Daily excercise can keep even the most seasoned of folks fit and healthy. Just don't strain yourself.
Elder Kettle worries about his age after overhearing a conversation between Cuphead and Mugman. He soon tries his best to improving his life when he thinks they'll send him away to retire.Or worse.
- *Crack!* "Ow, My Back!": At one point, Elder Kettle tried to yell out he was still hip, right when a crack was heard and he yelled out he hurt his hip.
- Double-Meaning Title: The term "dirt nap" is slang for burying a dead body (i.e., what Elder Kettle thinks the boys are going to do to him), but it also refers to the literal nap in dirt the earthworm needed to become healthy again.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The audience doesn't see Elder Kettle after he falls into his own spiked pit. But the boys do wince and Cuphead casually suggests they should bury him in the backyard.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Elder Kettle booby traps the living room in an attempt to stop the cups from killing him. Instead, he ends up getting hurt by each and every one, capped off with a Piano Drop.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: Elder Kettle dons a military uniform and booby traps the house when he believes Cuphead and Mugman are going to kill him.
- Low Clearance: Early on, Elder Kettle avoids hitting his head on a low hanging lamp at the top of the stairs. As he gets more and more distressed, however, he keeps hitting his head on the lamp.
- Never Say "Die": The words "kill" aren't spoken by Cuphead or Mugman until Elder Kettle says so.
- Not Quite Dead: As soon as the earthworm is buried, it springs back to life, as all it needed was some refreshing dirt.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: The plot gets started when Elder Kettle overhears the cups talking about their pet earthworm and thinking they're talking about him. It starts out as them talking about how he's not as youthful as he used to be, then about how they might have to "take him out of his misery", and finally, burying him in the backyard.
- Ow, My Body Part!: Offscreen, Elder Kettle shouts "Ow my leg!" when he got caught in one of his own traps.*Another offscreen explosion*Elder Kettle: Ow! My other leg!
- Piano Drop: After Kettle was shot by arrows and blown up with his own traps, his trauma is finally finished up with a piano dropping on him. All played for slapstick.
- Spikes of Doom: One of the traps Elder Kettle lays out is a spiked pit in the living room which he covers with leaves. He accidentally falls into it at the end of the episode.
- Unexpectedly Dark Episode: Compared to episodes before and after it, this is a very dark-humor filled episode, as Elder Kettle's Out-of-Context Eavesdropping gets more and more suggestive of the boys hating him, and Elder Kettle gets increasingly wary of them because of it. It goes from insulting Elder Kettle's sheen, mocking his strength, and then the two planning to "put him down" and bury him in the back yard because of his age. The episode even ends on a Gainax Ending where Elder Kettle falls into a spike trap he set up, and Cuphead and Mugman opt to get a shovel to bury him. Bear in mind, this show is aimed at young kids!
