After a terrible vacation, the Smiths survive a plane crash and become trapped on a deserted island with a mysterious lighthouse.
Tropes:
- Abandon Ship: The pilot and other passengers bail out using parachutes. There were enough for the Smiths as well, but the pilot accidentally took them with him when demonstrating how to open his own parachute.
- Brick Joke: Hayley got sick on the vacation after she licked a monkey's finger, because Francine thought it was a promo for salsa. On Morning Mimosa, Suze mentions that the next guest is an advertising monkey and Rene Russo is going to lick its finger.
- Can't You Read the Sign?: A sign warning people to stay away from the island is visible, but the Smiths don't notice it.
- Cargo Cult: The only entertainment on the island is a VHS tape containing a Gold Top Nuts commercial. Having forgotten who they are, the Smiths slowly begin to worship the product. When Stan placed a magnetic rock on top of the TV, thereby erasing the tape, they take it as a sign that it's time to leave.
- Common Knowledge: In-Universe. According to Suze, the history and properties of Magnet Island are well-known throughout the community, but the Smiths did not know about it.
- Crappy Holidays: The episode opens with the Smiths flying back from a horrible vacation in Cancun that Stan booked through a value travel company because he's so cheap.
- Deadly Nosebleed: Stan puts a magnetic rock on his forehead and gets a severe nosebleed.Stan: The pain is a hundred Tiffany's boyfriend!
- Easy Amnesia: Zig-Zagged. The effects of the magnetic ore slowly takes time to erase the Smiths' memories. But once they return to civilization, Stan instantly remembers who he is when prompted by a restaurant hostess.
- Embarrassing Nickname: The Smiths are dubbed the Nuts Family after they return to civilization.Stan: One of our conditions in coming here was that you not use that name!
- Gave Up Too Soon: Having survived a horrific plane crash evidently in the middle of the ocean, the Smiths swim to the lighthouse. However, it turns out the island was just a short distance to the coast, and the rest of the passengers survived by swimming to shore.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Stuck on an island with magnetic rocks, subsisting on pumpkin spice mix, and with their only entertainment being a commercial for Gold Top Nuts, the Smiths forget who they are and begin worshipping the can of cashews.
- Got Me Doing It: Suze tries to goad the Smiths into using some of the slang they developed on the island. Stan eventually gets fed up and says she's acting like a brother-in-law rooting for the other team.
- Identity Amnesia: Due to the strong magnetic rocks on the island, the Smiths slowly lose their memories.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: As they depart the lighthouse, Stan says that they must carefully ration their supplies as they might be at sea for a long time, only for Hayley to instantly spot another lighthouse, which is actually a restaurant on the shores of Langley Falls.
- Island Help Message: Francine and Hayley try to make one on the beach, but only get as far as "H E" before they suffer from amnesia.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Stan tries to invoke this by ordering the family to forget their time on the island. However, they start finding reminders throughout their day, forcing them to confront it.
- Lighthouse Point: The Smiths occupy a lighthouse during their time on the island. Suze of Morning Mimosa casually mentions that the magnetic bedrock caused the previous occupants to go insane and left it abandoned.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Upon deciding they need names, Steve and Stan initially choose the name "Can" while Hayley and Francine choose the name "Lighthouse." Later, Stan goes by "Mom," Hayley picks "Honey," and Francine chooses "Murphy Brown," while Steve continues to go by "Can."
- Mandatory Line: Because the bulk of the episode follows the Smiths' isolation on the island, Klaus and Roger only appear at the very end. Jeff doesn't even appear at all.
- Meaningful Background Event: After watching the Gold Top Nuts commercial for the first time, Steve is rubbing the sides of his temple, indicating that the magnetic rocks are starting to affect him.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed, but the Smiths are instantly embarrassed when they remember who they are and all the crazy things they did on the island.Hayley: "Tiffany's boyfriend." This is so embarrassing.
- Naked on Arrival: The Smiths are fully clothed when they reach the island, but once they forget who they are, they are fully naked as they meet on the beach for what is for them the first time.
- No Sympathy:
- A woman asks the Smiths to stop fighting because they're all scared that the plane will crash and the arguments are making it worse. Steve tells her to shut up and die already.
- The Smiths get subjected to this after they leave the island and regain their memories. Everyone finds it hilarious that they basically built their perception of society off an old commercial for cashews.
- Product Placement: Played for laughs. At the end of the episode, Stan looks right at the camera and tells the audience to buy Gold Top Nuts right now because they are amazing. An announcer then says that this entire episode has been a paid advertisement for Gold Top Nuts.
- Shout-Out:
- Stan is mad at Francine for not buying him a ticket for Downsizing, causing him to sit by himself across the cinema. He thought it was a comedy because Matt Damon was so small, when Francine and another passenger point out that it was a drama.
- Wilson, the bloody handprint volleyball from Cast Away, can be seen in the plane's overhead storage.
- While looking for something to do, Steve complains that there are no books, magazines, or even a 4,300 piece limited edition LEGO London Tower Bridge at the lighthouse.
- The VHS tape contains episodes of Murphy Brown, though the tape is so degraded by the magnetism on the island that the commercial is the only clear part.
- Steve washes up on the island after surviving a plane crash, referencing the opening to BioShock. Later in the episode, Francine speculates that the stars are actually other lighthouses, which was a plot point in BioShock Infinite.
- Skewed Priorities: The Smiths cannot help but argue about past slights even when the plane is flying through a thunderstorm and can potentially crash. Once the plane's engines are knocked out, Stan tells Francine that he's still mad she ate all his Golden Grahams the week they were married.
- Tempting Fate: The plane is struck by lightning multiple times, stopping and restarting the engines until one bolt blows up an engine for good.
- Time-Passes Montage: There is one as the Smiths live on the island, slowly succumbing to amnesia.
- Title-Only Opening: The episode begins with the Smiths flying back from vacation and has the title appear in a dramatic fashion.
- Unusual Euphemism: Because the Gold Top Nuts commercial is the only exposure to culture that the amneisic Smiths have, they begin using phrases from it as complex concepts. "Gold Top" means something good, and "Tiffany's boyfriend" means something bad.Steve: (after Francine burps) Ugh, your rude belch has entered the room like Tiffany's boyfriend.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Hayley is mad at Steve for letting her entire Sims family die in a house fire when he was five, though he does feel bad about it.Steve: They said the saddest nonsense as they burned.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Subverted. A throwaway line mentions that the other people on the plane survived and were rescued.
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