On a trip to the flea market, Bob and Linda are haunted by a lie they told the kids about what happened to their beloved stuffed animal, Wheelie Mammoth.
Tropes
- All for Nothing: All the effort Bob and Linda put into deceiving their children fails when the kids catch on. This means Bob is forced to give away 30 free burgers to the vendor for nothing and he and Linda learn the kids would have accepted the truth in the first place anyway.
- Buffy Speak:Louise: Great. I love going to places where things are.
- The Bus Came Back: The Wheelie Mammoth from "The Taking of Funtime One Two Three" returns. There is also an explanation of why it wasn't seen since its premiere episode; Bob and Linda gave it away after the kids got bored with it because it was taking up too much space.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Bob and Linda would have avoided a lot of drama and effort if they had just told the kids the truth about what they did with the Wheelie Mammoth when it happened, instead of scrambling to come up with an elaborate lie to temporarily placate them.
- The Ditz: As usual, Gene shows his ignorance of Bob and Linda's love life, this time by assuming one of them plans to propose marriage to the other.
- Do You Want to Haggle?: Bob tries to buy Wheelie Mammoth for $10 (all the cash he has on hand). The vendor counters with $90. Bob's next offer is the $10 cash and the rest in the free burgers. She comes back asking for 30 free burgers, which Bob tells her is more than the $80 dollar difference. With no other option, except telling his kids the truth, Bob gives in.
- Freudian Excuse: Discussed; Bob points out that Gloria and Al constantly lying to Gayle probably led to her turning out to be, well, Gayle.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Gayle, normally one of the most selfish people around, is absolutely disgusted when she finds out Gloria, Al and Linda had been lying to her all this time about her pet goldfish being immortal. To that end, Gayle angrily refuses to allow Linda and Bob to lie to the kids about the Wheelie Mammoth and exposes the truth.
- Maintain the Lie: Bob and Linda told the kids that the Wheelie Mammoth was donated to a roller rink to help teach orphans how to skate. When they find it for sale at the flea market, they buy it before the kids find it; then, when Louise asks to go see the Mammoth at the roller rink, Linda and Gayle have to drive it to the rink before Bob gets there with the kids and convince the rink manager to play along. The plan actually goes off without a hitch, largely because the rink manager isn't a stranger to making up elaborate lies to his children to make them behave (such as faking an endoscopy picture showing a bubblegum inside someone's stomach to support the urban legend about it being undigestible and staying in the digestive system for years), up until Linda lets it slip that her parents lied to Gayle about her "immortal" goldfish, prompting her to spill the beans.
- Noodle Incident: Linda once got banned from a store by biting someone. Whatever led to that series of events, nobody knows.
- Oh, Crap!: Bob and Linda's faces are priceless when they drive past each other during the latter's attempts to get the Wheelie Mammoth to the roller rink.
- Persona Non Grata: At the end of the episode, Tina mentions how Linda bit somebody at a grocery store once.Tina: We're still not allowed to go to that one.
Linda: Well, I'm not, you are. - Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is a reference to An Inconvenient Truth.
- Pulling the Thread: Louise overhears Linda talk about finding the Wheelie Mammoth and puts her on the spot by asking to go to the roller rink where Linda claims the Mammoth was given to orphans.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The manager of the roller rink is willing to go along with Linda's plan to house the Wheelie Mammoth.
- Replacement Goldfish: A literal example. Al and Gloria kept replacing Gayle's goldfish and never told her. Until Linda told her, Gayle still thought it was immortal and was even sending it birthday cards.
- Shout-Out:
- The Store Next Door is "Gong in 60 Seconds Gongs and Bells No Waiting".
- The Exterminator Van is "Boogie Mites".
- In keeping with the show's theme of naming businesses, the donation charity that Bob and Linda give the Wheelie Mammoth to is named Give it Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now Donations.
- That Liar Lies: When the kids overhear Linda talking about the Wheelie Mammoth:Louise: So they didn't donate Wheelie to the orphans at the roller rink. Our parents are lying liars!
Gene: How do they sleep at night, lying down?
Tina: On their lies? - Thought They Knew Already: Linda casually brings up their parents having lied to Gayle about her pet goldfish being immortal, clearly assuming that her sister would have long realized the obvious truth by this point. This being Gayle, she assumed incorrectly.
- Wearing It All Wrong: Gayle has taken to wearing turtleneck sweaters as pants.
