“Royal Crackers,” the animated comedy series is back with its third and fourth episode. We follow the Hornsby family on another one of their adventures and finally crack the mystery of the origins of Stebe’s name.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Royal Crackers’ Episode 3: Factory 37
The episode begins with the board members waiting for Stebe in the office. Theo is busy playing Seinfeld’s opening tune and is stopped by Deb. They all discuss Casanova Reggie, who is the visiting health inspector and is expected to arrive with Stebe to check the functioning of the company’s ‘factory 37’. Theo becomes a little jealous, listening to everyone’s praise for Reggie.
Stebe arrives with an unknown guy. He introduces the man as the new health manager who will be replacing Reggie. The board members became absurdly furious at this fact. The new health inspector introduces himself as Brent and further adds that Reggie was his brother, and while Reggie may have been lenient, Brent comes off as severely strict. He warns that if he doesn’t find the processing squeaky clean, he will give it an ‘F,’ meaning the closure of that factory.
The company’s lawyer, Darby, freaks out as Factory 37 is the dirtiest one of them all all the while producing the best-selling chicken-flavored crackers, keeping the company afloat. With the prospect of that factory shutting down, he laments over the future bankruptcy that will inevitably follow. Stebe tries reassuring them, but all of them panic. Theo suggests the board let him party with Brent, making sure he gets sick, thus postponing the inspection. Stebe suggests everyone go down and clean the factory themselves. The board members refuse to give their reasons and side with Theo’s plan, igniting the rivalry between the two brothers. A brawl ensues between the two, and they beat each other to a pulp.
Stebe comes to his senses and declares he will clean the factory all by himself. Anyone is welcome to join, or else they can stick to Theo’s stupid plan and keep partying. Only Deb joins Steve’s corner, and the rest stay with Theo.
Darby visits Theo and expresses concern for Stebe, for there is a secret he might not know about Factory 37. Theo listens to none of it and declines to stop Stebe from cleaning it himself. Meanwhile, Stebe, Deb, and their son, Matt, head for the factory and discuss Theo along the way.
They reach the factory, and Matt finds it haunting. Theo and the rest of the board members try to make Brent sick. Stebe assigns areas to Deb and Matt that they will have to clean. The place looks dingy, harboring something creepy inside. Darby meets Brent and asks him to have a great time at the party and go back without inspecting the factory. Brent declines, but Darby threatens him with a knife.
Gory secrets are revealed back at the factory. Stebe finds a secret passage in the factory where a mechanized theater gives a tour of the factory. A machine resembling a young Theodore (Stebe’s father) acts as the tour guide. Deb encounters monster chickens that have apparently killed all the workers, including the company’s scientist, Dr. Trowell. Matt sees Trowell’s last message on a videotape calling for help.
Deb escapes the kitchen area, fighting off the monster chickens, and lands in the main office, where Stebe has just finished ending the tour. She tells Stebe about the chickens that have probably mutated and become monsters. They try to rescue Matt but get trapped inside a chicken party being conducted by a giant chicken master.
Back in town, Brent starts showing signs of anxiety and gives the party an F. He breaks down and tells the board members that he came in place of Reggie only because he was scared of Factory 37. Darby finally tells everyone about the secret of the mutant chickens in Factory 37. Theo runs to save his brother and his family.
Everyone reaches the factory and fights an army of mutant chickens. The mystery is revealed after Brent enters. The Chicken Master is none other than Brent’s brother Reggie, who mutated by injecting himself with Dr. Trowell’s potion. Brent offers to serve Reggie forever if he lets everyone go. Reggie accepts but asks Stebe to put him on the payroll as general manager of Factory 37.
‘Royal Crackers’ Episode 4: Stebe
The episode begins at Silveria Hospital, where Theodore Senior’s wife gives birth to a baby boy. Not too jubilant at the boy’s appearance, he is asked to provide a name for the new baby on the birth certificate. Theodore asks his wife to think of a name. She suggests that the boy be named Theodore, like his father. Theodore declines to give the new baby his name and begins munching crackers. The nurse insists on getting a name for the certificate. Theodore mumbles, “Steve, but because his mouth is full of biscuits, it comes out as ‘Stebe.’ The nurse verifies it with Theodore, and Theodore, instead of correcting the name, lets it remain as it is, hoping it will serve as a reminder to Stebe of how unbothered Theodore was with the family’s affairs.
