Alex has a classroom project: to invest on the stock exchange. But he takes it just a bit too far... Even worse, it's Steven and Elyse's wedding anniversary.
Tropes associated with this episode:
- Dull Surprise: Alex's gift to his parents for their anniversary was to be the earnings he expected to make on his investments. Since he lost all his money, his tries to gift them a rolodex that laid at the brokerage firm and make them leave, but Steven and Elyse are clearly bemused.
- Oh, Crap!: Alex confidently goes to the brokerage to know how much he had earned - and had told his parents to go there to know how much he earned (it was his anniversary gift to them). Cue Alex's reaction when he learns that, due to a typhoon in Manila, he not only lost all his money, but now owes $2,700 to the brokerage. Also, Steven and Elyse are coming, and they can't know of the loss, so he closes the door on their faces...
- Phoney Call: Over the phone, Alex poses as Steven, mimicking his voice, when he gives the order to invest in his hot stock tip. Jennifer invokes Plagiarism in Fiction when she refers to Alex doing so as "plagiarism" (which it actually isn't, of course).
- Piggy Bank: Jennifer breaks her own to help Alex cover his $2,700 debt. She has a grand total of $18.11.
- I Warned You:
- Alex actually has good stock exchange investment accumen, which had been used by a local brokerage firm. But, Steven himself had his own stock exchange investment experience, which was a bad one, and tried to warn Alex that the market is volatile. When Alex invests some of his family's money, he doesn't take his father's advice into account, and he ends up not only losing his money, but owing $2,700 to the brokerage firm.
- Also, Alex invests in Video Industries of the Philippines (VIP), which seemed like a good investment at the time. The very next day, a typhoon hits Manila, not only reducing the need for video products, but also destroying the company's stock to the tune of $28 million in damages.note Yeah, no wonder Alex lost all his money...
- Serious Business: Alex takes his classroom project far too seriously, and actually invests (for real) his family's savings on a hot stock tip.
- The Sociopath: Alex's friend at the brokerage firm tells him and Jennifer not to take the losses emotionally. Fair enough. But how he does it to a retired investor who lost her life savings is to react with almost-glee when she comes to complain.
- Writer's Block: Elyse is suffering from the architect's version of this, as she wants to draw a chapel that can hold people from various fates so that they can watch the cerimony at the same time, but she can't divide the seats so that every one of them can see their own preacher equally. Solved by the end of the episode, when she settles on a complicated, three-floor layered design, with each faith having its own room in one of the layers — and there is even a left-over room which Steven suggests be the "agnostics' lounge". She compares the design to Jerusalem's Citadel of David or, for Mallory, to the celebrities' spaces in The Hollywood Squares.
- You Are Grounded!: After Alex confesses to his parents what he had done, he's forbidden to go out on dates and watch television for two weeks. Especially Wall Street Week.
