Beach Clean-Up
It’s Beach-Clean Up Day, and Manny and the tools are picking up litter and having a fun time of it, too- until Pat runs into Dr. Ortega, who urgently needs help with a seagull that’s become ensnared in a few pieces of trash.
”Beach Clean-Up” provides examples of:
- Beach Episode: Naturally, although Manny and the tools are going to the beach to clean up litter rather than to have fun.
- Brick Joke: Early in the episode, while cleaning up litter, Pat chases around a plastic bag which the wind keeps blowing away from him. Much later, the episode’s “We Work Together” sequence includes a shot of him chasing after that same plastic bag again.
- The Bus Came Back: Remember that random seagull Rusty befriended in “Mr. Lopart Sails Away”? Well, it’s back, having somehow made its way from Lake Nochanailin to the ocean… and gotten tangled up in some of the trash on the beach.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Manny, the tools, and Dr. Ortega need to splint a seagull’s injured wing, Kelly mentions having wood in her truck, but says that her pieces are probably too big to make a splint. Later, Manny ends up using that wood to construct a large trash bin in an effort to curb the beach’s litter problem.
- Continuity Nod:
- Mr. Lopart’s sailboat makes a return, as does Fluffy’s first mate hat.
- Elliot is once again seen lifeguarding. An attempt to jump off of his stand even leads to him faceplanting, the same way he did in the episode him being a lifeguard was established in.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The episode ends with the tools laughing while playing with a beach ball.
- Hard-Work Montage: In addition to the usual, there’s also a montage of the tools picking up trash near the beginning of the episode.
- Green Aesop:
- Littering is BAD, guys.
- A more specific version of the above moral can also be noticed, thanks to a question Turner asks at the beginning of the episode: Why do we bother to clean up litter if people are just going to create more? Because each piece of litter you remove is one less piece of trash for an animal to get caught in and hurt by.
- Improvisational Ingenuity: Manny and the tools end up constructing a splint for a seagull’s hurt wing out of popsicle sticks and a lace from a tennis shoe.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Pat does this repeatedly while trying to chase a plastic bag.Pat: I gotcha!
(Pat jumps towards the bag, but the wind blows it away from him)
Pat: Nope.
(This repeats a few more times) - Pet Dress-Up: Once again, a sailboat-commaning Mr. Lopart has put Fluffy in a first mate hat and life vest.
- Reminder of Impossibility: After Mr. Lopart falls out of his boat, Manny comments that it’s a good thing he can swim, prompting Mr. Lopart to remember that he can’t actually swim and start panicking. The fact that he was floating perfectly fine before this can probably be chalked up to a combination of wearing a life preserver and the water being shallow enough to stand in.
- Standard Snippet: The Hornpipe Dance can be heard over a scene of Mr. Lopart in his sailboat.
- Stop Drowning and Stand Up: This happens when Mr. Lopart falls out of his sailboat and can’t swim. (Which raises some
Fridge Logic: How was he able to properly sail a sailboat in water shallow enough to stand in?)
Root Damage
Mayor Rosa calls Manny to come look at a crack that's mysteriously developed in a sidewalk; turns out, the crack is caused a tree root pushing itself through the ground. This is an easy enough problem to fix; just make the sidewalk curve around the tree.
Tropes in “Root Damage” include:
- Cat Up a Tree: Fluffy ends up jumping into the tree by Mr. Lopart’s shop, and getting stuck up there.
- Continuity Nod: This isn’t the first time Rusty has been scared by a jack-in-the-box.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: One happens when a Running Gag returns for one last lap:Pat: Now nobody’ll trip!
(Immediately trips over a rock)
Pat: ‘Cept me.
(Manny, the tools, and Mayor Rosa laugh) - Instantly Proven Wrong: This happening to Pat is a Running Gag.
- When Pat is putting up safety tape around the section of sidewalk Manny removed, with the roll of tape, importantly, stuck around his claw.
Pat: Yup! Now we don’t have to worry about anyone getting hurt.
(Tries to walk forwards but the tape snags, sending him falling backwards)
Turner: Yeah. Nothin’ to worry about.- And, to kick off an "Everybody Laughs" Ending:
Pat: Now nobody’ll trip!
(Immediately trips over a rock)
Pat: ‘Cept me. - Mondegreen Gag: When Manny tells Kelly that they need a trowel:Pat: Um, Manny, I don’t think a towel is gonna help.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The jack-in-the-box the tools are fixing at the beginning of the episode plays “Pop Goes The Weasel”; inexplicably, the tune reappears at several later points in the episode’s soundtrack for absolutely no reason.
- Snap Back: In this episode, Kelly is shown trying to paint her floor green; it goes back to its normal tan in the very next episode.
