The Tell-Tale Art

"First Ricky can't paint and somehow he creates the most amazing painting... and now he's talking about sports with Dicky! Those two know nothing about sports! I'm gonna get to the bottom of this!"

- Dawn

The Tell-Tale Art is the twenty-sixth episode in Season 2 of Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn and the forty-fifth overall. It first aired on August 6, 2016 to 1.31 million viewers.

Summary
Dawn grows suspicious of her brothers when Ricky takes credit for artwork that Dicky painted and Dicky uses Ricky's ideas for his own gain.

Full Plot
The Harper Quads sign up for an art class at their school. Ricky is not happy when he realizes that there are no grades or test papers in the art class. He also turns out to be very bad at art compared to Dawn and Dicky. Dawn makes fun of him for finally being in a class where they can beat him. Their art teacher, Mrs. Gressle gives them an assignment where the best art project would be displayed in the school hallway. Dawn is confident that she will win but Ricky is nervous.

Later that night, Ricky asks Dicky how come he is so good at painting. He asks him for his thought process but realizes that Dicky doesn't really think at all. It just comes to him naturally. Dicky tells Ricky that he can take his painting and pass it as his own if he wants. At first, Ricky doesn't want to do it because he knows it's cheating. But when Dawn comes in bragging with her beautiful painting, Ricky caves in and takes Dicky's painting.

The next day at school, Dawn is shocked when Mrs. Gressle chooses Ricky's painting instead of hers. She suspects that Ricky is up to something. When Dicky notices that Molly likes the painting, he tries to tell her and other girls that he is the one who painted it; but they don't take him seriously. To thank Dicky for letting him use his painting, Ricky offers to help Dicky come up with great ideas so that girls can start taking him seriously.

With Ricky's help, Dicky joins the student committee in charge of planning the upcoming art exhibition. Dawn is in charge of the committee while other members of the committee include Mae, Lilly, Mack, Natlee and Molly. They are trying to come up with the best theme. Mae reads the last meetings minute and how it got adjourned abruptly before accomplishing anything when Natlee's chair "squeaked." Natlee gives them a lot of ideas but Dawn and Mae shut them all down for one reason or another. Then Dicky shocks everyone when he comes up with a perfect theme for the event and he even suggests a photo booth. They agree to go with Dicky's idea. When Dicky's chair squeaks, everyone else runs out; leaving Dicky and Dawn alone in the room in awkward silence. Dawn becomes suspicious of how Dicky came up with all those great ideas.

Later at home, Nicky is making his food art for the third day in a row. Whenever he submits his art to Mrs. Gressle, it disappears mysteriously. Mrs. Gressle has been blaming the disappearance on rats or the janitor. Dawn walks over to Nicky and starts venting about Ricky and Dicky. She starts eating Nicky's food art while talking. She tells Nicky that Dicky and Ricky are definitely up to something. First, Ricky is all good at painting all of a sudden; then Dicky is coming up with great ideas all of a sudden. They must be up to something. And she will get to the bottom of this, she says this as she gets to the bottom of the bowl with Nicky's food art. This helps Nicky realize that his art keeps disappearing because it's food. Someone must be eating it. So, he puts purple food coloring to catch the whoever has been eating it.

During the art exhibition, the next day, Dawn decides to expose Ricky as a fraud by convincing Mrs. Gressle to ask Ricky to paint another painting in front of everyone. Ricky becomes nervous and starts sweating. He is unable to paint anything but a stick figure. He admits that he cheated and was using Dicky's painting as his own. Mrs. Gressle is disappointed. Dawn learns about Dicky and Ricky's arrangement and she's glad to realize that her painting was still the best.

Meanwhile, while looking for his food art, Nicky notices that Mrs. Gressle has purple on her mouth. He busts her for stealing and eating his art. Mrs. Gressle admits that she's been eating Nicky's art because it's just so delicious.

After making up with Dicky and Ricky, Dawn suggests that the quads should take photos together at the photo booth. It is fun at first, but then they start fighting over whose idea it was. Dawn is the one who suggested taking the photo... but Dicky is the one who gave the committee the idea of a photo booth... but Ricky is the one who gave Dicky the idea. So, as a result of their squabbles, the quads end up taking horrible group pictures at the photo booth.

Main Cast

 * Aidan Gallagher as Nicky Harper
 * Casey Simpson as Ricky Harper
 * Mace Coronel as Dicky Harper
 * Lizzy Greene as Dawn Harper
 * Allison Munn as Anne Harper

Recurring Cast

 * Kyla Drew Simmons as Mae Valentine
 * Siena Agudong as Natlee
 * Lydia Boland as Molly
 * Lincoln Melcher as Mack
 * Mackenzie Ziegler as Lilly

Guest Cast

 * Mary Birdsong as Mrs. Gressle

Continuity

 * Mae being great at making bracelets was first shown in Take the Money and Run.

Trivia

 * This episode was the final episode of Season 2.
 * This was the third and final episode, where Tom is absent.
 * Ricky did technically cheat.
 * This was the first episode to originally air in August.
 * The title is a reference to Edgar Allen Poe's Tell-Tale Heart.
 * This episode aired one year before the Season 3 episode, The Wonderful Wizard of Quads. Coincidentally, they are both the season finales.
 * This episode revealed that Dicky is a good painter.
 * This is one of the rare times Dicky had his hair in a ponytail/Dicky was dressed in a suit/dress up shirt/tie/dress slacks etc.

Quotes
"Pretty tricky, Ricky. Pretty pretty tricky."

- Dawn

"Dawn: What if I told you I was the idea man? Natlee: Can't you just be happy being tall?"

- Dawn and Natlee

"So, just to clarify, both of my brothers lied and I was right. And that's not bragging. It's just talking."

- Dawn bragging