The fourteenth episode of the fourth season of Rugrats (1991).
The Mattress
Lou is having trouble sleeping, so the others try to get him a new mattress.
Looking For Jack
Charlotte's van breaks down en route to a Dummi Bears concert, and Angelica is mistaken for the daughter of an Italian restaurant owner when she goes to ask for help.
"The Mattress" provides examples of:
- An Aesop: You have to get rid of something that's torn and dead even if you've had it for a while.
- Continuity Nod: To get rid of Lou's mattress, the babies attempt to feed it to a bigger monster, the garbage truck from "Feeding Hubert". Chuckie refers to the garbage truck as "Hubert", confirming the continuity.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- The babies leave Chuckie's teddy bear outside Lou's bedroom in the hopes that the monster in the mattress will eat it instead of them. Spike finds the teddy bear and chews on it, leaving its stuffing behind, then takes it away, and when Chuckie awakens, he believes the monster to have eaten his teddy bear.
- When the babies awaken after hearing Stu grunting, they see Lou's mattress moving, not realizing that Stu is carrying it. This makes the babies think the mattress is moving by itself. They later see the mattress move again, not realizing that Lou is carrying it this time when he tries to take it back.
- *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": Lou has a bad back as a result of using the same mattress since 1942. Whenever he stretches, a cracking sound can be heard.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Lou's World War II flashback is shown in black and white.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Didi and Stu have this exchange when they see the babies on Lou's old mattress.Didi: Stu, you've got to get rid of that old thing.
Stu: You mean Pop?
Didi: Very funny. - Impact Silhouette: Lou's mattress is so overused, it has an imprint of his body in it.
- Lifesaving Misfortune: Part of the reason Lou doesn't want to give up his old mattress is because he claims it saved his life back during war times. When his commanding officer ordered him to go to the front lines, Lou tripped on his own mattress and broke his leg, leading to him being replaced by someone else.
- Murphy's Bed: At the end of the episode, Phil presses a button on the control panel to Lou's new Sleepmaster 2000 mattress, making it fold up between him, Tommy, Chuckie, and Lil. The latter three all glare angrily at him for doing so.
- Nightmare Sequence: When the babies fall asleep waiting for the monster in the mattress to attack Chuckie's teddy bear, Chuckie has one where Lou's bed is a monster that eats his teddy bear, locks him inside, and tries to eat him. Chuckie wakes up before the monster can eat him.
- Two Decades Behind: Lou has used the same mattress since 1942, and as Stu points out, mattresses should be used no more than two decades. In the end, Lou learns a lesson that even war heroes like him need to keep up with the times.
"Looking For Jack" provides examples of:
- Bedsheet Ladder: A variant; Angelica uses Chuckie's blanket to climb out the car window.
- Literal-Minded: Charlotte's car breaks down on her way to the Dummi Bears concert, and Charlotte finds there's no jack in the trunk. When Charlotte tells Angelica that she can't do anything without a jack, Angelica believes Jack to be a person who fixes cars.
- Manly Tears: Jack sheds a single tear when he attends the Dummi Bears concert and says, "I love that Jelly Bear."
- Mistaken Identity: When Angelica searches Montello's Italian restaurant for Jack, she is mistaken for Giana, Jack's youngest daughter. Angelica decides to go along with it, but her ruse is exposed when Jack finds her.
- Mondegreen Gag: When a Montello's employee offers Angelica some Spumoni, she indignantly informs him that she doesn't want bologna.
- Parental Obliviousness: Charlotte is on the phone with an executive, allowing the babies to escape and search for a man named Jack.
- Real Men Wear Pink: When Angelica reveals to Jack that she has been looking for him so he can fix their car and they can go to the Dummi Bears concert, Jack reveals that he is a huge fan of the Dummi Bears.
- Spoonerism: On her way to the Dummi Bears concert, Charlotte is on the phone with an executive, telling him that she has a car full of Dummi Bears on her way to a Baby's concert, before realizing what she said.
- Taking Advantage of Generosity: Angelica pretends that she is Giana, Jack's youngest daughter to get the staff of Montello's to do as she says.
- Walking Away Shot: Used with one of Jack's employees going to get him for Angelica.
