 This article belongs to the Classic Continuity
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Grounded is the twentieth episode of the first season of Ben 10: Alien Force, and the twentieth episode overall.
Synopsis[]
Ben and Gwen manage to get grounded, leaving Kevin alone to fight the DNAliens.[CN 1]
Plot[]
In the beginning of the episode, Ben's parents (Sandra and Carl Tennyson) are talking about how Ben is a good boy as they happily head home in their car. Suddenly, there's a large explosion, which causes Sandra to stop the car. Carl and Sandra exit the car and notice that a Highbreed has shown up.
While Ben's team fights the Highbreed, Carl and Sandra run away, until they notice Ben running towards the alien. Ben's parents fearfully ask their son to stop, but he doesn't hear them and still runs towards the Highbreed, so they run after him, until they catch him transforming into Swampfire, shocking them. The Highbreed knocks out Ben which leaves Gwen and Kevin to fight him. The Highbreed arrogantly claims that he defeated Ben as he flies away. Swampfire transforms back into Ben. However, after being knocked out cold by the Highbreed and crashing into the road, he has a black eye, to Gwen's shock and Kevin's amusement. Gwen tells Ben that the Highbreed is headed towards the docks. Ben tells Gwen that when they finish their homework, they'll be there. Gwen fears that Ben's parents are going to be shocked by seeing Ben's black eye, but Ben tells her that she shouldn't be worried about it, since his parents believe everything he tells them.
Ben comes home and acts like nothing happened. His parents are shocked at seeing Ben's black eye and ask who did it to him. Ben lies to them that he went to the movies with Julie and that he had a fight with a kid at school, but they tell Ben that they saw him transforming into an alien, catching him off-guard. Sandra is upset that her son lies to them over and over. Ben tries to lie to his parents, until his father points to the Omnitrix, thus proving his point. Seeing himself revealed, Ben tells them the truth about how he must be the one to stop the Highbreed, and that he made a promise to Max. Carl is infuriated that his father was behind this and tells Ben that his uncle Frank and him knew that Max had a double life as a Plumber and doesn't want him to lie too. Carl then tries to get the Omnitrix off Ben's wrist but he has no luck. Unable to accept that their son is risking his life to battle aliens, and upset that he has been keeping a secret for five years, Carl and Sandra forbid Ben from using the Omnitrix ever again, forcing Gwen and Kevin to fight the DNAliens by themselves without him, to his dismay.
Ben informs them that he's been grounded by his parents, after they found out about the Omnitrix. Kevin understands but reveals that they've been attacked by DNAliens. After trying to sneak out as Echo Echo, Ben gets caught by his parents and Sandra tells him that he is grounded and forces him to tell the truth. Of course, Ben stubbornly refuses, but after seeing his mother's stern glare, he gets scared and accidentally lets it slip that Gwen is involved in his missions, getting her grounded as well, and leaving Kevin to go solo. Gwen calls Ben and is angered that her cousin ratted her out. Ben tries to explain, but she says that there's nothing to explain, since her parents caught her, when she returned home and grounded her as well. Ben assures her that he sent Kevin and goes to the kitchen for dinner. In the meantime, Kevin is on a solo mission, but he has trouble with the DNAliens after they catch him in the tanker.
Ben and his parents are in the kitchen, eating dinner. The phone rings. Ben answers it and is shocked that it is Kevin. Kevin contacts both Ben and Gwen so they can assist him in the mission. Unfortunately, Ben's parents find out about this and tell Ben to go to his room. As Ben dejectedly goes to his room, his computer rings and he answers it. It's Kevin. Ben assists him carefully, but the DNAliens and Highbreed catch him. The Highbreed grabs Kevin and Kevin tells Ben that he needs a little help. However, Ben's agitated parents catch him again and they decide to ground him for life, which drives Ben to the edge. Finally, Ben confesses to his parents that he always loves and respects them, but now his friend needs him. Right before he transforms into another alien, he assures his parents that they can punish him when he gets back, just as he breaks out of his house as Humungousaur to help. Before leaving, Humungousaur apologizes to his parents, saying that he'll clean up later. Sandra believes that he has just run out on them and asks what they are going to do. Carl, having a change of heart, decides that they must listen to their son.
Humungousaur arrives at where Kevin is. He throws DNAliens at the Highbreed and frees Kevin, who tells him that he thought he was grounded in his room without supper. Humungousaur is unhappy because his parents are going to be mad at him for the rest of high school. After a short fight with the Highbreed, Ben's parents come to the rescue, admitting that they are proud of Ben and understand what he needs to do to save the universe. Ben, his parents and Kevin defeat DNAliens and Humungousaur uses an old Plumber bazooka that sends the Highbreed to the giant tank. They escape within minutes, before the ship sinks.
Back in his house, Carl mounts the Plumber bazooka on the wall, with Carl explaining to his son that he never liked Plumber weapons, since it all reminds him of that double life that Max was going about, but he realizes that he was just protecting them. Suddenly, Ben's phone (which is confiscated and in a sack) rings and Sandra picks it up and gives it to him, saying that this is Gwen. Ben learns from Gwen that one alien is on the desert and is embarrassed to tell his parents about it, but his parents realize how much this job of protecting Earth means to him and happily let him go. Happy upon hearing this, Ben excitedly leaves the house to go to the desert, as his mother calls to him that the desert is cold at night and urges her son to take a jacket, ending the episode.
Noteworthy Events[]
Major Events[]
Character Debut[]
Characters[]
Main Characters[]
Supporting Characters[]
- Carl Tennyson (first appearance)
- Sandra Tennyson
Antagonists[]
Aliens Used[]
Quotes[]
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Naming and Translations[]
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic | على الأرض | |
| French | La Punition | The Punishment |
| Hungarian | Büntetésben | Grounded |
| Polish | Szlaban | Grounded |
| Portuguese (Br) | De Castigo | Grounded |
| Romanian | Pedepsit | Grounded |
| Spanish (HA) | Castigado | Punished |
| Spanish (Spain) | Castigado | Punished |
Cast[]
Allusions[]
- Sandra talks about MyFacing, a reference to MySpace and Facebook. Ben's tone implies she got them jumbled up.
- Gwen talks about Wifipedia, a reference to Wikipedia.
- The way Gwen fires her mana beam at the DNAliens when they confront her and Kevin is identical to the way the Kamehameha from the Dragon Ball franchise is fired.
Errors[]
- Although it was mentioned in Good Copy, Bad Copy that Ben's left eye twitches when he lies, it does not twitch when he lies to his parents about fighting the Highbreed.
- When Carl holds Ben's left wrist, the sides of the Omnitrix's dial take up more space than they should.
- Echo Echo's hologram is smaller than usual.
- In one shot, Gwen's sleeves are all blue.
- When Gwen calls Echo Echo, her nose is missing.
- Ben's black eye disappears after he reverts to human from Echo Echo and remains that way for the rest of the episode.
- When Ben's parents confiscate his phone, the TV is missing from his room.
- When Kevin is facing the Highbreed for the second time, some of the black patterns are missing from the Highbreed's shoulders.
- When Ben selects Humungousaur, he isn't wearing his jacket, but during the transformation sequence, he is shown to be wearing his jacket.
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Trivia[]
- The episode was first hinted at by Dwayne McDuffie on September 21, 2008.[DM 1]
- Jim Krieg wrote every scene in the episode thinking about what his parents would have done if they found out he was secretly a shapeshifting boy hero.[JK 1]
