"Please take care of Baby."
While Elder Kettle is away for his weekly mustache wax, Cuphead and Mugman suddenly find a baby dropped on the doorstep of their home. The baby seems harmless at first but quickly turns into a terror that the boys have to survive.
Tropes
- Antagonist Title: The episode is titled after Baby Bottle, who is at first simply a nuisance to Cuphead but eventually becomes outright malicious to everyone in the household.
- Badly Battered Babysitter: Cuphead and Mugman end up taking a lot of Amusing Injuries from Baby Bottle, with Kettle getting the worst of it when he gets beaten up off-screen. Things get so bad to the point that the boys have to don protective wear near the end of the episode (though luckily by that point, Baby Bottle's fallen asleep).
- Berserk Button: Whenever anyone calls Baby Bottle a "bad baby", his voice suddenly deepens and he gives a nasty look on his face before proceeding to do something horrible to the offender. Mugman and Elder Kettle learn this the hard way.
- Big Ball of Violence: Cuphead and Mugman's fighting is depicted as one.
- Door Focus: At the start, after Elder Kettle warns the boys to behave, the camera lingers on the door for a while and he soon pops back in, glaring at them before leaving again. The cups keep looking at the door for a while after this; when they're certain he's not coming back, they immediately start fighting.
- Doorstop Baby: The focus of this episode. One is dropped off at the Cup's home asking for them to take care of him, but they soon quickly find out why that is. In the end, Kettle and the Cups pull this on another unsuspecting victim.
- Enfant Terrible: While at first, Baby Bottle simply seems to act out of mischievousness, his mayhem soon becomes motivated by simple malice — especially if he's called a "Bad Baby" — and he's shown to be capable of easily tossing furniture around and beating up grown adults.
- Everyone Has Standards: Elder Kettle gives the boys two important rules while he is out: don't touch his prized radio, and don't fight. They quickly break the "no fighting" rule, but are extremely careful around the radio, to say the least.
- Forbidden Fruit: One of the two rules Elder Kettle gives to Cuphead and Mugman is to not fight while he's away; the two immediately begin fighting when he leaves. Mugman stops partway through when he realizes he doesn't know why they're fighting; Cuphead replies that they're fighting because they're not supposed to. This satisfies Mugman, and the two go back to fighting.
- Inevitably Broken Rule:
- "No fighting". Broken by Cuphead and Mugman. Cuphead even lampshades it when Mugman questions why they're even fighting, saying that it is because they were told not to.
- "Don't touch Elder Kettle's radio". Broken by Baby Bottle.
- Karma Houdini: Baby Bottle receives no punishment from the boys or Elder Kettle (as trying to do so would risk his wrath even further).
- Like an Old Married Couple: Cuphead and Mugman have this dynamic while taking care of Baby Bottle.
- Only Sane Man: Cuphead represents this trope, as he notices Baby Bottle is acting rather unusual, unlike Mugman who was oblivious until Baby ripped the head of his stuffed bear off.
- Priceless Ming Vase: Elder Kettle warns the boys not to touch his radio, calling it his "most prized object." Naturally, it gets destroyed by Baby Bottle. When Elder Kettle returns, he dismisses all the destruction in the house with "boys will be boys", but goes ballistic when he discovers his precious radio smashed to bits.
- Riddle for the Ages: We never learn who dropped Baby Bottle off in the first place.
- Tinkle in the Eye: Baby Bottle repeatedly and forcefully sprays milk on Cuphead and Mugman, symbolically representing this trope. Of course, he's doing it on purpose.
