In an episode best described as The Three Stooges meets Rashomon, Hank, Bill, Dale and Boomhauer work as firefighters and get in trouble when one of them ended up burning down the firehouse.
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: The fire alarm has the guys getting fully equipped for their first fire at a restaurant, but when they arrive, they find Heck Dorland, who extinguishes it, being a simple dumpster fire. Then they get the call to the firehouse...
- Butt-Monkey: Bill as always; he trips on the cooler just as he tells the guys he's become a volunteer fireman, gets sprayed heavily from the broken fire hydrant, gets his face burned with a hot Frito pie and gets stuck in the fireman's pole hole.
- Cassandra Truth: Hank, Dale and Bill decide to blame the fire on Chet Elderson. Boomhauer doesn't agree with this and flat-out confesses Dale is responsible for it, but his way of speaking flies over the Fire Chief's head.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Alamo Beer sign, which shouldn't be plugged in because it doesn't work right and throws sparks everywhere. When it's left plugged in, it touches off a blaze that destroys the firehouse.
- Comically Missing the Point: After the guys return to the destroyed firehouse, Dale lays Chet Elderson's memorial plaque on the remains and "dedicates" the site in his honor.
- Death Glare: Hank gives Dale one after he makes a joke song about him being a lumberjack.
- Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Dale is the one who plugged in the sign that started the fire, but when Hank realizes this, he decides to instead pin the blame on the recently-deceased Chet Elderson, who was fond of the Alamo Beer sign and was constantly told not to plug it in.
- Disproportionate Retribution: After being bothered by Dale and Bill keeping him awake playing ping pong, Hank tries to force the game to stop by taking the ball and crushing it underfoot. Bill retaliates by taking Hank's glasses and doing the same to them. Dale also attempts to hit Hank in the face with a boiling hot frito pie that Boomhauer just pulled out of the oven, but hits Bill by accident when Hank ducks out of the way.
- Ear Ache: When Bill finds a tub of jerky, he suggests using the lid as a Frisbee and tries to throw it at Hank to catch, but it instead hits Boomhauer in the ear.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Both Dale and Bill get a moment when after going through their respective memories they realize they may have in fact started the fire after all; Dale for carelessly tossing a still-burning cigarette aside, and Bill realizing he may have left the stove running after roasting some marshmallows over it.
- Facial Horror: Downplayed with Bill not becoming disfigured, but his face ends up scarred when Dale throws a Frito pie fresh out of the oven and attempts to hit Hank, instead hitting Bill's face.
- Firefighting Episode: Hank, Bill, Dale and Boomhauer become firefighters for the duration of one episode.
- A Fool for a Client:Dale: My name is Shackleford, Rusty Shackleford. I refuse to speak without my attorney present. [stands up and takes off hat] I am Mr. Shackleford's attorney, Rusty Shackleford. My client pleads insanity.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Hank and the guys serve as pallbearers for Chet Elderson's funeral, with Dale faking it, and when Hank's glasses fall off his face and he tries to pick them up, they all fall into his grave, with Boomhauer grabbing onto Chet's legs, accidentally pantsing him before falling in himself.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Bill gets himself stuck in the hole of the fireman's pole when running away from an angry Hank after breaking his glasses.
- Here We Go Again!: The episode ends with the guys deciding to try their hand at plumbing, enticed by a neighbor's offer of all the beer they can drink.
- How We Got Here: The episode opens with the guys being questioned by the Arlen fire chief and spends its first two acts laying out the chain of events that led them into that situation. Their various mishaps (Hank's broken glasses, Bill's burned face, Boomhauer's bandaged ear) are explained as well.
- Hypocritical Humor: Dale criticizes Bill for being bald, though Dale doesn't exactly have a head full of hair himself.
- Idiot Ball: You would think Boomhauer would at least be more competent than Dale, but he makes the bright decision to fix the fire hydrant with the Jaws of Life.
- Insanity Defense: Both Bill and Dale try this during the interrogation.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being at his throat all throughout the episode, Dale switches his oxygen tank with Hank's just before heading for the fire since he noticed his was low and acknowledges he is more competent than the others.
- Jerkass Has a Point: After Chet Elderson's funeral, Hank tells Dale he cannot speak to him again, to which Bill says the same thing and calls him a faker. Dale responds "Why don't you eat some more pizza? It's all you ever do is eat pizza. No wonder you're bald and your wife left you." Boomhauer even agrees with that statement.
- Karma Houdini: Dale is ultimately the one who causes the fire due to plugging in the Alamo Beer sign, but he suffers no punishment, mainly due to Hank being grateful for switching the oxygen tanks and Hank paying him back for the kind gesture. Boomhauer even points this out after the judging is passed.
- Killed Offscreen: Chet Elderson passes away offscreen of natural causes.
