Joe and the others have finally graduated from middle school. Meanwhile, a gas leak forces everyone to temporarily gather downtown, where they end up discussing their pasts and futures. Wishbone imagines himself in The Aeneid by Virgil.
This is the fourth episode to be based on a story from Classical Mythology. It follows "Homer Sweet Homer" (The Odyssey), "Hercules Unleashed" (Hercules and the golden apples), and "The Entrepawneur" (the King Midas story from The Metamorphoses).
This episode also features Amy Acker in an early role as the goddess Venus. She previously appeared as Priscilla Mullins in "A Bone of Contention" and as Catherine Morland in "Pup Fiction."
Tropes
- Adaptational Heroism: Aeneas is more honest with Dido about why he has to leave her in Carthage, in that the gods have sent him a message to depart and he would stay if he could. Aeneas was more of a Jerkass about it in the original source material, which led to Dido's suicide.
- Because Destiny Says So: Aeneas has to fulfill his destiny of founding what will eventually be The Roman Empire. Of course, this trope doesn't happen in the contemporary story, but the fact that Aeneas has a glorious future ahead of him is the thematic link between the two stories as the kids look forward to high school with anticipation of what they might achieve.
- Bowdlerize: The episode omits Dido's suicide, only showing Aeneas leaving her behind in Carthage.
- Cosmic Chess Game: The gods use a diorama of the Mediterranean to decide the fate of mortals. Jupiter and Venus use it to help and guide Aeneas to his destiny. Juno uses it to make his and the lives of his fellow Trojans as miserable as possible.
- Everyone Went to School Together: At one point, Ellen, David's parents, and Wanda reminisce about their high school years. They mention that Damont's dad went to high school with them too.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: After the Greeks come out of the Trojan Horse, Wishbone as Aeneas boldly declares that he will defend his city and rushes off to join the battle, but he keeps getting stuck in a doorway because his spear is too big.
- Fist Pump: After Aeneas meets his future descendants in Elysium and runs off inspired, Augustus is shown doing a fist pump.
- Freudian Excuse: Damont reveals that he has a bad home life due to being constantly compared to his accomplished older brother Larry. This is implied to be the reason for Damont's bad behavior throughout the run of the series.
- Grand Finale: This is the final episode of Wishbone. The kids graduate middle school, and Joe reconciles with his long-time enemy Damont. It's not the complete end for Wishbone since it is followed by a Finale Movie, and new spin-off books continued to be published for a while after that, but this is the end as far as regular episodes are concerned.
- I Was Having Such a Nice Dream:Venus: Aeneas, awake!
Wishbone as Aeneas: Huh? Five more minutes, Mom. I was having a really weird dream about a horse. [falls out of bed] Whoa! - Jerkass Gods: Juno makes life miserable for the Trojans because she can. (Apparently left out is the fact that she hated all Trojans because of Paris's preferring Venus over Juno and Minerva, but especially hated this particular group of Trojans because their descendants were destined to destroy her favorite city of Carthage, which was still being built at the time the story took place.)
- Misplaced Vegetation: Elysium has bluebonnets, a flower native to the southwestern United States. It's also the the state flower of Texas, which is where the show was filmed.
- Perspective Flip: On a somewhat meta level. Between this episode and "Homer Sweet Homer," Wishbone has fought on both sides of The Trojan War. In fact, this episode starts off with the Trojan Horse, which was designed by Odysseus, i.e. Wishbone's role in "Homer Sweet Homer," not to mention Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey. So apparently, one version of Wishbone drove another version of Wishbone out of Troy.
- Potty Emergency: After drinking too much water, Wishbone desperately needs to go outside to relieve himself. Sam misunderstands his problem:Sam: [offering him even more water] You must be really thirsty, Wishbone.
Wishbone: No! No, not thirsty! - Spared by the Adaptation:
- Dido doesn't commit suicide, as far as we know. This is because Aeneas is nicer here than in the original source, honestly telling her that the gods have ordered him to leave. He says that he would stay if he could and that Dido will always be in his heart. Their farewell is thus more civil if a Gut Punch for the viewers.
- Wishbone as Aeneas defeats Turnus in a series of silly contests rather than killing him.
- Staring Contest: The final contest between Aeneas and Turnus in this version.
- Sympathy for the Devil: After Damont explains his situation, Joe expresses sympathy and offers to help him out over the summer.
- Trojan Horse: The Trope Namer is explained by Wishbone's narration: "The Greek enemy came up with a pretty clever trick. They built a gigantic wooden horse and hid their soldiers inside it. Thinking the war was over, the Trojans wheeled the horse inside their city walls. In the early morning, as all of Troy slept, the horse opened up and boy were the Trojans in for a surprise!"
