It has rained for three straight days, and the pets have been trapped inside the Littlest Pet Shop with nothing to do. All of them spend the time standing by the storefront window chanting for the rain to go away—except for Sunil, who's perfectly content to stay inside and find indoor activities to do. When Blythe offers to bring the pets to City Park after the rain stops, Sunil expects to stay behind, but Blythe insists they all go together.
Meanwhile, at the Largest Ever Pet Shop, tycoon Fisher Biskit tells his daughters that he's found a buyer for a rare Indian water cobra. He fails to find Whittany and Brittany after a quick search and heads to his office to check up on the cobra, only to find it missing too, replaced with a pile of makeup and makeup supplies. Fisher freaks out and screams, catching the attention of Whittany and Brittany. They walk into the room, only to also freak out when they find their makeup on the floor. When Fisher presses them, Brittany casually states that they let out the cobra so they could use the cage to put their makeup in. A now-panicked Fisher scampers about the store but cannot find it, so he steps outside, shortly before the rain stops. He concludes the cobra must have escaped to City Park, where Blythe is taking the Littlest Pet Shop regulars for a walk. As is expected, the cobra is present there but follows Blythe's group.
The Biskits continue their search at City Park. Fisher tries to look for a maintenance worker but sees none in sight. As they pass by the reservoir, it breaks due to the heavy rains, causing water to rush into the canal and wash away Sunil, whom Blythe had unhooked from his leash and has fallen behind. Sunil washes up on the banks in some other region of the park, where a group of raccoons finds him almost immediately and brings him to their home, which, according to an interpreter pigeon named Joey Featherton, was destroyed by the cobra. Seemingly on cue, the cobra returns to cause more destruction, but this time the cobra awakens Sunil's inner aggression, and Sunil challenges the cobra to a fight. The cobra, stunned that Sunil is not afraid of him, accepts, and Sunil makes quick work of the cobra, effortlessly tying him in a knot. Having driven away the cobra, the raccoons deem Sunil their new hero.
Blythe does a roll call of the pets and discovers Sunil has gone missing. She informs the other pets, who break out into a panic. Blythe rallies them up, though Penny Ling had discovered Fisher in the park and brings Blythe and the others over. They hear Fisher inquiring the maintenance workers about an exotic pet from India they intend to sell, but the workers say they haven't seen it. They all interpret the exchange as Fisher intending to capture Sunil and sell him.
By now, the raccoons, grateful to Sunil, have become his personal servants. Sunil wishes his friends could see him like this and tries to head off, but the raccoons block his path. Joey tells Sunil that he won't be allowed to leave until they are sure the cobra will not return. He also tells Sunil that his friends won't believe him and will mock him for his actions whereas the raccoons practically worship him. Sunil eventually convinces Joey that he could leave if he wished but that the raccoons outnumber them both.
Fisher, still on his own (his daughters not helping in the least), heads to the lake in the park, hoping to find a water cobra near water. He heads into a rubber-ducky-shaped swan boat. Blythe and the gang follow behind undetected and hop onto their own rubber-ducky-shaped swan boat in Hot Pursuit. The cobra, in turn, sees it all and leaps into the lake. As Blythe and the pets chase down the unknowing Biskits, Zoe detects Sunil's scent. The Fishers head left at the fork in the canal, whereas Zoe guides Blythe right. The twins soon realize Fisher is searching aimlessly and suggests to pull over so they can get a GPS signal. Fisher agrees to that and allows them to disembark until they can establish a connection.
Zoe soon leads Blythe and the pets to Sunil's exact location, reuniting him with his friends. The cobra, who had been following Blythe, tries to attack the pets this time, and again, Sunil steps in to take him on. Before any actual dueling can occur, the cobra finds out that Blythe can talk to him. Blythe makes Sunil and the cobra introduce themselves, the cobra calling himself Steve and explaining that he wanted out of the Largest Ever Pet Shop and its "creepy lookalike girls," knowing he was going to be sold for hefty sums. Blythe helps Steve find the Biskit Twins and scare them back into the boat, sending Fisher overboard and clinging onto a rope as they paddle off as fast as they can. Blythe then helps the maintenance workers find Steve, who will be sent to a zoo for proper care.
Back at the Littlest Pet Shop, Sunil recounts his time as the king of the raccoons but gets no special treatment from his friends. The raccoons themselves, however, have built an altar to Sunil for his efforts.
This episode contains examples of (YMMV entries go here):
- Artistic License – Biology / Shown Their Work: In a fusion of two opposite tropes, water cobras are real (making up genus Boulengerina), but the species presented in this episode is fictional (water cobras are native to Africa, not the Indian subcontinent).
- Blank Stare: How the Biskit Twins respond when Fisher asks where the cobra went.
- Call-Back: This episode assumes the viewer is familiar with the Largest Ever Pet Shop and the Biskit family.
- Captain Oblivious: The Biskit Twins apparently do not know what a snake is.
