Martha Makes Scents

Martha Makes Scents is an episode of Martha Speaks season 1.

Recap
It begins wth Helen walking Martha past a shop called Grimbles. Martha notes that the shop is giving free samples and suggests they try them. Helen replies that Martha won't like the free samples and Martha asks how she'd know to which Helen says that it isn't food. The worker sprays the perfume she's sampling on a random woman who works down the street. Martha asks what the free sample is and Helen says that from the way the worker is spritzing it, it's probably perfume. Martha thinks it's disgusting and asks why people wear perfume. Helen, who gets sprayed with perfume along with another lady explains that people wear perfume in order to smell good. Martha says that if people really wanted to smell good, they'd roll in bacon and that she doesn't think perfume smells good at all. The other woman says she doesn't think perfume smells good either as she thinks it smells like dog. Then she looks down and sees Martha, smells her and thinks she smells bad. She walks off holding her nose. Helen says that it appears to be bathtime which surprises Martha as she just had one last month and she thinks that there must be some way around bathing. Mrs Demson samples some of the perfume and enjoys it. This gives Martha an idea and she imagines herself and Skits being sprayed with perfume by Helen in front of T.D. She then runs off, saying that if her idea works, she'll never have to bathe again.

At T.D's house, T.D. asks Martha if she wants his dad to invent a dog perfume. Martha says she does; a strong one so she'll never have to bathe again. T.D. says it's impossible and Martha asks why not. T.D. says that it can't be done because perfume stinks and if you put stinky perfume on a stinky dog and it'd be really stinky and she'd have to take a bath. Martha doesn't give up that easily and neither does O.G. In fact, he thinks that it would be good for the planet if dogs didn't bathe as it would save water. He's happy to concoct Martha's perfume but he also thinks she smells bad.

In O.G.'s lab, he sets up a bunsen burner and Martha says that "concocting" sounds hard and why can't he just make one instead? O.G. pours green fluid into a flask and says that concocting is a way of making something: by mixing things together. Martha asks O.G. if he's concocting her perfume and he says no, he's making pea soup for his lunch. He offers the children some but Helen and T.D. don't like pea soup.

O.G. then looks at a blackboard and notes that something is very interesting. He draws diagrams on the chalkboard and narrates that perfume has different "fragrance families": floral which means it smells like flowers, citrus which means it smells citrusy, woodsy, green which means it smells like grass or herbs, or spicy like pepper or cinnamon. Martha asks if there's a bacon fragrance family and O.G. says no. She then asks if he can concoct one. O.G. is inspired and then calls T.D. and Helen over.

T.D., Helen and Martha walk along the sidewalk. Martha asks what they're doing as she thinks they should be in the lab making perfume. Helen says that they need to find the ingredients. Martha wonders if perfume has ingredients and Helen says yes, you need to combine several smells to make perfume. Martha scratches and T.D. helps her scratch, while she asks what combine means and wonders if it means mixing together. T.D. says yes but notes that Martha smells bad and that they'd need a strong scent to cover the smell. He offers Helen to smell it but she's not interested. He persists and chases her down the sidewalk. Martha sniffs her fur but she doesn't think it smells bad. She then follows the kids.

At Mariella's garden store, Mariella gives Helen a bunch of flowers for Martha to sniff. Helen asks if Martha likes the smell and she's indifferent but likes the smell of the trash. Helen says that garbage is not perfume. Martha, who is trying to dig through garbage, replies with "Says who?" Helen says that everyone but dogs say. Martha accidentally knocks the trash over onto T.D., which peeves him.

At home, T.D. takes a bath and Martha apologises and says that once his dad makes her perfume, he (T.D.) can use it too. T.D. then imagines himself showing off the perfume to Alice, looking (but not smelling) dirty. He's then eager to find ingredients.

In the forest, the children gather grass and T.D. asks if Martha would like the smell of it. Helen's not sure as Martha usually eats grass rather than smelling it. Martha then says she's found the perfect ingredient, surprising the kids.

