On a family trip to Lake Nose, Phineas and Ferb build an underwater station so they can see the fabled Lake Nose Monster. Meanwhile, Candace tries to manage a lifeguard position, while Dr. Doofenshmirtz removes zinc from the lake, but can't figure out what to do with it.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: Parodied with Ferb's speech on protecting Nosey, which is immediately dismissed as boring and ignored.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite everything Candace has seen, she still denies the existence of Nosey. Parodied with the head lifeguard Captain Webber, who believes that swimming cramps don't exist.
- Art Shift: Beginning with this episode, Candace's nose is changed from a black outline to a brown outline.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- When Agent P enters his lair, his log goes through a dark tunnel, with many foreboding and monstrous shadows in the dark, but then... See It's a Small Ride.
- Candace seems to tell a couple of kids, carrying drinking glasses in the lake, not to drink the lake water. But then the camera cuts to a long shot revealing a grown man using a drinking straw to suck the water.Candace: That goes for your children, too, sir!
- Beach Episode: Candace's plotline serves as this, as she starts a new job as a lifeguard with Jeremy.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: After Candace saves Captain Webber, she uses his "Okay!" and snapping fingers, causing her and Jeremy to laugh. Apparently, Captain Webber is unaware he has this Verbal Tic as he reacts by saying, "Don't get it."
- Brick Joke: Doof makes a long list of the good uses for zinc, and a shorter one for the evil uses. The only ones are "some evil zinc ray inator or something" and below it, he wrote "big laundry", but doesn't remember why. During the stinger, after he curses Perry, he decides to figure out what it means, but then realizes today is Tuesday.
- Call-Back: Candace identifies most of the fake photos of the Lake Nose Monster as driftwood, but one of them she identifies as a "rhesus monkey wearing a powdered wig".
- Circling Monologue: Lawrence says, "There's no such thing as lots of things, and there's such a thing as many other things. Is Nosey such a thing? Well, you see, that's the thing, isn't it?" Lampshaded by Candace:Candace: Dad, is this one of those cultural things again? Because I'm not even sure they know what the heck you're talking about in England.
- Continuity Nod: Candace rolls her eyes when Captain Webber compares the Lake Nose monster to tall tales like Bigfoot or "that face on Mars". She would know about the face on Mars, because she was there.
- Crying Wolf: Candace suffers this during her tenure as lifeguard, as she flips out over what appears to be Nosey, but turns out to be a normal, run-of-the-mill event such as driftwood and Buford and Baljeet in disguise. By the time she actually sees Nosey, nobody believes her and she gets fired.
- Don't Eat and Swim: Much like whether Nosey really exists, Captain Webber believes that getting cramps after you eat when you swim is a hoax, mostly so the lake can sell "Kid With A Cramp" snow globes. Unfortunately, when he goes out in the water after eating something, he gets a bad cramp just as Phineas, Ferb, and Lawrence are heading his direction in Nosebud.
- Evolving Credits: Starting with this episode, the closing images in the theme song, which were from the original pilot pitch, are replaced by images from first season episodes including: "Leave the Busting to Us!", "The Fast and the Phineas", "Rollercoaster", "Greece Lightning", "Out to Launch", "Flop Starz", "Mom's Birthday" and "S'Winter".
- Exact Words:
- When Phineas tells Candace they plan to find the monster, Candace angrily says that she specifically told them to not do that. Phineas counters that she actually specifically said to not humiliate her while doing it. And he then promises her they won’t.
- Phineas tries this by stating that a "vicious, man-eating monster" doesn't exist. Candace instantly calls him on it, asking if he has proof of a "non-ferocious, friendly lake monster".
- Fishing Episode: Phineas and Ferb's storyline serves this purpose.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Candace finds a camera with a bite mark taken out of it, and declares it evidence in favor of Nosey's existence. But on seeing her brothers' pleading faces, she decides to dispose of the evidence to keep Nosey a secret.Candace: (sigh) I'm gonna have to do the right thing here, aren't I?
- Good-Times Montage: "My Wettest Friend". The music for this song would be reused for similar sequences in future episodes.
- Hair-Trigger Sound Effect: Whenever Phineas says the word "zinc", a short dinging sound effect usually follows.
- Instant Costume Change: When Linda asks Lawrence to accompany Phineas and Ferb on their fishing expedition, he zips offscreen and zips back in his fishing gear.
