There's a destructive dog on the loose in the neighborhood, and his canine crimes keep getting blamed on Wishbone. As the kids investigate to discover the real culprit, Wishbone imagines himself as Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.
This is the first of two episodes in which Wishbone plays Sherlock Holmes. The second is "A Dogged Exposé," which adapts "A Scandal in Bohemia."
Tropes
- Adaptational Dumbass:
- Dr. Watson is depicted as he's usually perceived by the public, as a slow-witted bumbling old man rather than a competent doctor who simply can't keep up with Holmes' deductive prowess. This likely stems from Nigel Bruce's portrayal of Watson in the Basil Rathbone films.
- Henry in the Hound of the Baskervilles book had the sense to not walk around the moor at night, since that was how Charles Baskerville died. He only does so when Sherlock asks him to, saying they have a plan to deal with the hound, and even then escapes by the skin of his teeth. Here, Watson reveals that Stapleton invited Henry for a late supper, making Holmes realize that Henry would have to cross the moor. Henry apparently didn't see any danger, even though Beryl was mysterious absent.
- Stapleton also gets this. He had the sense in the book to be plausibly away from the murders so as to have an alibi. His attempt to flee when he is busted gets him killed in the moors because no one knows where he went. Here, he reveals himself with a Psychotic Smirk and shows that the Hound is by his side before letting it give chase to Henry. Watson and Holmes had already figured out that Stapleton was the Hound's master and a potential heir to the Baskerville fortune, but Stapleton did not help his case.
- Adaptational Explanation Extrication: It's not explained why Stapleton tied up and gagged Beryl in their rental, leaving her struggling and banging her bound feet against the floor for help. That's because she wasn't his sister but his wife and he was using her as a Honey Trap on Henry. Beryl did fall for Henry for real and refused to take part in being an accessory to his murder when Stapleton killed another man, mistaking him for Henry.
- Clear My Name: Wishbone is blamed for the damages caused by a stray bloodhound and is determined to catch him.
- Convicted by Public Opinion: All the neighbors think that Wishbone is the dog who has been wreaking havoc around town.
- The Corpse Stops Here: Granted, there are no literal corpses in the real-world story, but nevertheless, Wishbone is believed guilty due to the fact that he keeps turning up in the vicinity of the doggie destruction.
- Dog Walks You: In the end, Wishbone does this to bring Joe and the others to the culprit dog.
- Double Take: "Oh, Wanda's got a new lawn decoration. THAT'S NO LAWN DECORATION, IT'S HIM!"
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Wishbone can always sense when something isn't right. That is exemplified in this episode, where part of the reason he gets in trouble when a stray bloodhound terrorizes the neighborhood is that he's chasing the dog and is right behind it.
- Family-Friendly Firearms: Downplayed, in that Watson draws his revolver out of his jacket pocket at Holmes' instruction, but it's a gray area whether we actually see him firing it: the next shot is an extremely foggy one, to the point where we can't see actors or anyone on-screen, but we do hear gunshots and see the small spurts of flame you might expect from a revolver fired at night. Next shot, we can see the actors again, and Holmes is asking Watson if he's hurt.
- Guilty Until Someone Else Is Guilty: It's not enough that Joe, Sam, and David find evidence that definitively proves Wishbone couldn't have caused all that damage. He's not cleared until they find the dog that actually did it all.
- Kid Detective: Joe, Sam, and David turn detective to solve the mystery and clear Wishbone's name.
- Police Are Useless: The dog catcher writes up a citation for the damage Wishbone is accused of, even though a cursory glance at the paw prints and bite marks point to a dog much bigger than him.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the original novel, Stapleton died while trying to escape through the mire. In the Wishbone adaptation, it's not stated definitively what happened to him, but it's implied that he was merely sent to jail.
- This Bear Was Framed: An "animal framed for the actions of another animal" variant — the titular Jack Russell is blamed for a variety of incidents that were clearly caused by a dog given the paw prints and teeth marks found at the scenes, not to mention the garbage cans being knocked over. When the main trio investigates though, they discover that Wishbone couldn't have caused the problems because A) the paw prints and teeth marks were way too big to have come from Wishbone and B) he's too short to knock over the trashcans, not to mention that when they're full, they're too heavy for him to push. Ultimately they find the dog (a giant bloodhound, as befits a Whole-Plot Reference to The Hound of the Baskervilles) responsible and use the evidence they collected to clear Wishbone.
