"I'm stuck!" *triumphant noise*
"Are you in the wall, or are you in my horse poster?"
—Tina
Bob pretends to be stuck inside the walls of their house so he doesn't have to deal with Linda's parents in their house. Meanwhile, Tina, Gene and Louise get in trouble in school, prompting guidance counselor Phillip Frond to conduct an investigation of their home life.
Trope Space:
- Aborted Arc: After this episode, Louise rarely ever comes up with her own "Burger of the Day" names, since the writers found out coming up with regular "Burger of the Day" names was hard enough.
- Actually Pretty Funny: After calling Linda Nag-atha Christie to mock her for nagging, Bob fires off a whole slew of nag-puns at the end. Linda is unamused until he gets to "Secretary of Nag-riculture", where she admits that one is pretty funny. And adds that she's not a nag.
- Ax-Crazy: In Bob's hallucinations, Kuchi Kopi immediately suggests killing his mother-in-law for bringing "An outside protein" (tuna) to the restaurant. Rather than agree, Bob muses he turned mean pretty quickly.
- The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House: Played with, by Bob.Bob: The scream... it's coming from inside the wall!
- Characterization Marches On:
- In contrast to her borderline-abusive depiction later on, Gloria is much nicer (if still annoying) to the Belchers and even defends Bob and Linda from Mr. Frond when he tries to call Social Services on them.
- Mr. Frond is less of a Jerkass, more misguided than egotistical/malicious, and seems genuinely concerned about the Belcher kids after Louise tricks him into believing Bob is dead to the point of eventually calling CPS. His different relationship with the Belchers is Justified in that this is apparently the first time he's actually met the parents, and his rivalry with the kids wasn't fully established yet.
- Bob himself would probably never do anything so impulsive and rash as pretend to be trapped in a crawlspace just to get out of spending time with his in-laws in future episodes.
- Companion Cube: Bob gets really attached to Louise's Kuchi Kopi nightlight.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Bob pretended to be stuck in the wall, but he never verified whether or not he could actually get out for when his ruse ended. As it turns out, he really is stuck.
- Similarly, Frond, who got the kids out of the school without permission or their parents' approval, which amounts to essentially a kidnapping, something even lampshaded by Gloria to get him to back off from calling Social Services.
- The Ditz:
- The girls Louise bring over for a fake seance seem incapable of understanding the "Ghost" they're talking to is Louise's dad despite being told at least three times who he is, to the point Bob screws with them by saying he wants to eat their souls for being so annoying.
- Mr. Frond takes everything Louise tells him at face value and never even bothered to double check with or call Linda to inform her Louise is having problems because of her dad's supposed death.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Coupling with Gloria's more sympathetic characterization, Bob is shown to be the only one who actually hates Gloria and Al, and it's shown to be more of an irrational hatred. Compare this to later in the series, where Bob's hatred is more than justified, the Belcher kids aren't too fond of them either (especially compared to their paternal grandfather, who they adore), and only Linda is shown to actually like them.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even after spending three days in the crawl space and going a little loopy, Bob finds Kuchi Koopi's suggestion that he murder Linda, his mother-in-law and Mr Frond (for being a vegetarian) to be an extreme overreaction to the situation.
- Freudian Excuse: Tina says that her fetishes for zombies started when Bob left her alone with the movie Night of the Living Dead playing on TV, and her fears and budding teenage desire are getting mixed up.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Bob pretends to get stuck in the crawl space to avoid having to interact with his in-laws. This causes so much chaos that they eventually decide to prolong their visit in order to help out. And on top of that, he ends up actually getting stuck in the crawl space.
- Inside a Wall: The main premise of the episode involves Bob getting trapped here.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Bob mentions Linda is looking more and more like her mother. Something that made annoys Linda who denies it.
- Mama Bear: When Frond tries to call Social Services on the Belchers, Gloria immediately defends her daughter and son-in-law, saying they're great parents and that sometimes just drive each other a little crazy. She also points out that Frond doesn't really look good in this situation (since he took the Belcher kids out of school without telling the principal or the parents), either, which got him to back off.
- Miss Conception: Of a sort; Louise thinks that Gloria and Al (both in their seventies/eighties) can still conceive a baby, completely ignorant about menopause or the many health risks that could arise even if Gloria could have a baby.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Tina, who states that she has erotic dreams involving zombies. We get to see one such dream later on.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently the fire department encounter people who, like Bob, get stuck in crawlspaces, go a bit loopy and end up refusing to come out all the time.
- Not So Above It All: Bob indulges in Louise's shenanigans twice. The first time is when he encourages Louise to do her most obnoxious impression of Gloria and whispers to her that they hate Gloria. The second time is when he pretends to be a ghost like Louise claims he is, even scaring Louise's cohorts when they somehow can't tell who he is (despite Louise regularly calling him her father).
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Bob can't stand Linda's parents.
- Oh, Crap!: Bob, twice. First when he overhears Linda's parents planning to stay longer, and then when he realizes he's really stuck in the wall.
- They Just Dont Get It: Louise throws a fake seance with her friends for her dad and Bob plays along. Her friends keep asking him who he is despite repeatedly telling them he’s suppose to be the ghost of Louise’s dad. Eventually Bob get sick of these and scares them off.
- Sanity Slippage: Bob begins going insane while left alone in the wall after having a fight with Linda, to the point of talking with Louise's Kuchi Kopi nightlight and believing that there's a secret speakeasy in the walls.
- Second Episode Introduction: Teddy, Mr. Frond, and Linda's parents (Gloria and Al) all debut in this episode. Teddy's case is especially notable given his eventual promotion to main cast.
- Shout-Out:
- Linda says that the family sheds hair like a bunch of Chewbaccas.
- Several to The Shining, including the now-iconic bar and "Here's Johnny" scenes.
- Gene makes a reference to the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, though he thinks it's written by Salman Rushdie and not C. S. Lewis.
- Tina says that her fetish for zombies comes from when she watched the 1968 Night of the Living Dead.
- Louise's friends refer to the movies Ghost and Ghost Dad when talking to Bob.
- When Gloria goes into the wall to get Bob out, a horrified Bob goes "That throat clearing sound! "It's coming from inside the walls!"
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Tina, downplayed. She states that her father would be proud of her if she slept on the ceiling.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Linda was furious when she learned Bob pretended at first of being stuck between the walls just to avoid her visiting parents.
