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 Robin 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 just has to be the typical killjoy by reminding them that Labor Day is for appreciating labor by rolling the word off his tongue figuratively, and then furiously scolds Beast Boy for misinterpreting "hard work" as "baby delivery of pregnant moms". He uses his shirt as an example, telling the four others that producing it involves cotton-planting farms, fabric and dyeing industries, as well as seamstresses and tailors and store owners, just for putting it on the rack, though he refuses to answer Starfire's question on where his shirt is being bought by emphasizing the hundreds of workers who have made it only through his shrilling shout. Raven just has to complain that his shirt being ugly anyway, much to his fury. As for Cyborg, he digresses by suggesting going on a beach for a holiday, which he, Beast Boy, and the girls are looking forward to.
Later, the Titans decide to hit the road. Starfire anticipates on swimming with the peanut butter and the jellyfishes. As for Robin, he wants to ensure that they have everything equipped for a day in the sun to protect themselves from the radiation. They've gotten themselves sunglasses and sunscreen, except that...the beach umbrella. As the car stops, 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 just panics...to make one with their own hands! Beast Boy and Raven believe that he's being nuts, though Robin thinks that as the appropriate way to celebrate the holiday, and such an explanation persuades his four friends relatively quickly. With Cyborg to cut and sculpt the wood, Raven to create the screws and hinges, Starfire to glue the pal fronds, and Beast Boy to slurp tree sap for gluing, they manage to create their very own umbrella! All five of them are proud of themselves, and Starfire even affirms their pride by insulting the sun.
The Titans hit the road again, but Robin doesn't take pride in his team's efforts for long...thanks to Beast Boy who has forgotten to pack the tortilla chips! To stop the four others from panicking (since Starfire has already shattered the car glasses), he forces all four to do the hard labor of planting corn and wheat day and night, and they even have to make the masa dough for him. Robin can care less of the worker 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 for a few times), but Robin takes all of their efforts for granted by slapping his entire face onto Beast Boy's package design.
Although all the supplies are adequate, this time the car suddenly runs out of gas. But rather finding a gas station, Robin insists that they have to find gas on their own (without him, of course!). After the four Titans begin a dangerous Dig-Dug-esque adventure under Robin's command, it turns out that the quest is fruitless, so Robin forces Beast Boy as a dinosaur to fetch some gasoline with him from the ancient times via a time machine Cyborg has built. Beast Boy then gets abandoned by Robin who returns and smashes the time machine and ends up becoming gasoline. Of course, the four cannot escape the process of refining the gasoline or else Robin will confiscate their pensions, health insurances, and tote bags...
At last, the Titans have finally realized that Labor Day is indeed about hard labor. Well, turns out that they have squandered an entire year that the beach has been covered in snow. Furious, the four others leave Robin behind and dump all of 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 jellyfishes may be a misinterpretation of the jelly from PBJ (peanut butter-and-jelly-sandwich) as actual jellyfishes.
Continuity[]
The time machine that has been seen on many occasions throughout the series appears in this episode.
Raven is seen unhooded for the 63rd 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 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 reference 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 shouting the whole way when explaining the product procedures.
The Titans using their own hard labor to make things.
Beast Boy admitting to forgetting stuff, when Robin asks who forgot it and them (except Robin) having exaggerated horror afterward.
Robin reminding the Titans about Labor Day.
Cyborg exclaiming about the beach trip.
Beast Boy being forbidden to taste tortilla chips.