Archie feels disappointed with the issues his friends have been causing him in keeping up with his schedule. When he begins seeing a beautiful, adoring girl every night after going to sleep, it seems like a dream come true. However, Archie's "dream girl" is altogether too real.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Chekhov's Gunman: Big Ethel mentions a recurring nightmare of being chased by a monster. The monster turns out to be Maria's ex-boyfriend, Arnie.
- Compressed Vice: Archie being a schedule freak comes up in this episode, and only this episode.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Averted. Maria starts to torment Archie whenever he tries to sleep, to the point he's exhausted and practically delirious. Everyone's horrified and it convinces Betty and Veronica they have to stop Maria before she kills Archie, even though she tried to scare them away from him.
- Dream Sue: Archie, engaging in some lucid dreaming, turns himself into The Ace, admired by everyone (including both Betty and Veronica) and able to solve an impossible math problem easily.
- Dream Walker: Dilton's mind helmets allow a person to enter the dreamscape.
- Dream Weaver: Maria can control what sleeping people experience and has been giving Archie pleasant dreams because of her crush on him. She becomes a Nightmare Weaver instead after being rejected.
- Fiery Redhead: Maria Nacht, the girl in Archie's dreams, has red hair like he does and becomes fiercely possessive due to her crush, causing nightmares to keep control of him.
- Foreshadowing: Veronica's dream in the beginning has Maria, unseen by the viewer, threatening Veronica. Maria's shadow is not as human-like as the pretty girl that Archie meets, hinting that's not her true form.
- A Friend in Need: Jughead, Betty, and Veronica agree to use Dilton's mind helmets to go into Archie's dreams on a rescue mission, despite anything Maria can do to them in there.
- Has a Type: Whether she noticed or not, Maria seems to have a thing for boys whose names start with "Ar-" and end with "-ie". Her ex-boyfriend is Arnie and she takes interest in Archie.
- I Know What You Fear: Maria traps Betty, Veronica, and Jughead in a dream where they are force to live out their worst fears. In it, Veronica is poor, Betty is a ditz, and Jughead is being chased by giant man-eating hamburgers.
- Mythology Gag: Maria's human form has red hair and green eyes, akin to Cheryl Blossom, Archie's Third-Option Love Interest in the comics that was Adapted Out from this series.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Arnie the monster scares people in their dreams, but it's clear he's only doing so because it's his job and doesn't actually want to hurt people for real. After Archie successfully restores Arnie and Maria's relationship, he promises to look out for Archie if any other nightmare creatures give him trouble.Arnie: Hey Kid, thanks for getting us back together again. If you ever have a really nasty nightmare, just tell 'em to lay off. You're a friend of Arnie's.
- Punny Name: Maria Nacht's name is a pun on the word "nightmare" with the first and last syllables rearranged and reorganized to sound differently. It also probably originates from "nacht", which is German for "night".
- Stalker with a Crush: Maria is obsessed with making Archie her new boyfriend, and goes about terrorizing Betty and Veronica into staying away from him. When Archie rejects her, Maria decides to scare him to death unless he agrees to be with her.
- Valley Girl: While forcing Jughead, Betty, and Veronica into their worst nightmares to scare them away, Maria turns Betty into a slangy ditz, which scares Betty as it will wreck her GPA.
- Yandere: In this episode, the viewers are treated to Maria Nacht, a redhead girl from Archie's dreams who scares off other women so she can be with him forever in dreams and reality.
