The kid who normally sings the national anthem has an accident after swallowing a bee. Principal Prickly and Miss Finster are at a loss to find a replacement until they hear a beautiful voice from the boys' bathroom. It's none other than Mikey!
Tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: Mikey is saddened that his singing teacher doesn't reciprocate his feelings for her, but is able to work through his broken heart by singing "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen". She promises that she'll be his middle school teacher and will be ready to perform with him when he's ready.
- Character Development: While Principal Prickly at first hires Miss Salamone for pragmatic reasons, he looks genuinely impressed as Mikey's singing continues and improves, to the point that the whole school can hear him practice. By the end of the episode, he's crying Manly Tears when Mikey asks to perform "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen" instead of the national anthem, being proud of his student's accomplishment for himself rather than his own benefit. Even Miss Finster, in spite of her reputation as a Sadistic Teacher, has the same mindset as she happily applauds for Mikey's performance with a smile on her face.
- The Gift: It's revealed that Mikey is genuinely talented at singing; he just lacks the confidence to unlock his baritone in public. When Miss Salamone finds a way to help him step outside his comfort zone, he sings a showstopper.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Downplayed; when Mikey initially sings outside the bathroom, he proclaims that he sounds terrible, as he apologetically tells Principal Prickly and Miss Finster. While he's slightly off-key, it only sounds the way a normal, untrained kid would perform. Prickly determines that they can unlock Mikey's gift, with the right teacher.
- Precocious Crush: Along the way of honing his baritone singing voice, Mikey grows to like his singing teacher very much. It's later deconstructed when he sees first-hand that she has a boyfriend, and he proposes to her, breaking his heart.
- Singing in the Shower: A variant; Mikey only sings well when he's in the bathroom. Miss Salamone gets a "Eureka!" Moment when Mikey confesses this; she grabs her guitar and takes him to the nearest stall, asking him to sing for her. They turn one of the bathrooms into a music room, and she realizes that it's a matter of confidence for him. She encourages him to visualize the bathroom when singing, pipes and all.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: 9-year-old Mikey's singing voice is revealed to be a rich, manly baritone (provided by Robert Goulet).
- Spit Take: Spinelli does one after Mikey admits that he's in love with Miss Salamone.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Miss Salamone says that singing is like breathing for the soul. Moments later, King Bob says the same statement after hearing Mikey sing Ave Maria.
- This Is Reality: Mikey admits to his friends that he's in love with Miss Salamone and he's certain that she returns his feelings because she spends so much time with him and just recently kissed him on the cheek. The others try to break it to him that Miss Salamone is an adult and a teacher, so that's probably not true. Mikey tries to prove them wrong, only to walk in on Miss Salamone's boyfriend proposing to her. Miss Salamone later has to explain to Mikey what love is.
