This episode won third place for Most Epic Moment at the iCarly Wiki Awards!
This episode won first place for Best Long Episode at the iCarly Wiki Awards! (Tied with iQuit iCarly)
Carly, Sam, and Freddie, having been invited to appear at a convention called Webicon, try to cheer up a lonely fan named Nora Dershlit, whose house is fifteen minutes away, on her 16th birthday. Nora's parents abandoned her on her birthday, she has no guests at all and shortly after the iCarly trio arrives, the 87-year-old clown burps and has an aneurysm (and died from it). Carly and Freddie decide to do a special iCarly webcast to show people from Nora's school they are at her party, and a lot of people show up. Nora is happy about her sudden popularity (and even has the courage to kiss a popular girl), and after the party is over, she traps Carly, Sam and Freddie in her basement in her recording studio believing they are angels sent to her to change her life. To make sure no one wonders where they are, she hijacks their cellphones, cancels their appearance at Webicon and texts their respective families that everything is going fine. After a few failed attempts to escape, Carly gets the idea to make a coded SOS message for Gibby with the hint "Every fourth." (Carly) "Word." (Freddie) Every fourth (Sam). Word (Freddie)", but they disguise it as a "Happy Birthday" message due to Nora watching them. ("Hi, Gibby! Have the greatest birthday. Go crazy. Kiss your pretty girl! Sorry we're still trapped at Webicon. Forgive us! Have fun! And please make sure you save some cake for us!")
Meanwhile Gibby is at Spencer's house, because he found out that he was too old to go to camp. Spencer makes him help with some home repairs, much to Gibby's chagrin. As Spencer is out to get supplies for kitchen repairs, Gibby, who finds the email suspicious as it is not his birthday, eventually catches on that a message is behind every 4th word. The decoded message is revealed as "The crazy girl trapped us; please save us." Gibby, alongside his little brother Guppy, whom he’s taking care of (who starts saying "Happy birthday!" over and over due to the email), leaves to rescue them. He finds where Nora lives, in which Nora denies the iCarly team but actually mentions her basement. As Gibby did not ask her about her basement, he breaks the door of Nora's house, and starts fighting her. Nora and a bleeding Gibby are evenly matched, but luckily, Guppy (whom the gang is surprised to see) finds Nora's keys and releases the iCarly trio. Sam then uses the "Vulcan Nerve Pinch" (a reference to Star Trek) on Nora, which incapacitates her. The iCarly trio call the police, and she goes to juvenile detention. While Carly sympathizes for her, Sam says that she'll make friends in prison. The episode ends with Carly, Sam, Freddie, Spencer, Gibby and Guppy all singing "100 Cartons of Milk on the Wall" around a campfire, which they ironically learned from Nora.
Daniella Monet, who stars as Trina Vega on Victorious makes a guest appearance. She even appears on the website. The caption reads, "Hey Trina, where's Tori?".
Fourth time a cast member from Victorious guest stars on iCarly, the 1st time was iCarly Saves TV with Leon Thomas as the guest star, and the 2nd time was iFight Shelby Marx with Victoria Justice as the guest star, the 3rd time was in iWas a Pageant Girl with Lane to guest star (however, all of these times were before Victorious premiered or even started filming episodes).
This episode does not feature TheSlap in the web toolbar shown in the opening credits when Freddie says "In 5, 4, 3, 2...", even though it comes after several others that do, (such as iWas a Pageant Girl and iEnrage Gibby), in both airing and production order, as an old master of the title sequence was used.
An old master of the title sequence was used for this episode.
Spencer yells "GIBBY!" four times throughout the movie, three of them in the first half, the fourth telling him to answer the door. People shout this frequently throughout all series.
This is the first iCarly special to serve as a lead-in to a new episode of another Nickelodeon show (in this case, the Robarazzi episode of Victorious).
This is the first iCarly special in which the title is not five syllables long.
