Still Valley, Wyoming is a town that's a blast outta the past!...because Cognito Inc regularly sprays the whole place with chemicals to keep it that way so they have someplace to sell their dangerous recalled 80's products. When Myc falls out of the plane they need to head into the time-trapped town before he's found. Only Brett isn't so keen to let go of his nostalgia...
Tropes:
- The '80s: Accidentally invoked by Cognito Inc, when their Nostalgia Max chemtrail experiment erased the minds of the Still Valley populace to the point of thinking they still live in the 80s. They then purposefully invoke this after finding profit in selling recalled and dangerous products there and make it their mission to spray the remote town every few years.
- Anachronism Stew: The town of Still Valley is stated to be stuck in the year 1984 but there are a few inconsistencies of them having things from after that year such as a Blockbuster Video, which first opened back in 1985. The same can be said for the majority of the films Reagan binges which were either released theatrically or on VHS after 1984. Justified since the purpose of Cognito Inc. isn't accuracy, but selling products, and cutting away over half the decade would make little sense. The specific year is just a joke (see below).
- An Aesop: Don't live in the past. Nostalgia might be nice, but the actual past probably wasn't as rosy as your memories of it.
- Awful Truth: Reagan forces Brett to realize he's hiding behind his love of the eighties so he doesn't have to come to terms with the fact that his real family openly hated him.
- Bait-and-Switch: At one point, Brett notes that the whole plot of them being government agents trying to retrieve an alien from a group of '80s kids is a lot like the plot of a film—Mac and Me.
- Beam-O-War: Happens between Reagan's cobbled-together proton pack and Brett's nostalgia beam. Brett cheats by having one of his living dolls sabotage Reagan's proton pack.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Brett points out to Reagan that she's not willing to let him enjoy a piece of his childhood because Rand never allowed her to be a kid. Reagan retorts that this mission isn't about enjoying nostalgia: they have to get Myc out before they're forced to liquidate a town of innocent, brainwashed people. She also makes the valid point that nostalgia is often used by grown adults as an excuse to not do anything about their modern problems, while Brett’s point is that Reagan’s own childhood based on practicality prevented her from having anything to feel nostalgic for. By the episode's end, the two have reached a middle ground; Reagan humors Brett by watching The Goonies with him and showing interest in his love of the eighties, while Brett watches it with the realization that things from the past are hardly ever as good as you remember them to be, and noting how dated some parts of the film are.
- Clique Tour: Brett comments that in the '80s everyone had a clique. He points out nerds, jocks, and evil mayors who want to tear down the rec center.
- Dangerous Phlebotinum Interaction: Getting splashed with Nostalgia MAX serum and landing in a pile of recalled 80s toys turns Brett into a literal nostalgia monster who can force others to experience that nostalgia and control all 80s memorabilia.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Still Valley is a town where everyone is mentally stuck in the 80's, complete with 80's values that haven't aged well. Andre (who's Korean) is constantly bombarded by casual racism from the townspeople, and physical punishment in schools isn't seen as a big deal.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: After getting exposed to a high amount of Nostalgia Max combined with the melted remains of recalled and toxic 80s toys, Brett is turned into the Mighty Nostalgia Max, a Laughing Mad nostalgia-empowered lunatic with glowing eyes and the ability to control 80s products, as well as the power to turn others nostalgic like himself. He then goes on a rampage to find his friends, reduce their desire to leave by making them nostalgic, and keep them in Still Valley forever, all while making a bunch of references to eighties pop culture.
- Everybody Has Standards:
- As Reagan points out, the only reason they're in the town at all is to extract Myc before he reveals the Masquerade. If the town finds out, the team will have to exterminate the town. She may be pragmatic, but mass-murder is beyond the pale for her.
- Andre takes a break from his drug habits to note that the 1980s were very racist towards Asian people. He's been called "Oriental," mistaken for being Chinese and Japanese when he's Korean, and challenged to karate fights. It makes him too uncomfortable to get high.
- All of the department heads (minus the not-present Myc) gasp in shock when Reagan says Ghostbusters sucks.
- Family Portrait of Characterization: Brett's wealthy but neglectful family is characterized by how they leave him out of family photos.
- Freudian Excuse: Why is Brett such a people-pleaser? Because his own family refused to make time for him, leaving his butler to raise him. While he spent most of his childhood alone, he didn't end up in rehab or military school like his siblings.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: A nostalgia-empowered Brett sports an eery green pair of these. They noticeably dim as he's talked down by Reagan.
- Hard Truth Aesop:
- While Reagan isn't nice about it, she has a point when she says that adults use nostalgia as a coping mechanism to avoid dealing with life's problems. Using too much nostalgia as a crutch means that you never face reality. Brett is forced to admit that he actually had a shitty childhood, and nostalgia is how he's been coping.
- As demonstrated by the fact that everyone in Still Valley is nostalgic for the '50s, people who wax nostalgic for a "simpler time" are only reminiscing about an idealized past that never actually existed. As demonstrated by the episode as a whole, doing so only blinds people to
the very real problems that existed in reality.
- Informed Flaw: While the adults and teens of Still Valley are definitely brainwashed, the kids are pretty precocious. They make some Entertainingly Wrong but logical conclusions about a mindwiped Myc, hide him in the house from every adult, and chuck him off a cliff when they realize he's a danger to them.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Due to Still Valley's Deliberate Values Dissonance, Andre gets cast as the owner of a Chinese food restaurant and is hit with several Chinese stereotypes despite being Korean. One of the cops at the end even says "Chinese" just means "generally Asian."