- Comically Missing the PointVinnie: They're getting close to the, uh, what what what what do you call it? The spoon in the creek!Russell: It's a fork, Vinnie.Vinnie: Nuh-uh, it's a creek!
- Comical Overreacting: Fisher is emotionally distraught over the missing cobra, justified as a huge sum of money and his reputation as a businessman is on the line. The twins proceed to be just as distraught over…their makeup being on the floor.
- Compressed Vice: Sunil is shown to fear going outside in this episode, but he has never displayed an ounce of apprehension over it in prior episodes, even going so far as to split off on his own in "Lights, Camera, Mongoose!" and sneaking out at night to meet with Vinnie in the previous episode.
- Though in "Eight Arms to Hold You", he's clearly uncomfortable when he first leaves his house.
- Continuity Nod: In the Cold Open, Minka can be seen freaking out more than the others. She was previously shown to be claustrophobic in "DUMB DUMBWAITER."
- Sunil's stacking of torn-up paper seems to indicate Minka inherited Scout's compulsion to shred paper in "Books & Covers" and Sunil Russell's Obsessively Organized tendencies.
- Fisher finds an impossibly large pile of teenage-girl stuff in the snake cage, just as what happened when the Biskit Twins shook down Blythe in ''Penny for Your Laughs".
- Fisher scours the same aisles in the Largest Ever Pet Shop that Blythe previously ran through being chased by Monban.
- Also from that episode, we get the return of Sunil's violent hatred of cobras.
- The way the raccoons tend to Sunil's every whim looks similar to Shahrukh's treatment by the pets in "Lights, Camera, Mongoose!" The raccoon is perfectly willing to massage Sunil's foot, however—established in that episode is that Sunil's feet are a lot better maintained than Shahrukh's.
- The final scene of the episode has Joey recounting his experiences with Sunil to Shivers.
- A Day in the Limelight: This is the first episode to have a plot focus on Fisher. Bear in mind that he was (almost) The Faceless in the pilot episode.
- Disturbed Doves: There are apparently a flock of birds sitting on the rooftop of the Largest Ever Pet Shop ready to take off when someone screams within it—even when it's raining.
- Dramatic Irony: Fisher complains that maintenance workers are never around when needed, unaware that a pair of them are walking a few seconds behind him.
- Erudite Stoner: Joey definitely gives off this vibe, though of the "hippie" variant as opposed to Sugar Sprinkles's "party" variant. Both have an intimate knowledge of their home environments though.
- Friendly Tickle Torture: When Sunil has the flashbacks of all the wonderful times he's had with his friends, one of them shows him playfully tickling Penny Ling.
- Glass Eye: Joey's left eye does not move with his other eye.
- Hollywood Natives: The raccoons are modeled after this trope.
- Kissing the Ground: After Sunil washes up on the canal's banks.
- Lampshade Hanging: Fisher knows he's trying to sell an endangered species and knows it's illegal.
- Law of Disproportionate Response: How Whittany interprets Fisher frantically running around the Largest Ever Pet Shop trying to find a venomous snake.Whittany: Overreact much?Brittany: Oh Whittany, you're so funny.
- "Leave Your Quest" Test: Joey attempts one to convince Sunil to stay. It works for all of two seconds.Sunil: I do not wish to get "used to it"! I would like to go home!Joey Featherton: What would happen there? Will your friends tell you you're a "great mongoose"? A "smart moongoose"? Well, if you stay here, these guys will tell you that every day, man.
- Low-Speed Chase: Expected when both parties of the pursuit are in swan boats.
- Moral Myopia: It's acknowledged that Fisher selling an endangered animal is illegal, but apparently Penny Ling being owned as a pet is fine.
- Noodle Incident: This is apparently not the first time Fisher had to think like a snake.Fisher: (to himself) Think like a snake. You've done it before…
- Not So Innocent Whistling: The maintenance workers walk away whistling nervously after the reservoir breaks.
- Rain, Rain, Go Away: The pets are trapped inside, bored, because of the rain. The rain dissipates before long, though the effects of the rain stay plot-relevant to the end.
- Rule of Symbolism: Played for Laughs. The clouds part, and a ray of light shines onto Fisher when he brings the snake search outside.
- Shout-Out: The title is a reference to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, as is its premise of a traveler getting lost in thick wilderness and befriending its natives who are in danger of extermination from foreign forces.
- And Joey is a parody of the crazed photojournalist played by Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now.
- Fisher's exclamation of, "Cobra? Cobra!? COBRAAAAA!!!" may be a reference to the "Snake? Snake!? SNAAAAAKE!!!" line in the Metal Gear series.
- Skyward Scream: From Fisher regarding the missing cobra, then repeated with Whittany and Brittany regarding their makeup.
- The Smurfette Principle: Only one of the raccoons is female.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: One of the maintenance workers tells Fisher he hasn't seen the snake, and without provocation, also says he didn't see the reservoir break.
- Tempting Fate: Zoe reassures Blythe no one will panic.
- The Unintelligible: The raccoons. Joey Featherton is their translator.
