"Josie, you want to explain why there are a bunch of kids, and a marijuana bus, and a man in his underwear here in the middle of the night?"
— Eddie Wetty
Bob finally saves up to get a long-overdue engagement ring as an anniversary gift for Linda, but the kids get their hands on it and it ends up stuck on Gene's finger... and then gets lost at the local water park. While Linda helps Gayle with a minor medical emergency, Bob and the kids team up with an old friend to scour the park after hours.
Tropes (But Not Scary):
- Almost Famous Name: Nat's full name is revealed to be "Nat Kinkle", which Bob hears as Nat King Cole when it's said out loud. Nat has to spell it aloud to clear up the confusion.
- Bait-and-Switch:Louise: Drive anyone interesting lately?Nat: You know a guy by the name of Tom Cruise?Louise: Yeah.Nat: Well, I drove a guy who had never heard of him to the airport this morning.
- Bittersweet Ending: Despite his efforts, Bob and the kids fail to find the ring, meaning Bob wasted a lot of money for nothing. However, Linda reassures Bob that she still loves him no matter what and the owner of the water park opens early so that they can celebrate their anniversary.
- Blunt "No": When Bob sarcastically asks the kids if they'd like to explain what happened to the ring, both Gene and Tina respond in one of these.
- Brick Joke: Bob mistakes Nat's full name as Nat King Cole when he hears it out loud. During the credits, Nat sings a parody of King Cole's "Mona Lisa" song as an anniversary gift for Bob and Linda.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Discussed. Gene apparently thought his parents were siblings. This is even though he's met the living members of both sets of his grandparents.
- The Bus Came Back: Nat the limo driver from "V for Valentine-detta" returns.
- Continuity Nod:
- The kids visit Wetty Set Go, the water park from "The Silence of the Louise".
- When Nat meets the kids at the water park, she doesn't know Gene's name, because she didn't meet either him or Bob in "V for Valentine-detta". Likewise, Gene doesn't know Nat's name for the same reason.
- Linda finds out where Bob and the kids are because she read Tina's diary. The family reading her diary is mentioned in "Sheesh, Cab, Bob?", and it's also how Linda and Bob found out that their kids snuck out to the taffy factory in "The Belchies".
- In the lyrics to Mona Linda, Nat checks off Linda's love of showers, mornings and bologna.
- Despair Event Horizon: Bob crosses it when he believes the ring is lost for good.Bob: I'm just gonna go underwater, like people do in the movies when they're sad.(Bob sinks into the lazy river; the kids each grab onto him)Tina: No, Dad, don't go underwater. You live on land. You're a land dad.
- Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn: Linda intentionally sunbathes without any sunscreen because she wants tanned skin. She spends the rest of the episode with sunburned-red skin.Bob: That burn looks pretty painful, Lin.
Linda: Oh, it is. It's awful. But once this settles into a tan, I'm gonna look like a leather couch. But a young one. A hot, young, leather couch. - Emerging from the Shadows: When the kids are trying to sneak out, the stair lights are suddenly turned on by an angry Bob waiting for them in front of the door with the empty ring box.
- Failed a Spot Check: Between leaving the apartment and Gene losing the ring at the water park, Linda somehow doesn't notice said ring once. While it makes sense that the kids would try to hide Gene's hand from her, it's unlikely they wouldn't have slipped up even a tiny bit.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: During the montage at the water park, when Gene is seen asleep floating down the lazy river, his right hand (where the ring got stuck) is hidden from view. Cue the reveal that the ring got lost.
- Foreshadowing: For this episode only, a bird's nest can be seen on top of the restaurant's sign during the opening. Guess where the ring ultimately ends up?
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: As the kids are sneaking down the stairs, you can briefly see the outline of Bob waiting for them in front of the door before he turns the lights on.
- Fridge Logic: In-universe; both Teddy and Eddie Wetty question why Bob is giving Linda an engagement ring after they got married. Bob has to clarify that he couldn't afford one when he proposed and is making up for it.
- Given Name Reveal: This episode reveals Nat's full name to be Nat Kinkle.
- Going Commando: The fact that Linda keeps her shirt on in the lazy river at the end (after taking off her pants) implies she's not wearing a bra.
- Grounded Forever: Bob threatens to have the kids grounded "for the rest of your lives" for losing the ring he got for Linda.Bob: And none of you are allowed to talk to me, tonight or maybe ever again, and you're not my children anymore, and you're not allowed to come to my funeral.
- Hope Spot: Nat's team think they've found the ring in a drain, but after she fishes it out, it turns out to be a keychain that says "Oh-la-la".
- I Have No Son!: Bob is absolutely enraged when he discovers the kids lost the ring, to the point he even says he has no children anymore and they're not allowed to come to his funeral. The fact that Bob is going this far causes the kids to take the situation a lot more seriously than they were before.
- Insane Troll Logic:
- Linda thinks letting herself be horribly sunburned is worth the wait for it to supposedly fade into a tan.
- When Linda and Gayle find the apartment empty, Gayle's first thought isn't that Bob and the kids are off somewhere, but rather that Linda was lying about them ever existing in the first place.
- Jerkass Ball: Although correct in his anger over his kids losing the ring, Bob still grabs it for going on to resent them over it. To be fair, though, he's quite clearly just freaking out in the heat of the moment, and he gradually cools off over the course of the episode.
- Lost Wedding Ring: Well, lost engagement ring. The kids find it before Bob can give it to Linda, but it gets stuck on Gene's finger and comes off while they're at the water park.
