Pie Hard
The Greens visit Patti's Diner at Downtown Smalton, whose owner claims to make the best blueberry pie. This makes Alice jealous and challenges Patti to a pie-off to compete for Tilly's love. Meanwhile, Cricket wants to have a "usual", while Remy looks for souvenirs for Vasquez.
"Pie Hard" contains examples of:
- Bottle Episode: With the exception of the opening scene, the majority of the episode is set inside the diner the Greens and Remy visit.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: While looking for a gift for Vasquez, Remy imagines what his reaction would be."This keychain is perfect for holding my keys."
"This mug is perfect for holding liquids."
"This pen is perfect for protecting you from intruders." [makes stabbing motions with pen while grunting] - Cooking Duel: Gramma challenges Patti to a pie-off to see which pie Tilly likes best.
- Evil Laugh: Bill closes the episode with one, given that now that Cricket has gotten a taste of his medicine once Gramma refuses to serve him pie until he finishes his meat-wich.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: When Remy slips and drops all his souvenirs on Patti's pie, Alice tosses aside her own pie to jump over the pie and keep it from getting crushed.
- Green Around the Gills: Bill's cheeks turn a sickly green as a result of eating the liverwurst sandwich.
- I Warned You: Bill said this to Cricket at the end when he realizes his usual keeps coming in and Gramma won't let him eat the pie until he's done.Bill: I tried to tell you, son; having a usual is a prison with no escape! And now, we're in it TOGETHER! (cue Evil Laugh)
- Oh, Crap!:
- Gramma has this reaction when she realizes Patti's pie tastes even better than her own, meaning in her words, Tilly will consider Patti her favorite baker now.
- Cricket gets an epic one near the end when he is denied a slice of the pie until he finishes his meat-wich, resulting in him experiencing the same pain as Bill's for having a usual.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Cricket delivers this to Wayne when he orders a second meat-wich.Cricket: Aka, MY. USUAL!
- Your Favorite: Bill gets "the usual" from Patti, an open liverwurst sandwich. He actually hates it, but since it was the first thing he ordered they assumed it was his favorite. Cricket likes the idea of having a usual order, despite Bill's warning that it's a trap for which there is no escape, and chooses the Meatwich. Unfortunately, he has difficulty with his server Wayne, who is new and has never met Cricket, and even if he wasn't, he wouldn't have known his usual since Cricket made it his usual just now.
Rat Tail
Cricket gets a new look — a rat tail. While everyone else likes it, Nancy hates it, but can't bring herself to tell him because she doesn't want to end up like her father, so she tries to get Cricket to cut it off instead. Meanwhile, Alice discovers that Remy is a knitting prodigy, and thinks he's the one who can accomplish the impossible: The Perfect Glove.
"Rat Tail" contains examples of:
- Any Last Words?: Nancy says this to the rattail prior to attempting to cut it; ironically, this in turn leads to the tail's bell ringing which in turn wakes up Cricket.
- Big "OMG!": When Cricket unveils his rattail, this is the family's reaction, each one doing one word, and Nancy mangling hers to show her disgust.Bill: Oh...
Tilly: my...
Nancy: Guh! - "Eureka!" Moment: Gramma saying "I thought you might be the one," causes Remy to realize the error behind trying to knit the perfect glove for her, managing to produce it when she couldn't, officially earning his own knitting needles.
- Four-Fingered Hands: Lampshaded when Alice talks about how she always makes gloves with five fingers.
- Here We Go Again!: After talking to Nancy, Cricket decides to cut off the rattail after all... and then puts on a mullet wig. This time, Nancy doesn't hesitate to tell him she hates it.
- Honesty Aesop: Nancy dislikes Cricket's rat tail, but she doesn't want to tell him she hates it in fear of becoming just like her father, who always criticized her, and goes out of her way to try and get rid of it. When she accidentally wakes Cricket up when attempting to cut the rat tail off herself, he chews her out for not being honest with him and even though there's something she dislikes about him, he's fine with that and will never dislike her. Nancy apologizes and the two make up, and Cricket makes her promise to be honest with him from then on.
- Match Cut: Nancy's flashback to her as a kid ends with her getting deeply upset over her father criticizing her wearing adult's jeans; when we crossfade back to her in the present, she is striking the same face as her child self in the same position as well.
- So Much for Stealth: Not wanting to upset her son, Nancy decides to cut the rattail herself while Cricket is asleep that night. She sneaks into his room with scissors and prepares to snip, but she accidentally rings the bell on the tail's end while trying to do so, which wakes up Cricket and catches her, and he promptly chews her out.
- Springtime for Hitler: Nancy's attempts to get Cricket to ditch the rattail backfire. First, she takes him to a barber, hoping he will hate it and cut it off; instead, the barber loves it and calls everyone in town to look at the boy "with the hair of an angel." Next, she uses Subliminal Advertising using a thread of yarn to plant the idea of cutting the rattail in his head; instead, Cricket gets the idea to make it longer with yarn and add a bell at the end.
- Take a Third Option: Nancy hates Cricket's new rat tail but is afraid of telling him because she doesn't want to end up like her criticizing father. Bill tells her that she has only two options: either tell Cricket the truth or learn to live with it. Unwilling to do either, Nancy plots to have Cricket get rid of it, but in the end, she realizes that it was the wrong thing to do.Bill: The way I see it, you've got two choices: tell Cricket how you really feel... [Nancy grumbles] ...or learn to live with it. [Nancy grumbles harder and stomps her feet] Sorry, Nance. It's one or the other. Good luck!
Nancy: Unless... there's a third way. [Evil Laugh]
Bill: There's no third way!
Nancy: We'll see. - Title Drop: Rat Tail is the name of Cricket’s new hairstyle.
- Turning Into Your Parent: Nancy's excuse for not being honest with Cricket is because her father never approved of anything she did and she grew to resent him. She doesn't want Cricket to hate her the way she hates her father. In the end, however, Cricket tells Nancy that no matter what she says, she wouldn't make him stop loving her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Cricket is obviously upset when he catches Nancy trying to cut his rattail without telling him.
