Robbie is bothered when the rest of the family does not care about the environment as much as he does, but is really annoyed with Earl over it. When complaining that all Earl cares about is watching television, Earl defends it by saying that television can leave an important message. Meanwhile, WESAYSO gets listed in the newspaper as one of the top most wasteful companies, and Mr. Richfield wants Earl to bury waste in his backyard. That's when Earl gets intimidated by an alien, who is actually a robot built by Robbie to scare him into caring for the Earth. While it works in making Earl care for the environment, Robbie did not mean for it to make Earl quit his job.
Includes examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: When Earl forms his pro-environment group, he claims he will not stop until WESAYSO ceases their "putrid program of pollution". He then orders his fellow group members to write signs and songs around this.
- Comically Missing the Point: Richfield orders Earl and Roy into his office and then holds up the newspaper, with an article listing WESAYSO as the top wasteful company, and they do not grasp why they are there.
- Dramatic Irony: At one point after Earl quits, Robbie is concerned but Fran tells him it's not like it is his fault.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After Fran learns that Robbie tricked Earl into caring more for the environment, Fran tells him he can't just manipulate his father like some kind of puppet on television.
- Oh, Crap!: Robbie in two scenes. First, after he is informed by Charlene that their dad just quit his job, and the second after he accidentally blows his own cover as the alien speaking to Earl.
- Status Quo Is God: After finding out he was tricked, Earl begs Richfield for his job back.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Roy, who passed out when he saw the robot, says on TV: "I was frightened, but didn't pass out." And a few seconds later: "Some dinosaurs might've passed out at this point, but I did not."
- Take This Job and Shove It: After Earl's appearance on television, he is berated by Mr. Richfield for "badmouthing the company that keeps [him] alive". Before Richfield can fire Earl, the latter announces he quits his job at WESAYSO, further expressing his refusal to work for a company aiming to destroy the planet, spearheaded by the "twisted, sick and demented" Richfield, and claims he now answers to "a higher and wiser authority"—-Robbie's robot alien.
- That Came Out Wrong: As the "alien" tries to convince Earl to return to his job at WESAYSO:"Alien": I'm the one with the death ray, and I'm telling you to go back to work! Mom's been very upset lately, and—
Earl: "Mom"?
"Alien": Oh, by that, I mean, uh...Mother Earth. She cries out to you and all dinosaurs to--
{as Earl finds a cord attached to the "alien"}
"Alien": Don't touch that cord! Don't touch that cord because if you touch that cord, Mother Earth will be very upset--
{Earl unplugs the "alien") - The Un-Reveal: Robbie being the dinosaur behind the alien would've been a fair surprise...if there hadn't been a scene after Earl quits his job involving Robbie speaking into the voice modifier that creates his alien character's voice.
