Mrs. Howell is delighted, and Mr. Howell blows his stack, when she begins finding mysterious letters from a secret admirer under her pillow. In an effort to restore order, the Professor creates a lie detector, and the other Castaways keep watch to catch the unknown writer in the act.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- And You Were There: Mrs. Howell has a dream near the end of the episode, casting most of the people on the island in a Cinderella retelling. The Skipper is her Wicked Stepmother; the girls are her evil stepsisters. Gilligan is her fairy godfather and Mr. Howell is the prince.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: During the ball, Cinderella's ugly stepsisters try to interfere with her and the prince. Gilligan the fairy godfather enchants one of their skirts to rise.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Mr. Howell interrogates and yells at all the other men on the island for writing love notes to his wife. However, in retrospect, it's clearly part of the act.
- Forced Transformation: Gilligan the fairy godfather accidentally turns Cinderella into a donkey while trying to dress her for the ball with magic. He apologizes, saying he's new at this.
- Forced from Their Home: Mrs. Howell throws her husband out of their communal hut when he puts his foot in his mouth regarding her attractiveness and age. It doesn't last very long.
- Friendly Scheming: After putting his foot in his mouth by implying Mrs. Howell is the least likely of the women to have a secret admirer, Mr. Howell claims he thought that she might be bored and appreciate the amusement of the situation. It backfires when she fixes on his remark on her age.
- Glove Slap: While yelling at Gilligan about the letters, Mr. Howell smacks him with his glove. Gilligan, of course, doesn't get it and attempts to offer the glove back to him.
- Lie Detector: The Professor builds a lie detector out of — what else? — bamboo and coconuts and tests all the men to find out who sent Mrs. Howell a love letter. One of the gags is The Skipper passing until he says, "See? I always tell the truth", which sets it off. At the end of the episode, Gilligan is playing with it when Mary Ann comes in asking him what happened to a couple of coconut cream pies she made, and Gilligan denies seeing or taking them, which causes the lie detector to explode.Gilligan: Well, they were delicious.
- Marilyn Maneuver:
- Meaningful Echo: In the dream, Cinderella (Mrs. Howell) and the prince (Mr. Howell) have their budding romance disrupted by the stroke of twelve, but Cinderella tells the prince that if he hurries, he can kiss her for a few more strokes of the clock before she has to run. When Mrs. Howell wakes up, she finds Mr. Howell next to her, having come to check on her when she started making noise. She keeps him from leaving. Then the clock starts going off. They repeat the dialogue, emphasizing their reconciliation.
- Rocky Roll Call: When the Castaways catch the "secret admirer", Mr. Howell, sneaking another note in, the Professor, the Skipper, Gilligan, Ginger, and Mary Ann say "Mr. Howell?!" and Mrs. Howell says "Thurston!"
- Secret Other Family: Upon being asked if she ever had a secret admirer, Ginger quips that she once had an admirer who had a secret: he already had a wife and multiple children.
- Seduction-Proof Marriage: Inverted. When Mr. Howell questions him about the letters, the Professor declares that he isn't a "seething volcano", at least concerning an already-married woman.
- Series Continuity Error: At the end, Gilligan is playing with the Professor's lie detector, and his saying "I like spinach" causes it to go off. However, in "Pass the Vegetables, Please", spinach is Gilligan's favorite vegetable.
