After Earl throws a disastrous birthday party (due to Fran being sick), Charlene decides that her parents don't know her at all, and decides to participate in a foreign exchange program. The Sinclairs take in a French bird named Francois Poupon, whose squawking and demands annoy the Sinclairs so much that Baby eats Francois. When it's time to get their rightful kids back, Earl attempts to fool Francois' family by disguising another bird while the Poupons send the Sinclairs a different girl dinosaur. The Poupons call, having not been fooled, to complain. When they come over, they reveal that Charlene ran away, having not liked living with them either, and when they learn that the Baby ate their son, they decide to forgive the Sinclairs if they can have the family's television set. Charlene finally comes home, admitting that even though she was mad at her family, living with them was better than living with the Poupons.
Includes examples of
- Asshole Victim: Given how obnoxious and rude he was toward the Sinclairs, Francois deserved it when Baby ate him.
- Better the Devil You Know: Sadly, this is what happens in the end. Because the entire Poupon family is portrayed as tasteless French stereotypes, Charlene chooses to stay with her real family, even though they don't always appreciate her, because she can't put up with the Poupons even for three days.Charlene: "You know, the last two days have made me realize something. Even though my family doesn’t always understand me or appreciate me, it’s still better than having to sleep on a stick and eat worms."
- Big "SHUT UP!": Baby gives several of these to Francois as they argue.
- Birthday Episode: Charlene celebrates her birthday at the beginning of this episode.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: The Poupons are prone to squawking very loudly when they are displeased. Fran, who tried her best to have a positive attitude towards the exchange, is driven to thoughts of homicidal rage by this.
- French Jerk: The Poupons are prehistoric birds who happen to speak in French accents and follow French stereotypes and are extremely rude to the Sinclairs.
- Hypocrite: The Poupons, including Francois, have a lot of nerve calling the Sinclairs rude and ill-mannered when they are the ones who are verbally abusive and obnoxious with their endless squawking.
- Hypocritical Humor: Earl tries to pass off a food mammal off as Francois, thinking the Poupons will not be able to tell the difference. When Charlene runs away, the Poupons pass off a random dinosaur as Charlene, which Earl fails at first to realize is not his daughter.
- Just a Stupid Accent: The Poupons speak in French accents, but don't speak any actual French. Baby starts speaking with a French accent as an effect of eating Francois.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The Poupons force Charlene to watch and laugh at a dinosaur version of Jerry Lewis, who they find hysterical.
- No Sympathy: Baby isn't the least bit guilty about eating Francois, and Earl can't bring himself to do more than make dark jokes about it. The Poupons are initially somewhat sad, but perk up when they realize they can extort the Sinclairs into giving up their TV set.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Francois's insufferable nature drives Fran to the point of wanting to drive the Poupons' entire species to extinction. Earl even points out he never saw this side of her, and is quite turned on by it.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Subverted. After Baby eats Francious, the Sinclairs try to send the Poupons another bird disguised as him. They aren't fooled. At the same time, they send then Sinclairs another dinosaur disguised as Charlene, who ran away. Fran can easily tell it's not their daughter, but Earl has to look at a picture to be certain (he then sends the impostor to Charlene's room for lying to him). Fran rips into Earl over how he really does not know his own daughter.
- Prejudice Aesop: Inverted horrifically! Just when Fran and Robbie remind Earl that the whole point of the foreign-exchange program is to shut down stereotypes, they find that Francois Poupon and his parents align exactly existing stereotypes about the French... I mean, birds. Thus, the Sinclair family learns that racism is cool now. There's being cynical about the foreign-exchange program, and then there's actively insulting what the foreign-exchange program stands for!
- Shoddy Shindig: With Fran having the flu, Earl throws Charlene a surprise birthday party, where he doesn't invite any of Charlene's friends but does invite his friends from work, the guests play poker and plan to watch a video of wrestling bloopers, and give Charlene questionable birthday gifts, while Fran ends up making Charlene a sweater rather than buy her a specific one she had wanted.
- Sick Episode: At the beginning of this episode, Fran gets the flu, resulting in her having to put Earl in charge of setting up Charlene's birthday party.
- Skewed Priorities: Earl is more upset that he has to give his TV set to the Poupons than he is that Charlene has run away and is missing.
- Space Jews: The Poupons are depicted as rather distasteful French stereotypes.
- Spit Out a Shoe: After Baby eats Francois, he burps out several of his feathers.
- Toothy Bird: The Poupons have toothy snouts instead of beaks, due to being based on Archaeopteryx.
