"Finding Mary McGuffin" is an episode of Phineas and Ferb.
Synopsis[]
When Lawrence accidentally sells Candace's doll to Doofenshmirtz, Phineas and Ferb become detectives to try and find it.
Plot[]
At the Flynn-Fletcher house, Lawrence and Linda are putting on a yard sale. It appears that Linda was going to sell her Lindana records but snatched them from a man who was looking at them, as well as making remarks about what happened to Lindana. Phineas and Ferb ask Lawrence if they could watch his black and white detective films. After Lawrence lets them, Heinz Doofenshmirtz appears at Lawrence's stall, buys a Mary McGuffin doll and walks off. Candace appears a minute later and asks Lawrence if he has seen her Mary McGuffin doll. Lawrence says he just sold her for a dollar and asks if Candace wants it. She screams and Lawrence offers her two dollars.
Doofenshmirtz arrives at his ex-wife Charlene's house and asks for Vanessa. Doofenshmirtz hands her the doll and talks about how he's been searching for years for the doll. Vanessa, surprised at her dad's act of love, thanks him and walks to her room to think.
Meanwhile, Phineas and Ferb are inspired by the detective films and have painted their room, as well as themselves, black and white. Candace thinks that the detective theme is perfect and tells them about her missing doll, which Phineas agrees to investigate.
At the Agency, Major Monogram is seen playing a video game. Perry is waiting for his assignment. Monogram tells him that Doofenshmirtz has been to a yard sale, bought an Inator and a box of "on-off" devices. Carl tells him that they're called "switches". Perry's chair turns is encased in a large big ball that sinks into the floor and rolls down a chute.
The boys and Candace interview Lawrence, asking him who he sold the toy to. Lawrence tries to describe Doofenshmirtz, "German accent, lab coat". Phineas considers this to be "an above average clue". When Lawrence asks Candace who her brother is talking to, she just sighs "Don't get me started."
Back in Vanessa's room, she starts thinking about the times her dad has embarrassed her and times when he has made her day. She really appreciates her gift and puts it on her shelf with her other toys. When she walks out of the room and closes the door, the doll falls near a box of donations. Soon after, Charlene answers the door and it is a man who works for Charitable Charities. Charlene asks Vanessa (who is on her laptop with headphones) where her box of junk was and she goes to Vanessa's room. She assumes that the Mary McGuffin doll is part of the junk and puts it in the box. Charlene hands the box to the man and he puts it in the truck.
The kids then go to a lab coat shop at Googolplex Mall and interrogate people there. One of the men says he doesn't know anything but then Ferb "leans" on him. He tells them there is a guy who puts all of the costs on his ex-wife's tab. He gives them the address and Phineas tells Ferb to pack up their black and white set.
Doofensmirtz is in his building and has bought lots of things from yard sales. He is trying to find a switch to fit his Inator in a whole box of them when Perry comes in. Doofenshmirtz activates the lobster trap that he got for free and tells the trapped Perry what he is doing, admitting he doesn't know what his scheme will be until he goes through the switches.
Vanessa realizes that her doll was in the box and runs after the man just as Phineas, Ferb and Candace walk up to her house. Phineas interrogates Charlene and she tells them that the doll was in the box to be sent to a Charitable Charities somewhere. The Flynn-Fletcher kids start looking around Charitable Charities outlets but can't find the Mary doll, even though Phineas and Ferb update their detective costumes to more modern (& colorful) outfits.
Back at Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc., the switches he tries are too big or too small until he comes across one that fits, save that it is "printed" upside-down. After complaining a bit, Doofenshmirtz realizes he put it upside-down and turns it around. He then turns on his invention but Perry's trap opens. Perry climbs out whilst Doofenshmirtz is still wondering why the Inator isn't switching on. He then turns around and sees the switch opening and closing the trap. He now knows why the trap was free. After a brief fight with the various items he apparently picked up at garage sales, Doofenshmirtz realizes that he can't do anything evil with a machine that just opens and closes a lobster trap so Perry can go home. Perry gives a thumbs-up to Doofenshmirtz and leaves.
Phineas, Ferb and Candace are in the last Charitable Charities shop when Candace spots Mary McGuffin. Candace grabs the doll at the same time Vanessa does. They fight over the doll (with Ferb stating this as the reason the doll was taken off the market), causing it to fly through the air into the hands of a young girl named Sally. She instantly loves it, and Candace decides that she's probably too old for dolls now anyway. Vanessa wonders if she should give up the one thing that proves how much her dad cares for her, then snatches it from Sally's hands, causing the younger girl to cry.
Later Vanessa is on the phone with her dad, while he's cutting a carrot. He's proud of Vanessa for committing an evil act and says that they could build on this.
Cast[]
- Vincent Martella as Phineas
- Ashley Tisdale as Candace
- Thomas Sangster as Ferb
- Caroline Rhea as Mom
- Richard O'Brien as Dad
- Dee Bradley Baker as Perry (uncredited)
- Dan Povenmire as Dr. Doofenshmirtz
- Jeff "Swampy" Marsh as Major Monogram
- Tyler Mann as Carl
- Olivia Olson as Vanessa
- Allison Janney as Charlene
- Meira Blinkoff as Sally (uncredited)
- Tom Kenny as Detective
Songs[]
Goofs[]
- When the lobster trap falls on Perry it opened and closed from the bottom. When Doofenshmirtz was accidentally opening and closing the trap, it opened from the top.
- When Phineas and Ferb are talking to Vanessa's mother, Ferb's left eye (the one facing us as viewers) is bigger.
- When Ferb packs up the interrogation scene in the Labcoat Emporium, the table and chair folds with it, yet when he packs up the interrogation scene after questioning Vanessa's mother, they remain unfolded.
- When Doofenshmirtz said he didn't understand why the lobster trap came free with the Inator, surely he would have noticed the cable connecting the two of them when he bought it.
- Vanessa calls the Mary McGuffin doll a "piece of plastic" ("Not So Bad A Dad") when the doll is a plush doll.
Trivia[]
- During the montage of Charitable Charities interviews, Phineas and Ferb are seen dressed respectively as David Starsky and Kenneth Hutchinson (Starsky and Hutch), James "Sonny" Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs (Miami Vice), and Horatio Caine and Erik Delko (CSI: Miami).
- Phineas did Horatio Caine's sunglasses gag and the screaming where the boys are traveling on the air-boat is the same as the start of its theme tune, Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who.
- The title and doll refers to a MacGuffin MacGuffin, a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock to describe a common item whose single, sole purpose is to drive the plot of the episode forward, either directly or indirectly. The Macguffin Doll would be a good example of said object.
- The "Mary MacGuffin" doll may also be in reference to the popular "Cherry Merry Muffin" dolls of the 80's.
- When Vanessa recalls her dad going "out of [his] way to catch that foul ball," they are shown in the first row along the left field side at a baseball game, robbing a player in white with a blue hat and sleeves from making a catch in foul ground. This is a clear reference to the Bartman play in Game 6 of the Cubs/Marlins 2003 NLCS series.
- The music when Phineas and Ferb visited the first Charitable Charities location, the music sounded familiar to the song Racetrack 3000 by The Swivelheadz.
Gallery[]
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