Blythe opens the episode narrating her time having fun at F.U.N., or Fashion University North, with her roommate McKenna Nicole. Meanwhile, at The Littlest Pet Shop, the pets spend their days recounting the adventures they've had with Blythe while putting up with Madison, who now wears a haz-mat helmet and slides food to them from the doorway. They ready themselves at the webcam Mrs. Twombly set up for Blythe, but Penny regrets that they cannot see back at Blythe. While Blythe appreciates them jumping and cheering for her, McKenna brushes the behavior off and whisks Blythe away to class.
Over the summer, the pets have grown weary of having to fake their enthusiasm over the camera and soon notice Mrs. Twombly with a new shuttle van. They observe her polishing it for a few moments and eventually overhear Mrs. Twombly telling Madison it's for pickups and deliveries of pets and supplies and that she's set up a phone system for customer requests. This gives Russell the idea to send Mrs. Twombly a pickup request to Fashion University North so they can stow away in the shuttle and meet Blythe on campus.
Blythe has also grown weary at F.U.N., where she has a blast designing clothes but is incredibly bored with the technical and history lectures she's required to take. Eventually, she gets bored by her classmates too, who seem interested only in fashion and nothing else. When Blythe suggests they take a walk, pulls out a frisbee, and "take a break from fashion", McKenna and the other students at her table gasp in horror. McKenna defuses the situation by telling them Blythe is joking. As McKenna diverts the conversation topic back to her hats, she gets a text message and a photo from Jasper that he, Sue, and Youngmee are having fun at Zany Island, adding to Blythe's disappointment.
Blythe gets a moment to herself in Miss Westerkamp's class and uses it to call Madison over The Littlest Pet Shop, who is convinced Blythe needed a stand-in from an animal-related illness. Blythe fails to get any information about the pets or to talk to Mrs. Twombly before Madison abruptly hangs up. She does, however, discover that Fashion University North is preparing a shuttle to briefly stop by in Dowtown City for any homesick students from there and decides to get on board.
Russell sneaks onto Mrs. Twombly's computer and fills in a request for a pickup. Mrs. Twombly receives the pickup request from Russell and chooses to bring all of the Littlest Pet Shop regulars onto the shuttle. She proceeds to incessantly sing "99 Cans of Pet Food on the Wall," driving the pets crazy. In the other direction, Blythe falls asleep on the bus and has a nightmare about her life at F.U.N. Mrs. Twombly and the bus driver both stop by at the same convenience store but don't notice the other as a truck pulls up between them as they enter, blocking each other from view. In the convenience store, Blythe notices Mrs. Twombly and the pets from the corner of their eye, but they disappear behind a shelf by the time she looks, unable to hear Mrs. Twombly because of the music in her headphones.
Blythe arrives at The Littlest Pet Shop and finds out from Madison that Mrs. Twombly and the pets had left for F.U.N. By then, Mrs. Twombly has already reached F.U.N. and finds out the pickup request was phony. Roger meets up with Mrs. Twombly and tells her he already did his own searching, having found out that Blythe returned to Downtown City. Blythe gets a ride on the Sweet Delights food truck to head back to F.U.N. while Mrs. Twombly brings Roger on board the Littlest Pet Shuttle. They both once again stop at the convenience store, Mrs. Twombly because she wants to stretch and Blythe because Youngmee needs the restroom. The two parties at last meet up and are overjoyed to see each other. Blythe explains her situation and asks Roger if it's okay to withdraw from fashion camp, and Roger says yes. The pets run up to Blythe and get to spend the time with Blythe they didn't get to have all summer long.
This episode contains examples of (YMMV entries go here):
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The pet door in the day camp room, the Littlest Pet Shuttle, and F.U.N.'s bus zooming down the road.
- Actor Allusion: Blythe makes a friend at Fashion University North. Naturally, she has to share a voice actor with this series's sister show's fashion-oriented character.
- An Aesop: Where you go might not turn out to be what you expected it to be.
- All There in the Script: Mr. Bromidic's name, as well as the Plaid Monster.
- Artistic License – History: Coal tar dye is actually known as aniline as a group or mauveine, fuchsine, safranine, or induline depending on its color. Also, all of these shades were invented in the 1850s, long before Mr. Bromidic's "early 1900s." What he's actually talking about is indanthrene
, which, while it sees use in coloring clothes, is more commonly used in paints and was patented in the early 1900s. Its production is also totally unrelated to coal tar. - Blatant Lies: Roger denies anything has gone wrong in the kitchen when speaking with Blythe at the beginning of the episode. See "Lethal Chef" below.
