Both episodes deal with D.W. eating a green potato chip.
Both episodes contain examples of:
- Intergenerational Friendship: Binky must be roughly twice as old as D.W., yet the two of them form an unlikely friendship as they bond over both eating a "poisonous" green potato chip.
- Urban Legends: The two-parter revolves around the myth that green potato chips are poisonous—which Arthur and Buster know isn't true when they prank D.W. with it. As the "A Word from Us Kids" segment states, green potato chips actually do contain a toxic chemical as a result of the potato being exposed to the sun while it grew, but not enough of it that any human would notice: you'd get a stomachache from overeating long before you ever consumed enough green potato chips to cause any harm.
The Chips are Down
- Bucket List: D.W. and Binky both think they're going to die after eating a green potato chip each, so they start hanging out and trying to have as many interesting experiences as they can before then, like flying a kite higher than anyone ever has. Binky's commentary on it inspires Principal Haney to leave to fulfill his lifelong dream of climbing Mt. Everest.Haney: I'm not going to be a life fritterer-awayerer.
- Oh, Crap!: Binky has this look in his eyes when D.W. shares what she knows about green potato chips: that eating them isn't fatal. Meaning he was about to go out and ballet in tights for nothing.
- Pet the Dog: When Binky nearly chickens out on doing his ballet routine in front of an audience, Molly and Rattles reveal they're actually disappointed they couldn't see him dance. They thought he was actually good.
- This Is Reality: Discussed. When looking over Binky's bucket list, Brain points out that he can't "take a bite out of the sun" because he'll burn before even the first bite. And he can't "drink the whole ocean" because the saltiness alone will make him sick. This is what narrows down Binky's bucket list to one thing he's always wanted to do before he dies: take ballet lessons.
- What You Are in the Dark: Between D.W. and Binky, their mutual belief that eating green potato chips are fatal prompts each to treat every day as if it's their last.
Revenge of the Chip
- Bait-and-Switch: When everyone goes to watch a taping of a You Do The Most Embarrassing Things at Wonder World at the end, the announcer starts introducing someone who ate a green potato chip and thought it was fatal, and D.W. gives an Oh, Crap! look as she thinks she'll be called down to the stage... except the announcer was actually introducing Binky, who was surprisingly proud to appear on the show and present his new ballet with the Tough Customers: "Don't Eat the Green Ones!"
- Death Glare: Binky tells D.W. that he just stares at people if they do something he doesn't like and they stop. At the show, the audience laughs when Binky says he thought he was gonna die from eating a green chip. He glared at them, and sure enough, they stop laughing.
- Motor Mouth: D.W. realizes that her own mother Jane has been indulging the green potato chip story and plans to send copies of it to relatives, speaking to someone on the phone with it. When she begins listing off the relatives, D.W. imagines Jane's head turning into a pair of giant cartoonish talking lips that babble the names faster and faster until D.W. cries for her to stop.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: D.W. thinks this will happen to her as she grows up. She has an Imagine Spot where she is the President of the United States giving a press conference, and Francine is a reporter that can't resist bringing up the green potato chip incident...Francine: But, Mrs. President, I have one question... (holds up potato chip bag) Would you like a potato chip?! I checked for green ones! (she and the other reporters laugh)
- Parents as People: Jane admits to D.W. that it was wrong of her to indulge the Potato Chip story for entertainment if it embarrasses her daughter so much. Even though she promises not to tell the story, she does break her promise when she tells Mrs. McGrady (though to be fair, Mrs. McGrady was the one who brought it up and Jane was requesting that she not mention it to D.W.). It takes seeing her daughter run off in humiliation to realize that she needs to make good on her promise, and should anyone bring it up, it falls on her to just not mention it for her daughter's sake.
- Reading Lips: D.W. is able to do this; when she keeps spying on Arthur and Buster, the latter always foiling her plan with a cheery "Hello, D.W.!" At one point she peers through Arthur's binoculars from the treehouse into the window for Arthur's room, noting that they must have their faces intentionally turned away so she can't read their lips. But then Buster turns to the window to say something, and D.W. reads his lips out loud and deciphers it as "Hello, D.W."
