During a normal day of class, Zim is kidnapped by a weird alien. We learn that he is an Irken named Sizz-Lorr, and it's revealed that Zim was banished to a planet called Foodcourtia, where (as the name implies) he was forced to be a Burger Fool for the rest of his life under Sizz-Lorr. But he escaped once he caught wind of Operation Impending Doom 2. Now Sizz-Lorr will make sure that Zim fulfills his sentence while Zim tries to escape before the Great Foodening begins, and the gravity of all the food prepared traps him for twenty years.
Tropes
- Big Eater: Eric the Blob Guy. He apparently visits the restaurant every day, and apparently has a big appetite, preferring to eat things whole instead of chewing. Which is great news for Zim (see Trojan Horse below).
- Briar Patching: Zim asked to be sent to the kitchen so he could sneak out inside the food. He convinced Sizz-Lorr by saying that his pain and suffering would be worse there.
- The Cameo: The Resisty members can be seen eating in the restaurant.
- Cardboard Prison: Zim was supposed to remain in the restaurant for the rest of his life, but was able to simply walk out the door the moment he heard about Operation Impending Doom 2. Averted the second time since Sizz-Lorr actually put a BioSignature scanner so if Zim tries to escape, he will explode.
- Comically Missing the Point: Zim doesn't seem to understand that his involvement in Operation Impending Doom was a disaster, and is even proud of all the destruction that he created, even when that destruction was on his own planet.Zim: I blew up more than any other Invader!Tallest Red: You BLEW UP all the other Invaders!
- Dramatic Unmask: Parodied. Sizz-Lorr started unmasking to an increasingly scared Zim, but when he takes his mask off, Zim loses all fear and seems just confused. It isn't until Sizz-Lorr put on his cooking hat that Zim recognizes him and screams in terror. It should be noted that by this point he has already put on his apron, with a nametag on it.
- Dumbass Has a Point:
- Even if Zim was not allowed to leave Foodcourtia, and even though his mission is fake, it still was assigned directly by the Tallest, and they would probably prefer Zim on Earth, rather than messing with any of their important planets.
- When Sizz-Lorr states he was trapped on Foodcourtia for twenty years during the Foodening, Zim is understandably confused as he mentions he hasn't been gone that long. Sizz-Lorr vaguely states a time warp was involved but doesn't elaborate.
- Enraged by Idiocy: Dib shows he has had just about enough of everyone else's blissful ignorance of the fact Zim is clearly an alien. The episode opens with him trying to convince everyone again, only to immediately start shouting over how obvious it is. When they once again ignore blatant evidence, with Zim experimenting on one of the other students in broad daylight, claiming Zim isn't an alien because he says he "likes wearing pants" and "aliens don't like wearing pants", Dib suffers a temporary mental breakdown and jumps around the classroom twitching and babbling insanely... before quickly regaining his composure and happily trying another way.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Zim have one when he discover how he can actually escape the restaurant, although it took him a moment to figure it out.
- Goofy Suit: Sizz-Lorr forces Zim to use one to fill customers with joy. He fills it with hot grease because, according to Sizz-Lorr, makes him dance better.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: Sizz-Lorr and Zim get in some really entertaining competitions of who can eat more scenery.
- Lampshade Hanging: Two in a row: in Zim's flashback we see him escaping and Sizz-Lorr pledging to catch him. When Sizz-Lorr asks how Zim remembers what he said after he left, Zim shrugs it off. Then Sizz-Lorr explains that after Zim escaped, he was trapped for twenty years serving during the Foodening. When Zim points he hadn't escaped that long ago, Sizz-Lorr says there is a time warp thing involved, only to shrug it off as well.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Zim was banished to Foodcourtia for accidentally sabotaging Operation Impending Doom. It turns out that Sizz-Lor, the one in charge of Zim's punishment, has been hunting Zim down since he escaped, and is now hell-bent on dragging him back. Luckily, Zim escapes once more before the next Foodening.
- Nice Guy: Eric the Blob Guy, he asks Zim what's wrong when he sees how sad he is and after Zim tells him how he is being held prisoner in the restaurant Eric secretly gives him some advice on how to escape.
- Offscreen Inertia: Apparently, Dib and GIR had been talking with the Tallest for some days when Zim came back.
- Race Against the Clock: Zim only has one week before the Foodening starts, and he will be trapped on the planet for 20 years.
- Remember the New Guy?: When Dib comments on Zim insulting them and calling his classmates, Dib says they are not pigs. Apparently there has always been a Pig Boy in class who took offense on that.
- Running Gag:
- There is an alien that always points to something bad happening and seems to be the one actually paying attention to Zim's mishaps.
- Even Red and Purple comment on how large Dib's head allegedly is.
- Say My Name: When Zim finally recognizes Sizz-Lorr, he proceeded to yell his name in fear.
- Shout-Out: Sizz-Lorr's name is a reference to restaurant chain Sizzler.
- Skewed Priorities: Sizz-Lorr explicitly points out that Zim nearly annihilated their entire civilization.Zim: Am I the only one who is impressed by that?
- Trojan Horse: Zim hides inside Eric's food so he would eat him and be able to escape without the door recognizing his BioSignature.
- Weirdness Censor: Much to Dib's annoyance, not a single person in class reacts to Sizz-Lorr breaking in and violently abducting Zim "BACK INTO OUTER SPACE!" They instead focus on the bird poop that landed on Dib's jacket.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Apparently, due to a time warp thing and the intense gravitational pull from all the snacking, Foodcourtia not only becomes inescapable during the Foodening but experiences the passage of twenty years faster than the rest of the universe.
- Which, while exaggerated for comedy, is actually Truth in Television; increased gravity does cause time dilation effects comparable to traveling near the speed of light. If the gravity was so strong that nobody could leave, it would've also caused time to move slower for the planet relative to the rest of the universe.
