Determined to give them a better childhood than he had, Bob "fires" the kids for the summer. They end up unknowingly working on a pot farm owned by a hippie couple named Cooper and Beverly, while Mickey takes their place.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Mickey implies his father was one.
- Batman Gambit: Near the end of the episode, an undercover DEA agent who is posing as one of the "blueberry" customers shows up at the restaurant with one of the blueberry containers, saying that that batch of blueberries was bad so he either wants a replacement container or a refund when Tina (who's been the delivery girl) comes back and leaves the container at the restaurant. This allows Bob and Linda to discover that the kids are actually working on a pot farm when they find the bag of weed in the false bottom, which prompts them to go find Tina, Gene, and Louise to prevent them from getting into trouble. In turn, this lets the undercover DEA agent find out where the farm is, allowing the police and the DEA to arrest Cooper and Beverly and shut down the weed operation.
- Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Bob's father made him work all summer and was generally not good to him, so Bob tries to let the kids have more freedom.
- Busman's Holiday: Bob fires the kids so they won't have to spend their summer working. They eventually stumble upon a weed farm, get jobs there, and spend their summer working.
- Call-Back: Several references are made to "Bob Day Afternoon", primarily regarding the hostage situation and Mickey's prior arrest.
- Chekhov's Gunman: One of the hippie couple's customers for their "blueberry" business is actually an undercover DEA agent, who reveals his true identity after he and the police tail the Belchers to the farm so they can arrest Cooper and Beverly.
- Children Are Innocent: The kids never figure out they're working on a pot farm, even after the police arrive to arrest Cooper and Beverly.Louise: [after sharing with her class how she spent her summer vacation] And that's why I believe blueberries should be decriminalized.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Bob fires the kids, Tina assumes she's being kicked out of the house and rambles a goodbye before Bob clarifies that she can still come home at night.
- Companion Cube: Bob's "toys" he had were his friend Mr. Brilly (a scouring pad), his WWII fighter plane (a rusty spatula) and Mr. Doglovich (a dog-shaped soap). Fixing Mr. Doglovich and reminiscing his childhood causes Bob to realize he had a bad childhood and said toys were terrible.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: It’s mentioned that someone bought the restaurant of Bob’s father, who later appeared and was still running his diner. In addition, Bob's father Big Bob is voiced by H. Jon Benjamin instead of Bill Hader like he is in "Father of the Bob" or Eric Bauza in "Interview with a Pop-Pop-pire"—the former of which is ironic, given Hader already has a role in this episode (as Mickey).
- Epic Fail: When the kids attempt to have "Summer fun," it ends miserably for all three of them.
- Everybody Knew Already: The only person who didn't realize before that Bob had a terrible childhood was Bob himself.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Even Louise feels bad for Bob's crappy childhood.
- When Bob remarks that Louise would change the Burger of the Day to a diabetes-based pun, Mickey is horrified and remarks that diabetes isn't funny.
- Family Business: Cooper and Beverly have five kids who used to help them on the pot farm before moving out.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Bob attempts to defy it, but it fails because he never was one to begin with.
- Foreshadowing: When talking about his and Mickey's first meeting, Bob remarks that it's the only time he ever wants a SWAT team aiming guns near him. Guess what happens at the end of the episode?
- Going Commando: Apparently, Mickey doesn't wear underwear under the burger suit. He picked the habit up in prison, claiming underwear just gives the other inmates a method to choke you with.
- Happy Flashback: While fixing Mr. Doglavich, Bob thinks back to happier times when he was playing with his toys. The first two are him making his "dog" play fetch and motioning the rusty spatula like it was a fighter plane before his father orders him to get back to work. The last is him hugging the scouring pad before hearing kids outside the window. He sees kids with real friends, a boy playing with a real toy plane, and a boy with his real dog before his father orders him back to work. It ceases to be happy because Bob has realized not only were his not-actual-toys toys terrible, but he had a bad childhood.
- Heroic BSoD: When fixing one of his "toys", Bob thinks back to when he was a kid. His father was always demanding he get back to work as Bob plays with said "toys" while other kids were having fun with friends and real toys. Bob realizes he had a bad childhood and gets depressed.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: Bob's childhood "toys" were a dog-shaped soap, a scouring pad, and a rusty spatula. He tries to justify this saying "times were tough" and kids had to make their own fun. Looking back, he realizes no, he just had a bad childhood and couldn't make friends, play with actual toys everyone else got, or have an actual dog because his dad made him work all the time.
- Insane Troll Logic: Mickey decides to tunnel from the Belchers' basement to rob the bank again, thinking he can't be charged for it since he already tried to rob it. Bob points out that trying to rob it again means they will arrest him.
- Karma Houdini: Justified; the prosecutor who got Mickey sentenced to eight years in prison for armed robbery turned out to have been on high quantities of meth, resulting in a probable mistrial and Mickey going free (as well as the prosecutor himself going to jail).
- Like Father, Unlike Son: Bob realizes giving kids the childhood he never had wasn't working because he didn't raise them like his father raised him. Big Bob was strict and critical, not to mention kept Bob from making friends or leaving the restaurant. Bob is a more laid back parent who does value his kids and their happiness. At the same time, Bob was young and completely cut off from anyone to the point of having no friends and working non-stop with no fun, his kids are goofballs who have more freedom than him.
- Low-Speed Chase: At the end of the episode, Cooper and Beverly attempt to escape the DEA on a tandem bicycle. This results in them circling the Belchers on the bike as the cops block off all means of escape.
- Nap-Inducing Speak: Not even 10 seconds pass, but Bob talking about how he realizes how unpleasant his childhood was puts Linda to sleep.
- Off on a Technicality: Turns out the guy who prosecuted Mickey was on meth the entire trial. This resulted in a mistrial and Mickey becoming a free man.
- Parental Favoritism: Teddy isn't actually a father, but for his theoretical family he claims to favor the eldest child, "Jeremy", as he thinks "Jeremy" needs him the most.Teddy: The twins have each other.
- Sarcastic Devotee: For all their complaining about working at the restaurant, the kids actually start to miss it when they get fired.
- Secret Identity: One SWAT member had disguised himself as a blueberry buyer and even went to the restaurant to ask about Tina's delivery before he shows up with his team to raid the farm. It's very unclear if he was an addict for pot, though.
- Shout-Out: Mickey covers his tunnel to the bank (or tries to) using a poster of Big.
- The Stoner:
- Turns out quite a few townsfolk enjoy those "blueberries", including Speedo Guy, Marshmallow, and Mr. Fischoeder.
Marshmallow: Ooh blueberries! I'm having a Bake-off.- While he doesn't appear to currently be this, Mickey is familiar enough with the "blueberries" to be able to perfectly navigate Bob and Linda to the farm they came from.
- Swapped Roles: Mickey lampshades that he's never been on the "innocent bystander" end of a SWAT sting.
- Tempting Fate: Bob complains to Mickey that he doesn't want to be pointed at with guns by police again, which ends up happening near the end when the couple's farm is surrounded by the SWAT team.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Inverted. Bob interviews a few candidates after firing the kids, but they all walk out on how pathetic his job offer is.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Gene's "eulogy" for Mr. Doglovich lampshades that he knew the dog very briefly.Gene: I knew you so briefly, you dead soap dog.
