2.16 - Tunnel Collapse

"We catch up with our dear mole-friends as they struggle to free themselves, gain a deeper understanding of their emotions, and make it through the most awkward first date question of their short, anthropomorphized lives."

Synopsis
Clay and Sandy are trapped underneath the rubble from the collapsed tunnel. Sandy complains about Clay being on top of her and tells him to move; Clay however is the only thing still holding up the ceiling. As Clay has Sandy's arms pinned, she can't do any digging either. Sandy suggests they just wait until someone finds them. As she's still mad at Clay, she doesn't want to talk. Clay is worried about suffocating and suggests they should do something to let people know they're there. When Sandy asks what they can do, Clay admits that he doesn't know as he's never been in a tunnel collapse before. Sandy can't believe that this is his first time, while Clay tries to defend himself by saying he's seen plenty of collapses from the other side, and that he doesn't believe the whole "you're not a real mole, unless you've been in a tunnel collapse". He asks Sandy when her first collapse was, which was a year ago. Clay is surprised and says he wouldn't have taken her for that kind of mole, the kind who's that reckless. Clay asks if it was with Peat, which Sandy denies, although she admits that she has been in collapses with Peat. Sandy's first collapse was with a female MolePerson named Rocksy, although Sandy says it wasn't anything serious or official.

Sandy admits that she misses making fun of Clay, which she then blames on the lack of oxygen. This is when Loamy arrives and starts to dig them out. Loamy says Sandy looks a bit dizzy and should probably go see Peat, who's a vet now, at the medical station nearby. After Sandy leaves, Loamy says that they weren't even that far down and probably could've just stood up. But she understands why Clay didn't, as this was a perfect opportunity to admit his feelings. She muses if he hadn't admitted his feelings, she'd start to wonder if he even really liked her or if she'd just imagined it, and would move on. Clay leaves without commenting on this.

Trivia

 * In April 2018 writer Jim McDoniel re-wrote the script for this episode, as he felt the contents of this episode were problematic. While HartLife NFP didn't have the resources to re-record the episode, they put the updated script online. The script can be found here, the statements of Jim McDoniel and Jeffrey Nils Gardner regarding this decision can be found here.
 * In the rewritten script, Clay tries to hold his breath to preserve oxygen, which makes Sandy realize he hasn't been in a tunnel collapse before. Since Clay took tunnel safety classes he should've done "tunnel collapse day", but Clay says he threw up before the supports could even be removed. Sandy assures him that it's nothing to be ashamed of, since a lot of people aren't good at their first time. When she was in a collapse with Rocksy, both of them were nervous and their claws were shaking. When Clay says that he just kept throwing up over everyone that day, Sandy laughs at him and admits that she misses making fun of him. She asks him why he has to be such a jerk sometimes, which he doesn't know. As rocks start falling and shifting around them, Clay starts to panic but Sandy has him take deep breath and calm down. He then apologizes for insulting her and being stupid. He also apologizes for getting both of them stuck here. Sandy says there's no one she'd rather be in a tunnel collapse with, as she trusts Clay. Then Loamy shows up and gets them out. Loamy's speech to Clay is also slightly different in this version.

Cast

 * Narrator — Ansel Burch
 * Clay — Tyler Samples
 * Sandy — Abby Doud
 * Loamy — Lisa Burton