Stranger Among Us

Stranger Among Us
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Episode #	8
Air Date	Jan 16th, 2010
Previous Episode	Sleepless Night
Next Episode	The Glowing Eyes

Stranger Among Us is episode eight of The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog.

Premise[]

When Ricardo Rabbit refuses to perform in Gnarly Woods on the night of the Spring Festival due to his fur changing color, Alfred and friends are on a time limit to determine what happened.

Summary[]

Spoiler warning!
Warning! Following text contains plot details and may spoil the storyline.

Camille is handing out tickets to the other girls for Ricardo's upcoming concert when Cynthia and her cousins show up. She tells them that Ricardo isn't performing because something happened, and they mockingly leave after she points out that Camille will have to provide a bunch of refunds. Alfred, Camille and Milo are instantly made suspicious about her supposed claim but they are forced to run from the other girls seeing how angry they are.

At Hedgequarters they step inside to find a stranger who resembles Ricardo. Milo attempts to keep them safe from him but Alfred identifies him by the way he responds, and he asks Ricardo why he is brown. Ricardo admits not to knowing, but he refuses to perform like this. Camille pleads with him to reconsider if they can determine what happened, and while he remains unsure, he agrees to give them a chance. Alfred starts the investigation by asking Ricardo about the past couple day. Ricardo recalls that he was training for the performance when he saw a couple of brown hairs. He didn't think anything of it and pulled them off before resuming. But later, he found brown patches on his fur, and he scrubbed himself while showering and they wouldn't come off. By the time he finished he found even more.

With that, Alfred has him take them back to his house in search of any clues. They look at his water and observe his food, but nothing seems unusual. Alfred continues to look while Milo and Camille start playing with his large mirrors, until Cynthia shows up to make fun of Camille again. She sat down her drink to wonder what they were doing, but she gets little response and takes off, only for Alfred to realize she accidentally grabbed the sample water, not hers. They run after her but Cynthia falls, spilling it. Nothing happens though, so they deem it unimportant to the case.

Back at Hedgequarters, Alfred examines the food closer but still can't find anything. Ricardo is frustrated and wants to leave, but Camille stops him by reminding that they still have an hour before he was set to go on stage. Alfred asks Ricardo to show them where he was practicing, but by now he feels insecure and doesn't want anyone to see him like this. With a bit of force, they manage to convince him to show them.

While investigating the location, Lumus appears to confront them and Ricardo -hearing the sound- hides in a nearby bush to avoid letting someone see him. Lumus circles the remaining trio and demands to know why they are there, causing Alfred to catch him up to speed and explain what happened with Ricardo. Lumas is excited by this because he likes Ricardo's music, but he doesn't see him when they try to point him out, and he takes off with annoyance thinking they were kidding around.

Alfred is confused by this, considering they can clearly see Ricardo in the bush, and he takes a picture of him. He observes it and slowly comes to an idea. They return to Hedgequarters, where Alfred asks Ricardo about his species. Ricardo responds "Snowshoe Hare" and Alfred looks them up to reach the result matching his theory. Snowshoe Hare's fur changes from light to dark during two of the four seasons as a defense mechanism, nothing actually happened to him. This is why Lumus wasn't able to see him hiding in the bush, his brown fur helped him blend in. Ricardo never experienced this before now, which is why he didn't know what happened to him.

With the mystery solved, everyone suddenly remembers that Ricardo has his performance for the Spring Festival. They rush to the stage after he agrees to go on and perform. He changes clothes and begins, and while everyone enjoys his performance Cynthia demands to know how Camille managed to convince him to go on. She remarks that it was easy.

Quotes[]

Ricardo: "You're... kidding right?"

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Ricardo: "No autographs."

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Ricardo: "Finally, someone recognizes a star. Here's an autograph."

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Camille: "She's lying."
Milo: "As usual."

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Ricardo: "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

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Alfred: "Ricardo, what kind of rabbit are you?"
Ricardo: "I'm debonair, cool, chicks dig me..."

Trivia[]

The outfit Ricardo wore at his concert is a recolor of his normal concert outfit.
This is the first episode that revolved around something changing color under mysterious circumstances. It would go on to happen three more times in the series; once to two other characters, and then twice to nature.
Madeline, a wallaby implied to be Camille's sister makes her first appearance in this episode. At one point, Camille is shown watching her.

Goofs[]

During the scene right before Cynthia and her cousins trip, the shading on Tina is red instead of being adjusted to her color palette until the girls fall.
When Cynthia asks Camille how she got Ricardo to perform, Gabby is drawn oddly.
When Ricardo holds Milo by his collar in Hedgequarters, he presses him to the wall. But when he drops Milo they are shown standing at the middle of the room.
The bottle lid is dark magenta, but in the clue picture it's dark blue.
The poster keeps changing right after the trio run from the angry girls.
Camille was holding the poster when they arrive to Hedgequarters, but right after they notice the shadow she's not seen holding it. She wasn't shown putting it down or dropping it either.
When Milo was dancing he lacked the eye mask he put on in the scene prior.
As Camille comments on the water, the mirror furthest from Milo has no reflection in it.
- When Cynthia appears again, the last mirror on the side also lacks a reflection.
When Milo says: "Best idea I've heard all day!" his mouth doesn't move.