Gene joins Wagstaff's cheerleading squad, only to contend with Linda trying to live her own dream of cheerleading through him. Bob tries to talk down Linda before things get ugly, while Louise becomes Tina's translator when she injures her tongue.
Trope It On:
- Badass Boast: Courtesy of Gene during his and Todd's rap battle.Gene: If you're the Yell King, then I'm the Yell God!
- Battle Rapping: How Gene becomes team captain, beating former captain Todd in a battle of cheering rhymes.
- Big Eater: After a long day of cheering practice, Gene just wants to come home, eat a big dinner, go to bed, and then wake up for his customary cheese plate.
- Characterization Marches On: Tammy and Jocelyn don't seem to like each other. Four episodes later, they're depicted as Best Friends and have stayed that way ever since.
- Chekhov's Gun: Linda's cheer routine ends up being used by the cheer team during the finals when their original routine gets leaked.
- Cringe Comedy: Todd's verses in the cheer battle are stilted and rather painful to listen to, especially the second and third one (which Zeke lampshades).
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Linda invented a cheer routine she calls "The Pigwheel", where six cheerleaders get on top of each other and do a cartwheel. Even Gene realizes how dangerous it is, but when his cheer routine gets stolen during the finals, his team is forced to do it. It fails, and it's only due to Mr. Ambrose blocking their fall that they emerge unhurt.
- Drama Queen: Mr. Ambrose wanted to supervise drama club but got stuck with cheerleading. As a result, he tries to insert drama into every moment possible, which as Gene later lampshades is really not something he should be doing.
- Fridge Logic: Invoked. Bob wonders who roots for cheerleaders when they take part in competitions.
- Gasshole: Poor Gene winds up having to lift Tammy during a routine, with predictable results. It's to the point that Jocelyn has to warn Gene beforehand to be careful.
- Graceful Loser: Tina isn't insulted at all when the cheerleaders offer Gene the spot she was trying out for.
- Hypocritical Humor: Linda tells Bob to not be insensitive, correctly assuming Tina didn't make the team. The instant she sees Gene in cheerleader uniform, however, she immediately forgets all about Tina, which Bob notices.
- Informed Flaw: Linda talks about Monica as if she were a terrible person who took advantage of her and abandoned her for the cheerleaders, though Monica herself appears to be pleasant when she remembers her old friend. Either Monica mellowed out or Linda exaggerated what happened between them; the latter seems more plausible, given how she treats Gene.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mr. Ambrose tries to frame himself as this when he saves the cheerleaders from falling during their final routine. While everything up until then was his fault, the fact remains that the cheerleaders would have been badly hurt or even killed if not for him.
- The Klutz: Tina falls on her face attempting a cartwheel and bites her tongue, impeding her speech for the rest of the episode.
- Large Ham: Gene's enthusiasm during Tina's audition is what leads to him being recruited for the squad.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Louise sets Tina and Jimmy Jr.'s date at a revolving restaurant and hogs most of the pie for herself. She winds up puking up everything she'd eaten at the end of the date.
- The Millstone: Mr. Ambrose, the coach, becomes this when he leaks the squad's routine to a rival team in the regional finals.
- Minor Injury Overreaction: Although cushioning the cheerleaders' fall does bruise him a little, Mr. Ambrose is deemed okay after a quick check-up by paramedics. He refuses to accept this and demands to be carried off on a stretcher for drama's sake, which the paramedics actually comply with.
- Nice Girl: Despite what Linda insists, Monica came off as a decent person to her and she seems to hit it off with Bob.
- Noodle Incident: After Linda boasts to Monica she can eat all the french fries she wants and tells Bob to show that, Bob suddenly finds and wonders how a french fry made its way into his pocket before eating it.
- Nutritional Nightmare: The lunch Linda packs for Gene.
- The One Guy: Todd cites this trope as why they shouldn't get Gene on the cheerleader squad, claiming he has the guy stuff handled. The other cheerleaders ignore him.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Zeke's "disguise" for purple-nurpling Gene consists of wearing a jockstrap on his face. Gene being Gene, he doesn't see through it.
- Parental Favoritism: Linda pours this on hard when Gene becomes a cheerleader and does everything she can to get on his good side so she can live vicariously through his cheerleading. She even says Gene's not her favorite anymore after he gives her a reality check, then changes her mind when he tries to do her cheer. Bob outright lampshades that she's kind of laying the favoritism on thick.
- Sanity Ball: Despite normally loving all things Linda, Gene quickly points out that his mother's cheer idea is way too dangerous to perform.
- Self-Serving Memory: Linda recalls how her former friend Monica turned into an asshole after she became a cheerleader, taking advantage of Linda until the day she ditched her at the mall. Given how hard Linda tries to butter up Gene in order to be a cheerleader by proxy until Gene finally calls out how overbearing she is, it's likely Linda did the exact same thing to Monica and that's why they stopped being friends. Linda seemingly indirectly admits it when she says she was "Kind of a cheerleader" because Monica was.
- Shout-Out: The Store Next Door is called The Nightlight Zone.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Linda's ego grows massive after Gene joins the cheerleaders, making repeated attempts to sponge off his status to be the cheerleader she never was. When Gene flat out tells Linda to stop because her cheer ideas are stupidly dangerous and that she's not a cheerleader, Linda acts like Gene is the one going through this trope and accuses him of thinking he's better than her like her old friend Monica did.
- Stage Mom: Once Gene becomes a cheerleader, Linda tries to take over and live through him. She showers him with attention and openly gushes how great it is he's a cheerleader, giving him all sorts of snacks and incessantly trying to get him to cheer. She eventually resorts to wearing an old cheer uniform and comes up with several terrible if not outright dangerous routines for Gene to use. Gene quickly tells her to back off when she says "I'm just trying to be part of your cheerleading," and he finally screams at her she's not a cheerleader.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Mr. Ambrose cushions the cheerleaders' fall at the end. He's largely unharmed, but cushioning five kids with just his body means he suffers some bruising, requiring him to be checked on by paramedics.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: After purple-nurpling Gene, Zeke tries to tell Gene "it's not Zeke". Gene being Gene, he decides that Zeke is immediately clear of being the culprit.
- Tempting Fate: When Mr. Ambrose saves the students, he tells them that if the judges saw what he did, they're getting first. Cut to Bob remarking on how the team got dead last.
- Third Wheel: Bob assumes that Louise is feeling like one during Tina and Jimmy Jr.'s date. He couldn't be further from the truth.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Despite her date effectively being hijacked by Louise, Tina gets a kiss with Jimmy Jr. at the end of it, and Jimmy Jr. even hints he'd be down for another date.
- Translation with an Agenda: Louise offers to be Tina's translator so she can say whatever she wants and frame Tina for it. When Tina gets a date with Jimmy Jr. in spite of Louise acting like Tina insulted him, Louise uses the opportunity to hold the date where she wants to go. Despite her motives being extremely obvious, the only time someone suspects something is when Jimmy Jr. notices her description of "Pie in the Sky" is way too long for the brief sentence Tina tried saying.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Louise pukes on the window at the revolving restaurant, and they later pass by it a second time.
- Wanted a Gender-Conforming Child: Subverted. Bob thinks cheerleading as a whole is stupid, but he doesn't have a problem with Gene becoming a cheerleader.
- We Used to Be Friends: Linda sees Monica as a terrible person who turned her back on a friend, though Monica herself, after taking a moment to remember Linda, is actually friendly and decent to her.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Bring It On.