We come back to present-day Bakersfield, where we see Stebe waiting in line at a coffee shop. Stebe gives his order and gets asked his name. He says “Stebe,” but the attendant hears it as Steve, and Stebe corrects her, telling her it’s a common mistake. The attendant comments on how unusual his name sounds, sending Stebe into a catatonic state, but he recovers.
We see Deb photoshopping his son Matt’s photo online, trying to crop his face and map it onto a good-looking skateboarder. The bell rings, and she asks Matt to open the door. Matt opens the door and sees a man with a scary mask on. Theo welcomes him, and we come to know he is Theo’s old friend Lars, the guitarist in his band ‘Taint.’ Theo makes him join the dinner table, and they start reminiscing about their tour days. Stebe interrupts one of their stories about a boy in a wheelchair, citing it as being very cruel. Lars does not take kindly to this interruption and attacks Stebe’s manliness. He also praises Deb right in front of him and mispronounces Stebe as ‘Steve,’ sending Stebe into yet another fit, but he recovers.
Deb brings up ‘Famgram,’ a social media platform only for wealthy families, on which she posted Matt’s photoshopped picture earlier. Lars wishes to open an account on Famgram but laments that one needs to know a rich family to be able to do so. Deb receives several notifications about Matt’s photo. She opens her account and sees only negative comments about her son Matt, some even suggesting that the entire Hornsby family is fictional. Deb takes it up as a challenge and decides to post a picture of the entire Hornsby family in one frame. She asks everybody to go to the swimming pool and pose for the camera. Stebe fears sunburn. Lars asks Deb to go in the pool while he takes the photos but then suggests she let him replace Stebe in the photo. Deb gets excited at the prospect of getting to photoshop Stebe’s face onto Lars’ well-built body. Stebe ends up behind the camera and ultimately gets a sunburn.
Stebe visits a doctor, who is disappointed in Stebe for not wearing sunscreen. A sunscreen-covered Stebe arrives at the board meeting, scaring the others. He sees Lars there, telling his stories. Stebe tries to get back to work but sees Lars get a fist bump from Stebe’s father, Theodore. This makes him feel unimportant. Later at night, Deb asks Stebe to post something on Famgram to make her work easier by proving the family is real. He promises to post something soon. Stebe goes to the coffee shop and asks Britney, the attendant, to write ‘Steve’ on his cup, but she declines because of the store’s policy. Stebe fears the name is a curse upon his life. He comes back and finds Theo and Lars planning a rock concert with Matt as the drummer. Stebe asks them if he could participate even as a cheerleader. They reject him brutally. Stebe later finds Lars comforting Deb about her botched Photoshop. Feeling dejected, he goes away, and Deb makes him sleep outside on a tree for not posting on Facebook even after promising that he would.
On the day of the concert, Deb discovers Lars’ photos online on Famgram, posing with different families, and discovers him to be a leech who stays with different families, gains their trust, sucks their wealth dry, and then deserts them. She tells this to Stebe, who then goes to confront Lars. Lars first seems to dominate Stebe, but Stebe returns with a vengeance and wins over the concert’s audience by defeating Lars in a gibberish rap battle. Stebe goes to the coffee shop and asks them to write his name wrongly as ‘Steve.’ This time Britney agrees, and he posts a photo of the cup with his name on it on Instagram, making Deb happy.
‘Royal Crackers’ Episode 4 Ending Explained: How Does Stebe Defeat Lars?
Lars had begun acting too haughty for Theo. In the concert, Lars tries correcting Theo and starts acting overly protective toward Matt. When Stebe gains the courage to start the rap battle, Theo automatically sides with his brother, and Matt also plays the drums to help his father, Stebe. Hence, Stebe gains his confidence back and is able to defeat Lars.