FalafelosophySue Ellen gets her book signed by Neil Gaiman who encourages her to write her own graphic novel. As she starts, Neil starts appearing as a muse in Sue Ellen's food as she struggles to start and finish her story.
Tropes
- Artistic License: Played for Laughs: Neil Gaiman's book signings tend to be loud, rowdy and exciting, with the lines lasting for hours. Here, the audience is quieter as he reads aloud, and Sue Ellen only has to wait a few minutes to get her copy of Instructions signed.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- In the Cold Open, D.W. gives Arthur half a star for his monologue on how many famous historical figures were initially considered failures. When Arthur tries to shut her up and promise the episode is even better than his opening, she uses a remote to switch to the episode.
- Inner Neil breaks the fourth wall when he appears in Sue Ellen's falafel and shouts "Cue special effects!" when she's understandably confused.
- Evil Brit: Discussed; After Sue Ellen’s friends read her story, Muffy immediately about making it into a movie and thinks about getting a good English actor to play the main antagonist of the story.
- Ice-Cream Koan: Mr. Cantabulus, the man who runs the falafel truck, is full of these. Lampshaded by Binky and Sue Ellen, who don't exactly understand what he's saying, though Sue Ellen uses his philosophy of people being round and pointy as inspiration for her graphic novel.
- Lighter and Softer: Neil Gaiman made his start as the creator of The Sandman and a series of adult fantasy and science fiction novels, which tend to run on the violent side. He reads aloud "Instructions" and gives a free copy of Coraline to Sue Ellen, two of his most child-friendly works.
- A Rare Sentence: "Neil Gaiman? What are you doing in my falafel?!"
- Shout-Out: Some of Neil Gaiman's novels appear in this episode. Sue Ellen is a big fan of them.
- Squee: Sue Ellen has this reaction when Neil asks to read her graphic novel.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Back in Season Two, Arthur couldn't juggle. Now he successfully juggles bean bags.
The Great Lint RushAfter Pal accidentally bets away a lot of socks in the house to the Sock Exchange, he and Amigo must get Mr. Toad to like lint.
Tropes
- The Bus Came Back: D.W.’s pet toad way back in "So Long Spanky" returns as Mr. Toad’s wife. She even mentions her time as D.W.’s pet before leaving her for unknown reasons.
- Sequel Episode: This episode has many similarities to "The Great Sock Mystery" from season 7. Both involve Mr. Toad and the Sock Market.
