"String it on, motherpuppeteer."
"Pinocchio-no you don't!"
—Esther
Louise clashes with the cranky old owner of a dismal marionette theater. Meanwhile Bob fills in for a floundering flyer hander-outer.
If You Trope It So Much, Why Don't You Marionette?
- Can't You Read the Sign?: Louise argues that if Esther didn’t want her looking in the puppet closet, there should be a sign to keep people out. Esther closes the door to reveal a “DO NOT ENTER” sign on the outside.
- Crashing Dreams: Louise's playtime is interrupted by Tina's head sticking out of the river next to Kuchi Kopi. It then cuts back to reality where Tina is calling Louise to breakfast.
- A Day in the Limelight: Ron gets a rare appearance separate from Hugo, as a performer at the marionette theater.
- Field Trip: The main plot is the kids going to a marionette theater, where Louise locks horns with the cranky owner.
- Foreshadowing: The episode opens on Louise playing with her toys, showing her active imagination before she unleashes it on the marionette theater.
- Growing Up Sucks: Louise wrestles a bit with this when she realizes Esther (the puppet theater owner/manager) used to put on incredibly creative shows and make more intricate puppets like the dragon Louise finds in storage. She wonders if growing up means losing your creativity and sense of enjoyment for things, and when she confronts Esther in a puppet battle Esther admits that she let herself grow old and cynical. This is defied in the end when Esther and Louise come to the conclusion it does happen, but it doesn't need to be like that.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: Everyone except Mr. Frond is bored to death by the marionette theater.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After Jimmy Pesto makes fun of Bob for handing out fliers, Bob convinces the boss in charge of the fliers to have the guy hand them out in front of Jimmy Pesto's Pizzeria instead.
- Mad Libs Dialogue: The scripts Esther gives the kids ultimately have most of the dialogue filled out, with only a few blanks here and there.Jimmy Jr.: It's like Mad Libs.
Zeke: More like Sad Libs. - Malicious Misnaming: Esther keeps calling Louise “Losey.”
- Museum of Boredom: A visit to a marionette theater could be fun, if only the players weren't doing an insipid play on stamps using generic puppets. Having the kids then make their own marionettes and do their own play also had potential, but it's wasted when they are given only eye stickers to put on the marionettes and a generic "fill-in-the-blanks" script to act out.
- Nose Nuggets: While instructing Bob on how to hand out fliers, Linda mentions that she likes to sit in bed and flick her boogers at the radiator.
- Only One Finds It Fun: While Louise is the only one to actually do something about it, everyone on the trip is bored by the puppet show—all except Mr. Frond.
- Out of Focus: Gene and Tina have very little to do in the episode once the students arrive at the theater.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Louise lays into Esther for never changing the format of her field trip shows, yelling that no one on the field trip wants to be there because the puppet theater is a soul-sucking crapshow.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: When Louise chews out Esther, she asks, "What kind of place does the same show for 30 years?!" As it turns out, however, quite a lot of places do.Tina: Maybe The Phantom of the Opera? Sorry.Jimmy Jr.: Also Les Mis ran forever.Zeke: Don't forget Cats!
- Same Plot Sequel: Louise sneaking off in the middle of a boring field trip only to discover a closed-off but genuinely exciting part of the trip with the help of a cooperative adult was done in "Carpe Museum". Additionally, the theme of the episode being her fear of becoming a different person when she gets older (specifically after meeting a performer who changed for the worse with age) was done in "Hawk & Chick", down to playing similar music during the climactic scene. The difference comes from how the episode explores these concepts—the two prior episodes use them to explore the character dynamics, specifically Louise's bond with Bob; however, this episode primarily uses them to explore Louise's penchant for imagination (largely foregoing the dynamics because Dot and Esther are both one-off characters).
- Shout-Out:
- The Store Next Door is the "The Lids Are All Tight".
- The Exterminator Van is "Dead'er Done".
- Upon seeing how boring the puppet show is, Louise says "Lord, make me a bird so I can fly far away".
- The rave Bob has to hand out flyers for is called Supercalia-Rave-a-Glowstick.
- The Burger of the Day is the "Ruth Tomater Ginsburger".
- Jimmy Pesto says Bob looks like a crossing guard from Narnia in his rave get-up.
- When Tina points out Louise technically stole supplies from the theater as the kids are taking the bus home, Louise suggests they all face forward and sit in silence.Gene: Like The Graduate!
- Status Quo Is God: Trev is back to hi-fiving Jimmy Pesto, even after going through Character Development in the previous episode.
- Stylistic Suck: The puppet show is as boring as it sounds, and it's been this way for so long that Bob can't recall any fond memories from when he went years ago.Bob: It was long and boring and made me want to stop supporting the arts and start actively working against them.
