The Belcher kids and company head out in search of a two-butted goat. Back at the restaurant, Bob gets competitive with Linda over a made-up game.
Trope By Me:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Bob may be taking NARTS a bit too seriously, but Linda's winning streak definitely gets to her head.
- Age-Gap Romance: Tina briefly thinks about the possibility that her soulmate is Rudy, noting that in 20 years the age gap won't matter.
- Artistic License – Geography: The kids travel along Route 6 during their journey. The actual U.S. Route 6 doesn't travel through New Jersey, the state the show has been confirmed to take place in.
- The Bet: Gene and Louise make one over whether the two-butted goat exists (Louise wins if the goat isn't real or the group doesn't make it to the farm; Gene wins if the goat is real). The loser has to clean up the restaurant at the end of the day.
- Bishie Sparkle: When Bob realizes he's being a jerk about the competition, the next time he looks at Linda she's surrounded by sparkles and soft lighting.
- Brick Joke: When the kids are running to the farm, Tina says she hopes the farmer is a teen boy. Later, when the actual (old man) farmer jumps out at the kids to scare them, Tina says, "He’s not a teen!"
- Broken Record: When Tammy realizes Jimmy Jr. is jealous of Gene.Tammy: Wait, wait, wait, wait...
- Captain Obvious: Tammy has heard poison ivy is bad for your skin.
- Cassandra Truth: Gene first learns about the two-butted goat when he overhears a guy telling his friend about it. The guy's friend clearly doesn't believe him, even though the goat does turn out to be real.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Jimmy Jr. spends the entire episode angry at Gene after he bonds with Zeke.
- Dumb Muscle: Zeke thinks that Gene's map has enough space to chart the entirety of Iowa, which is a fairly dumb belief even ignoring that the show takes place in New Jersey...
- Dwindling Party: Non-fatal example; Tammy, Jocelyn, and Darryl all go home after reaching the field of poison ivy.
- Funny Background Event: Because Louise lost her bet with Gene, she can be seen cleaning the wet napkins off the walls in the credits.
- Going to See the Elephant: The main plot is the kids trying to find a way to the farm where the supposed two-butted goat lives.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Jimmy Jr. gets jealous of how well Zeke and Gene get along.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Downplayed; nobody dies (of course), but Gene carries everyone on his back so that he's the only one who has to endure the giant field of poison ivy. He's stuck with nasty rashes on his legs for the rest of the episode.
- Hidden Depths:
- Linda turns out to be good at basketball-related games, making her a natural at NARTS.
- Zeke makes a Robert Frost reference, implying he's at least somewhat familiar with poetry.
- Jerkass Realization: Bob sees his own angry expression reflected in a napkin holder during Linda and Mike’s final showdown and realizes what a killjoy he’s been all day.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Linda wants Bob to write her name on the chalkboard as "Win-da". Bob refuses.
- Literal Metaphor: When Zeke zaps Gene with the electric fence, Tammy coos that electricity was literally running between them.
- Never My Fault: Teddy initially blames Bob for him botching his shot, though he eventually turns on Linda for supposedly turning them against each other.
- Noodle Incident: "How do you get ketchup on a ceiling fan?"
- Ow, My Body Part!: Jimmy Jr. yells, "Ow, my head!" when Zeke starts wrestling with him in the goat pen.
- Pyrrhic Victory: When it initially seems like the goat isn't real, Louise expresses sympathy for Gene and admits she wishes she hadn't won the bet. Then it turns out the goat is real, meaning Louise didn't win after all.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Tammy, Jocelyn, and Darryl decide trying to get to the farm with the two-butted goat isn't worth the effort (or the risk of poison ivy) and go home.
- Ship Tease: Tina flirts with the idea that her soulmate is one of the boys on the trip, ranging from Zeke to Darryl to even Rudy.
- Short Cuts Make Long Delays: The trip probably would've been much faster (if much more boring) had Gene not come up with the idea to diverge from Route 6 and take a "shortcut".
- Shout-Out:
- The Burger of the Day is the To Thine Own Self Be Bleu Burger (served with Bleu Cheese).
- When Tina talks about her fudge’s fortune telling her she’ll find her destiny at the end of the journey, Zeke says, "Settle down, Robert Frost."
- Jimmy Jr. says he’s David Lee Roth-ing it before yelling "Panama!" and jumping across the rocks. When he tries to get Gene to do it, Gene says he’s more of a Sammy Hagar.
- Gene sacrifices himself to the poison ivy patch, and Tina compares him to "a little rashy Bruce Willis in Armageddon".
- Stout Strength: Gene has enough strength to carry every person in the group on his back, even Zeke.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: At the end, Louise tells Tina she didn’t find her soulmate because "life is a journey... That’s all I got. I don’t have advice. I’m nine." Tina then decides that Louise means Tina’s soulmate is still out and she just hasn’t met them yet. Louise says yes, that’s exactly what she meant.
- Tempting Fate:
- Rudy and Gene observe that the poison ivy patch is pretty easy to walk over. Then they reach the top of the hill and see a larger, denser patch of poison ivy.
- When the kids get home, Louise notes that she's fine with losing the bet—after all, it's not like the restaurant can be that dirty. Cut to the restaurant covered in wet napkins.
- Unknown Rival: Gene is completely unaware that Jimmy Jr. sees him as a competitor for Zeke's attention.
- Whole-Plot Reference: A tamer version of Stand by Me, right down to the title.
- X-Ray Sparks: Discussed; while getting a mild shock from an electric fence, Zeke asks the other kids if they can see his bones. They can't.
