The following contains spoilers from iCarly Season 2, Episode 6, “iBuild A Team,” streaming now on Paramount+.
In the iCarly Season 2 episode, “iBuild a Team,” Carly hires her previous producer Paul, played by Drake & Josh‘s Josh Peck, as her manager. This collaboration — directed by Nathan Kress, who plays Freddie — marks a reunion for Miranda Cosgrove and Peck, who starred in Drake & Josh together. In the context of iCarly‘s season, Paul’s presence also gives more fuel to Creddie’s slow-burn fire. All the while, the episode makes callbacks to some of iCarly‘s funniest scenes and episodes. With Peck’s involvement, iCarly continues to prove it’s one of the best in balancing and weaving nostalgia with seasonal narrative arcs.
iCarly is the Paramount+ revival of the Nickelodeon series with the same title that aired from 2007 to 2012. It followed a younger Carly Shay, who balanced being a teenager with the success of her hit web show iCarly. Her older brother, Spencer, and best friends, Sam Puckett and Freddie Benson helped Carly. The revival occurs in the present as Carly, coincidentally, revives her web show after a break-up. Though she still has Spencer, Freddie, and her best friend Harper’s help, Freddie becomes increasingly busier with the Kevin app, limiting his role in iCarly’s production. Thus, Carly reaches out to Paul for assistance.
Before Paul comes back onto Carly’s radar (Paul and Carly worked together in Italy years prior), iCarly sneaks in a quick shout-out to one of the fictional web show’s biggest and most passionate fans — Mandy Valdez. In “iBuild a Team,” Carly takes fan-submitted ideas for the show, but Freddie suggests deleting any videos from Mandy. The only thing that maybe matches Mandy’s iCarly obsession is her love for ducks — as seen in the original series in “iAm Your Biggest Fan” and “iWant My Website Back.” With this mention, the revival confirms that Mandy Valdez remains iCarly’s biggest fan — even 15 years later.
Similarly, “iBuild a Team” confirms Miranda Cosgrove and Josh Peck remain a hilarious duo on the small screen — even 15 years after Drake & Josh ended. It could be a coincidence for Cosgrove and Peck to reunite on screen after the same amount of years that their prior sitcom ended. The reality likely lies in Miranda Cosgrove’s prominence on Nickelodeon at the time since the actress seamlessly transitioned from a supporting character on Drake & Josh to the lead of iCarly in 2007. Cosgrove played Drake’s younger and often cruel sister and Josh’s step-sister Megan Parker on Drake & Josh. There wasn’t a scheme or prank that she didn’t pull.
Carly Shay channels Megan Parker in her attempt to bring Freddie and Paul together after the men repeatedly can’t see eye to eye about iCarly and Carly’s future. Before that plan, Freddie’s feelings keep getting hurt because Carly calls Paul the “best producer,” and Paul knows things about Carly, including her claustrophobia. So, not only is Paul good at Freddie’s professional role in iCarly, Paul can be attentive to Carly in a way that Freddie hasn’t been able to since his attention and time are spent with the Kevin app, his girlfriend Pearl, and his daughter Millicent. It doesn’t need to, but all of this causes Freddie to become defensive.
Carly tricks both men into an escape room instead of caving to Freddie’s ultimatum to choose between them. Megan would pull a similar prank, but she would trap Drake and Josh in an inescapable room as she watched from the outside. Alternatively, Carly joins Freddie and Paul inside the shrinking room to ensure they work as the team she knows they can be. Carly’s reaction to the claustrophobic room calls back to the original series’ space madness and therapy session with Sam and her mother. Most importantly, it proves that while Paul can bring welcome improvements to the web show, Carly knows Freddie’s roles in its production and her life are irreplaceable.
New episodes of iCarly Season 2 are available every Thursday on Paramount+.
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