The final four participate in an animal-themed challenge, as the castmates return to the location of season one. The drama intensifies when someone is exposed for the mole he is. At the elimination ceremony, the real antagonist finally meets her end in the contest, along with her long-awaited comeuppance, but not before discovering a spy and causing him to be fired. This all leads up to the final two of this season being determined.
Plot
Duncan shows Owen the 32-page-long letter Courtney wrote for him.
This episode opens with Owen waking up from his sleep after passing gas and is surprised that Duncan is not picking on him, which leads him to wondering where he could be. All of a sudden, Duncan walks sleepily into the guy's trailer. Owen asks Duncan where he was all night, and begins to think that Duncan was captured but Duncan reassures him that he was with Courtney all night, where the two spent the night talking about "relationship stuff." Duncan then shows Owen the large relationship rule contract that Courtney wrote out for him, and he states that Courtney wants him to follow and memorize all of it.
 Duncan |
“ | Courtney wrote me a 32-page letter outlining all my faults and how to correct them if we're ever gonna have a serious relationship. All of which she expects me to memorize! I think I would've preferred a night of alien probing. | ” |
Duncan jumps onto his bed, and tries to sleep. However, Chris wakes him up, and tells the boys that the challenge is starting soon. Afterwards, all of the castmates are seen at breakfast, eating what appears to be scrambled eggs. Beth sits with Courtney, and they start chatting about Duncan. Courtney becomes concerned and hopes that the two did not keep Beth up all night.
 Beth |
“ | I totally heard every insane word. Well, almost every word. I dozed off around page 9, section 3, paragraph 4; then again on page 22, section 11, paragraph 8. (chuckles) Poor Duncan. | ” |
"You may hold me now."
When Duncan enters, Courtney immediately begins to impose the rules of the contract on Duncan, asking if he memorized the contract yet. As Beth comments how dysfunctional the couple is, Owen suddenly begins to choke but Beth manage to resuscitate him with the Heimlich maneuver. Chris then appears with a parrot and explains the day's challenge: animal buddy movies.
 Chris |
“ | You try coming up with 26 movie genres. It was either animal buddy or guy-in-a-coma movies. | ” |
Beth |
“ | I've always shared a bond with nature's creatures. When I was a kid, I made friends with the rats in our attic. It was like Cinderella! | ” |
Outside the trailers, Chris shows the castmates the choices for their animal buddies. The choices are a shark, a bear, a raccoon, and a chameleon. Courtney immediately chooses the shark, before anyone else has a chance to say anything.
Beth |
“ | Actually, it makes perfect sense. Those two are made for each other. The only difference is one would eat you alive in a heartbeat and the other's a shark. | ” |
Duncan decides to take the chameleon, as it reminds him of Scruffy. Owen chooses the bear as his animal buddy because of their similarities while Beth takes the only remaining animal, the raccoon.
"I told you, bright green like my mohawk, not that wussy moss green!"
Later, each castmate is shown with their animal buddy. Duncan tries to get the chameleon to change to the color of his mohawk, but the chameleon fails. Meanwhile, the raccoon is seen angrily shrieking at Beth. She tries to calm him down by offering the raccoon a treat, which does not end well. After coaxing her shark to cooperate with her, Courtney meets up with Duncan to remind him that he has to compliment her once every hour, as it stated on the contract which he fails to come up with.
Duncan |
“ | Hey, I like Courtney, I really do, but I also like a million big ones. Best case scenario: I win the money and the girl. But if it comes down to it, I need the money more than I need some high-maintenance chick with a superiority complex… Don't tell her I said that, okay? | ” |
Back with Owen and his bear, Owen is about to eat a lollipop. but the bear snatches it and takes it for himself. Chris then appears to remind Owen about sabotaging the other contestants.
 Owen |
“ | When Chris first offered me money to sabotage the other cast members, I didn't handle it very well. Now I kinda dig it! As long as I mess with everyone equally, it's not like I'm giving anybody the advantage. | ” |
Owen sabotages Duncan first, changing the color of his mohawk.
Owen's first target is Duncan, who is still trying to get his chameleon to change to the color of his mohawk. Owen spray-paints Duncan's mohawk several different colors, which the chameleon follows. However, since Duncan cannot see, he believes that the chameleon is still not listening to him.
