A peaceful day off on the beach turns into yet another caper for Darkwing when a mysterious person begins clearing garbage from the ocean without much regard for the land dwellers. Taking to the seas, Darkwing quickly finds the culprit — a mutated fish named Neptunia, who wants her surf clean at any cost. The pair's headbutting quickly escalates the situation until Neptunia decides to flood the city.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Both Sides Have a Point: Neptunia's desire to clean up her territory and keep any more sea creatures from suffering moves both Gosalyn and Launchpad. However, Darkwing's argument that flooding the city is Disproportionate Retribution also carries some weight. Ultimately, the problem gets solved by the two sides cooperating.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Neptunia's Dark and Troubled Past fails to impress Darkwing, who points out that she's taking it out on the whole city. The episode itself seems to fall in the middle — Neptunia needs to learn not to react so extremely, and Darkwing needs to respect her position and its validity.
- Green Aesop: An episode against littering.
- Hypocritical Humor: Darkwing begins trying to tell Gosalyn that one can solve any situation with peaceful discussion — and breaks off in the middle to chew out a litterbug.
- It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Darkwing destroying Neptunia's conch shell that lets her summon her followers in their climatic fight seemed like the right way to stop her... until a repentant Neptunia remarks that she can't tell her whale to unclog the city without it.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: When Launchpad asks if they're in a dangerous situation, Darkwing answers that "danger" is his middle name. Launchpad notes it's funny he only now finds out Darkwing's middle name.
- Motive Rant: As Neptunia starts the story of how she became mutated, Darkwing lampshades that she's about to tell them why she became a villain. It turns out she ran afoul of a vat of toxic waste.
- Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: While he has a point about Neptunia's reaction being unjustified, Darkwing keeps getting in her face and refusing to admit the validity of her concerns. Combined with Neptunia's own temper, this escalates the situation to an almost disastrous level. Ultimately, however, the more empathetic Launchpad manages to talk her into undoing the damage she caused.
- Running Gag: Darkwing keeps grabbing the electric eel "bars" on the cell and zapping himself.
- Shout-Out:
- When a swordfish saws a hole in the ship, Launchpad tells Darkwing that they'll need a bigger boat.
- Neptunia gloats that she's going to turn St. Canard into "part of my world."
- Sunken City: Neptunia's interference has half-submerged St. Canard by the time Launchpad shows her the error of her ways.
- Too Much Alike: Darkwing and Neptunia clash partially because they're both stubborn hotheads with a tendency to see things in black and white.
- Verbal Tic: Neptunia calls the person she's addressing "honey" or "sweetie" almost every time she speaks.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Despite Darkwing's claims that Neptunia is an outright villain, she's really just a being out to protect her home from pollution. It takes Launchpad telling that not everyone on land is out to pollute the sea (and some even make efforts to clean it up), for Neptunia to realize she's going too far.
- You Can't Make an Omelette...: Neptunia namedrops the trope when Launchpad tries to point out that she's hurting a lot of people by flooding St. Canard. Launchpad then tells her that she's hurting a lot of good people, including some who are actually trying to stop the pollution. This seems to get her attention.
