B Plot: Brent stocks a new drink called “Commander Cola” in Corner Gas, and Wanda becomes oddly attracted to the product's cardboard promotional military man.
C Plot: Oscar and Davis buy lottery tickets together and can’t stop arguing over how to split the winnings.
Tropes referenced:
- Anti-Climax: In-Universe example. After two hours of buildup, the "Battle Brides" finale ends after a single punch. Karen notes that it was a lot of buildup for little payoff, and Emma remarks "That's marriage for you."
- Artistic License – Military: Brent, Hank, and Wanda discuss how unrealistic the Commander Cola cutout is for not wearing a shirt when going into battle.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- While breaking up with the Commander Cola standee, Wanda throws it in the garbage bin, but as she's walking away, she asks "What have I done?" But instead of getting back together with the standee, she moves it to the recycling bin.
- Bored of "Battle Brides", Lacey goes outside to relax by a fire with Hank, who's sitting with a guitar in his lap. Lacey asks him to play something, but after plucking a few strings, he admits that he doesn't know how to play and he was just going to toss the guitar in the fire.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Hank desperately wants to be part of Lacey, Karen, and Emma's cigar party and convinces them to have the party at his house. Once they arrive, they start cleaning and fixing things around the house, much to Hank's horror because everything had been just the way he likes it.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Oscar's list of things to buy with his lottery winnings:1) A new hat
2) 3-ply toilet paper
3) Fitzy's silence - Brick Joke: Davis tries to get Oscar to pick the leprechaun lottery ticket, but Oscar refuses because Davis is terrible at picking lottery tickets. At the end of the episode, Davis and Oscar learn that Zeke bought the leprechaun ticket and won enough money for a new boat.
- Buffy Speak: Brent tells Wanda at the end that he had to return the soda because it hadn't been approved by the "Foodie Drugger Approver."
- Chekhov's Gag: With Karen on vacation, Davis says that he's the only one keeping an eye on the mean streets, but Lacey asserts that Dog River doesn't have any mean streets. Cut to Oscar tripping on a curb and then yelling at the street for trying to kill him. Later, Davis tries to get Oscar to pay him his share from the lottery winnings, but Oscar refuses and walks away, only to trip on the same curb and yell that he's not paying the street either.
- Comically Missing the Point: Hank is mad at Karen for setting up his universal remote because he hasn't bought a "Universal" yet.
- Companion Cube: Wanda is so enamoured by the Commander Cola standee that she starts treating it like her boyfriend, turning her into a Clingy Jealous Girl when Helen and Mavis start admiring the standee as well. Wanda breaks up with Commander Cola by throwing it in the trash, only to then steal an identical standee from the Foo Mart while treating Lin like the standee's rebound fling. In the end, Wanda finds out that her behaviour was being influenced by a chemical in the soda that caused heightened passion and euphoria.
- Continuity Nod: The cat from "A Scary Cat Graffiti" has since taken refuge in Hank's house, which he failed to notice before Lacey startled it out of hiding.
- Department of Redundancy Department:
- Upon winning $100 with a lottery ticket, Oscar sings that he's Richie Richard Richardson the Richest. While still celebrating later, he sings the song again, adding "The Richest of the Richie Riches."
- Hank greets his guest by welcoming them to Casa del House of Hank's House.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The statue of Jane T. Wright, which becomes more prominent in next season's "Pioneer and Deer", makes an appearance in Wanda's Sad-Times Montage while mourning her breakup with the Commander Cola cutout.
- Flashback Cut: Hank is shown out of breath while sitting in the hotel bar right before Lacey, Karen, and Emma enter to ask if they can use the bar to watch the "Battle Brides" finale. Phil says they can't because Hank ruined his projection screen. A flashback shows Hank running into the bar, telling Phil to put $200 on his tab, punching through the screen, and then sitting down just before Lacey, Karen, and Emma walk past him as they did when scene began.
- Hypocritical Humour:
- Wanda chides Davis and Oscar for overreacting about the lottery ticket winnings, but then they knock over the Commander Cola display and Wanda lets out a Big "NO!" and freaks out about Commander Cola's arm falling off.
- After stopping Davis and Oscar's bickering over the money, Emma wonders if she's the only one with any brains around here. She then lights a cigar, which accidentally ignites the veil she was wearing for the "Battle Brides" party.
- After learning that Wanda's attraction to the cutout was caused by unsafe chemicals in the cola, Brent wonders aloud why he wasn't experiencing any delusions. He then turns around and sees himself as extremely muscular in his reflection on the cooler door.
- Insane Troll Logic: Brent insists that the sugar from all the cola he's drinking is giving him the energy he needs to burn off all of the sugar, making him "calorie neutral, like Sweden."
- Never Win the Lottery: While throwing out the lottery tickets that Davis and Oscar failed to win anything with, Phil notices that one is actually worth $200. Phil insists that he should get a cut because otherwise it would have just gone in the garbage, so Davis and Oscar agree to split the money three ways. Phil agrees, then reminds Davis and Oscar that they have outstanding bar tabs and uses their portions of the winnings to pay off their tabs, leaving the two with only a handful of change between them.
- Noodle Incident: While admiring the Commander Cola standee, Mavis says that if she knew the army were like this, she wouldn't have dodged the draft. Helen notes that she wouldn't have dodged the draft because she's a woman, so Mavis responds, "That's right. A woman..."
- Not Helping Your Case: Emma doesn't want to have the cigar party at Hank's house because his house stinks, but Hank assures that the cigar smoke would cover up the stink and keep the bugs away. Emma asks Hank if he's ever managed to talk anyone into doing anything.
- Shout-Out:
- Wanda asks why Brent is acting so "Patrick Swayze." Brent doesn't know what she's referring to, because he's not dancing, moulding clay, cross dressing, or undercover surfing. Wanda points out his rolled-up sleeves and he realizes that she's referencing Road House (1989).
- The Commander Cola standee makes Hank think the gas station is under attack, or "Red Dawn'd" as he puts it.
- Brent sarcastically calls himself Dwayne "The Rock" Carrot Top when he tries working out. Once he decides that he feels stronger after three pushups, he starts speaking in the third person as The Hulk.
- Wanda calls the Commander Cola standee Hurt Locker when she's breaking up with it because she claims it loves being dramatic.
- Stealth Insult: Brent brags about his new exercising by saying that he did one squat that morning and can already see the difference. Lacey agrees that she sees "squat" alright.
- Tempting Fate: Frustrated with his guests fixing up his house, Hank says that it's time to leave. Cut to Hank locked out of his own house, trying to clarify that he meant it was time for everyone else to leave.
- Too Much Information: Wanda makes a joke about how Commander Cola is probably "going commando," so Hank slyly says that means they can call him "Commander Hank." Wanda is sickened and Brent tells Hank to get his hands out of his pockets.
- Unusual Euphemism: Helen says that she wouldn't mind Commander Cola shimmying into her foxhole.
- Visual Innuendo: As Wanda flirts with the Commander Cola standee, she opens a can of soda that sprays her in the face. She laughs and remarks "Someone's excited."
