T.D. arrives at the Lorraine house, and frantically tells Helen that a duck is in her window. Helen reveals that it's just Ralph, the injured duck from "Martha's Pack", who is staying with the Lorraines until he heals. T.D. is keen to meet Ralph, so he enters the house, and Martha reveals that Ralph is sad so T.D. could perhaps cheer him up. T.D. tries pretending to be a duck, but Ralph is unimpressed. T.D. tries tickling Ralph, but Ralph is still feeling down because he's sad that he can't fly, and he's hungry.
Helen and Martha take Ralph to the kitchen, but ducks eat bugs, and Helen doesn't have any bugs to offer. T.D. realises that a parrot is a bird like a duck, so they ask Ronald Boxwood (as the Boxwoods have a parrot named Polly) for advice. He gives them an ornithology book, and it says that ducks eat vegetable trimmings as well as bugs, so the Lorraines give Ralph some of those.
Then, Ralph wants to watch TV, so the Lorraines and T.D. decide to watch with him. However, when he chooses a show called Mushy Duck, everyone else hates it. The humans leave, but Ralph has the dogs watch with him. That night, he is too shy to let the Lorraines in the bathroom while he bathes, and he snores and quacks in his sleep while sleeping in Helen's room.
Three weeks pass, with Ralph continuing to bother the Lorraines (and T.D. when he visits once). The Lorraine parents summon Helen and Martha into their bedroom to discuss the situation. Danny decides that Ralph must be better by now, and advises taking him to the lake.
As it turns out, Ralph has healed, and he initially likes it at the lake, but when Helen and Martha leave, he misses them and wants to keep living with them, so he pretends his wing aches. Helen and Martha are fooled, and take Ralph home, but Mariella is suspicious that Ralph may be faking it. He then invites his friends over and wants Helen to feed them, but Mariella refuses and shoos them away.
However, they hide, and that night, Ralph wakes up and invites them back in. Helen and Martha awake and notice that Ralph is no longer there, so they go down to check. Ralph's friends, who'd been playing a video game, leave through the doggie door, and Ralph pretends that he was only fetching water.
Later that night, Martha wakes up again to see Ralph inviting his friends over again. Then, his bandage falls off and he flies, proving that he had indeed been lying about his wing still hurting. The ducks start watching Mushy Duck, but then Martha busts them. The commotion wakes up Daniel and Mariella, who run downstairs and shoo out the ducks. Before turning to leave, Ralph says that he only lied because he liked staying with the Lorraines so much. However, he then pretends to have hurt his wing again so that the Boxwoods would look after him.
This episode provides examples of
- Annoying Patient: Ralph is being looked after due to his broken wing, but he plays a show the Lorraines hate, insists that the dogs watch it with him, doesn't let the Lorraines in the bathroom while he bathes, chases T.D., quacks in his sleep, and snores.
- Aside Glance: Ralph gives the audience a smug smile whenever he feigns injury.
- Call-Back: "Martha's Pack" ends with an injured duck being allowed to stay with the Lorraines until his wing heals. This episode follows on the duck's recovery.
- Continuity Nod: Ralph and his friends play the car racing game from "Virtually Martha".
- Ear Worm: One reason Mariella hates Mushy Duck is because she involuntarily hums the theme tune.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Helen has eye bags when Ralph's snoring and sleep-quacking keep her awake at night.
- Faux Horrific: Mariella treats Mushy Duck (which is actually nothing more than an annoying show) as though it's something terrifying, even kneeling down to complain about it.
- Fully-Clothed Nudity: Played with. Ralph is too shy to let Danny see him bathing, but he normally never wears clothes anyway (and he has no problem getting into the bath when Danny is bathing).
- Gamer Chick: Some of Ralph's female friends are shown playing the video game alongside the drakes.
- Here We Go Again!: The Lorraines have gotten Ralph out of their hair, but then he pretends to be injured again so that the Boxwoods will take care of him.
- Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: Downplayed. Mariella says, "Eh.." when lying about why she doesn't want to watch Mushy Duck, but Helen, Daniel, and T.D. also lie and they don't make any awkward pauses.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: When Ralph first turns Mushy Duck on, the Lorraines and T.D. lie about why they're leaving so they won't come off as rude. While most of their lies are plausible (T.D., for instance, claims he has to wash out his garage), Mariella claims she has to "move something from somewhere to somewhere else".
- Injured Limb Episode: The episode follows Ralph recovering from a broken wing.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Martha wonders if Ronald isn't so bad after he gives Helen a book on birds. But then, Ronald suggests Helen replace Martha and Skits with birds.Martha: "Forget what I said; he's worse than I thought."
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Ralph was an Annoying Patient, and then when he got better, he pretended to still be injured so the Lorraines would continue to wait on him. However, he later apologises to them and says he only did it because he liked it so much.... but then he pretends to be injured again so that the Boxwoods will take care of him.
- Loud Sleeper Gag: Helen has trouble sleeping with Ralph in her room due to his snoring and sleep-quacking.
- Nearly Normal Animal: The ducks mainly behave as normal ducks, but they also enjoy TV and video games.
- Only One Finds It Fun: Subverted. Ralph seems to be the only one that likes Mushy Duck, but it turns out his friends do too.
- Show Within a Show: Ralph watches a show called Mushy Duck, which all of the non-ducks hate.
- Singing in the Shower: Ralph quacks melodiously while bathing.
- That Liar Lies: When Martha confronts Ralph, she says, "You're a faker! I saw you cry!".
- Would Rather Suffer: Martha claims she'd rather ask a vulture for advice than Ronald.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Ralph pretends his wing still aches to convince them to let him stay with them, then later he pretends his wing is broken again so that the Boxwoods would take care of him.
