Favor Chain

Favor Chain
Season 3, Episode 15
Production Information
Director	Adam Weissman
Writer	Jeffrey Bushell
Prod code	315
Airdate	September 23, 2007
Episode Chronology
Previous	Dance Contest
Next	Zoey's Ribs

Favor Chain is the fifteenth episode in Season 3 and the 41st overall episode in the Nickelodeon TV series, Zoey 101. It is the 15th episode of Season 3 in streaming and production order. The episode aired on September 23, 2007.

Plot

Zoey's dad has signed a permission slip that will allow Zoey to leave campus to meet the author J.T. Hawthorne at the Book Nook. Zoey is supposed to be driven by Miss Donovan, but it turns out she is giving birth right now (even though her due date wasn't for three more weeks), so Zoey tries to ask Coco. Coco agrees as long as Zoey does her a favor; to have Michael make his grandmother's ravioli that he made at last year's Pot Luck Brunch. Michael says that he cannot because he has to do a history project of the Pyramids of Giza with Stacey Dillsen, but Zoey tells him that if she can convince Stacey to do finish the project without him, he will make the ravioli for Coco. Michael agrees, but Stacey agrees as long as Zoey does her a favor; to get a date with Logan for her. Logan agrees, as long as Zoey does him a favor; to get Dustin to give him back the PCA Ring that he lost in a bet about rabbits liking salsa. Dustin agrees, as long as Zoey does him a favor; to have Lola be his assistant in a magician act at the talent show, as his present assistant is too scared to do the "sawing a person in half" trick, as her attractiveness will ensure that he wins. Lola agrees, as long as Zoey does her a favor; to get someone else to babysit Mr. Bender's baby son.

Meanwhile, Chase gets followed around by the nerds of PCA after they discover that he has a near encyclopedic knowledge about superhero comics, and ignore Chase's complaints.

Chase agrees to babysit Mr. Bender's son, as long as Zoey can get the nerds to stop chasing him. The nerds agree, as long as Zoey does them a favor; to get Quinn to give them "the best computer operating system" ever; "Quinndows QP." Unfortunately, Quinn doesn't have the Quinndows QP because Mark spilled clam juice all over the hard drive.

With no Quinndows QP, the favor chain breaks down; the nerds start chasing Chase, who gives Mr. Bender's kid back to Lola, who leaves Dustin's magician act, resulting in Dustin taking the ring back from Logan, who leaves his date with Stacey, and then a final confrontation between Stacey, Michael and Zoey that ends with Michael throwing away the uncooked ravioli. Thankfully, Coco doesn't mind having the ravioli uncooked, and Zoey gets to go to the book nook.

Trivia

• Scooter yelling "I smell toast!" while in the box is a reference to a legend that people smell bread or toast when they are having a stroke.
• The episode is called "Favor Chain", because many characters ask a favor from Zoey, in succession of previous favors, leading to a "chain" of favors.
• "Quinndows QP" is a parody of "Windows XP."
• J.T. Hawthorne is likely a parody of authors J.K. Rowling, J.D. Salinger, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
• Going by production order, this is the 15th episode of Season 3.
• Stacey's rambling during her date with Logan was improvised by Abby Wilde, as the script only said "Stacey is talking a mile a minute." Abby Wilde credits the improv, which was done over six takes with two of those takes stitched into the final episode, as defining the character for the rest of the show.

  "She got a little bit deeper and a little bit weirder and a little bit off-kilter. It was a lot of fun; it was a lot of fun to show everybody something I could do that I hadn’t had a chance to show them before."

• Dustin's grade considers Lola to be the prettiest girl at PCA.

Goofs

• Chase should've reported the nerds to campus security for harassment.
• In the very first scene of the episode, Chase asks Michael why Saturday mornings make him extra weird. But just a few minutes later in the exact same scene, Zoey unexpectedly and suddenly says it’s already past noon, people make plans for Saturday nights.
• Even if Stacey hadn’t forced Michael to abandon the ravioli, it still would not have been finished in time for Coco. Michael throws the ravioli in the trash at 5:57; Zoey must have it at 6pm for Coco. Ravioli cannot cook in three minutes.

Watch Episode

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Cast

Main

• Jamie Lynn Spears as Zoey Brooks
• Paul Butcher as Dustin Brooks
• Sean Flynn as Chase Matthews
• Victoria Justice as Lola Martinez
• Christopher Massey as Michael Barret
• Erin Sanders as Quinn Pensky
• Matthew Underwood as Logan Reese

Co-Starring

• Jessica Chaffin as Coco Wexler
• Abby Wilde as Stacey Dillsen
• Allen Evangelista as Firewire