Airdate: October 27, 2007
Theme: Dealing with loss
Character focus: Sarah
Shep recalls the day when Mosey, Sarah's beloved old cat she's had since she was a toddler, suddenly passes away, which disappoints her so much she refuses to ride, until Will helps her deal with her sadness.
This episode provides examples of:
- Absent Animal Companion: Despite Sarah adopting a piglet she names "Little Mosey" in honor of her cat, he is not seen again for the rest of the series.
- An Aesop: Some things can never come back, while some things start new.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Mosey dies midway through the episode, and Sarah adopts a newborn piglet in the ending scene which Sarah names "Little Mosey" to remember him.
- Dead Guy Junior: Sarah names the newborn baby piglet "Little Mosey" to remember her cat.
- Dead Hat Shot: All Sarah manages to find what remains of Mosey are his footprints slowly vanishing into the snow, presumably where he stopped before passing.
- Double Entendre: When Sarah cannot find the fatality injured Mosey after he disappears and finds his footprints vanishing into the snow, she says he’s “gone, and not coming back,” which means he cannot be found, while at the same time, though not seen, he’s passed away.
- Dramatic Irony: Sarah thinks Mosey has disappeared, unaware that he passed away.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The screen immediately fades to black just as Mosey was about to be hit by the passing car coming toward him.
- The Faceless: Dr. Martin’s face is never shown.
- Final Speech: Mosey gives one to Shep, Teeny and Angora in his final moments prior to leaving the barn.Mosey: Take care, sweet girl. And you too, Shep, I'll sure miss you. Bye, you two.
- Five Stages of Grief: Sarah goes through all five stages as she literally experiences grief over Mosey.
- Denial: After Mosey's accident, the doctor tells Sarah he doesn't have enough energy to live longer, but doesn't think so.
- Anger: Attempts to watch over Mosey night after night to see if he makes it.
- Bargaining: When Mosey leaves the barn while Sarah is asleep so she doesn't see the body, and she wakes up to find him missing, she spends all night trying to find him in the forest.
- Depression: The total loss of her cat upsets Sarah to the point she refuses to even ride Scarlet.
- Acceptance: Will helps Sarah deal with her grief, and the following spring, she becomes attached to the farm's new baby and names him "Little Mosey" in Mosey's honor, thus feeling better and ready to ride again.
- Flashback Within a Flashback: Shep begins the story by flashing back to Mosey in the barn, then it flashes back further to when he was a kitten in Sarah’s childhood.
- Foregone Conclusion: Mosey was already dead before the start of the show.
- Framing Device: The episode is told in flashback by Shep as he remembers Mosey's life from beginning to end.
- Heroic BSoD: Sarah goes through one throughout the third half of the episode, unable to ride following Mosey's death.
- Killed Offscreen: After Mosey gets hit, he takes a stroll outside, knowing the end of his life is nigh. When Sarah sees he's disappeared, she tries to find him in the snowstorm only to find his disappearing footprints, and becomes depressed that he's gone forever. Especially noticeable with Shep when he sees Sarah wake up and see Mosey has vanished, and he does absolutely nothing about it.
- Manly Tears: Shep sheds these as Mosey leaves the barn prior to his death.
- Never Say "Die": It is not said verbally that Mosey passed away, though Dr. Martin says he “won’t make it”, and when Sarah finds his disappearing footprints in the snow, she quips he’s "gone and not coming back".
- No Body Left Behind: What Mosey did in his final moments before his death. He left the barn while Sarah was still asleep, so she wouldn't see his dead body when she awoke. His body was never seen anywhere after his death.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Will becomes one to Sarah as he helps her deal with Mosey's loss.
- Say My Name: Sarah repeatedly shouts Mosey’s name as she tries to look for him in the forest.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Shep, Teeny and Angora stop talking and disappear during the scene where Sarah wakes up and sees Mosey missing, and they don't reappear until near the end of the episode save for Shep's narration.
- Snow Means Death: Mosey gets hit by a car and eventually passes away when the snowstorm hits.
- Tears of Remorse: Sarah sheds these throughout the episode, after Mosey gets fatally injured and when she finds out he’s passed away and gone forever.
- Time Skip: Near the end, the story skips from the winter where Sarah is depressed to the following spring, where Will helps cheer her up.
- Wham Line: Sarah's line, "He's gone, Scarlet, and he's not coming back." Not only "not coming back" as in missing, he's dead.
- Wham Shot: Mosey’s footprints in the snow, slowly fading and being covered up, presumably hinting toward the area he stopped at before he died.
- Unexpectedly Dark Episode: With Never Say "Die" playing a huge part in this.
- The Unreveal: Wherever Mosey stopped in the blizzard before he died was unknown. All we ever see was his footprints fading away.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The episode is a flashback to a winter presumably a year before the series that Shep reminisces over.