This episode was nominated for Favorite Family TV Movie at the 2011 People's Choice Awards, but lost to Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. However, it shouldn't have gotten nominated for Favorite Family TV Movie, because it's not a TV movie, just a two-part Special episode.
One of the doctors (the one who speaks) when they come to take Cramps the Clown away on the stretcher, isGeorge Doty IV, an iCarly writer.
Although the title is an obvious reference to Alfred Hitchcock, there are no elements from the plot of that film.
For most of this episode Freddie wears the same outfit from the end of iMust Have Locker #239.
In the scene where Carly, Sam, and Freddie watch Nora's video, Sam is wearing a Penny Tee with the words, "NOODLE BOOTY." She also wore that Penny Tee at the beginning of IDate a Bad Boy.
The main plot of this episode is very similar to the subplot of iReunite with Missy, where Chuck trapped Spencer in the basement for 2 days.
Gibby and Guppy's mom also made an appearance in iGo Nuclear and iFix A Popstar, and Guppy makes a future appearance in iDo.
If Carly, Sam and Freddie stayed in the basement a little longer, Carly would have probably had a nervous breakdown because she has claustrophobia, as shown in iSpace Out and iSam's Mom. But Carly needs food and sleep if she's in a small space in order to survive.
A brief controversy erupted shortly after the episode aired involving what looked like a same-sex kiss between Nora and the girl who was played by Daniella Monet. From an angle, the kiss does indeed look like it's on the lips, but in reality it was more on the cheek.
Said scene shows as a brief foreshadowing to Nora's true nature as a depraved psychopath.
"iStill Psycho," the sequel to "iPsycho", aired as part of Season 5. This was evidenced by a photo of Maurice the Chicken on-set. Danielle Morrow also had a cameo in one of Dan Schneider's videos.
The fight between Gibby and Nora is one of the most violent scenes in the history of the show, falling behind the much larger scale fight between T-Bo, Marissa Benson, and the Dershlits in "iStill Psycho."
When Spencer says to the fly "I'm gonna kill you so hard.", it is a reference to the Victorious episode Who Did It to Trina? where Tori says the same line to Trina.
It's implied that Nora literally intended to stab Gibby to death with a fireplace poker.
Near the beginning of this episode, Carly, Sam and Spencer all make fun of Freddie's pose in the photos he plans to autograph and give away at Webicon. However, in the episodes "iHire and Idiot" and "iPity the Nevel" Carly has a framed copy of this photo in her bedroom.
The basement where Nora keeps the iCarly gang has about six guitars on the right hand side of the room. One of the guitars was used as Drake Parker's guitar in the Nickelodeon comedy series Drake and Josh, (also written and directed by Dan Schneider).
This is the final episode to feature the gag of Gibby going shirtless on purpose. He stopped going shirtless since becoming part of the main cast.
Nora has the same address as Dr. Adrian G. Favershim from Drake & Josh, who appeared in "My Dinner with Bobo".
When Spencer and Gibby agree on camping together Gibby expresses his excitement by exclaiming "Dyn-o-mite!" This is a reference to '70s character J.J.'s catchphrase in the sitcom Good Times. This combined with Gibby just having talked about the show Diff'rent Strokes leads Spencer to conclude that Gibby watches a lot of classic TV.
Sam references Star Trek by using the "Vulcan Nerve Grip" on Nora to knock her out (although it was called the "Vulcan Squeezy-thing"). An interesting note is that Tim Russ, who plays Principal Franklin, was part of the main cast of Star Trek: Voyager, a spin-off of Star Trek and played a Vulcan crew member named Tuvok.
When Spencer asks Gibby what his plans are, Gibby replies, "I don't know...sit home, take a bath, watch reruns of Diff'rent Strokes?" When Spencer offers him to camp with him, he says, "What'chu talkin' bout, Spencer?" a reference to a quote from the show. This is also a reference to the show's star Gary Coleman, who passed away a week before the special's airdate. Gary Coleman also appeared in an episode of Drake & Josh.
