Dimlit in Love

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"Dimlit in Love"
Production company	Entertainment One
Airdate	March 25, 2022
Writer	Hanah Lee Cook
Directors	Paul O'Flanagan
Animation studio	Boulder Media Studio
Watch this episode on Netflix

Don't! Date! Robots!... er... Mannequins!

Synopsis

Inside the game store, Burgertron and Kikmee are having a friendly game of chess, and by "friendly" we mean "a lot of smack-talking going on". Burgertron takes Kikmee's queen, just before Dimlit comes rushing in, tripping and toppling the remaining pieces, giving Kikmee the chance to declare the game ruined so obviously it must be a tie. Dimlit has amazing news... he's in ♥love♥! Despite Burgertron's attempts to steer the conversation back to him winning at chess, the other Lost Bots are super-happy for their friend and eager to meet this special bot in his life.

Dimlit takes them to Sunset & Van Ness, the fanciest-danciest fashion boutique in the mall, and, gesturing to a mannequin, introduces them to Jacqueline. The awkwardness is only enhanced when Dimlit climbs up to talk to the mannequin's head, letting them know "Jacqui" is terribly shy thus her seeming silence. The other Lost Bots make a lame excuse to get out of there, giving the "two" lovebirds some alone time. Outside the shop, Burgertron is insistent that they need to put a stop to this somehow, with Kikmee agreeing, albeit for different reasons: Kikmee doesn't want Dimlit's heart broken, and Burgertron is worried it'll make them all look weird and ruin their chances of getting back in with the rest of the BotBots. Bonz-Eye and Clogstopper bow out, believing that interfering will only end in tragedy. Thus, the ball and burger must carry out their plans alone.

When the Moon's in your pants
Like a whole lot of ants
That's amorAAAIIIEEEEE

As Dimlit strolls through the food court, he's quickly snatched up by Kikmee and Burgertron, who tell him he's late for that blind date he totally agreed to go on that time before don't you remember? Terrified of saying "no" and seeming rude, Dimlit finds himself across a table from Anty Farmwell, a receptive if mildly oblivious ant-farm-bot. Sensing Dimlit's growing apprehension about the pet ants crawling all over him, Kikmee attempts to salvage the date with some romantic "violin" music played on rubber band. But the horrific squealing sets the ants on edge, and they quickly pile up under Anty and carry her away at speed, giving Dimlit the chance to excuse himself. Time for Plan B!

Wandering through the mall's main hall, Dimlit hears a poor impersonation of a lost kitten coming from a dark side-shop and goes to investigate. But it's not just any poor impersonation of a lost kitten, it's Frostferatu, the besprinkled bewitcher of bots, who uses his eerie hypnotic eyes on Dimlit and commands him to forget about his new love! Which works for about point five seconds before Dimlit congratulates "Frosty" in getting better at the hypnosis thing as it almost sorta worked this time. As Dimlit wanders off, Frosterfatu reports to Burgertron and Kikmee that it worked perfectly totes for real and attempts a speedy exeunt.

The two Lost Bots, now running out of options, make a more drastic ploy. The pair rig up "Jacqueline" so Burgertron can move her arms like a marionette, while Kikmee hides behind a nearby plant to provide her voice. When Dimlit enters the shop, "Jacqueline" beckons him over to tell him she's breaking up with him. Kikmee's conscience begins to kick in as Dimlit begins to bawl... then laugh, congratulating his friends on a good joke, having seen through it all because, among other clues, they rigged up the wrong mannequin. Almost out of bad ideas, the two Lost Bots have one more up their sleeve... it's time to move on the queen.

With Dimlit away, the two load the correct mannequin onto an electric pallet jack and head for the loading docks to put her on an outbound truck; anything put on one of these trucks never returns to the mall again. Returning to the Lost and Found, they are immediately hit with the sight of Clogstopper and Bonz-Eye trying and failing to console an absolutely devastated Dimlit, relentlessly blaming himself for Jacqueline leaving him without a word. Realizing they messed up bad, the two race to the loading dock, but the truck is already closing its doors and pulling away. But as it hits a speed bump, the mannequin's head dislodges and bounces back into the loading bay before the doors can fully close. Burgertron and Kikmee realize they have to tell Dimlit the truth.

