"A Super Wolf?"
"It's been called the Beast of the Bay, the Monster of the Marina, and the Wonder Wolf, but whatever you call it, it is allegedly extremely dangerous and allegedly out for blood."
—Olsen Benner
Linda and the kids hunt for a wolf on a slow Halloween night, while a painkiller-addled Bob becomes convinced Teddy is a werewolf.
The Tropes of Wharf Street:
- Actually Not a Vampire: Bob, while loopy on painkillers, becomes convinced that Teddy is a werewolf, based on his growling (at the TV), his hairy body, and the weird bite mark on his arm Teddy doesn't like to talk about.
- Bait-and-Switch: The second the alpaca is mentioned on the news, the obvious twist is that it's what's being mistaken for the wolf sightings. The wolf turns out to be real and unrelated.
- Bring the Anchor Along: Bob handcuffs Teddy to the coffee table. Teddy carries the table over his back while chasing Bob.
- The Bus Came Back: Randy Watkins returns for the first time since "World Wharf II: The Wharfening" (not counting his cameo in the Crowded-Cast Shot in the credits of "Glued, Where's My Bob?").
- Call-Back: This isn't the first time one of the kids has dressed up as one of the parents, with said parent taking offense.
- Cassandra Truth: Bob sees the wolf but no one believes him due to him being high on pain pills. Well, Randy believes him, but Bob doesn't value Randy's opinion and asks for literally anyone besides Randy to believe him.
- Comically Missing the Point: Teddy's idea to moderate Bob's consumption of pain medication is to take a pill, break it in half, and then tell him to take both halves. Bob lampshades that's not really moderation.
- Department of Redundancy Department:News Anchor: ...it’s allegedly extremely dangerous and allegedly out for blood, wreaking alleged havoc on our quiet little community, allegedly.
- Entertainment Above Their Age: Louise has apparently seen No Country for Old Men.
- Escaped Animal Rampage: The alpaca from the Wonder Wharf has escaped, and the Belcher kids run into it while looking for the wolf. Also, the wolf turns out to be Felix's escaped pet.
- Foreshadowing:
- The news report at the beginning mentions an alpaca going missing from the zoo, hinting at what the Belchers are actually following.
- The Fischoeders seem flustered when Linda mentions looking for the wolf, especially Felix (who claims wolves aren't even real). Turns out Felix owns the wolf.
- At one point, the group hears a sound and wonder whether it even sounds like a wolf. It's later shown that it in fact wasn't a wolf.
- Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: Louise asks her mom if they’re going to go into the thicket tunnel they found and Linda gives a very unconvincing response, lampshaded by Gene.Linda: Yeah...of course we are! I said we were going...so...we are! Yeah, yeah!Gene: And with that rousing speech, we march to our deaths.
- Halloween Episode: A wolf is loose in the Wonder Wharf on Halloween.
- Hypocritical Humor: Linda played along when Gene dressed up as Bob in "Broadcast Wagstaff School News", but doesn't seem to like it when Tina turns the tables on her in this episode (although it's mostly because Tina is dressed as a zombie version of Linda, which Linda interprets as a jab at her age).
- I Got a Rock: Because no one in the neighborhood thought kids would be out trick-or-treating because of the wolf, the kids get apples and twist ties instead of candy.
- Injured Limb Episode: The B plot centers around Bob being stuck in the apartment on Halloween because of his sprained knee and Teddy having to come take care of him.
- Innocently Insensitive: Played with. Linda appears quietly miffed at Tina's "Mombie" costume (which is basically Tina dressed as a zombie version of Linda), since she feels Tina's implying she's old. On her end, Tina just wanted to make a punny costume like she usually does, not throw shade at her mother.
- Insistent Terminology: Tina keeps correcting people who call the wolf “he” that it could be a “she” as well. At the end of the episode when the Fischoeders finally find it, Felix calls the wolf Lulu, revealing that the wolf is indeed female.
- It's a Long Story: When Teddy asks Bob how he messed up his knee, Bob responds with this phrase. It turns out it happened when he fell over while trying to squeeze into his old chef’s pants. This is lampshaded by Teddy:Teddy: So, not that long of a story.Bob: No, I guess not.
