"Even I am offended by that one."
"If I gave you your money back, Randy, would you just leave right now?"
—Bob
When Zeke worries his latest prank might get him sent to a reform school, his friends agree to sneak into school on a Saturday and hide the evidence (including a reluctant Tina, who would rather have Jimmy Jr. all to herself). Meanwhile, Randy talks Bob into letting him shoot an independent movie at the restaurant.
Yes Without My Tropes:
- Air Vent Escape: A variant, Tina has the idea to escape Mr. Frond by climbing into the ceiling and walking out along the track used for computer cables.
- Call-Back:
- Zeke has a roll of toilet paper for "emergency poops", perhaps a nod to his stint as the Mad Pooper in "Broadcast Wagstaff School News".
- Tina knows about the trays for computer cables in the ceiling because she may or may not have been in the ceiling trying to see into the boys’ locker room. She absolutely went in the ceiling and saw into the boys’ locker room way back in "Crawl Space".
- Ceiling Banger: Mr. Frond hears the kids sneaking through the vents and uses a broom to knock down ceiling tiles to flush them out.
- Copiously Credited Creator: In-universe; Randy claims to be his movie's cinematographer, writer, director, producer, and star... and makeup artist and on-set tutor.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- As Louise lampshades, Jimmy Jr. saw both a ladder and broom in the closet, and decided the broom would be the best way to reach the toilet paper on the ceiling.
- Bob points out that Randy playing both Steve and Death means he can't have a shot with both of them in it. This leads to Bob playing Death.
- The Drag-Along: Because Tina wants Jimmy Jr. all to herself, she actually wants Zeke to be sent to reform school. Thus, she only reluctantly accompanies her siblings to Wagstaff and constantly tries to get everyone to call it quits at the smallest of inconveniences. She eventually comes around at the end, helping the kids escape with an idea only she could've known about.
- Everyone Has Standards: Tina wants Zeke to be sent to reform school and does a poor job at hiding it, but she doesn't stoop so low as to outright sabotage the plan to avert that.
- Genius Bruiser: Arnold Evans, the small kid who offers to help Louise with her scheme, is not only smart enough to have skipped a grade, but knows karate (he's only an orange belt, but he's strong enough to throw a stapler quite a distance for a kid his size).
- A Good Way to Die: Discussed; Linda wants to die in sixty years in the restaurant, at the exact same time as Bob.
- The Grim Reaper: The big reveal in Randy's movie is that this is who Randy's character is talking to.
- Heist Episode: Louise leads the other kids on a mission to sneak into the school and clean up Zeke's vandalism before it's discovered.
- I Have This Friend: Tina knows about the trays for computer cables in the ceiling because a friend of hers told her about it (or so she claims).
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: At first Tina is happy that Zeke is being sent away because now she'll have Jimmy Jr. all to herself, but then she realizes that Jimmy won't be happy without Zeke and eventually concedes to help Zeke out.
- It's Been Done: Randy thinks having The Grim Reaper as a character in his movie is a brilliant and original idea, but Bob and Linda bring up The Seventh Seal and Meet Joe Black (though Linda misremembers the title as "Meet Jack Black").
- Jerkass: Randy spends much of the filming backhandedly insulting Bob's Burgers. What puts him over the edge is that Bob not only notices, he actually feels genuinely hurt.
- Jerkass Ball: While Tina doesn't like Zeke to begin with, here she despises him to the point where she wants him sent away just to keep Jimmy Jr. to herself. While she doesn't resort to sabotaging the escape, she repeatedly tries to get the group to give up and doesn't do anything to contribute until the very end after realizing how miserable Jimmy Jr. would be without Zeke.
- Malaproper: Linda says "cinnamon-tographer" instead of "cinematographer". Randy repeats it.
- N-Word Privileges: Spoofed when Gene makes a Wax On, Wax Off joke about Mr. Branca and Arnold Evans, a martial arts student who happens to be black, responds that only he's allowed to make that joke.
- Oblivious Janitor Cut: The kids sneak into the school on the day Mr. Branca waxes the floors, so there are several shots showing them walking behind him while he sings along to the music from his headphones.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: The kids consider getting Pocket-Sized Rudy to slip through the window, but his family is on vacation at Colonial Williamsburg, again. Louise is incredulous and wonders out loud how it's possible for their family to like candle making that much.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Bob usually responds to insults with a snark or apathy, but here he actually sounds upset, showing that what Randy says about his restaurant is really getting to him.
- Ow, My Body Part!: Jimmy Jr. yells "Ow, my penis!" twice in this episode, the first time when Zeke tackles him and the second when he falls over on the slippery waxed floor.
- The Reveal: In-universe; Randy plans to have the final scene of the movie show that his character Steve has been talking about his life to Death, and begging for a second chance.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Bob points out that Randy's lines rhyme, which Randy doesn't acknowledge.
- Shout-Out:
- The Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title references Not Without My Daughter.
- The Exterminator's Van in the intro is from Ants Ants Revolution.
- Bob's Burger of the Day is the "Pea-Brie's Big Adventure" Burger.
- Linda makes reference to the the Soup Nazi, although she mistakenly thinks his famous line is "More soup for you".
- Show Within a Show: Randy rents out the restaurant to shoot a short film called A Life, Well, Steved.
- Skewed Priorities: When Frond gives Zeke detention, he seems more angry over how Zeke got lasagna on his sweater vest than over how Zeke just body-slammed Jimmy Jr. and hurt him.
- Small Name, Big Ego: As Bob and Linda lampshade, nobody is gonna see Randy's film no matter what he thinks.
- Stylistic Suck: Between Randy's poor acting and crappy lines, A Life, Well, Steved isn't winning any awards any time soon.
- Take Our Word for It: We never see what Zeke wrote on the ceiling in wadded-up toilet paper, but it's described as being every swear word he knows strung together into one.Louise: How did you decide which word went first?
Zeke: Sound. - Throwing the Distraction: When the kids are escaping Mr. Frond, they have Arnold throw a stapler to make Frond think they're going the other way.
- Toilet Paper Prank: Zeke threw wadded toilet paper at the ceiling of the detention room so that it spelled out a bunch of curse words. He used a roll he always keeps handy in case of pranks or emergency poops.
- True Art Is Angsty: In-Universe; Randy rewrites his movie to be more melancholic. Bob is unamused, because it leads to Randy's character Steve describing the setting (and by proxy, Bob's restaurant) as an awful and dreary personal Hell.
- Undisclosed Funds: We don't see how much Randy offered Bob to shoot the movie, but it's enough to quiet any doubts Bob has about losing business for that Saturday, which is usually their busiest day.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Linda tells Bob that no matter what Randy says about the restaurant, she'd be proud to spend her life (and die) there.
