Quadpendence Day

"Did our forefathers give up on their Independence day? No, they never gave up. They fought for their freedom just like we need to fight for ours. They fought for liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Just like we need to fight for earrings and the pursuit of a snake. So, give me liberty or give me death!"

- Dawn's monologue

 is the eighteenth episode in Season 3 of Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn. It first aired on June 17, 2017 to an audience of 1.50 million viewers.

Synopsis
The Harper Quads declare their independence when Dawn decides to get her ears pierced and the boys get a snake without their parents' permission.

Plot
Dawn and Mae are looking at earrings in one of the shops in the Boulder Galleria. Mae has already gotten her ears pierced but Dawn hasn't had her ears pierced because her mom won't let her. So, Dawn tries out magnetic earrings instead. The earrings fall off. Wally the boy in charge of the shop - makes fun of Dawn for having DELs (dense ear lobes) which are too dense for the earrings to remain attached. After getting home, Dawn begs her parents to get her ears pierced but Anne refuses. Meanwhile, Nicky, Ricky and Dicky try to get a snake but Tom refuses to let them. Dawn gets angry and declares her independence from having to rely on her parents for everything. Her brothers also want to declare their independence from Dawn and from their parents. The boys suggest calling it the "Quadpendence Day" but Dawn asks them for once if they could just not come up with a "cute" name for their operation. She decides to get her ears pierced behind her parents back but she's told that she can't do it without her parents. Her brothers also try to get a snake but they can't get it without parents either. During recital practice, Dawn gets inspired to demand for independence the same way the founders declared their independence. Others at the recital practice are Mae, Natlee, Avery, Brianna, Miles and Dooley. Mae tells them that if they give the operations a cute name like they always do, they might be successful. So, Dawn agrees to call it "Quadpendence Day." Suddenly, the quads get an idea: Dooley. Dooley agrees to help them with the scheme. They arrange for Dooley to get them a snake and an ear piercer for Dawn so that Mae can pierce Dawn's ears without anyone finding out. At the designated time and location, Dooley brings a snake for the boys and an ear piercer for the girls. Mae pierces Dawn's ears which turns out to be more painful than Dawn anticipated. After that both Dawn and her brothers decide to keep the ear piercings and snake a secret from their parents. The next day at Tom's Get Sporty, Dawn shows off her earrings to Natlee, Avery and Brianna. The girls are so impressed that Dawn had the courage to get her ears pierced. They then reveal that none of them has their ears pierced. They were just using clip on and magnetic earrings. They ask Dawn to pierce their ears but Dawn tells them that Mae is the piercer. Mae agrees to pierce them. Meanwhile, the boys are struggling to convince Franco that they have a snake. He doesn't believe they're snake people. They tell Franco to zip it and come over and confirm for himself. When Natlee, Avery and Molly show up for the ear piercing, Franco shows up with a bunch of other guys to see the snake. Unfortunately, the snake slips away from its cage. The quads and Mae whisper among each other about the missing snake. Franco concludes that the boys were lying about having a snake. He and his friends leave. Mae freaks out because of the snake on the loose. Dicky volunteers himself to pierce the girls' ears. What could possibly go wrong? Tom and Anne start feeling guilty for being so strict on their kids. Anne confesses that she only refused to let Dawn get her ears pierced because she herself hasn't pierced her ears. She was just afraid. Tom confesses that he refused to let the boys keep a snake as a pet because he's afraid of snakes. So, they agree to do the right thing. Tom gets the boys a snake. Anne takes Dawn back to the Boulder Galleria to get her ears pierced, without knowing that Dawn has already done it. So, Dawn struggles to look for ways to prevent her mother from ever finding out she got it done already. She asks Anne to go first but Anne is scared. Anne finally gets the courage but her dense ear lobes break Wally's ear piercer. So, Wally goes for the "Big Jimmy" ear piercer. This scares Anne away. She and Dawn run away from the shop. Dawn thinks she's gotten away with it. After successfully keeping secrets from their parents, things start to take a turn for the worse when Dawn's ears swell from infections due to the unsanitary piercing. Avery, Brianna and Natlee's ears suffer from the infections as well. The swelling is so bad that they can hardly hear one another during the recital. Anne, who is in the audience, figures out that something is wrong. She confronts Dawn about it, forcing her to tell the truth. Back at home, Anne explains to Dawn how dangerous it was for her to get her ears pierced in such unsanitary conditions. During the chaos, Tom discovers that the boys have two snakes even though he got them only one snake. After the horrible outcome, the quads agree that they need their parents and that Quadpendence Day was probably a terrible idea.

Main Cast

 * Lizzy Greene as Dawn Harper
 * Casey Simpson as Ricky Harper
 * Mace Coronel as Dicky Harper
 * Aidan Gallagher as Nicky Harper
 * Allison Munn as Anne Harper
 * Brian Stepanek as Tom Harper
 * Kyla Drew Simmons as Mae Valentine

Recurring Cast

 * Siena Agudong as Natlee
 * Hayden Crawford as Dooley
 * Theodore John Barnes as Miles
 * Isabella Revel as Avery

Guest Cast

 * Amahri Richard as Xander
 * Molly Jackson as  Brianna
 * Gage Petrone as Franco
 * Lori Alan as Mrs. Bing

Special Guest Cast

 * Buddy Handleson as Wally

Continuity

 * Dawn started playing the tuba in "Do-It-All Dawn."

Trivia

 * Dawn gets her ears pierced in this episode.
 * Goof: Anne should have taken Dawn to the emergency room since she got an infection from her pierced ears.
 * This was an Independence Day themed episode, although it did not air on July 4th.
 * Former star from Wendell and Vinnie and Bella and the Bulldogs, Buddy Handleson, guest starred in this episode.
 * Dicky is revealed to be ticklish.
 * Dawn got her ears pierced even though her parents said no, and Nicky, Ricky and Dicky got a snake without their parents permission.
 * This is the second time Dawn plays the tuba.
 * It turns out Mae plays the saxophone.