Martha shows the kids her "perfect ingredient": mud, which she rolls in. Helen thinks it just makes her smell worse. Martha shakes the mud off onto T.D., who's angry. She sheepishly apologises.

At T.D.'s house, he has another bath. Helen asks Martha if she likes the smell of some fruit. She says it's OK but she likes the smell of a shoe better. T.D. thinks it's hopeless as Martha's idea of a good smell is mud, garbage, sweat and "fish goo".

At the lab, Helen lays out burrs, grass and sticks on the desk. Martha asks if she's concocting. Helen says that she's not; she's separating. Martha asks if separating is splitting them up. Helen says yes and says it's like sorting. Martha asks why Helen is separating the ingredients as she thought that to make perfume you had to combine them. O.G. agrees that you have to combine but that you have to separate and then extract first. Martha says that she loves extracting but doesn't know how, getting a burr stuck on her paw. Helen takes it out saying that to extract means to pull something out of something else like she extracted the burr from Martha's foot. T.D. starts eating Helen's potato chips saying that he "extracted" one from her plate. O.G. steams the grass and says that you extract scents in different ways, using alcohol for wood as it's tough and by steaming the herbs and grass as they're more fragile. He then extracts the scents and bottles them, stating that he'll combine them to make the perfect fragrance but warns them that some scents stink when mixed together. T.D. and Helen make a yellow perfume but T.D. gets some on him and it smells bad so he goes to take a third bath. Helen adds another smell and accidentally spills some on T.D., making him mad and he goes to wash it off. Helen tests the perfume on T.D. but Martha says it smells bad and needs a drop of something. Helen adds a drop and T.D. asks why she doesn't spray it on her own arm. Helen says that his arm already stinks. Martha requests a drop of lavender and two drops of clove. Helen does so and sprays it on T.D.'s leg. Martha thinks it's too much. She takes some clove away and sprays it on T.D.'s arm. Martha says it's not enough. Helen makes another batch and sprays it on T.D. Martha sniffs and T.D. gets a bit dizzy. He decides he's had enough. Martha and Helen don't want to give up but T.D. says that he's covered in perfume and it smells bad. T.D. asks Helen how she can be so determined and if she's crazy. She replies that if she doesn't come up with a perfume and will continue to smell bad and therefore not be able to sleep on her bed anymore. Helen sprays Martha and T.D., which annoys them and makes them sneeze. O.G. says he's found the missing ingredient. He makes the perfume and sprays it on T.D.'s unsprayed leg. Martha sniffs and likes the smell. Helen asks what's in the perfume and O.G. says it's a bacon extract that humans can't smell. T.D. asks if it's strong enough to cover dog stink. Helen says there's only one way to find out and sprays Martha. It works and Martha thanks, O.G. and walks out the door. However, the other neighbourhood dogs chase her, which makes her request a bath as the chasing annoys her.

At the cafe, Martha and Helen are eating yoghurt with T.D. who complains that, while he doesn't stink anymore, the perfume's in his nose and making his yoghurt taste of bacon. Martha thinks bacon-flavoured yoghurt is tasty. T.D. then invites Martha and Helen over to his place to watch Courageous Collie Carlo. Helen goes to retreive Martha's perfume to find the lady from before using it. This shocks Helen and the woman also gets shocked when dogs chase her.

Summary
Always on the lookout for a way to avoid bathing, Martha decides T.D.'s dad O.G. should invent a perfume that will cover up her doggy scent. After a few tries, he concocts the perfect pooch perfume. So why is Martha begging for a bath?

Characters

 * Martha
 * T.D.
 * O.G.
 * Helen
 * Random Woman 1
 * Random Woman 2
 * Worker
 * Mrs. Demson
 * Mariella Lorraine

Vocabulary
combine, concoct, dissolve, separate, extract, spritz, drop, spray, fragrance, perfume, strong