Welcome back to Teeny Bopper TV Breakdown! Today we recap Radio Free Roscoe, episode 8, “The Imposter.”

At the end of an RFR recording, as Robbie, Lily and Ray are congratulating themselves on a great job of talking, Travis almost gets electrocuted by the soundboard and none of them notice as they exit the studio. You can bet that he notices them not paying him any attention, though, muttering, “Great show, Smog, couldn’t have done it without you,” (Smog is his DJ name, so he’s addressing himself as the rest of them).

At Mickey’s later, Ray is regaling the group with an embarrassing story yet again: He tried to ask a girl out and failed, but noticed she left her retainer behind, and it is still in his possession. Lily mentions she didn’t know he liked this girl (Paige Garcia), and Ray says he does a little, but he might be asking her out just to make someone else jealous (clearly trying to gauge Lily’s reaction to that statement). All Lily does is laugh, though, and suggest that Ray and Robbie take Paige and her best friend Erin on a double date - but where?

Travis suggests that RFR could throw and DJ a warehouse party. Lily loves the idea, even suggesting that Ray and Robbie prerecord their intros so they can both “DJ” and attend, while Lily and Travis handle the DJing night-of. And where will it be held? Mickey’s, of course. The next day at school, Robbie wonders how they’ll get people to come, and Lily shows him: She tells Erin all the details but says it’s totally private so she can’t tell anyone, knowing that the word will spread to all the students, and she’s absolutely right.

Word gets around enough that a boy named Leon tells Travis about the party. Travis says he already knew about it, but Leon says Travis couldn’t have heard about it before he did because Leon is Smog. Travis clearly knows he isn’t, but in order not to give himself away, all he can say is, “I don’t think so.” Not knowing the context, Leon takes this as offensive and says, “I’m in the AV club, last semester I made a potato-powered radio - I could be Smog!” Looks like someone’s clout-chasing.

The gang pre-records their intro, and even that kind of erases Travis - while he chose the background music, the actual voices say, “This is Pronto, Question Mark and Shady Lane, and we are Radio Free Roscoe.” Yes, Travis is a producer instead of a DJ, but considering they know Leon is trying to impersonate Smog, couldn’t they include Smog in the intro this once?

The day before the dance, Ray and Robbie are trying to hype themselves up to ask Paige and Erin out when Leon walks by, talking to a couple girls about how being Smog has its upside, especially with the ladies. Ray really wants to confront him for lying, but Robbie talks him down. They somehow successfully get Paige and Erin to agree to meet them at the dance - mostly thanks to Robbie, because Ray is a mess, even as he hands Paige her retainer back.

Lily finds Travis in the RFR studio and realizes he didn’t get the intro background music from a random DJ; he made the mix himself. But when she asks why he didn’t tell the rest of the group, he gets defensive and says, “I don’t have to prove myself to you guys,” which seems to give her something to think about.

Leon comes up to Ray and Robbie in the hallway, not realizing they are exactly the wrong people to brag to about “being Smog.” Robbie asks why, if he’s Smog, he’s the only one to reveal himself, and Leon says the others don’t have the passion he does about their work, which makes Robbie’s eyes flash. Leon continues, “They’re just talking heads. I’m really the unsung hero.” Most of what he says is absolutely cringe, but that last phrase I can apply to Travis. Ray can’t, apparently, as he responds, “Unsung hero? Get real. You hardly ever talk. All you do is push buttons; a monkey could do that.” And of course, as Robbie says nothing to dispute Ray, Travis overhears and cuts in, “Nice. Very nice.” Robbie and Ray try to backpedal, but Travis just stomps away from them.

Travis shows up late to that evening’s RFR recording, and says there are no hard feelings about what happened earlier, but thinks it’s best if he leaves RFR after the dance. So clearly there are some hard feelings. Ray and Robbie, you done effed up.

Later, Lily tells Travis that she does not hold the same opinion as the other boys, and tries to get him not to quit. Travis says he’s fine being a loner, but Lily sees through his aloofness and instead calls him out on being afraid of actually making friends. And turns out she’s right - Travis didn’t call Leon on his lies because that would have meant Travis himself admitting he wanted to belong, but he doesn’t feel like he knows how. Lily grins and says, “It’s still not too late to bust Leon’s butt.”

Leon walks in as the party’s rolling and honestly looks and acts like Sean from Breaker High - fedora, spin move, finger guns and all - as he shouts, “Smog is in the house!” Robbie goes to tell Lily and Travis that it’s time to expose Leon, which means while he’s gone Ray is on his own to entertain Paige and Erin, and he’s just babbling, so the girls eventually give up on the conversation and walk away.

The plan to prove Leon is a fraud? Lily as Shady Lane says that the mixes they’ve been hearing were all created by Smog, so Smog is now going to do some mixing live. Leon looks very uneasy and tries to get out of it, but Mickey pushes him forward. As we all likely predicted, Leon does a terrible job and the audience boos him. Then Lily-as-Shady says, “Wonder why that sucked? It’s because the real Smog is sitting right here with me.”

Travis does his thing, and the party is back on. Paige and Erin even dance with Ray and Robbie again once Ray actually finds his game and weirdly sweetly gives Paige a retainer case. The boys then call into RFR and tell Smog he’s the best thing that happened to RFR, really is the unsung hero of the station, and they hope he isn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. Taking that as the apology it is, Travis-as-Smog smiles and says, “Don’t worry, I think I’ll be sticking around.”

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