The episode opens with protagonist Todd Barstow and best friend Danny preparing for the science fair. With their project, they’re looking to prove that ‘”worms can survive just about anything”‘ such as heat, cold, and even cutting them in half [Oh OK, so we’re just torturing them?]. Todd’s got a worm farm in his basement where he can conduct his experiments, but sister Regina’s science fair project about the life cycle of a Robin is down there too, so in she walks to admire her papier-mache bird creation. As she reaches up to grab it, a bunch of worms fall out of its mouth, a cheeky little prank from Todd.
With her model destroyed, Regina cries [I feel so bad for her :(] and storms upstairs, promising revenge on her brother who’s a heartless asshole and doesn’t care about her feelings [We hate him]. Unbeknownst to the kids, some of the worms are paying close attention to the ordeal [!!!].
The next day at school, Todd’s bragging to Danny about all the times he’s scared Regina with worms as they head to lunch. Todd trade’s last night’s spaghetti leftovers for Danny’s sandwich [A terrible trade, but it was Todd’s idea]. Danny soon digs in, completely oblivious to the worm on his fork until he tastes it [Yucky]. Danny soon realises the bowl of spaghetti is full of the slimy creatures and is super pissed off that Todd would do that to his best friend. Todd didn’t do it though, and realises it must have been that pesky little Regina [I bet the worms did it themselves!].
Later, Todd’s mum enters his room, which is completely decked out in nothing but worm paraphernalia [OK so liking worms is Todd’s entire personality, I guess]. Todd complains about how Regina tried to poison him, but Mum has no sympathy since he destroyed her project first [This woman’s voice is super annoying. Like, very over the top and not how someone would talk] and orders him to fix it as well as finding some other interests besides worms [Agreed].
As the family sleeps that night, we see some worms exploring the house and presumably getting up to all sorts of mischief, and Todd wakes up to find his bed filled with worms [But they’re sooo0Ooo0OO0Ooo cool, Todd! I’m surprised you don’t sleep with them in there already]!
[That poor boy who actually had to smoosh his face into them] His screams alert Mum, and when Todd concludes Regina must have snuck in and put the worms in his bed, she reveals Regina’s at her best friend Beth’s house and hasn’t even been home tonight [I feel like he should know that already too? Like, wouldn’t you notice your sister hasn’t been home?]. Thinking Todd’s trying to frame his sister, Mum orders him to clean it up and get back to bed.
The next day at school, Danny’s still bad about the worms in the spaghetti, but Todd insists Regina is to blame and the friendship is quickly repaired. Todd’s got a plan for revenge on his sister and after school, he intercepts her walk home with Beth, demanding she tell the truth about the worms in his bed and the spaghetti. Regina’s innocent though, pointing out that she would hate to even touch the slimy creatures, and teases him with Beth by chanting ‘”Worms on the brain”‘ as they run off.
At home, Todd retrieves some digging tools from the basement and almost notices three worms watching him from the tank, but they manage to duck beneath the soil just in time [Luckyyyy]. He then heads to the lake to dig up some more worms. It’s night time now and has started to rain, and as he searches the ground, he falls through the soil into a large tunnel.
As he explores the underground caverns for an exit, we see he’s still being watched by some worms [Not the ones in the tank, though, surely. I guess worms are telepathic], and he eventually finds ‘TODD WE WILL MAKE U SQUIRM’ written on a wall [I think written by worms making holes in the soil to create letters?? Or something? I don’t know, but there’s three worms poking out of the end of the M so I think that’s what’s going on. Maybe they’re just decoration]. Looking down, Todd sees his feet are completely trapped by a swarm of worms, which are now blanketing the ground.
He manages to escape, but is quickly captured by a giant worm, large and thick enough to wrap around him [!!!]. He stabs it with a stick and somehow flees back up through the dirt to the surface, but the giant worm grabs his leg and starts dragging him back down. He’s saved when Regina and Beth appear with a now intact Robin model [Wasn’t it badly damaged?], scaring the worm back down. The girls didn’t see the worm though so think Todd’s crazy, teasing him again before heading home.
Back home, Todd collects the worms from his tank into a bucket and declares the house officially worm-free. He’s also taken down all the worm paraphernalia in his room, which we notice as he’s repainting Regina’s robin model [But… we just saw her with it and it was fixed? She made a comment earlier to Beth about getting Beth’s dad to look at it, so maybe he fixed it but it needs repainting? I don’t know I’m confused] and starring glumly into space.
The next day, Todd and Danny arrive at the lake to go fishing and Danny can’t believe Todd’s giving up worms because ‘”That’s like me giving up double cheese nachos!”‘ [What are double cheese nachos and where can I get some?]. Todd empties the bucket of worms into the lake instead of saving them as bait for some reason. They use minnows instead, which according to Todd, don’t feel a thing as he puts them on the hooks.
Danny asks what the plan is now for their science fair project, suggesting they do something with fish, and Todd practically has an orgasm as he declares how great fish are, reminiscent of the speech he gave Danny about how great worms were at the beginning of the episode. He suggests they see how long a fish can survive in hot water vs cold water, or a fresh water fish in salt water etc, which Danny thinks is cruel.
But Danny’s just being a baby according to Todd, who argues ‘”We’ve got to be scientific about this”‘ and reiterates that fish don’t feel anything [Is that true though?].
As they cast their lines, Todd picks up a sandwich that he believes Danny brought for lunch, completely oblivious to the fishing line hanging from it [Omg lol]. Danny didn’t bring the sandwich though, and as Todd takes a bite, he’s pulled into the lake [Hahahahaha what a great ending]. We then cut to Todd’s POV [I think?] at the surface of the lake as he convinces the fish he was just joking around [We can hear his voice but not see him or the fish he’s apparently talking to, it’s super weird]. The episode should have left his fate ambiguous, but instead the episode ends as he says ‘”What? You’re gonna make me swim back?”‘ so I guess he’s fine [Lame, he deserved to die! He had it coming].
Final Thoughts
I don’t remember ever reading the book this was based on because it didn’t appeal to me, and the episode was pretty boring too. The whole giant worm part was weird, and I feel like nothing actually happened in. The ending made me laugh though, very creative, although it would have been better if we actually saw what happened after he was pulled into the lake, rather than hearing it. Mustn’t have been part of the budget! Todd was a little brat, so he definitely shouldn’t have been released by the fish.
It was a bit of a nothing episode, so 46 worms on the brain out of 88.
