B Plot: Wanda treks into the sewers and tries to fix things before people find out she’s responsible for the clog, having flushed away an entire box full of wacky sponge alligators Brent thought would be a good gift for her son.
C Plot: Emma tricks Oscar into updating their family portrait when she finds an unused gift certificate.
Tropes referenced:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Dog River sure has big, brightly lit sewers for such a small town.
- Antiquated Linguistics: Emma was given the keys to the mayor's office because Fitzy thought Davis would use them for some kind of shenanigan. When Wanda wants them because she needs the map to the sewer system, Emma notes that that sounds like a shenanigan.Wanda: Shenanigan? Balderdash!
- Audience Murmurs: When the crowd starts talking over each other during the initial town meeting, Karen tries to bring order and points out that a lot of people are just saying "Rhubarb", which can clearly be heard as the crowd quiets down. During subsequent crowd scenes, there's usually at least one voice very clearly saying "Rhubarb" at the end of crowd reactions.
- Blackmail: Lacey has to give Brent free meals to keep him from telling everyone that The Ruby's bathroom is unaffected by the clogged sewers.Brent: Who said there's no such thing as a free lunch? I just had five of them.
Lacey: They're not free. They're extortion.
Brent: Well yeah, but the result's the same. - Brick Joke: Brent tells Wanda that the gator sponges grow six hundred times their size over the course of about five hours. When Davis informs everyone that the sewer system is backed up, he mentions that it wasn't that bad at first but got six hundred times worse over the course of five hours.
- The Cameo: Sarah McLachlan appears in Wanda's dream sequence, singing "Angel" as Wanda's head sinks into a pillow...before attempting to suffocate her with it.
- Comically Missing the Point: Karen tries to clue Davis in to the fact that something strange is going on by pointing out that there's nobody in line to use the porta-potty except two pregnant women. Davis just thinks that it's strange for a small town to have two pregnant women at the same time.
- Continuity Nod: Continuing on Dog River's already established liquor and insurance business, Emma gets her hair done at a combination hair salon and butcher shop.
- Description Cut: At multiple points, people ask where Fitzy is, only to be told that he's currently at a very important conference...which immediately cuts to him using taxpayer money for a spa day.
- Didn't Think This Through: Lacey tries to get people out of The Ruby so that nobody will notice that the bathroom works by rallying the townsfolk to go to the police station and complain about how the porta-potty is in such an inconvenient location. After everyone leaves, Brent points out that she should've gotten everyone to pay their bills first. Things get even worse for Lacey because the townsfolk convince the cops to move the porta-potty to outside The Ruby, meaning Lacey has to use the porta-potty to avoid suspicion.
- Disgusting Public Toilet: Although the porta-potty isn't really disgusting, Lacey is absolutely mortified to use it, and the fear that the plumbing at The Ruby and Corner Gas will become disgusting motivates her to keep the fact that they're connected to a different septic system a secret.
- Exactly What I Meant to Say: When Emma says that she salvaged the portrait with some "Photo-scotching," Brent thinks she means "Photoshopping." Emma corrects that she actually used scotch tape to combine the old portrait where she looks nice with the new portrait where Oscar looks nice.
- Flashback Cut: Brent explains that they can use salt water to shrink the growing gator sponges clogging the sewer. Lacey asks how he knows that. A flashback shows a young Brent unknowingly eating similar sponge toys as a kid before drinking water, followed by an Ambulance Cut. In the present, Brent says that he can just know things without learning them the hard way.
- Fun with Acronyms: Hank claims that "PUBER" stands for "Public Urination Better En Route", so he can drive around while the outhouse is being used and Karen and Davis can't bust him for using an idling vehicle for business purposes without a permit.
- Here We Go Again!: Averted; once the clog is finally removed, everyone using their toilets again en masse busts the pipeline...but it only affects Wullerton downstream, which nobody cares about.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Emma wants a new portrait to replace the old one where Emma looks nice but Oscar has messy hair and a goofy look on his face. Oscar thinks it looks great, then he makes the same goofy face while biting his sandwich.
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: While studying a map of the town's sewage system, Wanda notes that she needs to find a faulty manhole to get into the sewers. Hank then walks up and drops some air fresheners on the counter.
- Inflationary Dialogue: Wanda helps Emma trick Oscar into agreeing to the portrait by claiming that the coupon, originally worth $35 when it was bought in 1997, must be worth $500 now thanks to inflation. Oscar keeps upping the price from $1000 to $3000 in later conversations.
- Ironic Echo Cut: Lacey apologizes to everyone for lying about The Ruby's bathroom and promises to make things right. Cut to Lacey telling Wanda she has to make things right because Wanda's the one who told everyone about the bathroom.
- Insistent Terminology: Everyone refers to the porta-potty by the fake brand name "Plasti-Potty".
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Oscar realizes his hot chocolate tastes funny and accuses Emma of drugging him so she can give him a haircut. She denies it, only for the shot to widen and reveal scissors, a comb, and a towel on the table.
- Literal Metaphor: Once Lacey is forced to start using the porta-potty, she tells Brent that he's going to pay... literally pay for all of the free food he got from her.
- Loony Laws: Karen becomes fascinated by the binder of town bi-laws and keeps citing some of the stranger ones.Karen: True or false? If someone doesn't pay their hotel bill, we get to take away their horse.
Davis: Please be true! - Mexican Standoff: Lacey threatens to take away Brent's free food if he doesn't distract the people in The Ruby so she can use the bathroom in peace, so Brent threatens to reveal the truth about the bathroom working if Lacey takes away his free food. Brent notes that this puts them in a Mexican standoff, which Lacey denies. Brent accuses Lacey of being racist for thinking that they have to be Mexican for it to be a Mexican standoff. He then adds that it still counts if it's just the two of them, going on a long explanation about how a Mexican Standoff just needs two or more parties that cannot proceed or retreat without losing, complete with a Reservoir Dogs-esque Imagine Spot to illustrate. Lacey corrects that it's not a Mexican standoff because she already has to use the porta-potty to keep up appearances, so Brent is the only one who has anything to lose by breaking their deal.Brent: Oh, right. Plus we're not Mexican.
- Mundane Made Awesome: After repeatedly using a gavel to get crowds to quiet down, Davis dramatically holds it aloft while imagining lightning striking the gavel and imbuing him with power. After everyone stares at him in silence for a moment, Karen sarcastically calls him "Sergeant Thor".
- Person as Verb: Oscar is shocked after Emma's hair is ruined because the hair dresser was driven off in Hank's portable toilet.Oscar: Holy hell! What happened to you?
Emma: Hank. Hank happened to me. - Shout-Out: Hank vows that he will get his portable toilet business up and running, shouting "I will fight for my right to potty!"
- Spoof Aesop: The clog in the sewers was caused by Wanda flushing the sponge alligators that Brent gave her son for his birthday, while the portrait coupon was an old gift from Brent to Emma and Oscar, so Brent says that the lesson here is that people like his gifts.
- Unusual Euphemism: Lacey covers up using the bathroom at Corner Gas by saying she had to deal with a delivery at the back door.Brent: Classy.
