The Lorraine dogs are watching a TV show about a monkey named Malcolm, but Martha hates it. Martha wants to walk around the block with Skits, but he wants to keep watching the show. Danny, who is reading on the couch, reveals that Skits won't even let him change the channel to watch the news. Martha decides to go for the walk on her own.
The next morning, Helen feeds the dogs breakfast, but Skits doesn't want his and claims he wants to change his name to Malcolm. When Helen calls him that, he starts eating. Then, Skits, still insisting on being called Malcolm, wears a bowtie he found in Daniel's closet. Helen takes the dogs to the park, but a pack of dogs (including Rinty, John, Cisco, and Slappy from "Here's Martha!") jeers at Skits for his bowtie.
Afterwards, Martha complains to Helen about Skits emulating a character from a "baby show". Helen tells Martha that Skits is younger than Martha, and it's not like he dyed himself blue... only for him to walk up covered in blue paint. Helen and Martha wash Skits, who then goes back inside to watch the Malcolm show. Martha is annoyed by this, but Helen is sure that Skits is only going through a phase.
While explaining what a phase is, Helen reveals that T.D. once went through one where he behaved like a dog for a year. This does not reassure Martha, who visits T.D. and asks him about it. He affirms that it's true, and the reason he did it was because he thought that if the Kennelys couldn't have a dog (because O.G. is allergic), he could be one. Martha wonders why T.D. stopped doing it, and he replies that he can't remember, but he guesses he just felt too old. Martha asks T.D. how she can make Skits outgrow his phase, but he doesn't know. He suggests asking Carolina for advice, as she also went through a phase in her younger years.
Martha goes to Carolina, who reveals that she went through a phase of acting like a princess, but she only outgrew it when she physically outgrew the tiara. Martha goes to Danny and worries that Skits (much like how Carolina is still just as bossy as she was in her princess phase) will never stop being "Malcolm". Danny, however, is sure that Skits will indeed outgrow it, since he did something similar as a kid — he dyed himself green and wore green clothes so he could be like his favourite superhero the Green Gas Lamp.
Later, Skits tries to skateboard in the yard while Martha sulks nearby. Ronald approaches and asks why Skits is skateboarding. She replies that he's imitating Malcolm, and Ronald agrees with her that the show is babyish. Martha says that it's only a phase, but Ronald claims to have a friend named Angus who watched a show about a bunny and imitated the main character, only to find himself with buckteeth and unable to stop hopping when he got tired of it. That night, Martha tries to bury the bowtie, but is caught by Helen. When Martha explains, she realises that Angus doesn't exist and Ronald was lying.
The next day, Martha apologises for being rude to Skits about Malcolm. Then, Helen reveals that Skits has outgrown his monkey phase... but now wants to imitate Freddy the Firedog and call himself Freddy instead. Then, Martha decides to do it too.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal:
- Malcolm wears only a hat and bowtie.
- Skits, when wanting to go by Malcolm, wears a bowtie as well.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife:
- Malcolm is blue.
- Conversed by Ronald, who claims to have a friend who watched a show about a yellow bunny.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: T.D., while explaining about Carolina's phase, says, "She was..." and then it cuts to Carolina saying, "!Una princessa!".
- Ate It All: Discussed. Helen tells Skits to eat his food before Martha does, and she's tempted by the offer.
- Breath-Holding Brat: When Angus in Ronald's story is offered a cookie, he holds his breath as a way of refusing it.
- Continuity Nod: At the end, Skits wants to imitate Freddy the Firedog, who's a character from a book mentioned in "Fire Dog Martha".
- Early Personality Signs:
- When T.D. was younger, he behaved like a dog for a whole year because they couldn't have one due to O.G.'s allergy. This fits with how he's both a Cloudcuckoolander and an Animal Lover.
- When Carolina was younger, she'd act like a princess and give "royal commands". Now, she's still bossy.
- Edible Theme Naming: The bunny from the show mentioned in Ronald's story is called Honey Bunny.
- Entertainment Below Their Age: Implied. Skits, a full-grown dog, watches a show that Martha calls "babyish", then later both dogs, despite being fully grown, cosplay as a character from a kids' book.
- Gender-Blender Name: Martha insists on being called "Freddy" at the end.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: When being "Freddy", the dogs wear only a raincoat.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Helen says that it's not like Skits has dyed himself blue, only for Skits to walk up, covered in blue paint.
- Kids Hate Vegetables: Inverted in Ronald's story, in which a boy named Angus who looks about four wants to only eat carrots so he can be like a bunny on TV.
- Not So Above It All: Despite spending most of the episode berating Skits for pretending to be a kids' show character, Martha insists on going by Freddy and dressing like Freddy the Firedog (a character from a kiddie book) herself at the end.
- Obsessive Hobby Episode: This episode involves Skits being so into watching a TV show that he doesn't let anyone change the channel and wants to change his name to that of the main character and behave like him.
- An Odd Place to Sleep: According to Ronald, when his friend Angus tried to be a bunny, he slept in a hole in the yard.
- Princess Phase: It's revealed that Carolina used to dress and act like a princess (befitting her bossy personality), and only stopped when she outgrew her tiara.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: The theme song to the show the dogs watch ends in "Who doesn't love Malcolm, who, who, who?". Martha replies, "I'll tell ya who: me, me, me! That's who doesn't love Malcolm!".
- Rhyming Names: Conversed. There's apparently a TV show about a rabbit named Honey Bunny.
- Shout-Out: In his childhood, Daniel liked a superhero called the Green Gas Lamp, who's a parody of Green Lantern.
- Show Within a Show: The Lorraine dogs watch a TV show about a monkey, and Ronald mentions a show about a bunny.
- Silly Animal Sound: When Martha imagines Skits living in a tree, she imagines him making monkey sounds.
- Silly Simian: Malcolm is seen trying to juggle eggs, which fall on the floor and break.
- Spit Take: Helen spits out her milk in surprise upon seeing the blue-painted Skits.
- Stock Animal Diet: In Ronald's story, Angus copies Honey Bunny by only eating carrots.
- Toilet Humour: When explaining what a phase is, Helen remembers that Martha once went through one where she chewed toilet paper. According to Martha, she did it because she thought the toilet paper sounded as though it was growling when the Lorraines pulled it off the roll.
- Uncatty Resemblance: Downplayed. Skits goes through a phase of emulating a fictional character, and one of his owners, Daniel, is revealed to have done the same as a boy.
