Halloween
It's Halloween, and while Angela used to love Halloween, she's not sure about dressing up in a costume, though Rayanne gets her one. Not only that, but after she finds out the textbook she has once was used by Nicky Driscoll (Andrew Kavovit), a teenage boy who died in the early 1960's when he fell down from the rafters in the gym, Angela starts getting obsessed with Nicky, even seeing him in the hallway. That night, when Rayanne convinces Brian to help her and Angela break into the school (Rayanne wants to hold a seance, then decides to write "Nicky Driscoll was here" on the gym floor), and Rayanne and Brian get trapped inside the school, Angela somehow gets transported back to the night Nicky was killed.
Elsewhere, Jordan is in danger of getting expelled from school because he keeps missing English class (which is something Angela worries about as well), Danielle decides to dress up as Angela for Halloween, and because Graham and Patty wait until the last minute to buy costumes for Camille's Halloween party, they end up getting dressed as a pirate (Graham) and Rapunzel (Patty). Patty also worries about having to fire Graham's replacement at the print shop because he's always late.
This episode contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: After Danielle tells Sharon she wishes Sharon was her big sister because she hates Angela:Sharon: Okay, you hate her. So, why'd you want to be her if you hate her so much?
- Big "SHUT UP!": After Rayanne tells Angela how Nicky died (he fell on from the gym rafters and landed on the spike of a girl's shoe), Sharon says, "Ew, shut up!"
- Call-Back: When Mrs. Lerner wants to know if anyone knows Jordan (so they can tell Jordan he'll be expelled if he misses one more class), Angela remembers how she and Jordan had one bad kiss and one really good kiss.
- Cool Big Sis: Danielle thinks of Sharon as this, and claims she'd prefer having Sharon as a big sister than Angela. Sharon sees through this (see Armor-Piercing Question above).
- Distracted by the Sexy: Happens to Brian twice, both times involving Rayanne - the first time, during school, when he sees her shaving her legs, and the second time, more importantly, when he's watching her walk up the stairs when they've sneaked into the school, and because of that, lets the door close so they're locked in.
- Fetish: Evidently, dressing up in their costumes is a huge turn-on for both Graham and Patty, because it makes them have sex right in the living room (though they keep getting interrupted by trick-or-treaters to the point Patty decides to leave the candy outside).
- Freudian Slip: After Angela hears the story about Nicky (see Big "SHUT UP!" above), she asks Rickie, "So what else do you know about Nicky Catalano?" Rickie points out, "You mean Nicky Driscoll."
- Hypocritical Humor: Patty tries to offer her old flapper dress to Angela and then Danielle for them to use as a costume, they both turn her down flat. A little later, when Patty realizes she has nothing to wear for Camille's costume party, Graham tells her she can wear the flapper dress, and Patty responds, "I hate that flapper dress!"
- Mirror Character: Jordan and Nicky. Both of them are considered losers by many key people, both of them are reluctant to pull stunts their friends want them to pull (Nicky the stunt that gets him killed, while for Jordan, it's tearing up the high school track), but both decide to do it anyway because it makes them feel alive. It's no accident when Angela is walking up the stairs at school and thinks she sees Nicky, it turns out to be Jordan.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: This is Graham and Patty's reaction when they see Danielle with dyed crimson hair and a flannel shirt (and hear her talk like Angela), until Danielle reveals she's dressed up as Angela for Halloween.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: In a way, Angela is the ghost when she finds herself back in 1962 and gets to see Nicky, as well as the girl who dumped him not long before he died (though she only interacts with Nicky).
- Primal Fear: Rayanne admits she's afraid of the dark, which is how Brian ends up staying with her for the night in the school.
- Running Gag: Though Sharon says she's dressed up as a cat, everyone thinks she's something else, including a rat or a mouse. When Danielle asks if Sharon is dressed up as a mouse, Sharon resignedly goes along with it.
- Shout-Out:
- After they talk about Nicky Driscoll, Rickie and then Rayanne start humming Elvis Presley's version of "Blue Moon". When Angela has the vision of Nicky, the same song is playing, and Nicky claims Elvis was their age when he recorded it.
- Mrs. Lerner is dressed up as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and pretends to be using a Jedi mind trick to make the class want to read.
- When Patty and Graham are at the costume shop, the owner offers them either Bill and Hilary Clinton costumes, or a pirate and Rapunzel costumes. They choose the latter.
- When Rayanne visits Angela at the library, she sees the copy of Rolling Stone with Kurt Cobain on the cover, and says sadly she still can't look at Cobain.
- Shrouded in Myth: Nicky Driscoll. There's disagreement among Rayanne, Rickie, Sharon, and the others girls in the bathroom as to how Nicky died and what he was doing in the gym in the first place.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Angela and Danielle, as usual:Danielle: Mom, what should I be?
Angela: A pain in the butt, cause you are. (Graham chuckles)
Danielle: I'd be you, but nobody can find a mask that ugly. - The Watson: Angela is the one who gets to ask, "Who's Nicky Driscoll?"
