Mr. Lopart’s Mother
Manny receives a call from, to his surprise, Mrs. Lopart- she wants him to build a mantel for her fireplace. Unfortunately, Mr. Lopart overhears that Manny is going to his mother’s house, and decides to head there himself, intending to bring his own building “skills” to the table.
Tropes in “Mr. Lopart’s Mother” include:
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Mrs. Lopart has shades of this, putting up her son’s Embarrassing Old Photos for all the world to see.
- Character Title: The episode is named after Mrs. Lopart, the mother of Mr. Lopart.
- Continuity Nod: Among the items displayed on Mrs. Lopart’s new mantel is a trophy in the shape of a chess king which Mr. Lopart apparently won- Mr. Lopart mentioned having been on the chess team in high school in “Join The Club”.
- Damned by Faint Praise: This happens when the tools try to compliment Manny’s atrocious painting of them.Pat: Ooh, that’s, uh… a painting.
Dusty: It’s… very… colorful? - Delicious Distraction: One of Mrs. Lopart’s schemes to keep her son from interfering in Manny’s repair has her make him his favorite kind of cupcakes. Unfortunately, he sees through the trick pretty much instantly.
- Embarrassing Old Photo: Most of the photos of her son Mrs. Lopart puts up on the mantel are these- there’s one of him missing a pitch in baseball, one of him tripping at his high school graduation, and one of him dropping a bunch of boxes in front of his candy store.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending:Mr. Lopart: Oh, you’re embarrassing me, mom.
//Manny and the tools laugh, with Mrs. Lopart soon joining in// - Hidden Depths: The items from Mr. Lopart's childhood Mrs. Lopart puts on her mantel reveal he has quite a bit of this- for instance, there's a photo of him playing baseball, a trophy shaped like a chess king (from his high school chess team), and another trophy with comedy and tragedy masks (implicitly from high school theater class).
- I've Heard of That — What Is It?:Pat: Wow, a mantel for the fireplace! (beat) What’s a mantel?
- Same Clothes, Different Year: In the photos Mrs. Lopart has of her son as a kid, he’s always seen wearing (a smaller version of) the exact outfit he wears in the present day.
- Terrible Artist: In the opening of the episode, Manny tries to paint a portrait of his tools. The result of this effort is so atrocious it has to be seen to be believed
◊. - Unnamed Parent: We never find out Mrs. Lopart’s first name.
- Unwanted Assistance: Mr. Lopart spends most of the episode trying to assist Manny with building a mantel for his mother’s fireplace, and either “merely” being unhelpful or actually getting in the way.
Gopher Help
Jackie Greenway, the groundskeeper of Sheet Rock Hills’ park, calls Manny with two problems in one- there’s a gopher that’s digging holes all over the park, and said gopher managed to break a sprinkler by partially chewing through its water line.
”Gopher Help” contains examples of:
- Absurd Phobia: Apparently, Rusty is afraid of gophers.
- Box-and-Stick Trap: Felipe tries to create one to trap the gopher, by propping the toolbox up with a stick and placing an apple underneath it.
- Brick Joke: Mr. Lopart mentions early in the episode that he’s planning to go to the park, and finally shows up there at the end of the episode… just in time to be drenched by a newly-repaired sprinkler.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: A shot of Rusty trying to hide inside a dark closet is done this way.
- Cactus Cushion: When Manny and the tools play a game of hide-and-seek, Pat decides hiding in the pot for a cactus is a good idea. The continual steam of “ow”s he emits ends up making him the third tool found (with the first two being Felipe and Turner, who were loudly arguing about Felipe being too loud).
- Chekhov's Gun: The apple Mr. Lopart gives to Manny after he leaves the store ends up being used by the tools as bait for a gopher trap.
- Pest Episode: Manny and the tools have to capture a gopher that’s digging up the town park.
- Pun-Based Title: On “gopher” and “go for help”.
- Trapped the Wrong Target: The Box-and-Stick Trap Felipe made from the toolbox ends up catching Rusty as he blindly runs away from the gopher.
