Original air date: May 7, 2023
Written by: Thomas Reyes
Directed by: Karen Hydendahl
Directed by: Karen Hydendahl
When a seafood vending machine shows up in Lone Moose and drives down the price of fish, Beef, Londra, and Craig Ptarmigan team up to stop the vending machine from taking their jobs away. Judy and Kima become junior members of Ester's all-women's smokejumper crew but are disappointed that they're having them do their chores.
Tropes:
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: The bosses of Fish in a Barrel are shown to not care their vending machines are lowering the price of fish, they ignore Beef, Londra, and Craig's complaint and aren't listening to what they're saying, they're sexist towards Londra, and it's later revealed their real business is conducting illegal off-shore weapon deals and bootleg breakfast cereals.
- Couch Gag:
- The boat in the opening says "3:10 to Tuna"
- Wolf's T-Shirt says "Paul Fart Mall Cop".
- Dawson Casting / Hollywood Old: Parodied using an in-universe example. The smokejumpers watch a TV drama where Ron Perlman portrays the son of a character played by Steve Buscemi, even though Perlman is actually a few years Buscemi's senior. It's pointed out that it doesn't make sense, but that the two make it work.
- Deus ex Machina: Just after Beef is able to convince the people of Lone Moose to support their local fishermen, ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) agents, along with Mayor Peppers and Counselman Roy and Toby, arrive on the scene to take away the vending machine. Counselman Roy reveals Fish in a Barrel is just a cover for their actual business: conducting illegal off-shore weapon deals and bootleg breakfast cereals while at sea. With this revelation, Beef and other fishermen no longer have to worry about seafood vending machine ruining their jobs.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: To show they won't work for Fish in a Barrel, Beef tries to flip their meeting table but one of the bosses tells him the table is screwed down to the floor. When Londra and Craig try to help Beef flip the table, they're still unable to do it and the Fish in a Barrel bosses just finds it funny.
- Foreshadowing: When Beef, Londra, and Craig meet with the receptionist of Fish in a Barrel, the receptionist tells them they can take the elevator to see his bosses on fifth floor and tells them to not stop on any other floors for no reason. Near the end of the episode, it's revealed that the Fish in a Barrel was just a cover and the company has been secretly conducting illegal off-shore weapon deals, and also bootleg breakfast cereals, while at sea.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The yeti can be spotted walking on the ground while a bush plane flies across the screen before it cuts to the Fish in a Barrel company building.
- Man Versus Machine: Beef is against the Fish in a Barrel vending machines because they're driving down the price of fish, endangering his livelihood as a fisherman. After attempts to remove the vending machine and appeals to the company fail, Beef resigns himself and gets fish from the machine; that's when he discovers that the machine has mislabeled the fish, thus committing "fish fraud." In the end, the government shuts down Fish in a Barrel, but because they were a cover for more illicit activities.
- Nightmare Sequence: Beef has a dream that robots are fishing the ocean and he's working for them in a factory, where the workers aren't allowed to have bathroom breaks so they all wear diapers. Later, Beef occasionally references his dream, to the confusion of others.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Not only are the two bosses of Fish in a Barrel gleefully and ignorantly don't care about Beef's pleas, but they think Londra is a secretary and even when she corrects them they finds it hilarious that she's actually a real fisherwoman.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is a reference to There Will Be Blood.
- Show Within a Show: Judy and Kima keep mentioning a movie titled Branded by Fire starring Reese Witherspoon as a smokejumper. The trailer for the movie plays over the end credits.
- This Is Reality: The reality of spending time with the smokejumpers off the clock is more dull than Judy and Kima were hoping for after seeing Branded By Fire. They mostly just watch TV and eat until an actual wildfire breaks out. Subverted since the two are impressed by that part when seeing it for real.
♫ I thought my life was picture-perfect
But then I found out he was cheating
Got divorced, cut my hair short
Oh, I was so dam defeated
But then a sudden spark
I stepped up out of the dark
I quit my job as a Macy's buyer
Now I'm branded by fire
Where there's fire there's Smoke
The flames of determination
Have been stoked, have been stoked
I left my ex, picked up an axe
Traded my high hells in for flats
And now I'm branded by fire. ♫
But then I found out he was cheating
Got divorced, cut my hair short
Oh, I was so dam defeated
But then a sudden spark
I stepped up out of the dark
I quit my job as a Macy's buyer
Now I'm branded by fire
Where there's fire there's Smoke
The flames of determination
Have been stoked, have been stoked
I left my ex, picked up an axe
Traded my high hells in for flats
And now I'm branded by fire. ♫
—Branded By Fire
