Elliott Decker believes the world would be better off without Milo. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he gets his wish.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Actor Allusion: Elliott tries to dress Bradley (voiced by Vincent Martella) up as Milo.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Elliott wishes for a world without Milo, thinking that'd be safter. He ends up in a timeline when Milo was never born, but finds it too quiet and safe.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Elliott realizes that without Milo to thwart, everyone is safe, too safe, and there's no reason for a safety czar.
- Everyone Has Standards: The kids (including Bradley) are horrified at Elliott stating that the world would be safe if Milo never existed. They (sans Melissa and Zack) may avoid Milo due to Murphy's Law but they would never wish that.
- For Want Of A Nail: Naturally, Milo's absence causes things to be radically different, but it also results in a lot of logical conundrums:
- Zack and Melissa never became friends because Milo was their common link. They do know each other from science class, though.
- Milo not existing (somehow) leads to a timeline where squirrels can talk.
- Gainax Ending: Milo is returned to the present, but there are several of him.
- It's a Wonderful Plot: Elliott sees a world where Milo was never born. And it is lampshaded beautifully by a talking squirrel, Elliott, Cavendish and Dakota.
- Moral Event Horizon: Many people believe Elliot crossed this when he not only wished for Milo- a CHILD, mind you- to never be born, he has a whole song singing about what a great world it would be if that actually happened!
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Dakota accidentally erased Milo from existence by causing a blip in the space-time continuum.
- Ret-Gone: Milo is for most of the episode, thanks to Dakota.
- Ripple-Proof Memory: Because his stop sign is lined with lead, Elliott is the only person who remembers Milo. Dakota and Cavendish do because they are time travelers.
- Signs of Disrepair:
- The sign outside Jefferson County Middle School reads "IT'S SAFETY WEEK! NEXT WEEK... NOT SO MUCH". Then a kid on a bike crashes into the sign, and several of the letters fall off, leaving "IT'S SAFE NOT!".
- In the timeline without Milo, the sign reads "MR. NOLAND DISCUSSES Venus de Milo", and ends up reading "NO MILO" when Elliott climbs down off of it.
- Talking Animal: A squirrel talks to Elliott when he bemoans the fact that nothing is exciting anymore without Milo. This gets him to freak out.
- Tap on the Head: Subverted. Elliott runs into a pole during his Freak Out and doesn't seem the worse for wear. Then he wakes up in bed and learns that he sustained a concussion.
- That Was Not a Dream: Although Elliott hopes that he was dreaming about Milo not existing, due to running into a pole and getting concussed, it really happened. His stop sign was in the exact same position he dropped it when he went unconscious.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Melissa and Zack are very quick to call Elliott out on cruelly stating that Milo should've never existed.