Courtney and the shark battle.
Next, Courtney is shown, demonstrating a cheer to her shark but only gets angry when the shark doesn't follow her. Owen then appears, poking his finger with a needle and dropping a small amount of blood into the shark's tank. The shark, having now gained a thirst for blood, tries to attack Courtney.
 Courtney |
“ | I've been dealing with an entire team of top-notch lawyers. I'm not about to be intimidated by a glorified dolphin! | ” |
Then Courtney begins fighting her shark. Beth is also shown demonstrating a trick to her raccoon, concerning treats. She then begins to pant like a dog, causing the raccoon to give her a treat instead, which Beth enjoys. Owen arrives, and believes that he is not needed there. Once the time is up, all contestants gather at Chris to perform, with Courtney being injured from fighting the shark.
Beth wins the first part of the challenge.
Beth is up first to perform, and regretfully tells Chris that she could not teach her animal buddy anything, and then realizes that she lost her retainer. Upon hearing this, the raccoon jumps into the nearby trash can, and digs out Beth's retainer. Chris and Chef are impressed, and both give Beth a ten. Owen's demonstration is next, and it simply shows both Owen and the bear sleeping and farting. The judges are unimpressed, and give Owen a six. When it is Duncan's turn, he simply points at his mohawk, looking at the chameleon. The chameleon understands Duncan's notion, and it changes to the color of Duncan's mohawk. The judges applaud Duncan, and give him an eight. Before Courtney performs, she receives a message on her PDA but with the judging on, she is unable to reply. Since her animal buddy is not around, Courtney serves Chris and Chef sashimi instead. Chef wonders where Courtney got it from, then he glares at her, implying that he thinks Courtney killed her animal buddy. Courtney refutes this, saying she did not kill the shark, but rather "roundhouse kicked" him until he coughed up his lunch, "from his stomach to yours!" This disgusts Chris and Chef, and they declare Beth the winner.
The remaining contestants return to Camp Wawanakwa.
Before the second part of the challenge begins, Courtney is shown at a river somewhere, again fighting with her shark along with two of its friends. The remaining three, Beth, Duncan and Owen, have returned to Camp Wawanakwa's forest. Chris reveals the next part of the challenge: The animal buddies have to help the castmates find their way out of the forest. The animals are revealed to have no idea where to go. The challenge begins, and Owen reveals that Chris gave him a GPS device for sabotaging the others.
Owen |
“ | As a reward for messing with the rest of the cast, Chris gave me this to help me get back to the lot, which means a ticket to the final three. | ” |
In the forest, Beth is shown trying to navigate, and crashes into a tree. She begins to think that the entire forest is closing in on her, and starts hyperventilating. Meanwhile with Duncan, he is tired and frustrated. He wishes that he had taken the bear, so he could ride on its back. The chameleon suddenly disappears from Duncan's shoulder, and Duncan tries to find it. While searching, he accidentally activates one of the booby traps by stepping on a rope, causing a rock to be hurled at his stomach.
The shark taunts Courtney by keeping her PDA hostage.
Back at the river, Courtney yelled at her shark that she defeated his friends and that he was next. The shark comes above the surface of the water, with Courtney's PDA in his mouth, which shocks her.
Courtney |
“ | That PDA is my only contact with the outside world! Without it, I'd be…I'd be on level ground with the others, and that can not happen. This girl plays to win! | ” |
Courtney tries to bargain with the shark to save her PDA, but the shark simply taunts Courtney while swimming away.
As the two swim down the river, the camera zooms out to show that it splits into two streams. Owen and the bear block one path, causing the shark and Courtney to go down the stream that leads to a waterfall. Then Beth is shown in the forest again, holding a camera. She turns the camera to the raccoon, who points in the opposite direction, revealing a path. Back to Duncan, he is shown begging his chameleon to return to him. Owen sets up a fake sign on a tree that points to the exit of the forest. Duncan follows the sign, then he triggers and falls into a pit that Owen set up. With Duncan and Courtney taken care of, Owen and the bear target Beth next but end up getting caught in one of their own traps.
