Not to be confused with the Season 7 episode of the same title
Henry Gleason, the headmaster of a prestigious private school was shot and killed in his office. The shooter, school bully Bennet Richardson, is tracked down. The prosecutors try to determine whether he or his father, who addressed his son's violent tendencies by gifting him a gun, is more culpable.
- N-Word Privileges: Invoked and discussed. Kevin Bernard and Frank Cosgrove discuss the students who were expelled for being recorded singing along with a rap song with a chorus full of N-words. Kevin approves of them being expelled, but Frank thinks it's ridiculous that Black people should have so much problem with White people saying that word when they use it amongst and on each other all the time, calling out that if the students had been Black, nobody would have batted an eye at them singing along to the song, and if Black people really found the word offensive, then a song wouldn't be allowed to get away with using it.
- Ripped from the Headlines:
- Based on the Ethan Crumbley case, except the shooter in this case only killed one person.
- A group of students were expelled for reciting rap lyrics with racial slurs, an ongoing controversy in the Social Media era that has involved both private citizens and celebrities.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Kevin does one: "About time we have a chat with Mr. Pratt". Cosgrove approves.
- Shout-Out: The episode mentions Dear Evan Hansen. One of the eventually exonerated suspects got tickets to Broadway, so he didn't go see his school's performance.
- Social Media Before Reason: One of the students stole the deceased's belongings and recorded it for laughs.
- Take That!:
- Cancel culture is spoofed in the opening when one teacher tells another that Shakespeare is problematic and should be canceled, to the other's frustration. Bonus points for the pro cancel teacher being young, female and Asian, while her colleague is older, male and White.
- N-Word Privileges gets roasted, with Frank pointing out the double-standard in Black people using the slur as everything from casual punctuation to a friendly endearment amongst each other and letting rappers make millions of dollars for songs that make heavy use of the slur, but getting morally outraged when anybody not seen as "Black enough" uses it.
- Therapy Is for the Weak: Mr. Richardson certainly thinks this way, and so he pushed his son, the shooter, in channeling that aggression, learn to fight back. This way of thinking lead to a conviction.
