Abuelito’s Garden
Abuelito asks Manny to clean up his garden. Manny, who knows Abuelito loves garden work, can’t understand why Abuelito is asking him to do it instead of working on it himself.
“Abuelito’s Garden” includes the following tropes:
- An Aesop: The moral of the episode is a bit of “it’s better to be active than to laze around all day” mixed with a bit on healthy eating.
- Continuity Nod:
- Mr. Lopart is seen wearing the same track suit he had in “Gopher Help”.
- Abuelito has a picture of Lola hanging on a wall in his house.
- Abuelito also has a fish identical to the one from “A Very Handy Vacation” stuffed and mounted on his wall.
- Fence Painting: In a non-con version, the tools try to help Abuelito rediscover his love of gardening by working in his garden and acting like they’re having the time of their lives- although what actually gets him to start doing garden work again is the fact that they keep doing things incorrectly, as he feels compelled to get out of his chair and show them the proper way to do whatever they were trying to do.
- Gross Gum Gag: At one point, Mr. Lopart gets his foot stuck on a wad of chewing gum.
- Literal-Minded: Pat, when the tools are playing “Simon Says” and he needs to have the game explained to him:Rusty: I’m Simon.Pat: I thought you were Rusty.
- Location Title: The episode is named after the garden in Abuelito’s backyard.
- Sticky Situation: At one point, Mr. Lopart gets his foot stuck on a wad of chewing gum someone had spat out onto the sidewalk.
Firehouse Tools
Chief Eduardo of the Sheet Rock Hills Fire Department calls Manny about a broken alarm bell in the firehouse; when it turns out that Manny needs to get a replacement part for it from Kelly’s, Pat volunteers to stay behind and be the manual bell-ringer until they get back. Of course, it’s not like there’s going to be a fire that Pat will have to react to… right?
“Firehouse Tools” provides examples of:
- Cat Up a Tree: Chief Eduardo offhandedly mentions rescuing these as being among the fire department’s duties.
- Chekhov's Gun: Early in the episode, Chief Eduardo is shown to have a pot of “his special Firehouse Five-Alarm Chili” cooking on the stove; this is quickly forgotten about as the plot kicks into effect- until at the end of the episode it’s revealed that, in all the chaos of Pat sending the spring from an alarm bell flying around and everything else that happened, he forgot to turn the stove off. Pat notices this, sounds the alarm, and gets someone to turn off the stove before the chili burns any more than it already has- and gets named an honorary fireman for it.
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Despite being a fireman, Chief Eduardo almost burns down the firehouse after he leaves the stove on for too long. Although, in his defense, there was a fair amount of other stuff going on (Pat sending a spring from the broken alarm bell ricocheting around like crazy, for starters) that made the chili he was cooking completely slip his mind.
- Diegetic Switch: The same song is heard first as part of the background music when the camera is zooming in on Manny’s shop, and then as Source Music Manny is listening to on the radio while he does jumping jacks.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Triggered by something Pat says after the fire station’s newly-repaired alarm bell rings. (For context, earlier in the episode he’d volunteered to stay at the firehouse while Manny went to Kelly’s and hit the bell if he saw any fires.)Pat: And this time I didn’t have to hit it with my head.
- Firefighting Episode: Sort of; Manny is called to repair an alarm bell at the fire station, with Pat volunteering to be the bell-ringer until the alarm’s mechanism is repaired. He ends up saving the station (supposedly) by sounding the alarm when Chief Eduardo’s chili starts burning on the stove, and gets named an honorary fireman for it.
- Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball: Downplayed- Pat manages to send a spring from the broken alarm bell shooting around the firehouse like crazy, but nothing is actually broken by it; the main problem this causes is that the spring is an important part and no one could find where it landed when it finally stopped bouncing.
- Jump Rope Blunders: In the opening of the episode, Felipe and Pat try to “exercise” by jumping rope (with the jump rope being held and turned by Fixit and the other end tied to the worktable). Pat is shouting out how many jumps they’ve done in Spanish, but stops jumping to ask Felipe what comes after “tres”, and they both end up being hit by the rope.
- I Can't Hear You: This ensues when the tools try to ask Manny what he’s doing (which turns out to be jumping jacks) over some loud music playing on the radio.Squeeze: What are you doing?Manny: What?Felipe: Is that a new dance?Manny: Of course I’m wearing pants! See?Turner: I don’t think he can hear us!Rusty: What did you say?Turner: I said-
//Manny turns off the radio//Turner: I DON’T THINK HE CAN HEAR US! - Spring Coil: While the tools are in Kelly’s store looking for a spring to replace the one Pat lost, Turner ends up getting stuck in one’s coil- and Squeeze’s attempts to free him from it send him bouncing around the shop.
