The episode opens on Truman reading The Oddysey and imagining himself as a member of the crew. Alice shows up and hands him a flyer. It turns out that she's going on a "whale-watching" trip and is allowed to bring friends along. Truman is excited to see a blue whale at first, but when he sees that it's on a boat, he changes his mind, saying he doesn't belong on boats.
At the Lorraine house, Helen tries to convince Truman to go anyway, but he explains that he gets seasick. Helen asks if Truman could take medicine, but he explains that the meds don't work on him. Martha is confident that Truman will outgrow his seasickness, and explains that she'd get carsick a lot as a puppy but outgrew it.
Helen decides to get Truman used to the feeling of being on a boat, and tries rocking him in a rocking chair. This doesn't make him feel sick; it just bores him, so Martha sprays him with a lawn sprinkler and starts talking like a pirate and blowing in his face to make him feel like he's at sea. He does feel disgusted at her breath, but he doesn't feel physically ill, so, Helen and Martha take Truman to a fake ship at a golf course, but a golf ball knocks the "boat" over. They rock him in a small boat at the beach, which does make him feel ill, but he quits, feeling that he's incurable.
That night, he dreams that his friends are leaving on the boat ride without him, then Odysseus approaches him and tells him to persevere, but then the cyclops arrives. He chases Truman to the edge of the wharf, but Truman doesn't want to escape in a boat lest he throw up. Odysseus tells him to jump anyway and he wakes himself up by jumping out of bed.
On the day of the trip, Alice is excited, but Helen and Martha are disappointed that Truman can't come. However, Truman shows up anyway. He thankfully doesn't feel sick, but is afraid to move lest he does feel sick. Helen thinks she spots a whale, so the other kids run over, but she turns out to be wrong. Alice offers sandwiches and pea soup for lunch, but Truman begins to feel shaky. He tries reading, since he usually finds that therapeutic, but that makes him feel worse, so he goes downstairs to lie down.
While complaining of boredom, he hears someone exclaim, "Hey, look at that!", so he gets up. He imagines Odysseus telling him to persevere and asks Martha and the girls where the whale is, but it turns out they were looking at a juggler, not a whale. They invite him to play Go Fish, but he feels nauseous again. He thinks he will throw up, so Helen takes him to the railing, but luckily he sees a whale that excites him so much it makes the nausea go away. Everyone marvels at the whale.
That evening, while still on the boat, Truman geeks out about the whale and notes that he seems to be feeling okay. However, when Martha brings up food she found in the trash, he feels nauseous again.
This episode provides examples of
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Truman sees a pink whale statue and complains that it's unrealistic.
- Angry Dance: In his dream, Truman jumps up and down in annoyance when correcting Martha that the word is "nauseous", not "nose itches".
- Bittersweet Ending: Truman's seen his whale, but he feels sick again.
- Calling Your Nausea: Truman says, "I'm beginning to feel nauseous," while on the small boat, then later, "I think I'm gonna be sick!" and then "I'm feeling queasy", while on the proper boat.
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase: The title follows the "[name] and the [adjectives] [noun]" format.
- Cyclops: The Odyssey's cyclops features in Truman's dream.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- Upon hearing the definition of seasickness, Martha starts describing it, unknowingly making Truman gag.
- When Martha tells Truman to think of something nice to distract him from his nausea, she uses dog food as an example, making it worse.
- Irritation Nightmare: Subverted for Truman's dream. It starts out as a nightmare about his friends going on a trip without him, but then turns into a good dream about Odysseus doing a pep talk, and then it swerves into a more serious nightmare about being chased by a cyclops.
- Lost My Appetite: Truman's seasickness coincidentally starts around lunchtime, so he doesn't want anything and the thought of food makes him feel worse.
- Mondegreen Gag: Martha mishears "I'm starting to feel nauseous" as "My nose itches".
- Nightmare Sequence: Zigzagged for Truman's dream. His friends go on a boat trip without him... but then Odysseus shows up and gives him some words of encouragement... but then the cyclops shows up and chases him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It's a sure sign Truman, the boy who's usually a huge Bookworm, is out of sorts when he doesn't feel up to reading.
- Sirens Are Mermaids: The sirens in The Oddysey are portrayed as mermaids.
- Skewed Priorities: In Truman's dream, he refuses to hop into a boat because he might get nauseous... despite the fact that he's being chased by a murderous cyclops. Justified, since it's a dream, and people often can't use logic in dreams.
- Sleepwalking: Truman jumps off his bed while dreaming about jumping off a wharf.
- Sudden Downer Ending: Truman seems to have overcome his seasickness, only for it to return when Martha mentions eating from the trash.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Truman says in his sleep, "No, no, don't leave!".
- Talk Like a Pirate: When trying to make Truman nauseated, Martha says in a stereotypical pirate voice, "Ahoy there, Truman! We're on the high seas and she's a-blowin'!"
- Too Much Information: When Martha mentions finding food in the trash, Truman says, "That's enough info!".
- Unconventional Food Usage: A man apparently juggled four oranges.
- Who's on First?: Martha misunderstands "seasick" as "C-sick" and thinks it means sick of the "C"s in alphabet soup.
- You Need a Breath Mint: Truman tells Martha, "Your breath is terrible!".
