The Defections of Jerry

For the transcript, see /Transcript

"" is the 11th episode of AniTales, It first aired on Greeny Channel in December 18, 2005, The episode was written by Gary Barlow, and directed by Samuel L. Jackson.

Summary
After telling Zaltman never to spray insecticide on his lawn again, Mitchell's expensive new lawn becomes mysteriously infested with fire ants days before Rainey Street Club. Meanwhile, Jack becomes the hypnotized servant.

Plot
Mitchell is lawn obsessed. He is one proud man of his mower, his grass, and his entire layout. He would gladly sacrifice his life for his lawn. When the party approaches, he decides that Zaltman's weekly spraying onto the lawn is harmful after talking to about the problem, so he lets him go. Later, Mitchell decides to upgrade his lawn to the expensive St. McAfee grass.

Zaltman is livid, Mitchell is one of three customers that he has as regulars. He goes the distance, to prove to Mitchell that he could still maintain the beautiful lawn, with holistic measures. Mitchell declines. Zaltman sets up the trap to win Mitchell back, and get a bit of revenge in the mean time. He maps out a schedule to set out Fire Ants onto the prized grass. Meanwhile, Mitchell is the envy of all the neighborhood, especially Joey, who is always competitive with Mitchell.

Slowly, Mitchell is noticing patches of the St. McAfee browning, and dying, with no explanation. He is crushed, and returns to Zaltman. Of course, Zaltman is aware of the problem, he is the one planting the Fire Claims strategically throughout the lawn. Zaltman sets to work on killing the problems, and completely destroys Mitchell lawn in the process.

Meanwhile, Jack has discovered the Queen ant, and her workers coming in and out of their nest, and captures a jar full. Days go by, with Jack feeding them a sugar diet, and becoming hypnotized by the Queen's powerful pheromones. The Queen demands Jack set her free, and Jack is hesitant, at first, but complies with the Queen's orders.

The next day, Mitchell is heart broken. He has no shred of grass left on his dirt lawn now. Zaltman has completely ruined his beautiful trophy lawn.

Emily goes on over to Clara's house to talk about the park. Clara offers her some sugar, but they are out, so Emily volunteers to go on down to the basement and grab a bag. On her way down, she notices a strange display of fire ants, and wanders over for a look. She sees that Zaltman has a map drawn out, with all of the dates and times of release for the ants. Next to the map, is a huge tank of the remaining Fire Claims. She confronts Zaltman in a falls cent anywhere match, then heads home to tell Mitchell.

In the alley, Jack releases the ants and as he talks proudly of the insects, the ants circle around and head strait for the unwitting boy. Emily tells her husband what his neighbor has, and he is furious. Just as Mitchell is set to beat Zaltman up, he hears Jack call his name. Mitchell orders Jack to stand back and wait a minute, but when Jack tells Hank that it is an urgent situation, Mitchell turns, and sees his son is covered, from head to toe with fire ants. He was attacked when he decided to obey the Queen, and release her and her subjects. Zaltman yells for Jack to take his hand, and be still. Jack obliges, the fire ants all scramble onto Zaltman, and subsequently sting him all at once.

Mitchell is relieved that Zaltman is immune to the fire ant bites as Dale wakes up. He thanks Zaltman for saving his boy's life, and drops the lawn issue. As the rolls in, Mitchell is depressed, and decides to stay in. Emily is dancing around him, offering him one of her Margaritas. Mitchell is annoyed, and corrects her on the pronunciation of the drink's name. The doorbell rings, and Emily calls him to the door, and all of his friends and neighbors are out there, holding squares of beautiful, plush, green lawn. They all pitched in to replace Mitchell's lawn, knowing how much it meant to him. He also reconciles with Zaltman and admits he was wrong to doubt him. The squares didn't cover the entire area, but Mitchell is on his riding mower, detailing sections as the credits roll.

Goofs

 * The abdomens on the ant queens (and Zaltman's truck) are not accurate; only termite queens look like that, whereas ant queens retain their shape.
 * When Zaltman is arguing with Mitchell about the firepans' attack method, his pesticide tank disappears, then reappears gray instead of orange.
 * When Mitchell C. Simpson stares at everyone, Randy Clara randomly walks up to Mitchell C. Simpson and says "You got ants." Look in the crowd where Mitchell stares at. When he first walks out, Randy Clara isn't there, but then he randomly walks up to Mitchell, appearing out of nowhere. However, when Clara approaches Mitchell he has already walked up Mitchell's sidewalk, so he may not have been visible in the initial shot since the sidewalk to Mitchell's house was not visible in that shot. But the real goof here is that Kenneth, Joshua and David are in the crowd in the initial shot, but are no longer in the crowd in the background behind Clara in the next shot, and many of the other people in the crowd change into other people.