No birthday party's better than getting so many tickets to get a T. rex rather than use a Kawaii photo booth.
Present TenseDuring Remy's birthday party at Snuggly Pete's, Cricket scrambles to get the ultimate gift but simultaneously keeps ditching Remy and missing out on the fun he had planned with him. Meanwhile, Tilly and Bill argue over their ways of seeing a whack-a-mole game.
"Present Tense" contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: Cricket manages to win the T. rex, but Remy doesn't care about it anymore because a) Cricket kept ditching him to win more tickets, and b) he only caused more trouble when bringing it to him.
- Animation Bump: A lot of the expressions by Cricket and Remy are four times as exaggerated as before. What's especially noticeable in one scene, Cricket's eyes get as big as his face when his head is lowered, something Season 1 didn't even have the power to design.
- Animesque: The purpose of the Kawaii photobooth is to add Japanese anime features to whoever is in the photos, such as Japanese characters, animal ears, and a Sudden Eye Color.
- Answer Cut: After Remy says, "Where could Cricket be?", the view cuts to the staff room where Cricket arrives to temporarily shut down the power.
- Artistic License – Animal Care: A giraffe can be seen inside of a gift wrap, but the animal would be suffocating if this was Real Life.
- Birthday Episode: For Remy.
- Bittersweet Ending: Remy's birthday is nearly ruined when Cricket constantly ditches him to win tickets and destroys his birthday cake, but Cricket makes up for it by doing everything Remy wants to do.
- Bottle Episode: This episode takes place at Snuggly Pete's with a bit of the exterior at the beginning of the episode.
- Break the Cutie: Remy is almost reduced to tears when Cricket keeps ditching him.
- The Cameo: The Bardekoff daughter is at Remy's party.
- Celebrity Paradox: Sprig from Amphibia is seen as a stuffed doll. However, in one episode of Amphibia, Cricket was also seen as a stuffed doll. It's enough to make your head explode.
- Disaster Dominoes: Cricket runs in to deliver the prize stuffed dinosaur he won, but then he slips in vomit and the toy falls on Remy's cake. What's more, the lit candles fly up to the ceiling and activate the sprinklers, soaking everyone.
- Feud Episode: Tilly and Bill's plot becomes this.
- Four Is Death: Remy's cake is brought out in party room #14. No guesses to what happens after Cricket comes.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: A claw machine at Snuggly Pete's contains stuffed animals of characters from other Disney Television Animation shows, featuring Rufus the Naked Mole Rat, Perry the Platypus (AKA Agent P), Bill Cipher, Wander, Star Butterfly, Sprig Plantar, and King.
- Freudian Slip: "Now what game will give us the most tickets? ...Uh, I mean fun?"
- Friend to All Living Things: Tilly's love for animals is overly exaggerated with the whack-a-mole game, as she absolutely refuses to play the game properly and instead resorts to praising the pop-up moles rather than whack them. She's livid when Bill whacks them, and calls him out for not giving them respect despite being vermin.
- Happy Birthday to You!: Sung at Remy's birthday.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In trying to win Remy a prize, Cricket keeps neglecting him, who only wants to spend time with his best friend. When Cricket finally wins it, he accidentally causes an accident trying to bring it to him, which further ruins Remy's party.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Cricket is so focused on trying to win tickets to get the T. rex for Remy that he completely keeps ditching him, to the point Remy breaks down in tears when he accidentally ruins his cake.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Alice hears a mother worried that her son hasn't come out of the jungle gym; upon hearing this, she has flashbacks to her army days and goes inside to rescue the child, declaring "no man left behind!"
- Not Now, Kiddo: Cricket comes to Tilly and asks for extra tickets, but she dismisses him over her feud with Bill over their opinions on moles.
- One-Steve Limit: The Snuggly Pete mascot performer is called Jimmy; previously we've meet a zoo guard named Jimmy in "Uncaged".
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "I don't have much time, but I think... I got... a plan!"
- Shout-Out:
- The brief shot of the claw machine shows prizes referencing other Disney Channel original shows.
- In the same shot with the claw machine game, one can briefly see a "Baby Fight" arcade game in the background, referencing a brief TV gag in Gravity Falls.
- Staggered Zoom: During Cricket's Punctuated! For! Emphasis! as stated above.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Cricket accidentally starts a fire in the party room and the sprinklers frighten Remy's guests away, they are not seen again for the rest of the episode.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Tilly falls in love with the moles in the Whack-a-Mole game, and is horrified to learn that you have to whack them to play the game. To Bill, moles are a farmer's worst enemy, and takes sadistic glee in hitting them; this leads to an argument with Tilly.
- Win Him a Prize: Cricket tries to win Remy a stuffed T. rex that is worth one thousand tickets.
The uh-oh technique? That's crazy talk!
Hurt BikeAfter almost getting in a dirt bike accident, Cricket becomes dystychiphobic and resorts to sheltering himself indoors.
"Hurt Bike" contains examples of:
- Aesop Amnesia: Cricket has somehow forgotten not to be impulsive since "Cheap Snake", as after his accident, he begins to freak out when he finds himself thinking before doing.
- Face Your Fears: What Cricket had to do near the end.
- Four Is Death: Cricket's dirt bike is numbered 94. Guess what happens!
- Gone Horribly Right: Bill tries to teach Cricket to be more cautious, and Cricket ends up becoming a shut-in.
- I Think You Broke Him: Nancy tells Bill that they broke Cricket.
- Made of Explodium: The dirt bike explodes after Cricket makes the jump.
- My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: When Cricket is about to crash, this happens.
- Near-Death Experience: Cricket crashes the dirt bike into a wall trying to jump a ramp, and the bike then gets run over by a truck. Realizing he nearly died, Cricket becomes terrified of getting in accidents.
- One-Episode Fear: Cricket's fear of getting in accidents which lasts this episode only.
- Reflective Eyes: When Tilly is dropping an egg showing Cricket's life is like one which breaks, the egg reflects into his eyes.
- Safety Worst: Cricket gets so freaked out about getting hurt he covers himself and the whole house in bubble wrap.
- Series Continuity Error: After almost having his accident, Cricket freaks out when he begins to think before doing things; however, he learned that lesson back in "Cheap Snake" and was totally cool with it.
- Shout-Out: After clearing the ramp at the end, Cricket does the bike stop from AKIRA.
- Status Quo Is God: In the end Cricket gets over his fear, but Nancy decides he's better off without a dirt bike.
