This episode provides examples of:
- Ass Pull: In-Universe. Daria manages to turn the mouse being traumatized into a point about negative reinforcement and saves her and Kevin from failing.
- Attention Whore: Quinn tried to seduce Kevin by various methods (miniskirt, sodas, flirting, cake...), but he was so distracted by the football to pay her any attention.
- Blackmail: Upchuck blackmails Brittany into acting like a slave, or he'll show the whole school pictures of her sleeping with the quarterback of a rival highschool.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Brittany gets paranoid that Daria would want to steal Kevin away from her. Ironically, she didn't suspect Quinn's blatant attempts to grab Kevin's attention, though she believes both are after Kevin she fails to see Quinn's the one actively pursuing Kevin.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- After hearing Brittany warn Daria she knows how to fight for her man, Kevin demands to know who this "Man" is.
- When Brittany tells Jodie that she thinks Daria might try to steal Kevin, Jodie asks “Who would possibly want to steal Kevin”
Brittany: Ooh! Can you believe Daria's trying to take Kevin away from me?
Jodie: I can't believe anyone would try to take Kevin away from you.
Brittany: Thanks. You're a friend. - Does Not Like Men: Ms. Barch goes on a thinly veiled rant about her ex-husband and verbally abuses the male students.
- Double Standard: Subverted with Ms. Barch. She failed Upchuck and Brittany when she realized that he did all the work and refused to listen to his presentation. Then Daria presents the project, where obviously Daria did all of it while Kevin was just a tagalong, and she passed both (although Kevin only got a 6).
- Enfant Terrible: Brittany stole Daria and Kevin's mouse and gave it to her brother to guard it. Then...Daria: Let me guess. You have a little brother.
Brittany: How'd you know?
(The mouse immediately cowers in the corner of the maze) - Hoist by His Own Petard: Upchuck used Brittany as his personal servant by blackmailing her while he worked on the science project. Come the day they have to present their work, Ms. Barch makes Brittany demonstrate and answer the questions. Since Brittany has no idea what Upchuck was doing while she was running his errands, she has no idea what to say and they both fail.
- Nightmare Fetishist: After Daria spins a hypothetical scenario about an abusive mom's usage of negative reinforcement setting up her child to have a psychotic breakdown when she gets older, Ms. Barch responds "I like the way you think."
- Out of Focus: Jane has little to no participation in the episode.
- Properly Paranoid: Brittany believes Daria and Quinn are working together to steal Kevin. While she aims most of her paranoia at Daria (who's screwing with Brittany's head), Quinn's the one trying to steal Kevin (and failing miserably because he's too stupid to pick up on it).
- Sarcasm-Blind: After Brittany tells Jodie her worries, she replies "I can't imagine ANYONE wanting to steal Kevin". Brittany takes it as a compliment instead.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: Implied with Ms. Barch. While Daria is explaining why the mouse is cowering in the corner, there’s a focus on Ms. Barch’s face when Daria compares the residual trauma with a bad relationship. Considering it’s Ms. Barch (and it’s left unclear if her divorce was her ex husband’s fault entirely or mutually toxic), she can’t help but projecting herself on the mouse, and gives Daria a perfect score (she still barely gives Kevin a 6, though).
- Woman Scorned: Ms. Barch's ugly divorce made her a bitter woman who would torment all her male students. Daria also uses this as argument of her "Negative stimulus theory" to appeal to her.
