Odd Squad: The O Games

This Canadian-American live-action TV series for kids (airing on PBS in the U.S.) serves up a delightful pastiche of paranormal entertainment (with a layer of gizmo giddiness) while sneaking in basic math and science principles. The titular Odd Squad is an agency run by kids to investigate strange and often comic phenomena, such as a car that turns adult passengers into children, and a cello that sounds like a brass instrument. Agents Olive (Dalila Bela) and Otto (Filip Geljo) are the pint-size sleuths who wield various fix-it machines. But sometimes they're mystified by a case, and have to pay a visit to the Math Room, where a talking computer helps them to see how their problems can be solved, usually through number patterns or measuring differences between things. Of the five episodes compiled here, the titular “O Games” is actually the worst, a confusing clunker. But other episodes shine, including “Bad Luck Bears,” in which a basketball team is plagued by balls that zip around chaotically under their own power (Olive and Otto discover that the players are affected by the number 13). In “Not So Splash,” the Odd Squad's tyrannical boss becomes irritated when her favorite swimming pool is covered in snow and ice during a hot summer. And the funny “Skip Day” concerns an outbreak of craziness when people—including Olive—keep skipping steps in various tasks, requiring Otto to hit the Math Room to try to uncover the pattern. A high-energy series full of random weirdness and off-the-wall performances, this is recommended. Aud: E, P. (T. Keogh)