Owen |
“ | In my experience, there is no problem in the world that can't be solved by excessive eating. | ” |
In order to escape, Owen tells the bear to keep eating berries so their combined weight can grow and break the net.
Mr. Whiskers introduces Beth to a high-end raccoon den.
Meanwhile, Beth and the raccoon are shown outside a cave, and Beth follows the raccoon. Inside the cave, an entire raccoon den is revealed, where the raccoons are living luxuriously. Though Beth wanted to continue with the challenge, she ends up enjoying the den's luxuries, playing ping-pong and having a gourmet meal with the raccoons. Back at the waterfall, Courtney continues chasing after her shark and ends up falling off a waterfall while the shark manage to grab hold of the ledge. Meanwhile, inside the pit, Duncan is shown to have gone insane due to being trapped alone. Starving, Duncan has no choice but to eat Courtney's contract. Back to Owen and the bear, the two finally break free of their net but also receive food poisoning as the berries they ate are actually poisonous.
Owen |
“ | I learned a lot today. One, never eat wild berries without knowing if they're poisonous. Two, explosive diarrhea is not a recommended outdoor activity. And three, you're gonna wanna stay out of those woods for a while. [farts] A long while… | ” |
Beth wins immunity again.
After having enough rest, Beth and her raccoon finally make it back to the film lot where Chris is waiting for them. As the first person to arrive, Beth wins immunity again.
Beth |
“ | The two of us worked so well together because our friendship is based on mutual respect. [chomp] Now what was I saying? Oh, yes, mutual respect — that's the key to any healthy relationship. | ” |
They then wait for the others to return, waiting day and night. Two days passed and at this point, Chris had grown a beard. Upon seeing the other contestants arriving, Chris leaves to shave his beard. Courtney and Owen arrive, the former shivering and suffering from PDA withdrawal while the latter grown a beard again. Duncan then appears, swinging on a vine and shoots Beth with a slingshot, he clearly lost his mind after being in the pit for so long.
Owen |
“ | Ah, I'm actually glad they found out that I'm the producer's mole; now I can go back to being myself! Although, on the way here, I short-sheeted Beth's bed, cleaned a toilet with Duncan's toothbrush, and filled the salt shakers with onion powder. What can I say? It's hard going cold turkey. | ” |
Courtney and Beth confront Owen about being a traitor.
Before the Awards Ceremony, Mr. Whiskers, Beth's animal buddy, has found Courtney's PDA and hands it back to her. Courtney is finally able to read the message she receives from her lawyers and she and Beth discovered that Harold was right about Owen and return to the game and confronted him for being a cheater but his bear comes to his defense. Suddenly, Beth gets hit by a tranquilizer dart, shot by the still insane Duncan. As he gets ready to fire another dart, Courtney kisses him, returning him to normal. Courtney then asks for her contract back so she can make a few changes, but Duncan admits that he doesn't have it. Fortunately for Courtney, her lawyers had already made several copies. Owen then compliments Duncan for being able to bond with his chameleon so well. It turns out that the chameleon is on Duncan's head the entire time, blending with the color of his mohawk, which caused Duncan to go unconscious.
Duncan and Beth are declared as the final two.
At the Gilded Chris ceremony that evening, all the votes are shown individually. Beth considers voting Owen for being a traitor, but ends up voting Courtney for being a threat. Next Owen votes for Duncan because he eats more than the girls. Courtney votes for Owen for his role as Chris' mole. Finally, a tired Duncan is shown, but his vote is not revealed. Chris announces that the first two Gilded Chris Awards go to Beth and Duncan, then Chris announces that since both Beth and Duncan voted for Courtney, she's eliminated.
Duncan |
“ | Court's popularity is in the toilet. I can't have her dragging me down. But the real reason: a 32-page letter. And people call me psycho. | ” |
As Courtney is forced into the Lame-o-sine, she is furious at Duncan for betraying her and breaks up with him. Before the Lame-o-sine leaves, Owen asks Chris why he did not receive a Gilded Chris Award. Chris then fires him for having been discovered, so he also leaves the competition. After Courtney and Owen are taken away, Chris proclaims Beth and Duncan the final two, then pushes them away from the frame, and tells the viewers to tune in for the finale.