- Call-Back: Sunil discusses the events of "Gailbreak!" with the other pets.
- The Sweet Delights truck as introduced in "Sweet (Truck) Ride" returns.
- In "Trading Places", Blythe mentions designing a backpack that can hold a pet. She designs one in one of her classes.
- Catapult Nightmare: Blythe gets one on the bus.
- Continuity Nod: Blythe keeps the painting Minka made in "Summertime Blues" in her room.
- The Plaid Monster's hats are each of the hats McKenna was seen wearing up to that point.
- The security guard previously seen in "Lights, Camera, Mongoose!" and "What's in the Batter?" has taken a new job as the receptionist at F.U.N.
- Cool Car: Mrs. Twombly's Littlest Pet Shuttle, which shares the "LPS" initials with the shop.
- Dark Reprise: "F.U.N. Song" begins via a description of how happy Blythe is at Fashion University North. By Act 3, however, Blythe gets a musical nightmare where the song, using much of the same lyrics, are used to describe how miserable she's become.
- Descent into Darkness Song: The "F.U.N. Song" starts off with a sense of optimism as Blythe is enjoying her fashion classes, but as it grows apparent that's the only thing the students care about, it gradually decreases into a more anxious and bored tone before ending on a sad and dull note. More apparent in the Dark Reprise as Blythe finally expresses she can't take it any longer.
- Disney Acid Sequence: Blythe's nightmare on the bus.
- The Ditz: Madison has apparently forgotten who Blythe is. Twice.
- Eat the Camera: Done with Blythe to transition back to the present after the Dark Reprised version of the "F.U.N Song".
- Gone Horribly Right: Blythe gets to visit a place where she can indulge in fashion every waking minute. Before long, she realizes she's unable to do anything else and grows sick of designing clothes.
- Hypochondria / Sequel Escalation: Madison's hypochondria has escalated from an oxygen mask in "Summertime Blues" to a haz-mat helmet by the beginning of this episode. Her leitmotif uses a theremin to emphasize her weirdness.
- Ironic Name: F.U.N. has become less than fun for Blythe.
- Lampshade Hanging: Sunil is amazed at how Russell can use a full-sized keyboard.
- Lethal Chef: Roger's toaster behind him catches on fire and spews out a lot of smoke as he's speaking to Blythe over their computers. Apparently, this is not the first time it's happened.Roger: I am NOT letting another toaster go up in smoke!
- Missed Him by That Much: When Blythe stops at the store, she doesn't realize that Mrs. Twombly and the pets are also there.
- Multi-Part Episode: With "Summertime Blues," of course.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: "At the day camp, where there's a funny skunk and a handsome mongoose."
- Offstage Waiting Room: Invoked. While Blythe is honing her fashion skills at F.U.N., the other characters' plot gets started because they've spent all summer doing nothing fulfilling.
- Previously on…: Makes up The Teaser of this episode. This was not accompanied by a To Be Continued in the previous episode.
- Punny Name: Mr. Bromidic likes to talk about chemistry and seems to be named after bromine (or bromides, compounds with bromine in them).
- Road Trip Plot: Would be one if the trip didn't begin in Act 3.
- Scotireland: The Plaid Monster's accent.
- Shout-Out: The So What Student Dorm vaguely resembles the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
- Madison makes Darth Vader breathing noises in her helmet.
- The students in Blythe's nightmare have buttons for eyes and move in unnatural ways, not unlike the Other-Worlders in Coraline.
- "Anita Bath" was previously used by Bart to prank Moe in The Simpsons episode "The PTA Disbands!"
- Snap Back: By the next episode, Blythe has completely restored her interest in fashion and clothes-making.
- Time Skip: Albeit a very small one, over the summer.
- Unmoving Plaid: Used extensively in this episode wherever F.U.N. is concerned, but particularly literally with the Plaid Monster.
- Waking Non SequiturBlythe: The plaid monster's gonna get me!
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: Blythe realizes this soon enough when she finds out all the students at F.U.N. only care about fashion and nothing else, and becomes bored.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: All we see of Jasper and Sue is the photograph Jasper sent to Blythe. How they would react to Blythe's return is never explained. In addition, viewers who didn't see "Summertime Blues" would have no context to this scene.
- We're not sure what became of Blythe's camp mates after she decides to leave.
- Zombie Gait: The students in Blythe's nightmare.
