During an unusually hot school day, for which Miss Grotke blames the loss of the ozone layer, the Recess Gang is struggling to survive, trekking across the playground for the back-up water valve.
Tropes:
- Blame Game: The gang (except Gus) began to argue with each other when they had a hard time finding the back-up valve and the heat becomes too much for them.
- Chekhov's Lecture: Miss Grotke encourages the class to cool off by imagining themselves in a cool place. Only Gus listens and, by the end of the episode, reveals how he and his father stopped a Morally Bankrupt Banker in the Alps.
- Continuity Nod: Miss Finster mentions her visit to Guam.
- Gaia's Lament: Miss Grotke blames the heat wave on the depletion of the ozone layer.
- Genre Savvy: TJ has seen desert movies and so knows a great deal about mirages.
- Heat Wave
- Hollywood Mirage: In the midst of their journey to the back-up valve, Spinelli and Mikey look at a merry-go-round. Spinelli sees the valve with a big neon sign over it, and Mikey sees an ice-cream sundae. Luckily, Gretchen is quick to snap them out of it.
- Idiot Ball: Gretchen expected the Ashleys would be generous and let the gang take a break from the trek in their clubhouse. Naturally, she was dead wrong.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Gus tries to tell his heat-exhausting friends how he keeps cool, but they don't listen as they're busy trying to find the back-up valve. Only after they start fighting (see Blame Game) did he finally get them to listen.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Miss Finster puts up a sign declaring the monkey bars to be closed because of the heatwave as she doesn't want any of the children to suffer burn injuries. She even ordered a little girl, who previously burned her hands while trying to jump into the bars, to splash some water and head over to the nurse immediately.
- Zigzagged by King Bob. On the one hand, he forces his guards to carry his throne in spite of the heat and expects the gang to fan him when requested. On the other hand, when the gang tells him they can't fan him because they're trying to find the back-up valve, he deems their quest more important and gives them his blessing. However, this only puts more pressure for them.
- Shout-Out:
- Mikey wearing a potato chip bag on his head to look like Lawrence of Arabia.
- Gus has a dog resembling Bandit from Jonny Quest.
- Tempting Fate: Vince says, "At least we can count on those blades to keep spinning." Then the fan breaks down.
- Too Dumb to Live: Lawson does jumping jacks in front of the Recess gang, causing himself to overheat and get tired very quickly.
- Written-In Absence: According to Miss Grotke, Hank the janitor is out with heat frustration.
