Francine tries to find a way to attend a bowling tournament that's the same day as her cousin's bar mitzvah.
Francine's Split Decision provides examples of:
- All for Nothing: Not only does Muffy end up winning the tournament for them, but Francine misses the best parts of the bar mitzvah and gets exposed by her parents.
- From Bad to Worse: Francine isn't able to put her pants on under her dress. Then they arrive later at the party than she had planned. Then she finds that Arthur had forgotten her bowling shoes, and the only ones at the alley are oversized. Then she misses a roast beef dinner because she told her parents she was sick. Then she finds that Muffy has taken her place and won the tournament for them.
- Hidden Depths: The Brain knows quite a lot about Jewish tradition.
- I Broke a Nail: After successfully getting a spare on a 7-10 split and winning the tournament, Muffy cries out that she broke a nail.
- Irony: As Francine learns the hard way, there's a very good chance she would've had a good time going to her cousin's bar mitzvah and sticking around for the fun stuff than if she had stuck with her plan to sneak out to the bowling tournament in intervals. And to add to the irony, lots of stuff went wrong at the tournament she thought she would enjoy, like not getting bowling shoes in her size and Muffy ended up winning the tournament for them.
- Noodle Incident: Buster tries to recall their recent losses to Mighty Mountain, bringing up the events of "Friday the 13th" and "The Big Blowup." After being reminded that the Lakewood kids in fact won those games, he brings up an unseen jai alai tournament, which they all then wince at the memory of as a complete disaster.
- Pinocchio Nose: Referenced. Oliver notes that he thought one's nose grows when they lie, but points out Francine's oversized bowling shoes.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: It's not to say the ending is entirely a happy one. Francine missed out on all the good stuff at her cousin's bar mitzvah, missed out on too much of the bowling tournament to be of help, accidentally ousted herself to her parents, and was ultimately punished to clean the garbage trucks for a while. But as she points out, one good thing did come out of the experience: now that she knows how fun bar mitzvahs can really be, she'll eventually have a second chance to savor one when her own bat mitzvah happens.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The Brain maps out an intricate plan that would allow Francine to sneak away from the party and partake in the bowling tournament. It falls apart almost immediately.
Muffy goes on a trip to Crown City with Sue Ellen, but it ends up being nothing like she imagined.
Muffy Goes Metropolitan provides examples of:
- All Part of the Show: Muffy began to throw a fit at a poetry club after she sat on chewed up gum. She complained about all the bad things that happened during her stay at Crown City. The poetry club members cheered for Muffy, thinking she made a good speech.
- Bait-and-Switch: Towards the end, when Muffy starts to notice the little wonders about Crown City, she suddenly notes a peculiar smell. Knowing the persnickety rich girl that her friend is, Sue Ellen tiredly guesses that the smell in question is that of city garbage. On the contrary, Muffy remarks that the smell is coming from the fresh pretzels a vendor is selling.
- Desperate Plea for Home: Muffy had quite enough of her visit in Crown City, thinking that things didn't go as she expected. She begins to rant about the things that happened to her. Muffy's rant ends with her wanting to go home.
- Expy: Crown City is one for New York City, which later appears in the show.
- Ironic Echo: Throughout the episode, Muffy loves singing the song about "Crown City [You're dynamite]", if ad nauseum. But after her latest hopes and dreams about Crown City have been dashed, she goes into a spiel about how everything's gone wrong and declares "Crown City, you're not dynamite!!"
- Shout-Out: The teaser parodies the opening to That Girl.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Muffy had it in her mind that Crown City was going to be this glamorous urban utopia of wealth and culture. Although she and Sue Ellen do tour interesting restaurants and sights, it's not the five-star experience she was hoping for. Reconstructed when she sees things about Crown City she didn't expect but enjoys all the same, like subway stations and pretzel vendors.
