Marcus follows the dubious advice of Jimmy, hoping it will lead to them getting to hang out with "the big kids," i.e. Joe and company. Wishbone wants to become a canine hero after seeing a news story about a dog named Rex saving a kid. At the same time, Wishbone imagines himself as Sun Wukong, a.k.a. "Monkey," in the early chapters of Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en.
Tropes
- Adaptational Heroism: Sun Wukong immediately humbles himself before the Buddha when he realizes that he is not more powerful after failing to leave the palm of his hand. In the source material, he took a longer time to mellow.
- Adaptation Title Change: The episode refers to Journey to the West as Monkey, which was the title of Arthur Waley's abridged English translation. However, the episode only mentions the original Chinese author, Wu Cheng'en, so they're apparently not claiming to have adapted it from Waley's version.
- Anger Born of Worry: The scene where Jimmy and Marcus accidentally start a fire at Pepper Pete's. They run away as the fire alarm starts, with Jimmy saying they probably burned the whole building down. Travis then comes to find the boys before they can run away or hide in the park forever, with Marcus apologizing. It turns out his uncle was both worried that he and Jimmy had gotten hurt and disappointed that they did something so irresponsible.
- Authority in Name Only: As in the original story, the Jade Emperor accepts Monkey's self-declared title of "Great Sage, Equal to Heaven" because it's meaningless.
- Big "WHAT?!": The reaction of Wishbone as Sun Wukong when he finds out that he's essentially been appointed stable boy.
- Bowdlerize: In the original story, Sun Wukong urinates on the Buddha's finger. In this version, he merely leaves a pawprint on the Buddha's finger.
- Compressed Adaptation: Even taking into account that this is only adapting the first seven chapters of the book, the section that they chose to focus on is still pared down. Monkey's encounter with the Dragon King is mentioned but not shown, and his trip to the underworld is Adapted Out entirely.
- Heroic Dog: In-Universe, Wishbone wishes that he were one in this episode, having apparently forgotten about the heroics that he's already performed in earlier episodes.
- I Can't Believe I'm Saying This:Damont: Jimmy, get lost. The bluff is no place for little kids.
Jimmy: Aw, c'mon, Damont!
Wishbone: No, he's right, Jimmy. The bluff is no place for — wait a minute, did I just say Damont was right? - Lampshade Hanging: Wishbone's narration points out the bizarreness of an anthropomorphic dog playing an anthropomorphic monkey: "Okay, I'm not really a monkey, but work with me here. It's a character thing."
- Newscaster Cameo: In the news story about Rex, the TV reporter is played by real-life KDFW anchor Clarice Tinsley.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: It's only mentioned that Monkey got armor from the Dragon King, leaving out the Martial Arts Staff that he also obtained at that point. Clearly, the show had to concede to the reality that there's really no way they could have gotten a dog to carry around a staff.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Jimmy spends the whole episode leading Marcus astray, driving him on with the promise that they'll impress the big kids. Instead, they end up causing destruction and getting in trouble.
