Robin uses Labor Day as an opportunity to teach the other Titans about the importance of labor.
Plot[]
The four Titans, except Robin, are sitting on the couch relaxing when he announces that it is the first Monday of September, which means...Labor Day! The concept excites the four of them, causing them to leap into their dances; they'll be getting a three-day weekend and a day off!
However, Robin has to be the killjoy as usual by reminding them that Labor Day is for respecting labor by rolling the word off his tongue figuratively, and then furiously scolds Beast Boy mistaking "hard work" as "baby delivery of pregnant moms". He uses his shirt as an example, telling the other Titans that producing it involves cotton-planting farms, fabric and dyeing industries, as well as seamstresses and store owners and employees, just for putting it on the rack. He refuses to answer Starfire's question on where his shirt is being bought by emphasizing the hundreds of workers who have made it. Raven has to complain that his shirt is ugly anyway, much to his fury. As for Cyborg, he digresses by suggesting going to a beach for the holiday, which he, Beast Boy, and the girls are looking forward to.
Road trip to the beach commenced!
Later, the Titans decide to hit the road. Starfire anticipates swimming with the peanut butter and the jellyfish. As for Robin, he wants to ensure that they have everything prepared for a day at the beach to protect themselves from the radiation. They've gotten themselves sunglasses and sunscreen, except...the beach umbrella. As the car stops, it looks like Beast Boy has casually confirmed his carelessness. The girls believe that they are all going to be fried in the sun, but Robin comes up with a plan when Cyborg merely panics...to make one with their own hands! Beast Boy and Raven believe that he's nuts, though Robin thinks that is the rightful way to observe the holiday, and such a reason convinces his four friends rather quickly. With Cyborg to cut and sculpt the wood, Raven to make the screws and hinges, Starfire to glue the pal fronds, and Beast Boy to slurp tree sap for gluing, they manage to construct their very own umbrella! All five of them are proud of themselves, and Starfire even affirms their fulfillment by insulting the sun.
Planting becomes harder when you have such a harsh leader.
The Titans hit the road again, but Robin doesn't take pride in the team’s actions for long...thanks to Beast Boy who has overlooked to pack the tortilla chips! To stop the others from panicking (since Starfire has broken the car glasses), he forces all four to do the difficult labor of growing corn and wheat day and night, and they even have to make the masa dough. Robin could care less about the worker's strikes though since Cyborg manages to get carts of lime...that fell off the truck. With hard work, the four Titans finally get the chips done (though Beast Boy has to be prevented from eating the chips a few times), but Robin takes credit for all of their efforts by smacking his whole face onto Beast Boy's package design.
Although all the supplies are sufficient, this time the car unexpectedly runs out of gas. But rather than finding a gas station, Robin insists that they have to find gas on their own. After the four Titans begin a precarious Dig-Dug-esque adventure under Robin's command, it turns out that the quest is hopeless, so Robin forces Beast Boy as a dinosaur to fetch some gasoline with him from prehistoric times via a time machine Cyborg has built. Beast Boy then gets left behind by Robin who returns and smashes the time machine and ends up becoming gasoline. Of course, the four cannot evade the process of distilling the gasoline, or else Robin will confiscate their pensions, health insurance, and tote bags...
Beast Boy? More like Petroleum Boy!
This is all your fault, Robin!
At last, the Titans have realized that Labor Day is definitely about hard labor. However, as it turns out, they have wasted an entire year that the beach has been surrounded by snow. Infuriated, the others leave Robin and dump their tote bags.
This is the twenty-first holiday episode of the series.
Starfire saying that she can't wait to swim with the peanut butter and jellyfish may be a misinterpretation of the jelly from PBJ (peanut butter-and-jelly-sandwich) as an actual jellyfish.
This episode premiered approximately one week before Hurricane Irma hit the State of Florida, which caused severe damage.
Continuity[]
The time machine that has been seen on many occasions throughout the series appears in this episode.
Raven is seen unhooded for the 66th time in the series.
When Beast Boy was sent back in time to an island, it was the same setting from the show's first mini-series, entitled Island Adventures.
References[]
The digging scene, the titular (him also getting burnt by the dragon), the strawberry Starfire and Raven were fighting over and Beast Boy getting crushed by a rock is a reference to the classic video game, Dig Dug.
The only error with the scene is that in the actual game, the fruit isn't physically in the ground; it's out of it.
The cherry could also be a possible reference to the first fruit to collect in Pac-Man.
Wearing a bandanna, Robin flexes his muscles. He is posing in reference to a cultural icon known as Rosie the Riveter.
Errors[]
Beast Boy said Labor Day means getting a three-day weekend. Nevertheless, technically speaking, there is still only one Labor Day each year, even if you count the Saturday and Sunday before it.
When the Titans finally got to the beach at the end of the episode, it was winter when it should be autumn, as Labor Day is in September in the United States.
However, it would have taken a long time for the Titans to do some of the things they did during the trip, like growing a crop of corn.
Running Gags[]
The Titans except Robin dancing.
Robin yelling the whole way when explaining the product procedures.
The Titans using their own hard labor to make things.
Beast Boy admits to forgetting stuff when Robin asks who forgot it, and they (except Robin) have exaggerated horror afterward.
Robin reminding the Titans about Labor Day.
Cyborg exclaiming about the beach trip.
Beast Boy being forbidden to taste tortilla chips.
