Mikey's pants rip, forcing the group to find a replacement before Miss Finster has to fix them.
Tropes:
- Awesome by Analysis: Miss Finster can tell from a piece of frayed cloth that someone has ripped their pants on the playground. She keeps finding the clues until she notices Mikey with a new pair of pants and an "Oh, Crap!" Smile.
- Bankruptcy Barrel: Gretchen suggests that Mikey could use a barrel the way that people in cartoons do. He tries but falls over and rolls into kindergartner territory.
- Comically Missing the Point: Mikey trades a comb to Captain Sticky for a toy car to cover the rip. Vince says he cannot wear a car all day, to which Mikey agrees; there's not enough room in the trunk.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: Mikey rips his pants, and his friends try to save him from being faced with Miss Finster's needle and a teasing group of kids, using various materials like newspaper, papier-mache, an empty pickle barrel, and "space pants" from the former Soviet Union. Apparently, a kid named Joey was met with the same type of shame about a year ago and was forced to move to another school and change his name.
- Hero Antagonist: It's a rare episode when Miss Finster is this. She has to sew up Mikey's pants because it would be unbecoming of him to go around with everyone seeing his underwear. The problem is that when she catches him, the whole playground will know.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Once Miss Finster catches Mikey with his ripped pants, TJ, Vince, and Gus intentionally rip their own pants to share Mikey's shame. When King Bob sees this, he urges all the other kids to show respect for this brave act, rather than jeering at the boys' ripped pants.
- Hidden Depths: Miss Finster is quite adept with a sewing machine. Anyone can tell you that mending pants is not easy.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Miss Finster wants to sew up Mikey's pants because he cannot go around all day with everyone seeing his underwear. The kids do agree on that point, since their solution is to fix the rip.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: King Bob demands that the playground show respect for the boys sharing in Mikey's humiliation so that he is not alone. He is even the first to do so.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Captain Sticky declares that he will now use a comb on his enemies.
- Rule of Three: Every effort to find Mikey replacement pants fails, but he specifically rips his original pants and the following experiments three times by bending over to reach something.
- Shaming the Mob: King Bob does this when TJ, Vince, Gus, and Mikey have ripped their pants and are being led away.King Bob: ENOUGH! That was the single most courageous act this playground has ever seen! We won't jeer! We will show respect. (takes off his crown and lowers his head, and the entire student body joins him in doing this)
- Splitting Pants: The entire premise of the episode is this happening this Mikey, after which his friends try to help him hide the tear, in order to save him from the humiliation of having Ms. Finster take him inside to sew up the pants. In the end, T.J., Vince, and Gus intentionally rip their own pants to cover for him.
- Stating the Simple Solution:
- The kids suggest that Mikey could go to the office, call his parents and ask for them to bring him a new set of pants. Mikey says they're out of town for the day and won't be home until dinner.
- It turns out that Miss Finster is the only one who has the answer on how to fix ripped pants... sew them up. With her machine, she'll be done in no time.
- Tempting Fate: Gretchen declares that her titanium pants are indestructible. They still tear.
- Villainy-Free Villain: Miss Finster tries to find Mikey so that she can mend his pants. Wouldn't be a problem, except it will be embarrassing because she will see his underwear and the fact that everyone will know he ripped his pants.
