Stan discovers and is ashamed of Steve's geekiness and disowns him, but the stress of this causes damage to Stan's body, causing him to physically deteriorate into a nerdier form himself. Meanwhile, Hayley helps Roger interact with others outside of the house.
Episode Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: When Hayley goes to get Roger for the Sci-Fi Convention, she sees him hanging from a noose and fears he killed himself out of loneliness. However, Roger is alive and claims that was how his species slept.
- Big "NO!": Stan does one when he discovers that Steve has hidden an Algebra book in a naked magazine, proving that he's a geek.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Dan Vebber, the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks, wishes to destroy modern infrastructure and revert society to a pre-industrial level of development similar to that of Middle Earth. He also believes that magic is real and tries to put on the One Ring to escape, only to be kneecapped by Stan because it didn't turn him invisible.
- Characterization Marches On: Since this is one of the earlier episodes of the series, it feels weird to see Steve hiding an Algebra textbook in a nudie magazine when in later seasons, he would be a porn loving addict.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Roger trying to brush off the man he had abducted is treated like a one-night stand.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Because the show still hasn't come up with Roger's disguises at this point, he had abducted someone and probed him before moving in with the Smiths. It's later established that Roger has actually been living on Earth for decades.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Roger goes to a Sci-Fi convention as himself since he can claim he's just wearing a costume.
- Irrational Hatred: Stan is shown to hate Barry for no reason and yells at the latter every time Barry speaks to him.
- Karmic Transformation: Stan is disgusted that Steve turns out to be a geek but the stress of this causes him to break out in a rash and the grinding of his teeth causes his jaw to come out of alignment, forcing him to get braces again.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Everyone at the Sci-Fi Convention groans when Stan tells Vebber to "Pack his Baggins". Steve feels embarrassed and tells Stan he knows people in the room.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Stan ditches Steve for the baseball game by pretending it was raining so he would not be seen with his geeky son. But after physically reverting back into a nerd, Stan suffers the same fate by his fellow agents. Francine admits that Stan had it coming.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Stan has evidently never seen or even heard of The X-Files, as he assumes a couple cosplaying as Mulder and Scully are real FBI agents.
- Shutting Up Now: Steve realizes that Vebber is trying to destroy modern infrastructure to create a new Middle Earth. Stan acts like he's solved it, and when Barry tries to point out that Steve was the one who did it, Stan takes out his gun and puts it on the car dashboard, causing Barry to shut up.
- Tempting Fate: Stan explains how the man they're flying in is the world's best cryptologist and their best chance in the war on terror. His helicopter then flies right into the dam. Stan then indicates an agent who is good at word games, and he's then crushed by debris.
- That Came Out Wrong: Roger says this after saying to the Taco King mascot that "beneath his hard shell, there's a lump of soft meat." He's promptly beaten to a pulp.
