous episode (which both took place 6 months after the next-to-last scene of the film) as well as finally continuing the events after the former. Jack and Jill confirm this in their news report by saying Henry J. Waternoose III has been in prison for the past 9 months.
- Starting with this episode, Celia is voiced by Roxana Ortega, replacing Jennifer Tilly. Ortega previously voiced Celia in Disney Speedstorm.
- It appears that the kid in which Tylor accidentally scared him off in the first episode is reassigned to Thaddeus Bile despite his door being destroyed.
- It is also revealed that the kid's name is Miguel Seymour.
- The kid that Tylor talks to about his concerns is named Ben, possibly named after the former's voice actor Ben Feldman. Additionally, his last name, as seen on the folder, appears to be Kim, the same as his own voice actor Alan Kim.
- Nessie from The Ballad of Nessie makes a cameo on Bernard Tuskmon's newspaper. The article is titled "Lake Snake Plans Rebrand" - "Nessie Preparing For An Image Makeover".
- This ties into Nessie being seen on a newspaper read by Roze in Season One.
- Additionally, the author is the piece is named Edward ARRR Murrow, a nod to real life broadcaster Edward R. Murrow.
- Sulley has had Boo's drawing with them holding hands framed and placed on his desk.
- The list of scream kings and queens showed in the episode (sans Johnny and Tylor):
- Jebediah Krakenson
- Dorothy Basilisky
- Earl "The Terror" Thompson
- Frank "Frightening" McCay
- Unnamed two-headed female monster
- Frank McCay (who appeared in the prequel's prologue) makes a cameo in this episode as one of the former scream kings attending the homecoming game halftime ceremony.
- Although Mike was shown to be watching the game on TV with Sulley in their office, he, oddly enough, does not show any sort of reaction to Frank being there, despite the fact that Frank was the one who inspired Mike to become a Scarer in the first place.
