It’s a tough day when you have to make the decision between life or death. Perhaps even more so when it comes down to that of a pet. But when it comes to an eight dollar guinea pig, what do you do? What do you do? That is the crux of the problem for Jim when Fluffy, the family guinea pig (or dog, as Kyle likes to call it) isn’t acting right. He won’t eat, he doesn’t seem to sleep right and he won’t do his trick, which is to jump off the banister on command. It’s all Jim can do to keep his cool when asked to take Fluffy to the vet.
The vet is played by Bruce Jarchow, who also played a prominent role in Stalking Santa (he had a much smaller role in Jim’s Best Friend). In any case, a sizable vet bill for an $8 pet may or may not be worth it. To Jim’s credit, he sucks it up and goes. Andy, meanwhile, hits on the nurse at the vet’s office, and not very successfully, I might add. With all the attention they are giving him, I suspect they might be setting it up so Andy ends up with someone before the series finale. But I digress.
When the vet reports back, it seems that Fluffy has swallowed an eraser that is stopping him up, and he can be fixed right up with a small operation – just $2100. Jim has a much harder time justifying this than the initial trip to the vet, but eventually he gives in and does it. Unfortunately his family doesn’t believe that he did it. They think he stopped at the pet store and bought another guinea pig on the way home. So he spends the next few days nursing Fluffy back to health. He tries a little too hard, though, and his homemade guinea pig food catches fire in the oven and they have to evacuate the house.
The only problem here is that they forget Fluffy and they can’t find it. Naturally, they look upstairs and spot him in the window and – finally – he remembers how to jump, and finally Jim gets the accolades he has been wanting all along. He’s finally the hero, and Fluffy is safe at home. But he’s still out $2100.
What in the world happened during the last minute of that episode?
Some kind of ‘whistling bottle rockets’ outside?
Some guy up in a tree?
Fluffy falls off the porch?
Flashing lights? Lightning? Police? Fire trucks?
Huh? Did I miss something? I’ve watched that last 60 secs about 10 times. None of it makes any sense.
What was all that about?
Hi Carol -
As I recall, at the end of the episode, after Fluffy jumps to safety out the window and the family finally believes Jim, a hawk swoops down and picks up something that looks like Fluffy – a hat or hairpiece or something – but in fact, Fluffy was just fine. Don’t recall if that was it or not, but that’s what I’m remembering.
I wonder if the TV station accidentally cut the begin (or end) of that last segment of the show…. by 1-2 minutes. Because the ‘ending’ that I saw… didn’t make any sense at all.