Recap / Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends S1E1 "Busted"

Taking place not too long after the pilot movie, Mr. Herriman isn't taking any liking to Bloo not exactly following his rules for the house and tells the blob that if he doesn't tow the line, he'll be kicked out of the house. Which causes Bloo to become so emotionally unstable that it causes him to accidentally knock over and break Madame Foster's bust. And now he and his friends scramble to fix it before Mr Herriman finds out.

Tropes:

• Bait-and-Switch:
  • At first, we all thought that Mr. Herriman was going to punish Bloo by kicking him out of Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends after breaking Madame Foster's bust, but it turns out that he had backup busts made in case of an accident, which Mr. Herriman understood was what happened to the bust, so he gave Bloo a replacement bust to put in place of the previous one.
  • When the gang is walking in the hallway with the fake bust they made out of soap, they hear Mr. Herriman shouting when it appears that he has caught them, turns out he was actually talking to two imaginary friends who were throwing water balloons in the hallway.
• Bathroom Control: At the start of the episode, Bloo has to use the bathroom shortly after waking up, but Mr. Herriman won't let him until he makes his bed and brushes his teeth (he even gets on his case for forgetting to put the cap on the toothpaste container).
• Broken Treasure: Madame Foster's bust. Turns out it happens so often, Mr. Herriman has a closet full of replacements.
• Brick Joke: When Frankie tries to tell Herriman about the bust, just to call him out for stressing Bloo out with so many rules, she gets knocked out and shoved in a closet. This turns out to be the closet Herriman fills with spare busts. When Frankie wakes up at the very end of the episode, she knocks over every shelf, destroying them all for real.
• Call-Back: Mr. Herriman calls back to Madame Foster's deal for Mac and Bloo from the pilot movie in his threat to Bloo.
• The Dog Bites Back: In the end, Frankie gets back at Mr Herriman by attacking him with the broom she was given.
• Double Entendre: "This bust requires ample support."
• Faint in Shock: Poor Eduardo faints twice when their about to break the rules. Once when their about to use up all the toothpaste and again when they use all the toilet paper.
• Insane Troll Logic: After Bloo breaks Madam Foster's bust, he and Coco come to the logic that with him busting the bust being as worse as any other rule to break, he can break more house rules to cover up the rule that he busted.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: A frustrated Bloo claims no one else is following Mr Herriman's "crazy rules" — before Herriman shows him everyone else cleaning up after themselves.
• Milholland Relationship Moment: When Bloo breaks the bust of Madame Foster again, Mr. Herriman catches him in the act this time around and brings him to his office. But instead of punishing him, Mr Herriman hands him a replica to replace. As it turns out, these things get broken all the time and Herriman often has them replaced, with him having hundreds of replacement busts stored in his private closet in his office. So Bloo got all worked up over nothing.
• Mistaken for Flatulence: Madame Foster blows a raspberry at Mr. Herriman, causing the latter to mistakenly think Bloo cut loose. He gives Bloo a warning after the latter apologizes.
• Nobody Here but Us Statues: Madame Foster is willing to help Bloo by covering herself in white powder to stand in the bust's place. Despite her obviously being different (by definition, busts only portray a person's head and shoulders), it buys them some time.
• Noodle Incident: Mr. Herriman confiscated all the glue from Foster's ever since Pranky Hank glued One-Eyed Willy to the back of the bus on grocery day.
• Potty Emergency: Mr. Herriman prevents Bloo from going to the bathroom through forcing him to follow a series of increasingly inane rules. Bloo finally interrupts him: "GOTTA GO GOTTA GO GOTTA GO GOTTA GO GOTTA GO GOTTA GO!"
• Rage Breaking Point: Mr. Herriman continually adds a growing pile of tasks for Frankie to clean up on top of fixing all the toilet paper rolls in the house. It eventually reaches the point where she becomes incensed enough to tell him off when she finds out her troubles are being done by the Five out of fear of the consequences Bloo may suffer should Herriman find out he busted the bust. Once he gives her a final task of cleaning up the remaining broken busts, she snaps and chases him with a broom while he panickedly yells at her to stop running.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: For all his strictness with the rules, Mr. Herriman is established to be forgiving of honest accidents, since he doesn't punish Bloo for accidentally breaking the bust.
• The Stinger: The credits show Mac, Bloo, Wilt, Eduardo and Coco standing still in silence like they were in the Overly Long Gag in Act 1. However it shows other imaginary friends walking past them.
• Title Drop: "Oooooooohhhhhh!!! You are so busted!"
• Unlikely Spare: There's a whole closet full of Madame Foster's busts.

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