"Tour Guide Of Duty" is the second segment of the 5th episode of the seventh season of Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, and the 85th overall episode in the series. It premiered on August 27, 2019.
Synopsis[]
At the Volunteer Draft, Branch volunteers to help Tug Duluth to find a new tourist attraction, but is forced to give Trolls a tour in his own bunker.
Plot[]
At the Volunteer Draft, Poppy is hosting the event and the entire village is excited to play their part. She announces the first Troll who needs help: it is Biggie. He needs help with teaching Mr. Dinkles how to ride his unicycle and he chooses DJ Suki. Branch is excited to be at his first Volunteer Draft. He talks to Satin and Chenille, who are so excited that they state they love each other. The second person in need of a volunteer is announced by Poppy as Dr. Moonbloom, who needs a surgical assistant. She chooses Cooper and Branch thinks he would have been great for this role, but is sure he will get picked by someone else.
The scene fast-forwards to the end of the Draft and Branch is the only Troll not picked. King Peppy is the one Troll who needs a volunteer to help him learn to swim, but he chooses the rock next to Branch. While Branch tries to comprehend why Peppy chooses a rock over him, Peppy lets him known that everyone knows how much he hates to be bothered. Poppy explains that in his Bunker days, Branch left a bad impression on the rest of the village, and a flashback to when Harper asked him for sugar shows a hostile response to her from him. Branch states that since then he has grown to love the community, which makes Poppy proud of him and despite his protest she hugs him.
The pair's attention is drawn by Tug Duluth, who wanders into the Volunteer Draft late to find a volunteer to help her. When asked, she puts on a fake smile and states that she is currently masking in an internal storm of horror and unease. She is also dismayed that she missed the Draft as she needs assistance, but as she tries to laugh off at her problems, her laughter turns to tears. Branch tells her that he will help and to lay it on her the problem. Tug explains that she has a brand new tour for tomorrow, and Poppy states the village is excited about it. Tug, however, responds that what the village doesn't know is that there is no tour.
At her tour booth, she explains she planned to tour Mystery Island, the new island that appeared in the lagoon; however, it swam off. Now she doesn't have a tour. Branch understands what's being asked of him - he needs to find her a new idea for a tour. His first suggestions have already been tours except the Tunnels of Certain Death, but Tug is not impressed with the suggestion and Branch states, then gets corrected by Tug, there's no such thing as a bad idea.
He tries Puffalo Plains, but the Puffalo are in their moulting season and therefore aren't presentable. Branch takes her to an ant hill for his next suggestion, thinking outside of the box. However, the magnifying glass catches the sunlight and the ants run in terror at being burned.
At her booth, Tug is facing the prospect of cancelling, but Branch comes up with one last idea: his bunker. Poppy is alerted by this tour, as Branch is such a private Troll. He reassures Tug this isn't a bother, and Tug introduces her tour to the waiting Trolls. Branch also reassures to Poppy that this isn't a classic Branch fear-out waiting to happen.
Tug reveals that Branch has multiple entrances to his bunker, which startles him; the Trolls try out all the entrances, with Guy Diamond enjoying the unlimited access to his Bunker ideas that they have. Tug also reveals tapes of his journal and plays one of him questioning his own name. At his rations, Tug offers a free sample of each ration, Keith goes looking for chocolate. Next, she gives access to Gary, allowing other Trolls to touch Gary's buttons.
This is the point that breaks Branch, who is 30 seconds away from a panic, Poppy tells him to go. He can't escape as his main elevator is in use and Guy is still raveling at the unlimited access, and knocks him while sliding down one of his entrance poles. His only chance now is his panic room. He opens it up to find Keith has already broken in and devoured all of the chocolate Branch had in there. This pushes Branch over the edge and he cries out.
Getting Tug's attention, he confesses this tour is just too much for him. Tug is taken back by his confession, and adds a new attraction to the Tour: one of the kindest and most helpful friends she has ever had was Branch. He tries to understand how she could say that about him when he failed to find her a tour. She states that everyone has their limits, and he gave her everything he had. Poppy states this is true: while they never ask him for little stuff, he has never let them down with the big stuff. Satin and Chenille claim that he helped when they needed a fashion model, Branch helped Guy Diamond pitch the Farty Party to Sky Toronto and Harper states he helped when there was an intruder in the Village.
Branch is happy to hear the other Trolls calling him a good friend and he confesses his has come a long way since his Bunker Days, but they still need to get out of his Bunker.
Cast[]
- Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
- Skylar Astin as Branch
- Alexa Kahn as Tug Duluth
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Smidge
- David Kaye as King Peppy
- David Fynn as Biggie
- Fryda Wolff as DJ Suki, Dr. Moonbloom and Satin & Chenille
- Ron Funches as Cooper
- Kari Wahlgren as Harper
- Sean T. Krishnan as Guy Diamond
- Declan Churchill Carter as Keith
- Other
Physical distribution[]
This episode is available on the "Trolls: The Beat Goes On! - Complete Seasons 5-8" DVD.
Trivia[]
- The title is a play on "tour of duty", a term used to describe the length of period a military personnel was in active combat.
- When it's being talked about how Branch never let others down with the big stuff, some previous episodes are recapped:
- "Model Behavior", when Satin and Chenille talk about how Branch helped them in search of a fashion model.
- "Weekend At Diamond's" when Branch helped Guy Diamond pitch the Farty Party to Sky Toronto.
- "The Imposter", when Harper brings up that Branch helped them find an intruder in the past. Guy then proceeds to ask "Whatever happened that guy anyway?", which is a nod to the fact that after Season 4, none of the Party Crashers appeared again.