Welcome back to Teeny Bopper TV Breakdown! Today we recap Breaker High, episode 36, “Worth Their Waste in Gold.”
We aren’t in New York anymore - the ship has sailed all the way down to Miami! Max and Alex are ogling the women, to Cassidy and Ashley’s annoyance, and Cassidy rightly points out the hypocrisy she notices when she tells Max the guy behind him is checking her out. Turns out that guy is a TV director, and he wants Cassidy to audition the next day to be a model in a sun products commercial. The man promises he’s legit, but Max doesn’t seem so sure.
Sean and Jimmy are in the Everglades, looking for treasure a relative of Jimmy’s buried in a marsh there. It takes a while, but the metal detector eventually dings, and their initial digging brings up a label that says “Gold”!
Elsewhere in the marsh, Tamira and Denise are birdwatching, but can’t find any of a bird that’s supposed to be plentiful. A nearby woman overhears and says, “You can thank Goldswell Industries. Rumor has it their factory up the road has been dumping waste around here, and that’s why there are no birds here anymore.” Denise and Tamira are horrified; seems Sean and Jimmy’s “treasure” may in fact be evidence.
Ms. Mitchell checks out the guy who scouted Cassidy, and he actually is legit! So we get a whole lot of “jealous Ashley” this episode - first of the random beach volleyball players Alex kept making eyes at, and then of the fact that Cassidy got “discovered” and she didn’t. So of course, she finagles a way to accompany Cassidy to the audition and then get on the audition list herself, much to Cassidy’s annoyance.
Denise verified the rumor about Goldswell Industries by calling the local sanitation department. She tells Tamira that the company apparently created 300 barrels of waste but only paid to have 240 removed; the rest had to go somewhere. Sean and Jimmy call them over and spill the beans about finding buried treasure in the marsh, because what else could big metal chests with the word “Gold” written on them be? Tamira and Denise immediately realize it’s actually the missing waste, and run to go dig it up themselves. However, even when they have their proof, the dozens of calls Denise makes don’t have any effect - no one is willing to do anything about it. Looks like it’s time for some grassroot action instead of bureaucratic red tape.
Ashley and Cassidy say their sorries, and as tokens of their apologies give each other skin care - Cassidy gives Ashley a self-tanner, and Ashley gives Cassidy moisturizer. Why do I get the feeling these are sabotage rather than actual prep for the commercial callback? The way they both say, “Sucker,” after leaving the conversation while making sure the other sees them applying the lotion might have something to do with it.
A reporter comes on to the ship to meet with Denise! Unfortunately, when Denise shares the story, he replies, “Corrupt company pollutes water? Kid, around here we call that business as usual.” And one barrel isn’t enough proof, as it could’ve fallen off a truck or floated in from the bay - he needs the other 59, too. So back to the marsh they go, but eventually the reporter feels like he’s wasting his time and leaves. But when the girls get back to the ship, they find out from Sean and Jimmy that the metal detector’s battery had died after Jimmy went to the beach to look for treasure by himself - maybe the barrels are in the marsh after all!
To their horror, Cassidy and Ashley have both turned orange. But will that stop them from going to the callback? Absolutely not. They come to the pre-shoot as disguised as they possibly can and try to convince the director to push the real thing back a day, but he refuses. The girls wind up revealing their predicament, but though he laughs, the director says he can still use them both - curious to see how this ends up!
Sure enough, back at the marsh, the students have dug up several barrels, and they even convinced the reporter to come back and take pictures. And the next day, they’re on the front cover of the Miami Tribune! The city council is going to make Goldswell Industries clean up the entire marsh, which should hopefully bring the birds back.
The entire friend group has come to the commercial set to support Ashley and Cassidy. What none of us were expecting, though, is for the girls to come out dressed up as actual oranges (because Florida). Perhaps not the kind of models they thought they would be, but even so, they keep pushing each other out of the way to get more of the spotlight. Is it any wonder the friend group can’t stop laughing?
Don’t change that channel! We’ll be right back on Teeny Bopper TV Breakdown.
