Jane and Trent's immediate family all show up at their house, causing them to shelter at the Morgendorffer house.
This episode provides examples of:
- Alone Among the Couples: Penny doesn't care to take anything from Wind and Summer, who've been married and divorced.
- Arc Words: *Doorbell rings* "Who could that be?"
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: As the Lanes arrive at home, we learn just how screwed up they all are.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Lane family has the redheaded Penny, four blonds (Amanda, Summer, Summer's daughter, and Wind), and four brunettes (Jane, Trent, Vincent, and Summer's son).
- Cain and Abel: Played with when we finally see the rest of the Lane children in action. Wind is a miserable narcissist who makes every discussion about his failed marriages, Penny is an abrasive Soapbox Sadie and wannabe revolutionary, and Summer is a neglectful mother whose children keep running away from her. Compared to that, Jane being a snarky artist and Trent a slacker musician is golden in comparison. The former three stand out further due to how hostile and nasty they are towards each other, compared to how well Jane and Trent support one another.
- Chekhov's Gun: At the beginning of the episode, Helen is trying to have "Family Time" over dinner, but everyone is busy reading. To get rid of the rest of her family, Helen tells Amanda to organize a family dinner, knowing well that they will argue and go their own separate ways.
- Closer to Earth: Jane and Trent are much more emotionally and mentally stable than their siblings or their parents. This is greatly emphasized when Amanda announces that Courtney and Adrian will be visiting.Trent: Does Summer know?Amanda (thoughtfully): She should, shouldn't she?Trent: Well, she's kind of their mom.
- Comically Missing the Point: Amanda gives the old "if you hold a butterfly too tightly in your hand it will die" speech to justify why she doesn't want to smother her children with rules and boundaries. The problem is that she overlooks how butterflies start off as caterpillars who only become butterflies if they can properly emerge from a chrysalis. As such, Amanda's parenting skills have made it so most of her children were unable to properly become "butterflies" which even Jane recognizes.Jane: How 'bout if you tear off its precious, little wings?
- Commonality Connection: When Trent tells Jake and Helen that nobody invited him back to the house after six months of living in a tent, Jake immediately feels for him because he has lived through the same thing, but while Trent's situation is just a result of his mother's Innocently Insensitive neglect, Jake's father was downright emotionally abusive to him.
- Doesn't Know Their Own Child: Invoked by Jake himself. When he thinks Monique, who was actually looking for Trent, is one of Quinn's dates, he says this.
- Dysfunctional Family: The Lanes are not toxic or abusive between them, but with the sole exception of Trent and Jane, they are all very flawed people that can barely live together under the same roof.
- Amanda, the mother, is disengaged from anything other than her crafts to the point of neglecting all her kids and husband.
- Vincent, the father, is a photographer who rarely is at home.
- Wind has gone through three divorces by the time he is 31 years old, is very neurotic, and craving for love and attention.
- Summer is a Generation Xerox of her mother, and her kids are said to be runaways on a regular basis.
- Penny is what Jane would be if her cynicism is taken up to eleven. She is an Starving Artist that constantly hops between different countries in Latin America, hoping to sell her trinkets. She only treats Jane with respect and is rude to her other siblings.
- Face on a Milk Carton: Quinn is shown reading a milk carton emblazoned with a "MISSING" picture of Daria's self-esteem classmate from the first episode (the one wearing a The Head shirt).
- Fiery Redhead: Penny is short-tempered.
- Foil: Jane and Trent's sibling relationship is the inverse of Wind, Penny, and Summer's sibling relationship. The youngest of the Lane siblings have a much easier time understanding one another and a genuine bond, while the older siblings can't stand each other and argue whenever they're in the same room.
- Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: Amanda and Vincent Lane firmly believe in a gentle touch, much to the detriment of all their children. There's a clever visual metaphor when Amanda's justifying her parenting technique with Jane. As she explains that she feels it's necessary to give her children all the space they want to grow, the clay pot she was working on with her hands takes on an ugly shape without her to mold it as it's developing.