Nora makes numerous references (most of them pop culture) throughout the episode, some obvious and some very subtle. For example:
As Nora is walking upstairs with her "food pocket", she makes a reference to stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan's rant about Hot Pockets.
When Carly grabs Nora's arm through the slot and pulls her face against the glass, Nora growls in a weird voice "Release me!", a reference to a scene in Independence Day.
When Nora slams the small window in her front door, she yells, "No one sees the wizard!" making a reference to The Wizard of Oz.
Nora wears a mask of President Richard Nixon's face.
The name of the episode is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's movie Psycho.
Character Revelations
To be added
Goofs
Maurice is clearly a hen, not a rooster. As all hens are female, Maurice must be a girl not a boy. Despite this, Maurice crows like a rooster.
In the 'Happy Birthday' message Freddie, Carly, and Sam send Gibby, there is no mention of Nora's address so it is unknown how he found her address
It is possible that he either looked through their emails or simply looked her up.
In iWin a Date, Gibby was unable to recognize the obvious hints made by Carly and Sam. However, in this episode, he (fairly) easily understands the secret message in the video.
In iSpace Out, Carly says Spencer hates tomatoes, but at the very beginning he puts a tomato on his sandwich.
Danielle Morrow's voice occasionally slips to her regular voice in a scene when she's excited.
When Gibby and Guppy travel to Nora's home, the audience is shown an exterior shot of a private house that is implied to be hers. However, when the boys walk up to Nora's door, the porch they are on is clearly not the one in the exterior shot.
After breaking down Nora's door (and showing barely a scratch, and no apparent pain for it), Gibby engages in a vicious battle with Nora. The two perform a number of technical fighting maneuvers, repeatedly throw each other onto the floor and against the walls, use a fireplace poker with intent to kill, smash and often completely destroy various objects and furniture in their path (including a table, a lamp, plastic material, and a set of shelves), and fall down a flight of stairs at top speed. By the end, both Gibby and Nora should have been showing serious, visible injuries, but Gibby barely needs a Band-Aid and Nora seems completely unharmed. This same error also happens in IStill Psycho, when Mrs. Benson and T-Bo break the door down with a motorcycle and engage in a vicious battle with her and her parents.
When Nora and Gibby fell down the stairs together, it was shown that Nora's right shoe was knocked off her foot, briefly exposing her right foot but in the next scene the shoe is back on her foot.
In iSpace Out, Carly begins to freak out because she was trapped in a space pod, but in this episode, she was trapped in an even smaller room and didn't freak out.
The train shown when Gibby and Guppy leave for Olympia is not the correct train.
When Gibby and Guppy take a train to Olympia, the locomotive shown is an F59PH from an unspecified railroad, but in the next shot showing the train entering a tunnel, the locomotive is now an F40 decorated for Amtrak in their Phase 3 paint scheme.
When Gibby is playing back every fourth word, the recordings are different than how they were spoken in the full message.
When Gibby was fighting Nora, the closed-captions don't show when Carly says, "We're down here!"
Running Gags
Guppy repeatedly says "Happy Birthday!" after seeing the message video. In a blooper from iBloop (which served as a sneak peek as it aired before this did, albeit after this in filming order), Ethan Munck says the line prematurely, causing Noah Munck to break out laughing.
Series Continuity
The red phone Nora pulls out is the same phone that Sam steals from Missy iReunite With Missy, also shown in iTwins.
Gibby's desktop is a photo of him with Tasha, implying that they are still dating.
This is the first appearance of Guppy, played by Noah Munck's real life younger brother, Ethan.
The events of this episode were later mentioned in iStart a Fanwar, which took place a year after this episode, although it aired 5 months after (but they were filmed a year apart).
Carly mentions the events of this episode to Pearl in iThrow a Flawless Murder Mystery Party. Carly mentions that Freddie's fear of Richard Nixon is because of Nora's mask. It is also indirectly mentioned in IMake New Memories, when Spencer asks Carly if she wants him to strap her to a board to stop her knees from buckling over Freddie. This appears to be referencing Spencer being strapped to the wheel by Nora in the sequel episode "IStill Psycho".
