After going through flu season without getting ill, the hospital asks Peter to volunteer as a nurse.
Tropes:
- Blood Knight: Peter revels in his fights with Ernie and revives him because he couldn't have anyone else like him.
- Despair Event Horizon: Ernie has crossed it by the events of this episode, due to having bird flu and his life falling apart.Ernie: This is probably for the best, anyway. There's nothing left for me in this world. I lost my job, I lost my house, my wife left me. I'm better off dead...
- The Dog Bites Back: Right before Chris infects the family with the flu, Meg uses her Super-Speed to make Peter poke himself up his nose drawing blood, drop a large speaker onto Lois' head, and force Brian and Stewie to kick each other in the crotch.
- Everyone Has Standards: Doctor Hartman, the most incompetent doctor in Quahog, is shocked when Peter tells him he hasn't been giving Ernie his medicine.
- Flashback: At the hospital, Peter thinks back on the various times he fought Ernie.
- Flashback-Montage Realization: Peter thinking about all the times he fought Ernie get him to realize that Lois was right about needing a rival.
- Footsie Under the Table: Chris plays footsie with Lois while the family's eating until Lois feels uncomfortable and orders Chris to stop.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: When Meg snarks about his supposedly important rivalry with Ernie, Peter tries to hit her by popping the cork on a champagne bottle at her eye. It gently bounces off her and hits his eye instead.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Peter opens separate bottles of champagne, and then proceeds to deliberately aim it at his kids so as to hit them with the cork, but when he attempts to do it to Meg a second time, it rebounds and hits him instead.
- Pet the Dog: Stewie's report on Brian is a brief "Reason You Suck" Speech, but an ultimately well-meaning one. And then it ends on stating that Brian is a great guy.
- The Power of Hate: Peter only saves Ernie because he hates him so much that he would miss him. In fact, Lois tells Peter that he needs the giant chicken because having someone to hate is the greatest motivation there is in life. Without a rival you can't feel complete.
- Rousing Speech: How Lois talking about The Power of Hate is framed, though Peter refuses to be won by this.
- Save the Villain: Peter does this to Ernie by giving him a violent CPR when the latter begins dying.
- Self-Deprecation: With the family unaware of the Giant Chicken feud, an annoyed Peter likens it to Bart and Sideshow Bob. In response, the others discuss how great that rivalry is, due to it being the focus of multiple episodes, having continuity with each installment, and having TV legend Kelsey Grammar playing Bob. When Peter boasts that Ernie is voiced by Danny Smith (one of this show's writers), no one knows who that is. A disappointed Peter then prefers to focus on how he won his rivalry. Also, Chris immediately forgets all this, and Meg openly mocks Peter's claims of having a big rival.
- Shout-Out:
- Meg using super speed is a reference to Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
- Peter's flashback montage ends with a clip from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, referencing that movie's Flashback-Montage Realization.
- Take That!:
- Brian's subplot about being 1% cat is a jab at people who believe heritage holds more meaning than it actually does.
- Ernie's refusal for an avian-influenza vaccination is a reference to anti-vaxxers.
- Unknown Rival: Inverted, Peter and Ernie are aware they have a rivalry, however since their fights have never been relevant to the plot of any episode, Peter's family are unaware of Ernie. So Peter celebrating Ernie's upcoming death is lost on them.