- Mama Bear: The kids are less than pleased to learn that Linda is coming trick-or-treating with them because of the wolf. However, when they’re out hunting for the beast and think that it’s coming at them, she puts herself in front of her kids (and Randy) to protect them.
- Mushroom Samba: As usual, Bob and pain pills equals a complete trip.
- My God, What Have I Done?:Linda: Oh my god, I brought my kids out into the dark woods on purpose to look for a dangerous animal just because I wanted you guys to think I was fun!
- Noodle Incident:
- Linda cites examples of Bob acting weird on painkillers: "Remember the time you thought the rug was making fun of you? Or the time you took that nighttime aspirin and you ended up peeing in the blender?"
- Felix’s response when questioned by his brother about the wolf getting out, "The wolf house I was building wasn't ready. And I am not putting her up in a hotel again!"
- Ominous Fog: Linda and the kids’ hunt for the “Wonder Wolf” is made all the more creepy thanks to the fog surrounding the park.
- Poor Communication Kills: Bob's subplot wouldn't have happened if Teddy just told Bob that he bit himself in his sleep. Instead, he gets touchy about the subject when Bob asks and refuses to answer, leading Bob to jump to conclusions.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is a reference to The Wolf of Wall Street.
- Real After All: After Linda and the kids figure out that the thing they've been following is a lost alpaca, Bob has an encounter with the actual wolf (who turns out to be one of Felix Fischoeder's exotic pets).
- Savage Wolves: There’s a wolf loose and, not having any luck trick-or-treating, Linda and the kids decide to go hunt for it.
- Sexy Whatever Outfit:
- Teddy spends the episode dressed as a sexy nurse; he wanted a "scary nurse" costume but mis-clicked while placing his order.
- Linda's costume combines a Cher costume (specifically her leather jacket and leggings outfit from the notorious "Turn Back Time" video) with a sheriff hat and badge to be a Cher-iff.
- Shout-Out:
- The Store Next Door is "Freddy Kugel Halloween Noodles".
- The exterminator van in the opening is "Polter-Mice".
- Louise goes trick or treating as Anton Chigurh (although she doesn't actually know his name).
- Linda's "Cher-iff" costume is from her "Turn Back Time" video; she also quotes from Moonstruck.
- Bob and Teddy turn on the TV and start watching a show called Bosom Bloodies.
- Gene mentions the time Felicity cut her hair.
- Randy mentions The Blair Witch Project in reference to a thicket in the woods.
- Gene offers Randy a Betty Boop t-shirt.
- So Much for Stealth: Gene mentions that maybe if they’re really quiet, the wolf will lose interest and go away. Everyone agrees and then immediately after, Gene walks into some tree branches and loudly pops all the balloons on his grape costume.
- Soup Is Medicine: Teddy tries to force-feed cabbage soup to Bob to heal his injury. He apparently got the recipe off a pop-up ad after he entered his social security number.
- Staircase Tumble: While trying to run away from Teddy, Bob falls down the stairs because he’s not good at using his crutches. At first he only falls halfway, but then proceeds to fall the rest of the way while yelling in pain.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: As seen in Swallow the Key below, the act of actually swallowing a key is way harder than movies would imply.
- Swallow the Key: Subverted. Bob attempts to swallow the handcuff key, but finds that he can't and outright asks how people in movies do it.
- Tempting Fate: After falling down the stairs, Bob tells Teddy he's fine because he only fell halfway. He proceeds to tumble again, falling the rest of the way down.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Linda’s response when it’s revealed the wolf that was approaching them is actually the missing alpaca.Linda: Are you freakin’ kiddin’ me?
- You Were Trying Too Hard: Discussed; Louise lampshades how Linda tends to try a bit too hard to be the "fun" parent, resulting in her looping around to being an Amazingly Embarrassing Parent instead.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: No one believes Bob about the wolf being real except for Randy, the one person Bob doesn’t want to believe him.Randy: Hey, I believe you, Bob.Bob: Randy, I don’t want you to be offended, but I need someone other than you to believe me.