- Last Disrespects: Chet Elderson really gets dragged through the mud after his death. Getting pantsed at his funeral after the guys stumble and fall in his grave, having a plaque naming the firehouse after him in his memory just before it got burned down and then being blamed for starting the said fire.
- Lighter and Softer: Especially compared to the previous episode.
- Mood Whiplash: Heck Dorland comes by the firehouse and tells the guys that Chet Elderson passed away, which dampens the mood, then immediately followed by Bill (still stuck in the hole) farting, making Heck leave in disgust.
- Never My Fault: Dale is guilty of a couple instances:
- During training with the fire hose, Dale is up front, but he cannot keep a firm grip, causing it to spray water everywhere but the fire in the barrel. All this cause by his visor being fogged over... from his smoking. Hank chews him out for it.
- And later when trying to spray Bobby, Joseph and the boys from a fire hydrant, Dale's incompetence has the water stream hitting Bill, and Dale's solution is to hit it with the wrench. Hank tries to fix it, but Dale ends up stripping the bolt, which he denies. And later, he blames Hank for humiliating him in front of Joseph, and the boys for causing the accident in the first place.
- New Job Episode: Hank, Dale, Bill and Boomhauer all work as volunteer firemen, due to a firemen's strike.
- Not So Above It All: At the park, with Bobby, Joseph and the boys getting muddy while playing football, Dale offers to hose them down, with Hank having to point out it's for emergencies only, but after a jibe from Dooley, Hank is eager to join in on getting them wet. Unfortunately, they end up breaking the fire hydrant.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Bill (right after giving a Psychotic Smirk) after he breaks Hank's glasses.
- Hank has this reaction when his beeper sounds off, summoning all units to a fire that turns out to be at the firehouse itself.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Hank is still seen as the guy who blew-up the Mega-Lo-Mart, as Chet Elderson points out, and Hank has to correct him that it was Buckley who was responsible.
- Only Sane Man: Hank acts as this, among the other guys who play around at best, totally incompetent at worst.
- "Rashomon"-Style: The third act has all four of the guys recalling their story over who caused the fire:
- Dale's story has him presented as competent, testing the fire alarms, and being muscular and with a head full of hair. Bill pigs out on French bread pizza. Hank is presented as and dressed like a Drill Sergeant Nasty giving out orders. And Boomhauer is sitting in a chair tanning with Dale pulling a Practical Joke on him by replacing his tanning spray with Icy Hot. And during the fire alarm, he blames it on Boomhauer knocking over the tanning lamp, though he leaves out him throwing his lit cigarette on the floor.
- Boomhauer's story has an inversion of his unintelligible Motor Mouth speak, with Dale, Hank and Bill speaking that way, while Boomhauer speaks slowly and clearly. He claims Dale was actually deactivating the fire alarms, complaining about them going off when he smokes. He pins the blame on Bill leaving the toaster oven on after cooking pizza.
- Bill's story has him even fatter and balder, recalling he turned off the toaster oven and pigging out on pizza while supporting Dale's story that he was testing the fire alarms. Though he leaves the oven burner on after cooking marshmallows. Afterwards he points out Dale switched oxygen tanks with Hank's when they were getting prepped to go after the fire alert went off.
- Hank's story has them all as little boys and when the fire alarm goes off, they all grow up and spring for action. Hank relates how he puts out the cigarette, picks up the tanning lamp and turns off the stove burner. And as they get ready to take off, he notices the flashing light and recalls it as the Alamo Beer sign plugged in.
- Retired Badass: 85 year-old Chet Elderson, who was one of the best firemen, and still hangs around.
- Self-Serving Memory: Played straight with Dale's story, where he remembers himself as muscular with a full head of hair, and subverted with Bill, who has such low self-esteem that he recalls himself as even fatter and balder than he actually is.
- Shout-Out:
- This episode is one big homage to The Three Stooges:
- Dale sings the beginning verse of "Swinging the Alphabet" from Violent Is the Word for Curly.
- At one point, Hank uses the word "knucklehead", just like Moe.
- The episode name is based off the short A Plumbing We Will Go, and in the end, they all decide to work as plumbers.
- A Three Stooges short called False Alarms has a similar plot with them acting as incompetent firemen.
- At one point during the interrogation, Boomhauer gets fed up and bonks Bill's and Dale's heads together.
- In Bill's story, he presents himself as fatter and completely bald, looking like Curly.
- The Three Stooges theme plays at the end of the episode.
- In a non-Stooges example, Dale teases Hank for wearing suspenders by singing "Hank's a lumberjack and he's okay..."
- This episode is one big homage to The Three Stooges:
- Special Guest: Barry Corbin as the Fire Chief and Buddy Ebsen as Chet Elderson.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Bill really loves pizza."Dang ol' pretty pretty pizza, I tell you what."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Boomhauer calls out the others for passing the blame to Chet and confesses that Dale was responsible for the fire. Unfortunately for him, the Fire Chief misunderstands what he says and think he's agreeing with the others that Chet was responsible.
