Brian quickly falls in love with a woman, and after receiving devastating news regarding her cancer diagnosis, he proposes marriage, but when Brian discovers that his would-be wife is cured of her cancer, Brian begins having second thoughts.
This episode contains examples of:
- 555: Lampshaded. Peter's business that sold pants with butt flaps failed because the company's 555 number was fake.
- Baldness Means Sickness: Subverted with Jess. She lost her hair to chemotherapy and wears a wig, but after her cancer went into remission, it slowly began to grow back. As Brian is creeped out by her appearance, describing her as looking like a baby doll found in hurricane rubble, Jess takes it as meaning he's calling her his "baby doll".
- Brick Joke: One Cutaway Gag has Brian cry like Snoopy after being humiliated at the movie theater. At the end of the episode, Jess comes back to life during her funeral, causing Brian to cry like Snoopy again.
- Brutal Honesty: Brian says that he does want a woman he can spend the rest of his life with and just hasn't found one yet, prompting Stewie to respond that Brian never will and call him a "selfish horndog who's getting too old for the game".
- Call-Back: Once again, a character cries like Snoopy.
- Continuity Nod: After their honeymoon, Brian and Jess move into the crappy apartment he was forced to live in after the events of last season's "The D in Apartment 23".
- Crazy Cat Lady: One of Jess’s many traits that gets on Brian’s nerves is the sheer amount of cats she owns.
- Downer Ending: For Brian, anyway; he's trapped in a marriage with a woman he has nothing in common with and can't stand, and he can't risk divorcing her without pissing everyone off. And just when it seems like he's finally free of her after she apparently chokes to death, she comes back to life, much to Brian's despair.
- Embarrassing Last Name: Jess's last name is Schlotz and her mother's maiden name is Boardwart.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Jess wears a blonde wig to cover her baldness. Once her hair begins to grow back, it's revealed that she's actually a brunette.
- Failed a Spot Check: Brian fails to notice that Jess is choking to death right in front of him until she starts shaking him for help.
- Fat Slob: Jess becomes this after recovering from cancer, becoming an obese, hedonistic glutton, having no manners or decorum, and farting nonstop.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Deconstructed; Brian proposes to Jess when it seems like she is going to die from cancer. Before this, their relationship was nothing but having random sex around town. After they get married, her cancer miraculously goes into remission and they move in together, and he has to contend with her annoyingly happy attitude, her many cats, her obnoxious mother and her new hedonistic lifestyle.
- Formerly Fit: Jess herself. When Brian first meets her, she's quite skinny, but after she gets her appetite back, she lets herself go and gets really fat.
- The Fundamentalist: Jess' mother is a devout Christian who wants Brian to cancel HBO and use his unpaid subscription money to make picket signs of fetuses so she could protest abortion near a Panera Bread.
- Gasshole: Jess is so happy that her digestive system is working properly again that she chooses not to hold in her farts. Her mother turns out to be just as bad as her daughter.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Brian spent all of his premarital relationship with Jess parading her around town and television and telling everyone how much he loves her. After she recovers, he can't divorce her without risking earning everyone's ire.
- Insult Backfire: When Jess takes off her wig to reveal her hair is growing back, it’s shown to be patchy and ugly. Brian says she looks like a baby doll that was found in a hurricane, and Jess responds with “Awww, I’m your baby doll!”
- I Was Quite a Looker: After Jess recovers from her cancer, she lets herself go, becoming obese, having no manners or decorum, and farting nonstop.
- Jerkass Ball: Even after promising Brian not to bring up Jess's cancer at the dinner, the Griffins go out of their way to make insensitive jokes about her cancer.
- Jabba Table Manners: After recovering from cancer, Jess chooses to become an unrestrained glutton and eats ravenously with no manners. This nearly causes her to choke to death while eating nachos.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Brian quickly decides to use his marriage to Jess as a way to pick up women after she dies. However, immediately after their wedding, Jess's cancer goes into remission and he is forced to continue his relationship with her, even though he finds her annoying and disgusting and she lets her figure go.
- Lazy Husband: Gender Inverted; Jess become an obese, hedonistic glutton, having no manners or decorum, and farting nonstop.
- Like You Were Dying: Jess's bucket list contains a large number of wild sex acts that she wishes to try and random places she wishes to have intercourse in.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Brian invites Jess's mother to live with them after the wedding so she can be with her daughter during her final days. She still moves in with them after Jess recovers and immediately demands that Brian cancel his HBO subscription due to her being a Christian and wanting to spend the extra money on pictures of fetuses to hold as she screams at people eating at Panera.
- Oh, Crap!: Brian after Jess's doctor reveals that she made a full recovery, meaning that he is stuck married to her.
- Pet the Dog: Quagmire is so touched by Brian's supposed love for Jess that he puts his dislike for him aside and throws him a bachelor party.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Jess’s condition has gotten so bad to the point of being too serious for Dr. Hartman give the unfortunate news to her about her cancer progressing to the point of becoming terminal, so the hospital instead sends out the no-nonsense, more serious Dr. Gravitas to announce it. Brain and Jess 'immediately' realizes judging just by his last name something is very wrong with her.
- Shout-Out: Twice during the episode, Brian cries like Snoopy.
- Shown Their Work: Brian remarks that he smells cancer around Jess. Dogs really do have the ability to identify people with cancer by their scent.
- Take That!: When Brian tries to call for help through 911, a promo for 9-1-1 appears at the bottom of the screen. When Brian complains about Fox expanding its media empire, another promo for Empire appears. After which, Brian says Son of Zorn, only for a "File Not Found" error to appear.
- Unexplained Recovery: After choking, Jess remained in a death like state long enough to have a wake held for her before reviving without any side effects.
- Unwanted Spouse: Jess becomes this after she recovers from her cancer. Brian becomes disgusted with her becoming an obese hedonistic glutton with no manners or decorum, and farting nonstop.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Subverted. After passing out in the parking lot at the Pizza Palace where she and Brian were at, Dr. Gravitas tells Jess her cancer did not respond to the treatment, and has spread to her body to the point of becoming terminal, and therefore only has 2 two weeks to live. This leads to Brian deciding to propose to Jess, wanting to spend the rest of her life together as a married couple, Jess accepts his proposal, and the two decide to marry. However, just after they finish their vows and kiss at their wedding, Dr. Gravitas suddenly enters the church with Jess’s new test results, revealing her cancer turned out to have somehow went away on its own, despite having thought to be terminal, meaning she is now cancer-free and therefore is going to live after all. Jess is relieved upon hearing this, meaning since she is now cancer-free she gets to be Brian’s wife for a long time, much to the horror of Brian, who wasn’t ready for a fully committed marriage. She does unceremoniously did for good offscreen at the end of next episode, possibly from health problem from becoming overweight while eating like a massive slob after learning she’s cancer-free.