Quotes
[Spencer is having trouble with killing a fly.] Spencer:[shouting] Carly, where's the flyswatter? Carly:[from upstairs, offscreen] I threw it away! Spencer: Why?! Carly: It's not nice to kill things! Spencer: Oh yeah, I guess you're right. [to fly, quieter] I'm gonna kill you so hard.
Freddie: Guess what's in this box. Sam: Donuts. Freddie: No. Sam: Muffins. Freddie: No. Sam: Corndogs. Freddie: No. Sam: Chocolate. Freddie: No, it's not food! Sam: Then who cares? Carly: What's in the box? Freddie: Oh, just some photos ... Sam: Of donuts?! Freddie: No!!!
Carly: That girl has a sad life! Sam: So does Freddie! We can't fix the world!
Nora: [in v-mail] There’s gonna be games ... Sam: Gross! Nora... and kar-a-o-kay! Sam: Lame! Nora: ... and a clown! Sam: Oi! Nora: ... and a big chocolate fountain! Sam: I say we go.
Freddie: Hey, look. I've typed up a complete itinerary for our whole trip. Carly: You're so your mother. Freddie: Don't be vicious!
Spencer: Do girls have bladders? Carly: No, we store pee in our feet. Spencer: Don't joke about urine! Carly: Sorry.
Nora:[pulls out an 8-track tape] Here's a tasty tape ... Freddie: Tape?
Nora: We all rock. Together!
Carly: We did not sleep well! Nora: Why not? Carly: Because I had a nightmare that a psycho monster locked me in a cage and wouldn't let me leave! Nora:[Smiles reassuringly] Well, that monster won't bother you any more! You're safely trapped in my sound booth! Carly:[to Freddie] How could she not get my metaphor?
Sam:[yelling at Nora and banging on the window] YOU BETTER LET US OUT OF HERE OR I'LL SMASH MY WAY OUT! Nora:[chuckles] Silly Sam you can't smash it. that's Maxi Glass. Carly:[to Freddie] Maxi Glass? Freddie: It's a transparent poly carbon of thermo-plasstic that's highly resistant to...[Sam throws a microphone stand at Freddie] WOW!! Sam: You were boring me.
[Gibby goes to the bathroom after Guppy is dropped off] Spencer:[having not seen Guppy enter] Gibby, I found the measuring tape, who was at the door? [he sees Guppy] AND WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?!?!
Freddie: You've been gnawing on that duck bone for ten minutes. Sam: You're a duck bone!
Nora: Sing with me! One hundred cartons of milk on the wall, one hundred cartons of milk! You take one down, open the spout, drinkity-drink 'til the milk runs out! Sing it!
Gibby: Hey, a Happy Birthday message from Carly, Sam, and Freddie! Nice. [thinks for a moment] Wait … it's not my birthday.
Carly, Sam, and Freddie:[on video] Happy Birthday! Guppy: Happy Birthday!! Gibby: You know it's not my birthday.
Gibby: Every fourth, word Guppy:[repeating Gibby's sentence] Every fourth, word
[Nora is playing a word game with Carly, Sam and Freddie] Nora: OK Sam, your turn, gimme a noun. Sam: "Blood." Nora: Okay, now Freddie, you supply an adjective. Freddie: "Psychotic." Nora: Ooh, good one. And Carly, a verb. Carly: "Choke." Nora: Well, you've already used "choke" three times ... but OK!!
Guppy:[hands Gibby a flower] Happy birthday Gibby:[takes the flower] Thanks, buddy.
Carly: Maybe we shouldn't have called the cops on Nora. [Sam and Freddie stare at Carly incredulously] Sam: She kidnapped us! Carly: Yeah, but she just wanted friends. And she bought us Chinese food. Sam: She'll have plenty of friends in prison. Carly: Well, yeah, but those aren't quality friends.
