Zoey's Bad Day

"Zoey's Bad Day" is the 11th episode of the second season as part of the animated television series Zoey McMullen. It is the 51st episode of the entire series overall. In the episode, Zoey is unexpectedly given bad luck by a (non-anthropomorphic) black cat after she witnesseses it crossing the sidewalk. The episode was released on May 8, 2010.

Plot
The episode starts with Zoey dancing down the sidewalk while scatting her theme song, before remarking that this is just her usual day. Just then, she passes by Jackie, her best friend. The jackalope notices her and greets her, and she greets back. She then walks into a market and pays for some fruits. Just then, while walking home, a non-anthropomorphic black cat appears and strides along the sidewalk. Zoey notices this.... but she shrugs it off, believing that bad luck is just a "silly" superstition that doesn't exist. Unfortunately, it somewhat turns out to be true as she trips on a huge crack in the pavement, causing her to unintentionally toss her groceries onto the road, where they get run over by a truck.

And her bad luck doesn't stop from here; as she goes back to the market to attempt to buy more fruits, the owner of the market has just slipped on an undiscarded banana peel and is sent to the hospital. However, she tries to keep her cool and claims that the things that are happening to her right now are just an "unexpected turn of events". Adding insult to injury however, two ferret workers accidentally drop a tar barrel that they are about to put in a truck, which rolls towards Zoey and covers her in tar as it crashes into her. Walking away, Zoey repeats her claim until a truck full of pillows crashes into a fire hydrant, causing the pillows inside to break; the resulting feathers land and stick on the tar-covered girl, leaving her tarred and feathered.

Upon returning home to take a bath, Zoey, although subtly humiliated, keeps saying that it was just an "unexpected turn of events"; it just makes her misfortune worse as she slips on the soap while getting out of the bathroom. She crashes into her closet, which gets her dressed and humiliated at the same time. She fails to admit her bad luck and ends up falling down the stairs, ultimately ending when she lands in a giant plant pot face-first and gets stuck.

Conrad hears the noise from Zoey's house and rushes in to see what happened. Conrad asks if she's okay, but her voice is muffled from her head being trapped in the soil so she can't answer. The coyote then pulls his human friend out from the pot, and Zoey finally answers after spitting out some dirt. When Conrad asks what's going on, Zoey tells him that she crossed a black cat earlier but simplifies the humiliation she experienced as an "unexpected turn of events". Conrad, however, manages to see through Zoey's speech and, shocked, advices her to bring some good luck charms so that she could be safer. Zoey, however, ignores his advice and goes along with her usual business.

Her bad luck however, increases the next day, when she accidentally burns the pancakes she is making for breakfast, gets water on the road splashed on her by a passing car, and gets hit by some food accidentally dropped from a construction site. Melissa meets her and notices that she is quite wet from the car incident earlier. When Melissa asks what happened to Zoey, she repeats the answer she gave to Conrad. The elephant recognizes her predicament yesterday and tells her that she has bad luck. Just then, Melissa sees an open manhole in the road and tries to warn Zoey, but she is so busy bragging with her eyes closed that there is no such thing as bad luck that she ends up falling into the manhole. A crocodile sewer worker then emerges holding Zoey, who is now drenched in sewer water. The crocodile sewer worker then asks Melissa if the little girl (Zoey) belongs to her; Melissa responds positively, and the crocodile sewer worker tells her to keep Zoey out of the sewers as he climbs back down.

Zoey however, refuses to admit she has bad luck until she endures more humiliation. This time, the last humiliation is so strong that it finally forces her to admit her misfortune, and taking Conrad's advice earlier, goes to find some good luck charms to improve her luck. She arrives at the park, trying to find a four-leaf clover. At first she finds one fast.... but the fourth leaf turns out to be a caterpillar which crawls away. Then, she tries to find a coin, but it turns out to be a novelty coin and not a real one. She then spots what appears to be a horseshoe on a bench and grabs it, but it is actually a magnet which attracts lots of pins on it - and some of them prick Zoey's arm, causing her to yelp painfully.

Zoey is about to give up until Jackie comes, and when he asks her what's wrong, Zoey this time not only tells him about the black cat, but also the precise humiliation she endured earlier. This is that particular moment, that she thinks about the good luck charm of a rabbit's foot, and she finally has an idea. She tells Jackie that despite being a jackalope, he mostly has the qualities of a rabbit, like the long ears and big feet, and concludes that a "jackalope's foot" is a great substitute for a rabbit's foot. She asks Jackie to accompany her until the next day, and he agrees.

For the remainder of the episode, Jackie is shown to be protective of Zoey as he interrupts any calamity that might harm/humiliate her. Unfortunately, at noon, Jackie is unable to stay with Zoey any longer since he is called over by Conrad to a game of pool. With Zoey now seemingly rendered unlucky again, she sees, from a far distance, Melissa stuck in a manhole. Zoey is worried to have bad luck again, but she is more worried of her friend being stuck forever, so she is left with the inevitable and runs to her friend's rescue. Tar barrels then appear out of nowhere and roll towards Zoey, but she luckily jumps over them. Another truck filled with pillows then trips on a huge pebble and sends the pillows flying; Zoey manages to dodge and even bounce off of them. Zoey then spots several cracks on the road, but she avoids tripping on them by jumping.

Zoey is now close to Melissa and tries to pull her out, but the elephant is too heavy. To make matters worse, a pickup truck is driving towards Melissa and is not stopping because the ignorant driver (a cobra) is listening to MP3 music, unaware of the danger he's about to bring. Zoey notices this and tries to hurry; nothing. Then luckily and unluckily, a tall chimpanzee eating a banana then unknowingly discards the skin at Zoey's feet, causing her to slip into the air with such force that Melissa finally gets unstuck, though Zoey ends up getting flattened under Melissa's rump when they land on the sidewalk.

Melissa then thanks Zoey for saving her, and she replies saying that it was worth it and that she didn't have to use a good luck charm after all; all she had to do was act quick. But just as she walks away, she slips on a banana peel and lands on her back. Melissa worriedly comments on the incident, and Zoey, about to get up, breaks the fourth wall saying that she also has to look quick as the episode ends.

Trivia

 * The part in the climax where Zoey jumps over the rolling tar barrels is a reference to the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong.