In front of a mirror, Martha explains that the episode's vocab words are about specialness. The episode proper starts with TD staying over at the Lorraines' and trying to cheer up Helen, who thinks a drawing she drew is badly drawn. Initially it doesn't work, but what does work is when he takes out a cardboard box that contains a brown puppy.
Helen explains that TD rescued the puppy, but since his father is allergic to dogs, they can't keep him. T.D. introduces the puppy as Skits, and Mariella agrees to let the Lorraines keep him. They introduce him to Martha as a "new little brother" and she instantly accepts him. Skits proves to be a playful dog, but unfortunately, his idea of play involves chewing on things.
Martha mainly finds this behaviour cute, but when he knocks over her soup, she decides to establish authority over him and become his de facto mentor. She teaches him not to pee in the house, that one neighbour is nice, that Nelson is bad, their tradition of barking at one man for no reason, how to circle before lying down, how to eat the food that Jake drops, and how to catch a frisbee (which causes him to only chew flying objects).
When Skits grows up, Mariella feeds him alphabet soup (with Danny, the kids, and a visiting Truman watching) in the hopes that it'd make him talk like Martha. However, it doesn't work, which disappoints him, and he becomes even more sad when he overhears Truman referring to him as "just Skits" (when he and the Lorraines are discussing how Martha's ability to speak when fed alphabet soup must be unique to her), so he runs away.
Helen, Martha, and Mariella try to search for him, but Helen worries that she and the other Lorraines have hurt his feelings and that's why he ran away. When Helen is searching for a drawing of Skits to use for a poster, TD spies a drawing of a man with a discus and gets the idea of having people throw things to find Skits, since he still loves flying objects.
They have a throwing contest in the park, but then all of the frisbees but one get thrown and Skits still doesn't return. This discourages Helen and Martha, but luckily, Skits does come back once it's thrown. At home, Martha tells Skits that he's still special even if he can't talk, and he still enjoys alphabet soup.
This episode provides examples of
- Animal Jingoism: Implied. Skits is confused at Martha's description of Nelson as a "super bad cat", and then she says, "Yeah, but Nelson is exceptionally bad", indicating that, like her, he's prejudiced against cats.
- Batman Gambit: The Lorraines find Skits by having people throw objects, knowing that Skits, who loves playing fetch and chewing on flying objects, will come up.
- Chekhov's Gun: At the beginning, Helen is drawing a picture of a man throwing a discus. The drawing later inspires TD to help find Skits by throwing something.
- Chekhov's Skill: One of the things Martha teaches Skits is how to catch a frisbee. This becomes his favourite sport, which later comes in handy when people throw things to lure him.
- Department of Redundancy Department:
- Martha describes being a talking dog as "unique and one-of-a-kind".
- When Martha describes Skits's catch as "extraordinary", T.D. says, "I'll say it was way more than ordinary!". Lampshaded when she replies, "Yeah, that's what I said: extraordinary. Extra-ordinary. That's better than ordinary."
- "Eureka!" Moment: When TD sees Helen's drawing of a man throwing a discus, he gets the idea of using a flying object (which Skits loves) to find him.
- Everyone Has Standards: Martha doesn't mind Skits chewing on things, in fact she finds it cute. However, she doesn't let him touch her soup or pee in the house.
- Foreshadowing: At the beginning, Martha says that being a talking dog is unique, which foreshadows the fact that the alphabet soup won't make Skits talk.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Skits is saddened by Truman referring to him as "just Skits" when talking about how only Martha can talk, and he feels he's not special enough.
- Inexplicably Awesome: This is the first episode to reveal that only Martha can be granted the ability to talk when fed alphabet soup, but never explains why.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Skits grows up, Martha says, "That was fast!" as though the flash-forward happened in-universe. (Later episodes would reveal that it didn't happen in-universe, so it's unknown what her comment really meant).
- Lost Food Grievance: Martha cries, "My soup!" when it's knocked over, though it's at least partly because that's what makes her able to speak.
- Mondegreen Gag: A poodle that Martha talks to mishears "exceptional" as "sectional".
- Name and Name: The episode follows the "X and Y" naming pattern.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Played with. Skits seemingly ages a year at least, yet everyone else is still the same age.
- Plot Allergy: T.D.'s father is revealed to be allergic to dogs.
- Power-Up Food: Zigzagged — the alphabet soup still makes Martha talk as always, but it doesn't work on Skits.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Skits prepares to pee, Martha yells, "Not! In! The house!".
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Helen is correct that Skits's reason for running away was due to a bad mood related to her and the others' comments on Martha's uniqueness. However, she thought that he was angry with the Lorraines, when really, he was just sad and felt that he wasn't special.
- Say My Name: Danny yells, "Skits!" when Skits chews on a table leg.
- Show Within a Show: Helen is seen watching a show about cowboys.
- Slapstick:
- Danny trips over a knocked-over lamp and falls.
- After Danny trips on the fallen-over lamp, Mariella bumps into him and falls, and then Helen falls.
- After winning a tug-of-war with Skits, Helen falls over, knocking over a box of cereal, which lands on her.
- When Martha notices Skits, other dogs literally walk all over her.
- One woman (along with a man) gets food splattered on her after Skits runs across the table.
- Talking Animal: Played straight for Martha but subverted for Skits, who still can't talk even when fed alphabet soup (which makes Martha talk).
- Tropey, Come Home: Skits runs away when feeling sad about not being special.
- This Is Reality: A man on the show Helen watches says, "This isn't public TV!".
- Urine Trouble: Skits prepares to pee on the coffee table, but Martha tells him he must go outside if he has to pee. However, when he has trouble using the doggie door, he ends up peeing on the rug.
