Good Fences
Renaldo calls Manny- he’s getting a new dog, and wants a fence installed between his yard and Mr. Kumar’s to keep it from messing with Mr. Kumar’s garden. Unfortunately, Renaldo and Mr. Kumar both completely disagree about the specifications of this fence…
Tropes in “Good Fences” include:
- The Bus Came Back: Renaldo returns, after having been absent (except for the obligatory random background cameos every minor character in Handy Manny gets) since “Renaldo’s Pretzel Castle”.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- At the beginning of the episode, the tools are doing impressions of Manny’s phone ringing. When Pat is trying to do his, the actual phone rings.
Pat: Wow, that sounded real!- When Renaldo told the tools that his “new friend” is actually a new pet, he probably should’ve restrained himself from using Gratuitous Spanish.
Renaldo: My new friend is una perra.note
Squeeze: Una Perra? That’s a funny name. - Debating Names: Four of the tools each try to give Renaldo’s new dog a name- Squeeze suggests “Stanley”, Pat wants “Rover”, Rusty suggests “Spot”, and Felipe thinks “Galoshes” is a good name. “Galoshes” ends up winning, implicitly by virtue of being the only suggestion that both a. Isn’t a male name (the dog is female), and b. Isn’t a cliche.
- Foreshadowing: It’s easily noticeable that the fence around the edges of Renaldo’s yard is green, while Mr. Kumar’s fence is white; the conflict of the episode ends up revolving around them not being able to agree over what kind of fence they want between their yards.
- Furry Confusion: Mr. Lopart is shown having used an inanimate screwdriver to build his hat stand.
- Gender-Blender Name: This is defied, as some of the suggestions Renaldo rejects for his new dog’s name (Stanley, Rover, and arguably Spot as well) are male while the dog is female.
- Gratuitous French: While wearing his fancy new beret, Mr. Lopart greets Manny and the tools with a hearty “bonjour”.
- Offscreen Crash: One happens when Fluffy jumps on Mr. Lopart’s hatstand, causing it to fall apart. The audience then sees that Mr. Lopart’s new beret landed perfectly on Fluffy’s head.
- Pun-Based Title: A Stock Phrase is “good fences make good neighbors”, and Manny has to build a literal “good fence”- a fence that will satisfy two neighbors who each want very different fences.
- Stock Animal Name: Defied Trope; among the dog name suggestions Renaldo rejects are “Rover” and “Spot”.
- Stock Aesop: Renaldo and Mr. Kumar (and, by extension, the audience) learn about the importance of making compromises.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Galoshes, Renaldo’s new dog, has a pink collar to mark her as female.
Butterflies
Manny and the tools go to a new butterfly conservatory that’s opening in the park. Rusty, afraid of butterflies, wants to get out of there as fast as he can… but accidentally leaves the door open, allowing a butterfly to escape.
The episode “Butterflies” provides examples of:
- Absurd Phobia: Rusty is scared of butterflies, although he ends up getting over it.
- Brick Joke: After getting his flower stand wrecked by Fluffy early in the episode, Mr. Lopart can be seen buying new plants at Kelly’s store.
- The Bus Came Back: Nigel returns, after having been absent since his debut episode.
- Call-Back: Rusty’s fear of butterflies, which he was established to have in “Bloomin’ Tools”, is a major plot point.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: After Pat accidentally knocks Rusty into a flowerpot, and a butterfly then lands on him.Stretch: Hey look! Rusty has a new friend!
(Everyone laughs) - Face Your Fears: Rusty ends up having to overcome his fear of butterflies when the tools need to recapture a butterfly that escaped from the new butterfly conservatory.
- Knew It All Along: When Pat lies on a bench Manny built for the butterfly conservatory.Pat: Ah! The butterflies are gonna love this bench!
Manny (chuckling): The bench isn’t for the butterflies. It’s so people can sit and watch the butterflies.
Pat: Oh! (beat) I knew that. - New Job as the Plot Demands: Nigel, who was an archaeologist in his debut episode, is here portrayed as a naturalist who’s in charge of Sheet Rock Hills’s new butterfly conservatory.
- Nominal Importance: While at the conservatory, Squeeze ends up naming a blue butterfly “Bluesy”. Guess which butterfly ends up escaping from the conservatory.
- Offscreen Crash: One happens when Fluffy jumps at Mr. Lopart’s nice, neat flower planters.
- One-Word Title: The episode has one.