- It's a Small Ride: Perry enters his secret lair through a new attraction called "Lair Entrance: The Ride," because a focus group of six-year-olds preferred it to Perry getting a bonus check. He rides a log through a slow river while animatronic animals sing about him getting a new mission. It even ends with signs saying "Aloha" and "Come back" as a reference to the exit of "it's a small world."
- Jackass Genie: Discussed by Doofenshmirtz as he rambles on.Doofenshmirtz: I wish I didn't eat the hot and spicy right after the honey glazed. Speaking of wishes, you know what I never understood? Genies. They tell you to wish for anything you want and then they add some terrible twist. Like you-you wish to jump high, so he turns you into a frog. What—? Why? Who gains from this? The genie? I— Where's the benefit? (to Perry) You should be fighting genies, man, not me. I'm not the problem. Genies. Genies are the problem.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Lawrence says, "Of all the lakes in the world, I'm glad we picked the Nose", while Phineas, Ferb, and Candace laugh, Linda just calls it "charming" as her smile droops to annoyance.
- Letting the Air out of the Band: When Ferb's Aesop gets ignored, the inspirational background music stops.
- Missing Steps Plan: Doof's evil plan for the zinc in the lake is missing everything except the first step (gather all the zinc in the lake).
- Overly Long Scream: The first time Candace thinks she sees the monster, she panics, screaming at everyone, including a duck, and into two megaphones.
- Prank Call: Buford somehow tricks Baljeet into crank calling Phineas and Ferb's submersible with the old "refrigerator running" routine (despite them not even having a fridge).
- Rambling Old Man Monologue: Lawrence's long-winded fishing story, which he continues telling even after not noticing that Phineas and Ferb had left.
- Red Herring: Lampshaded with a literal red herring that Phineas and Ferb follow.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Candace at first thinks that Phineas and Ferb are covering for Nosey to make her look bad but quickly realizes the actual reason is to protect Nosey soon after.
- Secret Identity: Turns out Nosey doesn't want to be discovered and destroys every source of proof of him.
- Shout-Out:
- "Nose... bud..." (Pretty much shot-for-shot, including the dropping of the snowglobe and the closeup on the lips.)
- "I said, 'John, it's great, I love the tune but the words. 'All you need is a Phillips head screwdriver
', it just doesn't really ring true, does it?" - Candace's fantasy sequence is a G-rated parody of Baywatch.
- Perry's lair entrance is a ride with animatronics almost similar to It's a Small World.
- Stock Ness Monster: The episode has Phineas and Ferb attempting to find the Lake Nose monster (or "Nosey" for short) and see whether or not it exists. Turns out they do find it, but it hates getting its pictures taken and just wants to be left alone; Phineas and Ferb end up keeping Nosey's existence a secret so that other people won't show up and bother it.
- Subverted Catchphrase:
- "Hey, Ferb, are you not saying what I'm thinking? Hey, where's Perry?"
- The first time Candace thinks she sees the monster, Captain Webber angrily snaps his fingers and says, "That was not okay."
- "Is it me, or is the Lake Nose Monster easier to find than Perry?"
- Tempting Fate: Candace is at first relieved the beach is empty, but then a huge crowd piles onto the beach. Then Jeremy comforts her in assuring he will be by her side, until Captain Webber assigns him to another part of the beach, overwhelming Candace even further.Beachgoer 1: Let's be unsafe!
Beachgoer 2: I'm gonna run with scissors!
Beachgoer 3: I brought some glass to the beach! - This Is No Time to Panic: Phineas attempts to tell Ferb to stay calm with no sudden movements when they see Nosey. But as they back away slowly, Nosey keeps inching closer to them.Phineas: Okay. Try panicking and making a lot of sudden movements.
- Toilet Teleportation: Perry escapes Doofenshmirtz's underwater vehicle by flushing himself down the toilet installed in the vehicle's bathroom. Later, Doofenshmirtz tries to do the same thing, but fails because he's too big to fit through.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Each time Candace thinks she sees the Lake Nose Monster, she has a massive freakout. However, when Nosey finally does appear in front of her...Candace: Well, look who finally decided to show up! (Nosey kisses her) Fine.
- Verbal Tic: Captain Webber's habit of snapping his fingers and saying, "Okay!"
- Visual Pun: Perry's watch announces "LOG IN", just as a log ride is sent his way to take him to his lair. When the ride is over, the computer announces "LOG OUT" just before Perry gets out of the log.