Exclusive clip
Courtney in the last Lame-o-Sine of the season.
 Courtney |
“ | It better be Duncan who wins. He signed an ironclad contract, and I'm taking my 50% of the million bucks. I don't care if it gets locked up in the courts for years. My lawyers will take my calls when they realize how much money I'm going to make them. On vacation for 3 weeks?! I'm not paying them to take personal time! (throws PDA) It's fine, I'll represent myself. Who needs lawyers anyway? All I need is this little piece of paper that holds my entire future! Nooo—! | ” |
Cast
| Voice actor | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Christian Potenza | Chris |
| Sarah Gadon | Beth |
| Clé Bennett | Chef Hatchet |
| Emilie-Claire Barlow | Courtney |
| Drew Nelson | Duncan |
| Scott McCord | Owen |
Elimination Ceremony
| Elimination Ceremony 13 | |
|---|---|
| Status | Contestant |
| WIN |  Beth |
| LOW |  Duncan |
| OUT |  Courtney |
| OUT |  Owen |
Voting Confessionals
Still in the running
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Trivia
General
- Like her fellow antagonists, Courtney has a major downfall in the episode in which she is eliminated.
- She is unable to score a single point in the challenge, having spent most of the episode fighting with her animal buddy instead.
- She briefly loses her beloved personal digital assistant and goes through severe withdrawal symptoms as a result, which is similar to Heather, who also lost something dear to her.
- The deciding vote for her elimination comes from her romantic interest Duncan after she imposes rules on their relationship that are deemed by him to be far too strict.
- Duncan choosing the million dollars over Courtney can be paralleled to Courtney leaving him for the briefcase in "Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island."
- Owen's role in the show is revealed by Courtney's lawyers, and Chris fires him from the position.
- Each cast member receives an animal during the challenge:
- Only two of Courtney's rules are revealed in the episode:
- Only Courtney can utilize pet names.
- Duncan must compliment Courtney at least once every hour.
- This marks the first time in Total Drama history that a contestant has been fired.
- This is also the first time that there is no proper final three, due to Chris firing Owen.
- Duncan is the only one who doesn't find out prior to the Gilded Chris ceremony that Owen is a spy working for Chris.
- This is the first time in Total Drama Action that there have been two elimination episodes in a row since "Alien Resurr-eggtion" and "Riot on Set."
- This is the only episode of the season in which Harold does not physically appear; however, he is seen in the recap and he was mentioned when Courtney and Beth found out the purpose of Owen's return.
- This episode ends the Grip-Grip-Gaffer-Gaffer elimination pattern that began since "Riot On Set."
Continuity
- This is the third and final episode of Total Drama Action that takes place at Camp Wawanakwa. The other two were "Beach Blanket Bogus" and "Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen."
- In the raccoon hideout, the raccoons are viewing Chris's badminton movie, which is first mentioned in "Million Dollar Babies" and later seen in "Get a Clue."
- Duncan mentions his pet spider Scruffy again (who is now deceased). He chooses the chameleon in honor of him, despite Scruffy being an arachnid, not a reptile.
- This episode marks the second time in a row that both Duncan and Owen make it to the final four.
- Coincidentally, Duncan was eliminated in the final four while Owen, who was the finalist in the previous season, was also eliminated in the final four this season. Thus, it is reversed in this episode.
- This episode is the first time a bear is seen since "Monster Cash."
- This is the second time that a double elimination occurs, the first being in "Alien Resurr-eggtion."
- There are seven more in the series after this, which are:
- "Jamaica Me Sweat," "Chinese Fake-Out," and "Hawaiian Punch" (World Tour).
- In "Jamaica Me Sweat," a contestant had to be medically evacuated from the competition before the invincibility challenge.
- "A Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Waste" (Revenge of the Island).
- However, there was only one contestant regularly eliminated; it only became a double elimination when another contestant decided to quit before the Hurl of Shame was used.
- "The Bold and the Booty-ful" (All-Stars).
- "Scarlett Fever" (Pahkitew Island).
- Both contestants were eliminated irregularly, as they were disqualified from the game.
- "Severe Eggs and Pains" (Island).