- Good Parents: Helen and Jake have always been this but here they really shine at providing Jane and Trent a stable place to stay while their family is invading their space.
- Imagine Spot: When Jane and Quinn try to console Daria after seeing that Trent is still together with Monique, Quinn suggests Daria imagines what she wants to build up confidence.
- To make an example, Quinn imagines herself as a queen and a handsome man offering his absolute obedience, and she requests a soda in a crystal goblet.
- In turn, Daria ends up imagining her life with Trent as a married couple: Trent is a Future Loser, unemployed with a failed music career, while Daria is working double shifts at the lab to support both of them, and they can barely afford to buy glasses for their kid. On top of that, they never got married because Trent overslept and missed their wedding.
- Just as she was decided to kill her crush on Trent, Daria starts imagining again her future with Trent, this time as a wealthy couple telling each other how much they love each other. Daria is clearly not over him.
- It's All About Me: Wind, Penny, and eventually Summer are shown to only care about themselves.
- For all his sobbing about failing his wives, it's clear Wind cares more about making people feel sorry for him instead of actually doing anything to improve himself whether it involves being a better husband or having better taste in women.
- Penny wants to believe she's a self-styled revolutionary saving third-world country when it's obvious she doesn't know a thing about local government or the places she's trying to "help." The most she does is harass a finance minister because her crafts stand got wiped out by a volcano.
- Summer's kids are constantly running away from home, but as soon as she gets them back she makes a big stink about how she feels instead of doing anything to make them want to stay of their own free will.
- Jerkass to One: Inverted. Penny is rude to just about all of her siblings except for Jane.
- Like a Son to Me: As soon as Helen heard that Trent was moving to his van, she invited him to stay at the house and share dinner with them. Also, she grounds him when Trent gets home late from a date.
- Literal-Minded: When Trent goes out with Monique, Jane comforts Daria telling her she's twice the woman Monique is; Quinn then says that would make Daria a US size 12.
- Mistaken for Gay: Jake, assuming the doorbell is Quinn's date, is shocked to open it on a woman.Jake: Wow, I really don't know my kids.
- Noodle Incident: The only real rule the Lanes have is that they can't start fires in rooms that don't have fireplaces. How this became a rule is anyone's guess.
- Not So Above It All:
- Despite not being used to being scolded and grounded for breaking curfew, Trent actually appreciates the concern, is clearly distraught because he spent four hours breaking up again with Monique, and seems hurt when he tells Helen and Jake that he spent six months in a tent because nobody invited him back to the house.
- After spending most of the episode trying her best to be accommodating to her adult children (and grandkids), Amanda finally breaks and begs Helen to help reclaim her house.
- Open-Minded Parent:
- The Lanes are what happens when this trope goes too far. There's a difference between letting your kids think for themselves and outright neglect, and they often fall in the latter.
- Jake, however, proves himself to be a much more normal version of the trope when he initially believes Trent's girlfriend is Quinn's date. He isn't bothered at all, just a little surprised.
- Jake and Helen are also remarkably cool about letting Jane and Trent crash at their house to avoid their own family.
- Parental Favoritism: It's telling Amanda doesn't invite Jane or Trent to the family dinner, but since it was put together for the sake of convincing Penny, Wind, and Summer to leave it seems Amanda excluded her youngest so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.
- Parental Neglect:
- Amanda keeps believing that the best she can do is to let their kids be without restraints, even if that means paying them any attention at all. For example, she reminds Jane of the time Trent lived in a tent in the backyard for six months because he wanted to; according to Trent, though, he didn't come back inside for six months because nobody invited him back.
- Relationship Revolving Door: According to Jane, Trent and Monique keep breaking up and getting back together on a regular basis. This time around, Trent decides that they had to cut it for real.
- Status Quo Is God: Just as Daria decided to kill her crush on Trent after seeing him with another girl and imagining her future with him, she discovers that she's still not over him by the end of the episode. Also the Lanes return to the house only to disband again.