They return to the Lost and Found and apologize, explaining what they did, and present the head... which elicits a squeal of delight from an overjoyed Dimlit, who immediately gives it a hug. He explains to the confused bots that Jacqueline wasn't the whole mannequin. And then the head talks, freaking them out further, then transforms into a BotBot! Jacqueline explains that she never spoke because, like Dimlit said, she's incredibly shy. The pair excuse themselves to take their scheduled pre-opening romantic stroll. And the pair watch the sunrise through the food court's windows as Anty Farmwell's ants continue to carry her around....

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

BotBots
Burgertron (1) Clogstopper (2) Bonz-Eye (3) Kikmee (4) Dimlit (5) Jacqueline (6) Anty Farmwell (7) Frostferatu (8)

Quotes

"No way, man. I learned long ago never to take sides against love."

—...we probably don't want to know the story behind this, Clogstopper

"What are your friends... doing?"
"Ah, just sniffin' ya. They probably smell your pet ants on ya."
"(squeal of barely-bridled terror)"

—Dimlit and Anty Farmwell's date is going well for at least/most one of them

"We're from different worlds. Also, I'm seeing a coat rack from the furniture store now."

—"Jacqueline" (aka Kikmee) makes up a break up

"Well! We just made a series of correct choices that will never come back to haunt us! Problem solved!"

—Burgertron sets himself up for comeuppance in three... two...

"(sigh) Sorry about my friends. I know they're a little strange. Maybe I should help them be more normal."
"No, it's okay. You should just let them be themselves."

—Dimlit and the real Jacqeuline have a moment

Notes

Continuity notes

• Frostferatu's willingness to work with the Lost Bots likely stems from them (eventually) rescuing him from the snack machine in "Escape from Snackatraz". This may also be a reference to his toy actually being a member of the Lost Bots.

Real-world references

• According to writer Hanah Lee Cook, this episode was inspired by 90 Day Fiancé.
• While watching the chess match, Clogstopper asks if Burgertron will pass "Go" and collect two hundred dollars, referencing Parker Brothers/Hasbro family-fight-starting-game Monopoly.
• When the Lost Bots get to Sunset & Van Ness for the first time, the "Minuetto" movement from Luigi Boccherini's string quintet can be heard playing in the background.
• Later, during the blind date, Kikmee attempts to play the famous "Ode to Joy" movement from Beethoven's ninth symphony, much to the chagrin of the ants.

BotBots cypher translations

• The pots Dimlit and Anty sit on for their date are labeled with the "handwritten" font that we have not yet cracked. It's entirely possible they're gibberish. They start with the same letter (they read from screen-bottom up) so uh... anyone got a guess?
• The truck's license plate reads "BWK 5299".
• As Jaquelin and Dimlit sit in the food court, the glasses ad is just on the edge of the screen enough to read the leftmost part of the text: "MENS". This is the best view we get of this ad through the entire show.

Animation and technical errors

Fall in love with a too tall girl...

• During the chess match, the pieces on the board constantly change their positions depending on the angle of the shot. Also, both Burgertron and Kikmee are playing without their respective king pieces.
• When Burgertron and Kikmee move "Jacqueline" via pallet jack, the long shot shows the mannequin as being nearly as tall as the loading bay door, incredibly tall for a mannequin and much too tall to fit into the truck's opened door on the other side.

Trivia

• A small thing, but Kikmee does not assume the gender of Dimlit's new love, simply referring to them as "this special bot in your life". It's nice.
• Gotta admit, Jacqueline's alt-mode is freakin' creepy.
• The truck's license plate has the made-up state code "WR".

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Ah, l'amour !" ("Ah, love!")

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Dimlit apaixonado" ("Dimlit in love")

European Portuguese

• Title: "A paixão do robô" ("The robot's passion")

Arabic

• Title: "ديمليت واقع في الحبّ" ("Dimlit in love")

Indonesian

• Title: "Dimlit Jatuh Cinta" ("Dimlit in Love")