- While only one contestant was to be eliminated initially, two contestants ended up being medically evacuated from the competition instead before marshmallows could be handed out.
- "Jamaica Me Sweat," "Chinese Fake-Out," and "Hawaiian Punch" (World Tour).
- This is also the first of two double eliminations to feature Courtney as one of the two eliminated.
- There are seven more in the series after this, which are:
- With Owen getting eliminated this episode and counting his ending of the previous season, this marks the first time a contestant outranked him. In this case, Beth and Duncan are the first two contestants to outrank Owen.
- This is the second time Harold and Courtney are eliminated back-to-back, only this time Harold went first.
- Courtney and Duncan break up for the first time in this episode.
References
- The episode's title could be a reference to the phrase "top dog", meaning the most successful person in their field.
- Beth makes a reference to The Blair Witch Project, when she is alone in the woods with her animal.
- This is the second episode to reference said movie in this season, the first one being "The Sand Witch Project."
- After Duncan comes wildly swinging into the set from the forest, Courtney briefly refers to Lord of the Flies.
- This is the second reference to Lord of the Flies in the series.
- The first is in "Camp Castaways" (Island).
- Like in "Camp Castaways," this is the second time a contestant becomes temporarily insane.
- Both instances occur when the competition is down to the final four.
- In both instances, the one who went temporarily insane was a finalist of the season.
- This is the second reference to Lord of the Flies in the series.
- The scene in which Duncan falls in the hole and goes crazy wanting food may be a parody of the 2005 animated movie, Madagascar.
- The way Duncan and Courtney break up in this episode is similar to Ross Geller and Rachel Green's second break-up from the television series Friends.
- In both couples, the female writes a rather long letter to the male which highlights the mistakes that the male needs to correct in order to fix their relationship. This ultimately leads to the end of both couples as the male refuses to have such complication in their relationship.
- Courtney's cheer is a parody of the song "U.G.L.Y." by Daphne and Celeste, with lyrics containing spelling and saying, "You ain't got no alibi."
Goofs
- When the castmates and their animals are arriving at the forest on the bus, the raccoon is shown to wear glasses. When it is shown again, it is not wearing glasses.
- Chris says that he had to make twenty-six movie genres. However, he didn't, because of the three Aftermaths.
- Courtney is eating the "scrambled eggs," though her rules say she does not have to eat Chef's cooking.
- Chef says that the bear had one more day on its contract in "Monster Cash." However, the bear returns in this episode. It is possible that his contract was renewed, or that it is a different bear.
- The raccoon has a new facial design in this episode, having white eyes and black pupils. However, when Chris introduces all of the animals together at the beginning of the episode, it has black eyes and white pupils.
- When Owen is seen in the confessional right after he eats all the berries, if you pay attention to his Canadian logo on his shirt, you can see that it is pumping during the whole scene he is at the confessional.
- When Duncan leans up from the bed, his goatee is missing.
- While Owen is messing with the castmates there are a few goofs:
- After Owen sprays Duncan's hair, it goes back to normal in the next scene.
- Owen is also carried by a rope while messing with the castmates, although he is seemingly not connected to anything.
- When Duncan is lying on his bed after Chris announces that breakfast is ready, he appears to have two eyebrows instead of his usual unibrow.
- When the campers are settling back to the film lot after Chris drives off, for a frame, Beth's glasses disappear.
Gallery
See also
- "Monster Cash"
- "Alien Resurr-eggtion"
- "Riot on Set"
- "Beach Blanket Bogus"
- "3:10 to Crazytown"
- "The Aftermath: I"
- "The Chefshank Redemption"
- "One Flu Over the Cuckoos"
- "The Sand Witch Project"
- "Masters of Disasters"
- "Full Metal Drama"
- "The Aftermath: II"
- "Ocean's Eight—or Nine"
- "One Million Bucks, B.C."
- "Million Dollar Babies"
- "Dial M for Merger"
- "Super Hero-ld"
- "The Aftermath: III"
- "The Princess Pride"
- "Get a Clue"
- "Rock n' Rule"
- "Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen"
- "2008: A Space Owen"
- "Top Dog"
- "Mutiny on the Soundstage"
- "The Aftermath: IV"
- "Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special"