The Cover Up (Monsters at Work)

The Cover Up is the fifth episode of the Disney+ original animated series mh:besttvshows:Monsters at Work.

Plot
When Fritz goes on vacation, Duncan is chosen as temporary supervisor; his first order of business: make Tylor miserable; it doesn't take long for them to squabble, set off old scream canisters, and accidentally cause a city-wide power outage.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) This episode is notorious for applying one of the most generic and unoriginal clichés in TV nowadays; the "Bribed Inspector" cliché. Quite self-explanatory, it consists of a generally severe and cold inspector who is bribed in the end. They tell a line that's similar to the average "That was, without a doubt... the best experience I've ever had!" (note that this is integrated out of nowhere and contradicts the entire purpose of the character), and eventually fail on their duty to bring unfavorable news to the main characters (the latter usually hiding any proof that shows off they aren't good at their job, and this episode isn't the exception).
 * 2) * Argus Blinks, determined to find the cause of Monstropolis' power outage, is constantly being interrupted by Mike's attempts of bribe to prevent Argus from closing Monsters Inc. down. He is ultimately taken to a forbidden vacation door against his will, where he chills and decides not to cancel Monsters Inc. despite knowing they were the ones behind the power outage and trying to cover up their guilt.
 * 3) * Heck, even Nickelodeon's Ollie's Pack (which is better described as a cliché festival) has an episode with this trope.
 * 4) Weak plot, as it is just another MIFT mishap with the characters facing no real adversities at all (aside from Argus who's actually Mike and Sulley's problem in their own subplot, not MIFT's). Speaking of the wasted subplot, it mainly consists of just Mike's terrible attempts to bribe Argus, which some of them are downright monstrous, going as far as giving his own car for free.
 * 5) Wasted the opportunity of developing Duncan's character alongside building some chemistry between him and Tylor. They did improve upon the ending, only for Duncan to go back to his normal self in the next episode, making it a "Status Quo is God" moment.
 * 6) Argus Blinks himself is a mediocre antagonist with a forced change of mind that contradicts his ideology (as explained in WIS#1).
 * 7) Terrible Moral: this episode makes us think that bribing others to avoid our responsibilities is a good thing and takes it with comedic intentions.
 * 8) Duncan was very immature by not letting Val be the temporary supervisor as the wheel declared, and out of kindness she passed the position to him. It doesn't help the fact that right after he was in charge all he did was tormenting Tylor and make him work in very harsh conditions, as seen in the montage of Duncan's "College boy!" insult.
 * 9) An extremely gross scene where Duncan squeezes one of Argus' eyeballs with his barefoot, he presses on it so much to the point it is squashed (not shown explicitly on screen, but we can still hear the popping sound). To make matters worse, we later see an overview of Argus' briefcase with all his eyeballs in a very bad shape. If anything, this scene is just severely gruesome to watch.
 * 10) It's honestly dissappointing to witness the low standards that were presented in the episode, highlighting that this is part of a project as demanding in quality as Monsters At Work is. This episode just taints the show's image in an awful way.
 * 11) Half-Bad Ending: A new Argus comes out of the vacation door after the fortnight, and notable changes in his character are exposed, a complete transformation from the person he previously was (who knows how many labour days has he accidentally missed). He then gives Monsters Inc. a warning and leaves happily.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The CGI-animation and voice acting are still great.
 * 2) * Similarly, Tylor, Sulley, Val and Cutter are not altered from their likability.
 * 3) Great comedy, which is a minimum requirement of the Monsters Inc. franchise.
 * 4) Argus' design is admittedly cool, also, the concept of snoopers was decently executed.
 * 5) Half-Good Ending: Monsters Inc. isn't closed down, Argus' days off probably changed him for good.
 * 6) The segment "Mike's Comedy Class" where Carla and Chuck have trouble understanding the basic premise of knock knock jokes, leading to Mike being hauled away on a stretcher, is really fun to watch.