- The Internet Is for Porn: Cognito Inc. has a holodeck that is used mostly for sex stuff. J.R. even calls it the "sex deck". Reagan tells Brett this when she sees him use it for a personal but more wholesome purpose.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: After being told by Reagan that his nostalgia for the 80s was stupid, Brett tries to get some liquid Nostalgia Max to convince his friends to stay a little longer. However, it backfires and turns him into the Mighty Nostalgia Max, who tries to trap his friends in Still Valley with him forever so they can essentially play house. Reagan manages to get through to him by making him remember his actual, emotionally negligent childhood, not a fake one from a Sitcom, and reassures him that even though he doesn't have a good nuclear family, he still has her and the rest of the team. This is enough to get him to stop his attack, and they all have a group hug.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Myc is hit with the Nostalgia MAX spray and falls into the woods, getting picked up by a group of kids. They eventually get tired of his attitude and chuck him off a cliff, right into the van being driven by his coworkers. The blunt force trauma fixes his memory right up.
- Line-of-Sight Alias: When pressed for a name, Andre glances around and chances at a poster for Peking duck. He goes with the name "Duck Peking" and is frustrated at this accidental racism.
- MacGyvering: With no modern technology, Reagan spends most of the episode performing this to build tracking devices to locate Myc.
- The Mall: Lampshaded. Because Still Valley is stuck in The '80s they still have a thriving mall (actually a front for Cognito, Inc. to unload merchandise they can't sell in the present).
- Mirror Character: Reagan uses this to talk down a Drunk on the Dark Side Brett as he's about to infuse her with nostalgia love. She tells him that she knows what it's like to try and please a shitty family that doesn't appreciate you. The answer, however, isn't to bury yourself in a fantasy indefinitely, but to find people that actually appreciate you. Reagan also admits that while nostalgia is dated, it does get your mind off things for a short while.
- My Little Panzer: The reason Cognito Inc. goes to Still Valley is to pawn off dangerous recalled toys at the mall, such as extremely sharp lawn darts.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Reagan has never seen any form of 80's media thanks to Rand throwing out the TV so she could focus on science. All the references everybody else makes flies right over her head.
- Nostalgia Ain't Like It Used to Be: The gang one by one all find that being plopped into the closest thing to the actual eighties as you can get isn't as fun as the movies make it out to be. Harsher school punishments and casual racism are just a few problems, though Glenn actually enjoys the former until he has to watch the kids he disciplines in detention. Reagan, who has no nostalgia for the eighties, is totally unbiased when watching old movies, such as pointing out how the villains in The Goonies have flat out chained up their mentally disabled son/brother in the basement, which makes Brett realize how differently that hits with modern sensibilities.
- Nostalgia Filter: Brett adores 80's media and loves everything about it no matter how dangerous or offensive it can be at times...since without it he'd have to live with the cold fact that his real family hates him.
- Reference Overdosed: Nearly everything in Still Valley is a reference to the pop culture scene of the 1980s, with tons of quotes alluding to famous media of the decade.
- Ship Tease: With The Reveal that Brett's hologram wasn't of his real family, there are hints that he might have a crush on Reagan. Reagan ignores this and opts to spend time with him as a friend.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a reference to The Breakfast Club.
- Brett's favorite classic sitcom The Growing Years references both Growing Pains and The Wonder Years in its title.
- The merchandise JR dumps on the table at the beginning includes Care Bears and My Little Ponynote . Reagan tries to hook up a Simon toy, but fails. A Cabbage Patch Kid is one of the toys Brett brings out to fight the cast.
- Myc's plot is a parody of "kid adventure" '80s works like The Goonies, ET The Extraterrestrial, and Stranger Things. The precocious and adventurous children find an alien in the woods and take him home in the hope of befriending him, but Myc is a foul-mouthed jerkass who mooches off their hospitality, and the kids eventually realize that he isn't worth keeping around. When Myc falls off a cliff he is silhouetted by the moon as in E.T. Brett compares it to Mac and Me.
- Dolphman's students are quick to reference Dead Poets Society ("O, captain, my captain!") and Footloose ("not sure how or why an entire town could ban dancing").
- When faced with a bunch of '80s references out for his blood, Andre calls it "Ready Player One all over again!" Ready Player One is a work that involves a lot of references to nostalgic past characters.
- The climax takes a lot of cues from Ghostbusters; Reagan builds a machine that looks like the franchise's Proton Pack to fight Brett, whom she refers to as Slimer.
- The town is stuck in 1984.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When the town mistakes the main characters for time-travelers from the future at the end, Reagan goes along with their false conclusion so she doesn't have to reveal the truth.
- Take That!:
- When Reagan binges on classic movies, a song plays that declares said classics with getting remakes "again, and again, and again until you die!" An extended version plays over the credits and takes even more digs at the concept.
- At the end of the episode, Brett and Reagan watch The Goonies and walk away spooked by how ableist the movie can be. Even Brett, who's established for having a massive nostalgia-boner for The '80s, can't bring himself to defend it.Reagan: So is their disabled brother just straight up chained to a wall?
Brett: Huh. Wow, yeah, that's... That hits different today. - Andre warns the others not to get hit by the Nostalgia MAX, or they'll become "a stunted manchild like Chris Hardwick."
