In this flashback episode, the bear cubs lose their "home" (a cardboard box) and discover a warehouse full of them, but tensions rise between Grizz and Panda (and
Ice Bear) as they fight over how to build their new "home".
Tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion / Pragmatic Adaptation: The episode starts with an adaptation of the (current) last page
◊ of the Three Bare Bears webcomic. Among the differences are that the drifter doesn't look as homeless as he did in the comic, Ice Bear doesn't talk, Grizz and Panda are somewhat more aggressive towards the drifter, and we learn that the drifter stole the bear's box the next day while they were asleep. - Badass Adorable: Ice Bear as a cub is still a badass yet 200% more adorable.
- Bamboo Technology: Ice Bear builds a cannon out of boxes that shoots boxes.
- Chekhov's Gun: The conveyor belt is briefly introduced in the montage of the bears playing in the boxes, at one point separating them as they slide down.
- Creepy Child: Ice Bear as a cub shows some disturbing behavior, such as wearing a bull skull on his head (to keep the heat from hitting him) and knowing how to make an axe out of cardboard.
- Desert Skull: Ice Bear puts one on while walking through the desert.
- Dissonant Serenity: Grizz is way too cheerful, even as a cub, when he tells Panda that they are still in the desert.
- Distant Duet: Grizz and Panda have a duet together. Ice Bear doesn't sing due to obvious reasons but his brothers were singing to him as well.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The bears ultimately get a new box to replace the one they lost, and continue on their goal towards Paris. Plus, they aren't in the desert anymore.
- Foregone Conclusion: We learn that, when they were cubs, the bears were trying to go to Paris. A later episode reveals that Griz doesn't know what Paris looks like, while Panda and Ice Bear have more generic visions of it.
- In Medias Res: Of a sort. We never learn why the bears were in the middle of the desert at the start of the episode. The closest we get is the reveal that they're trying to get to Paris.
- Kids Prefer Boxes: Even when they're bear cubs.
- Mood Whiplash: The box fortress battle ultimately gets cut off due to the automatic lights in the warehouse going out, which leads into Grizz and Panda's Distant Duet.
- Grizz and Ice Bear going to apologize to Panda is interrupted by a worker coming in and turning on the conveyor belt, kickstarting the tense climax.
- Mundane Made Awesome: The bear cubs showing off their box fortresses, complete with "furnishings".
- Mythology Gag: The scene where the bears are in their box on the side of a desert road with a hitchhiker across from them references and bears many similarities to this page◊ from the The Three Bare Bears webcomic. The comparison.◊
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In exchange for his granola bars, the bears let the drifter sleep in their box for the night. In return, the drifter stole the box while they were still asleep.
- Shout-Out:
- The entire climax involving rescuing Panda from a box on a conveyor belt is very similar to the airport luggage scene from Toy Story 2.
- One of the items Ice Bear pulls out of a box is a Fozzie Bear-like stuffed animal. Ice Bear promptly tears its head off.
- The musical number seems pretty similar to "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail.
- Single Tear:
- Ice Bear does this twice. The first time is when he and his brothers see all the boxes in the warehouse and the second time is during the musical portion when he misses his brothers.
- Parodied when Grizz does one when looking through his box telescope at another box, calling it beautiful.
- Spanner in the Works: As Grizz and Ice Bear are making their way over to Panda to apologize, a worker inevitably comes in to start working, which kickstarts the climax.
- The Voiceless: Ice Bear doesn't speak in this episode. To let Grizz know he's sorry, he uses a "Big Mouth Billy Bass"-like singing fish.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Obviously.
