After being failed by a substitute teacher who has beef with Peggy, Bobby gets help with his essay, whom Peggy helps write for him and Bobby takes all the credit. Bill puts up an old flag from the army base at his house.
Tropes
- Berserk Button: Kahn learns the hard way not to touch Bill's flag when the former attempts to lower it down. Bill chases him off, screaming like a crazed animal while doing so.
- Burning the Flag: Bill manages to save the giant American flag from burning for disposal purposes as said flag has so much sentimental meaning to him. But after Peggy and Bobby's attempts to steal it, which resulting in it getting destroyed, he takes it back to the Army Base for proper disposal, which makes him break down in tears, showing how much it meant to him. Bobby would even mention this in his speech in the end.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- When Peggy gets the ad space for her musings, she shows Hank, who then comments it's Frank Gorshin's birthday, actually a Brick Joke from earlier when Peggy mentions her musings have been replaced with celebrity birthdays.
- Then later on, with Peggy telling Bobby her plan about making a patriotic speech for the assembly after Donovan catches on to them with her discussing how it will be about a boy who loves his country and how a mother loves her son; how it's American as apple pie. This of course excites Bobby, who exclaims he loves apple pie.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The reason Mrs. Donovan has a bitter hatred for Peggy and wanting to make her life hell and take her frustrations out on Bobby? Because Peggy ended up taking her assigned parking space (under a tree) when she went to graduate school.
- Hard-Work Montage: A small one with Hank and the guys setting up the flag and flag pole in Bill's lawn. Them carrying it to his house, with Dale riding it on all fours and losing his hat, them digging a hole and Bill and Dale just about to pour cement in there (right before Hank pulls out the shovel and Boomhauer) and them hoisting the pole in the hole and Bill proudly raising the flag.
- Informed Flaw: The flag Bill gets from the army base is said to be old and worn. But when he puts it up in his yard, it looks like there's totally nothing wrong with it.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Mrs. Donovan resembles her voice actress Heather Locklear.
- Karma Houdini: It's implied Bobby won't suffer any punishment for plagiarizing Peggy's essay after he gives his speech, as Principal Moss seems wowed by his writing and not really noticing his confession before instructing the marching band to come on, much to Donovan's chagrin. And on that note, Peggy and Bobby are never revealed to be the ones who ended up destroying Bill's flag.
- On a level combining the two plots, Mrs. Donovan should hope Bill never finds out the whole fiasco started because of her pettiness over the parking spot. Judging by how he reacted when Khan simply walked near it, he would likely be out for her blood if he found out his flag was destroyed over such a petty start.
- Kick the Dog: While Mrs. Donovan likes to give out "F"s to Bobby as her way of getting back at Peggy, one moment stands out after one paper where she writes if he can see her after class. And once he does, she says she doesn't really want to see him; she just wanted to make sure he can read.
- Loophole Abuse: The newspaper stopped running Peggy's musings, as they wanted to make room for celebrity birthdays and Peggy works hard to get them back on the paper. She would finally get her wish... by renting out ad space and having them published that way, with her hoping they'll call back and being publishing them themselves again.
- Naked People Are Funny: When Kahn tries to take down Bill's flag, Bill shows up, with nothing on but a towel, and warns him not to touch the flag. When Kahn pushes his luck, Bill chases him off, losing his towel in the process and showing his hairy backside for all to see.
- One-Steve Limit: Mrs. Donovan's first name is also Peggy.
- Parent-Child Team: After Mrs. Donovan finds out about the plagiarism and forces both Peggy and Bobby to write essays to explain and apologize for their crimes, Peggy decides she doesn't want to give Donovan the satisfaction and both make a plan to write an essay about the love of the American flag, and they even make a plan to steal it from Bill and prop it up at the school, to add dramatic effect to the speech. But things go incredibly wrong, resulting in the flag getting destroyed. But in the end, they both come out on top.
- Pet the Dog: Mrs. Donovan gives Bobby an A for the essay written by Peggy. This was before she found out about the plagiarism but this is quite a gesture for her considering she liked to fail him to get to Peggy.
- Plagiarism in Fiction: After all the kids ask Bobby to write their essays, he ends up over his head, with Peggy understandably refusing to help him out of his jam. So at night, he sneaks into her workroom and takes her musings and passes them off as essays for the others. But this also comes back at him hard when Peggy finally manages to get her musings published in the paper and Mrs. Donovan catching the musings as well as seeing the essays. This gets both Bobby and Peggy in trouble when the former reveals that the latter wrote the essay and Donovan giving them the ultimatum of apologizing for their actions in the school assembly or she'll report them.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Hank delivers a very brief one when Peggy and Bobby tell him what happened. After explaining how everything got started, and when they try to justify their actions, Hank harshly snaps at them: "Well, from where I'm standing, you both screwed up! (To Bobby) If I were you, I'd get started on my apology right away! (To Peggy) And if I were you, I'd hide mine from Bobby!!"
- Rousing Speech: In the end, Bobby makes a speech and explains how he took the credit for Peggy's work and how he used her to plagiarize his other essays for the students and then goes on about how much the American flag means to him and his newfound appreciation for it, which sends the students to cheer and ends up foiling Mrs. Donovan's plans.
- Say My Name: Peggy gives out a loud and angry "Bobby Hill" which can be heard across the cafeteria after she puts two and two together over Bobby using her musings for the other students' essays.
- The Scream: Bill gives one that sounds more like a loud, anguished cry when he discovers his destroyed flag left by Bobby and Peggy after their attempts to use it for their speech gone wrong.
- Series Continuity Error: A very jarring one if you're watching the episodes back to back, with the previous episode has the subplot of Peggy wanting to replace her old Kaypro computer with a newer one. But the opening scene has her back to the Kaypro (which could be attributed to this being produced before said Christmas Episode).
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Mrs. Donovan is this for Peggy in her sole appearance, who's held a grudge against her ever since Peggy ended up taking her parking space after returning from graduate school.
- Special Guest: Heather Locklear as Mrs. Donovan.
- Stealing the Credit: After Mrs. Donovan gives Bobby an A for Peggy's essay, he takes all the credit for it, even going as far as saying he gets his inspiration for his writing by sitting in the tub and drinking hot cocoa. He even gets a bit of Acquired Situational Narcissism when he brags about his "writing style" to the other kids and gets tasked by Principal Moss to read it at the school assembly. Though it ends up coming back at him hard when the other kids approach him to write their essays.
- Tattered Flag: Peggy and Bobby's attempts to take Bill's flag and use it for their speech the following day goes awry as when they arrive to the school, they find it wrapped around the axle of Hank's truck (which they borrow). And Peggy attempting to pull forward only rips it significantly. And when propped up in the auditorium, it's shown with a tire track and a big tear. And when Bobby activates the flares for demonstration, the flag catches on fire and gets put out by the sprinklers, resulting in it being destroyed for good and for it to be properly disposed of.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The fiasco that causes Bill's flag to be destroyed is triggered by Mrs. Donovan being ridiculously petty over Peggy taking her parking spot several years before the events of the episode. If Bill ever found out that's how it started, Mrs. Donovan would be smart to watch her back, because it would not be a pretty ending.