- Manchild: Gayle acts like a five-year-old having a temper tantrum every time Linda tries to administer the eye drops, to the point Linda ultimately decides to resort to having Bob and the kids pile on top of Gayle to make her stop squirming.
- Missed Him by That Much: In regards to the ring. The end of the episode reveals that a bird took it back to its nest, which is located on the sign of Bob's Burgers. In other words, if the Belchers looked out their living room window and up a little, they would find the ring.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The kids feel like garbage when they see how angry Bob is over what they did, and for once Louise doesn't even try to pull Never My Fault as she tends to when she gets in trouble. They feel even worse when they see that Bob isn't just angry, he outright feels like he's hit rock bottom.Louise: Do you want us to go live somewhere else? We could go to an orphanage for a while.
- Namesake Gag: The "Wetty" in Wetty Set Go isn't just a Punny Name for a water park, it's the actual name of the owner, Eddie Wetty.
- Nervous Wreck: Discussed when a horrified Linda discovers Gayle has no wine, beer, or alcohol of any kind in her apartment. Linda asks how Gayle relaxes, to which Gayle reminds her that she doesn't.
- Nice Girl: Nat goes through a lot of trouble to help find Linda's anniversary gift, simply because she likes Linda and she likes the kids. She also quickly takes a liking to Bob, despite just meeting him for the first time this episode.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Teddy is strangely insistent about getting a booger hanging out of Bob's nose, and seems confused about why Bob shoves him away.
- Noodle Incident:
- One time Nat somehow ended up in the ocean after falling asleep in the lazy river.
- Nat once lived in a lake. Not near it; in it.
- Teddy claims to have gotten pink eye on his foot.
- Oh, Crap!: The kids go through a lot of them in the first half of the episode.
- Instance 1: The kids realize the ring is stuck on Gene's finger.
- Instance 2: The kids realize the ring is no longer stuck on Gene's finger.
- Instance 3: The kids realize the ring they lost was Bob's anniversary present for Linda.
- Instance 4: The kids realize Bob knows the ring is gone as well as their involvement in it.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Despite normally being an upstanding parent towards his kids, Bob practically disowns them when he learns about what they did, proving he's that angry at them.
- Louise doesn't try to divert blame from herself for her role in the ring fiasco, showing that she knows how badly she screwed up.
- Open Secret: The kids know about Bob's secret hiding place under the bed, as does Teddy for some reason.
- Prefers Proper Names: Nat calls Bob "Robert", and she's to date the only character who does it more than once.
- Putting the Pee in Pool: Gene talks about peeing in the lazy river. Later, when they're looking for the ring, Tina discovers that the water is warm and realizes why...
- Rage Breaking Point: Bob's put up with a lot from his family, but the kids losing the ring makes him angrier than he's ever been and they know they screwed up big time.Bob: WHERE'S. THE RING?!
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Eddie Wetty, the owner of the water park, isn't pleased when he learns one of his employees let Nat, Bob, his kids, and a SCUBA/cannabis club in his park after hours. However, after hearing the whole story, he decides to immediately open up the water park for the Belchers and the friends that came out to help them try to find the ring so they can celebrate their anniversary.
- The Reveal: In the end, we are shown the fate of the ring; after getting swept up, it was taken by a bird, who gave it to its mate, nesting right on top of the sign for Bob's Burgers.
- Rhyming Names: Eddie Wetty.
- Sanity Ball: Tina has her turn at this for bringing up a few good points throughout the episode, all of which get ignored. Regarding the ring, she tries persuading Louise to leave the box the ring was in alone entirely, and when the ring gets stuck on Gene's finger later on, she recommends telling an adult to help them out, both of which could've spared everyone a lot of trouble. She also points out that going into a water stream after a pink-eye infected could get them all afflicted too, but quickly shrugs the notion off.
- Sarcasm Mode: When Bob catches the kids sneaking out to finding the ring:Bob: Oh, okay. You guys just go out into the night with a total stranger and I'll stay here.
Louise: Great.
Bob: I'm joking. I'm coming with you! - "Shaggy Dog" Story: Invoked by Linda at the end of the episode when she tells Bob that he did not have to get her a ring as his and her love for each other is all the gift she needs.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is one to the horror novel/film The Ring.
- Teddy compares Bob getting Linda an engagement ring after the wedding to a "Benjamin Button marriage".
- "Look out, Nemo— there's a new lost thing in water."
- Silent Treatment: Bob refuses to speak to his kids on the way to the water park because he's too pissed off about them losing the ring to talk to them.
- Stalker without a Crush: Teddy knows a lot about Bob, including where he hides presents for his family.Bob: Oh, wait, wait, wait. You have my anniversary on your phone?Teddy: Of course I do. Got your size, food allergies, birthstone...Bob: Uh, that's f-fine, I guess.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Tina suggests finding an adult for help removing the ring from Gene's finger—not even Linda, but just an adult, which would preserve the surprise. Louise dismisses this idea, and nothing is done about it, leading to Gene losing the ring.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: When Linda tries to get a tan, what actually happens is exactly what you'd expect from sunbathing the entire day without any protection—a very noticeable, very painful sunburn.
- Symbolic Serene Submersion: Bob deliberately invokes it when he crosses his Despair Event Horizon.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Literally; Gayle takes the eye drops from Linda and tries to apply them on her, even getting some in her mouth. Linda complains that the stuff "tastes like spoons".
