Squashed!
"Squashed!" contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Vasquez wields a machete, just like another character played by Danny Trejo.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Bill and Tilly fight a horde of pumpkin aliens back-to-back with each other using farming tools.
- Brick Joke: When Remy first gets attacked by one of the pumpkins, he asks why this is happening to him because he’s “supposed to be an apex predator” since he’s dressed as a dinosaur. Later when he teams up with Vasquez to fight the monsters, he’s hitting them with a fake bone and exclaims, “I am an apex predator!”
- The Bus Came Back: This is Gwendolyn Zapp's first appearance since "Green Mirror".
- Call-Back: Gloria and the Greens bring up the events of "Blood Moon", which happened to occur the year before.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: Gwendolyn does not reappear until the end of the episode, having heard of the zombie pumpkin outbreak only to realize it's over with.
- Chekhov's Gun: The silly string that Cricket threatens to spray Bill with at the beginning of the episode is what he uses to attack the biggest pumpkin alien.
- Chew Bubblegum:Cricket: All right, aliens! I came here to do two things: play tricks and smash pumpkins, and I'm all out of tricks.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Greens don't go trick-or-treating in this episode, instead they have a party; this is likely because Cricket made a promise to Bill he would never go trick-or-treating without him, and he stays home for the entire episode.
- We finally get to see Gwendolyn's Mars home.
- Covered in Gunge: When Tilly lets the lawn mower run over the giant pumpkin monster, she and Cricket get sprayed by its guts.Cricket: My mouth was very much open.
- Daddy's Girl: Tilly idolizes her father so much that she even dresses as him for Halloween.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Tilly.
- Disappointed in You: Bill says this to Tilly word-per-word when she reveals she used the alien compound behind his back.
- Dramatic Thunder: Thunder crashes and lightning strikes when Tilly approaches Bill’s pumpkins, ready to use Zapp’s compound on them.
- Dual Wielding: Vasquez isn’t worried about taking out the rest of the pumpkin monsters because he’s dual-wielding...Cricket and Remy, who are each latched on to one of his arms.
- Extra Eyes: The giant pumpkin monster has these along with Glowing Eyes.
- False Teeth Tomfoolery: While the family is getting their Halloween decorations ready, Cricket finds a pair of vampire teeth that he excitedly puts in his mouth. They end up apparently being Gramma Alice’s dentures.Gramma: Those are my dinner dentures! I keep them extra sharp for when we eat red meat!
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!:Cricket: Oh gosh dang, it’s a whole pumpkin army!
- Halloween Episode: The first one since "Blood Moon".
- Happy Dance: Bill does one with Tilly when he sees that his pumpkins have had a “sudden growth spurt.”
- Hive Mind: The giant alien pumpkin. If you destroy that one, the rest of them die, which is what Tilly did at the end of the episode.
- Impossible Shadow Puppets: Nancy is apparently super good at doing shadow puppets.
- It's All My Fault: Tilly is beating herself up over causing the pumpkin monster invasion, and Cricket immediately agrees with her.Tilly: All our friends and family have been consumed by pumpkin aliens because of me! This is all my fault!Cricket: Aw, Tilly...I completely agree.
- "Kiss the Cook" Apron: Bill’s so excited to carve pumpkins that he goes to find his “Papa Pumpkin” apron especially for the occasion.
- Mama Bear: The kids are about to be attacked by a pumpkin monster, but Nancy jumps in front of them and sacrifices herself to save them.
- Meanwhile Scene: After Bill says that “nothing extraordinary” is going to happen this Halloween, there’s a cut to Zapp running from a monster on Mars.
- Mind-Control Eyes: Anyone who gets possessed by an alien pumpkin will have their eyes glow an eerie violet.
- Musical Pastiche: Bill has a little dancing Frankenstein toy that plays one of the classic Hallloween song, “Monster Mash.”
- Noodle Incident: Vasquez freaks out when Remy offers him a meatball made up like an eyeball.Vasquez: After Valverde, I swore I would never eat another eyeball.
- People Jars: Zapp has these in her lab but instead of people, giant vegetables are floating inside.
- Plot Hole: This episode appears to take place the year after "Blood Moon" based on Gloria's dialogue, but Big Coffee was replaced with the Greens' new café which wasn't constructed until two years after "Green Christmas" (where Big Coffee was open) and "Big Resolution" (where the café was vacant). Gloria also says she "closed the café early" but does not discern which one by name. Therefor, this episode should've been the first to take place before "Chipwrecked", but the Greens' café was in place of Big Coffee for some reason.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Just before destroying the giant pumpkin, Tilly utters a low but heroic "Boo."
- Punny Name: Cricket pretends to be a jester named "Trickor", which as he puts, is a pun on "trick or treat".
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Bill’s reaction when Tilly suggests that she should drive since she’s technically Bill.
- Shout-Out:
- Nancy dresses like Freddy Krueger, minus the claws.
- One of the kids at the party is dressed like Speed Racer.
- When Alice sees how small the pumpkins are, she asks "What, are we carving jack-o-lanterns for ants?"
- Wheezie dresses like Lt. Commander La Forge.
- Special Edition Title: Much like in "Blood Moon", the theme is done in a minor key, but this time, the main instrument is a synth instead of whistling and there are more Halloween-themed images.
- Squirting Flower Gag: Cricket tries to prank one of the party guests with this but ends up spraying himself instead.
- Tempting Fate: After Bill reassures Gloria that this year's Halloween will be normal, the action moves to Gwendolyn' base on Mars, where she's dealing with the aliens that will later attack the Greens.
- Villainous Harlequin: Cricket’s Halloween costume is an evil jester named “Trickor.”
- Whoopee Cushion: One of the biggest pumpkin monsters approaches the kids while they’re hiding under the kitchen table and Cricket chooses that time to pull one of his Trickor pranks and throws a whoopee cushion at it.
- Word, Schmord!: Gwendolyn says "Risky, shmisky!" when talking in defense of Bill's fear over the compound.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: To let the giant pumpkin's guard down while Tilly prepares to destroy it, Cricket pretends to be fatally wounded while covered in fake blood.
- Xenomorph Xerox: The head mutated pumpkin shares some characteristics with the Alien Xenomorphs, including Nested Mouths and laying eggs similar to those of the Xenomorph queen.
