The Mole Game

"The Mole Game"
The rats surround Toad and on Bully's orders, prepare to kill him.
Episode Information
Series	3
Episode no.	10
UK airdate	30 November 1995
Written by	TBA
Episode Chronology
Preceded by	A Bigger Oink
Succeeded by	The Worst Kind of Hurricane

The Mole Game is the tenth episode of the third series of The Animals of Farthing Wood, and it's the 36^th episode overall.

Plot

Toad and Spike are frolicking in the forest while they're playing a new game they invented called The Mole Game. Charmer and Ranger notice this and they're curious about their activity. Toad explains that he has to guess the random location where Mossy may emerge from. As he and Spike argue about who will win, Ranger turns out to be the victor as Mossy pops out under him. He says that this had made his day, and he gleefully walks away with Charmer to go see Adder. She asks them how many rats they've killed today, and both of them respond none. She's very peeved about their lack of action, especially since her mate Sinuous was strangled to death by the rats. Just then, the animals notice The Warden drop rat poison near the front entrance of the rat headquarters. Bully sees this and throws a large rock at his head. This infuriates him and he flings the rock back, which ends up hitting Brat. The Large Town Rat meanwhile consumes the rat poison, thinking he has immunity, and dies as a result.

Charmer and Ranger come to Fox's den to inform him of some important news, but they were first greeted by Vixen. He gets awakened by this and asks for their report. They tell them that The Warden's attempt at exterminating the rats with poison didn't work because there's simply too many of them to control at once, coupled with the large rat that ate all of it. Fox lays down feeling hopeless and pessimistic about the situation, stating that they've lost the rat battle. Vixen is so gobsmacked to see him easily give up, telling him that he's "Fox, the Fox," referring to his normally courageous attitude. Ranger won't back down either and tells him that he'll get Plucky to fight the rats together. Fox wonders what Owl would do at a time like this.

Meanwhile on the towering tree of Farthinghurst, Owl quite frankly can't do anything due to the cement that covers her body. Her mate Hollow is worried about her deteriorating health and asks the other fellow flappers for assistance. Woodpecker steals a worm from the Robin to forcefully feed Owl, but it doesn't work. Only when another female owl whose "silhouette before the waning moon" comes by is when she ingests the worm. Hollow does mention how attractive she is, but it's the tatty Owl who he truly loved. The Robin hatches a plan to free Owl from the cement by knocking her off the tree, and the impact on the ground would pop her out. All fellow flappers besides Hollow were fond of this idea, and each of them fly a distance from the tree before charging at her one by one. Each attempt fails except for the last one, when the other owl rams her down in the tree trunk. In the end, Robin's plan was a total failure, as Owl's cement coat wasn't even dented.

At the daisy patch, Bully and his rats surround Toad while he was still playing with Spike. He commands them to kill Toad, and the terrified creature pleads for his "mate" to save him. Spike is suspended in disbelief wanting to help him, but also loyal to his leader at the same when he says "Bully, Bully, Bully" to Bully saying, "Who am I?" Toad was able to escape momentarily by leaping over them, and he asks Mossy to go get help. He does so immediately and informs Dash of the situation. She sprints towards Trey's young white deer herd and insults their legs in order to provoke a reaction of offense from them. She then gets them to race her by claiming that she's the fastest, and so they challenge her on that. They follow pursuit of Dash while she leads them to the area where the rats are about to kill Toad. The stampeding hooves kill all of them except Bully and Spike. The latter is regretful for letting his new friend down, even using a tree branch to hit Bully. He walks to the pond where Toad was brought by the Edible Frogs and apologizes to him for not rescuing him. He's hesitant at forgiving him until Spike says he would "fight like a terrier" the next time he's in danger.

Trey is furious with the Farthing Wood animals for being at his pond again, but especially against Dash since she caused a stampede that would result in injuries and the loss of half the white deer herd.

Trivia

• The music where Dash rush off to fetch the young stags used to stampede on the rats is the same music from Who Shall Wear the Crown? Mole was almost half-tickled half-bitten by a pike, despite Toad's warning.

Goofs

• Spike is present at the Rat HQ when the Large Town Rat poisons himself, even though he is elsewhere playing with Toad all that day.
• Bully says "Eat it, it's good for you." without moving his lips.