JD and Turk visit a strip club for lunch only to find themselves at a protest being covered by the news. They try to play it off as joining the protest, but then the news cameraman collapses and they treat him there on the street. At the hospital, JD stresses about intern evaluations, Eliot stresses about her friendship with Carla.
- Blithe Spirit: Eliot tries to do this after Carla ditches her on what would have been their night out. She takes a taxi downtown, does a carefree spin, tosses her hat in the air (with 70s sitcom music playing)... and some dude snatches her hat out of the air and walks away with it, leaving her to scramble into another cab and run away.
- Dare to Be Badass: Cox chews JD out for being so afraid of what everyone else thinks of him that, for now, he's only an okay doctor.
- The Dog Bites Back: After Kelso refuses him a raise, Ted manages to help Turk stand up to him about the posters.Ted: Sir, that case would be over so quickly I'd advise you to bring cab fare to the courthouse because Dr. Turk would be driving your beemer home.
- Friendship Moment: Though Eliot and Carla come from very different worlds (since when are khaki pants a pink top and a neckerchief not hip?), they bond through Eliot's professional and empathetic care for Carla's friend and her friend's son.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: JD agrees to let Kelso turn his and Turk's moment in the spotlight into an ad campaign for the hospital. However, Kelso just focuses on Turk as a black doctor and turns it into an early 90s nightmare race-positive campaign, something JD never considered.
- Innocently Insensitive: Eliot expresses astonishment that Carla's friend has a grown son (mistaking her for a cradle robber at first), since she would have had to have been very young to have had him. She was fourteen.
- JD lets Kelso start an advertising campaign based on their random appearance on the news, inadvertently turning Turk into a Token Minority, causing some friction.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Carla learns that, dudebro though he can be, Turk can communicate.
- Poor Communication Kills: Though there's initially some friction, JD rapidly realizes he hurt his friend and offers a genuine apology, subverting this trope and its usual place in the sitcoms this show is an homage to. Carla and Eliot play the trope straight, but Turk and JD providing a good example of communication helps them get through it.Carla: Why am I even talking to you? ... You are such a guy. You can't even begin to understand something this deep on any kind of real emotional level.
JD: [walking up to the table] Hey, Turk, look, I'm really sorry about the whole poster thing. It was racially insensitive of me, I should have been more aware of your feelings before I went ahead and spoke for you.
Turk: That's okay. Your intentions were good and there's never been an issue of race between us. Since the day I met you you've been nothing but a friend to me.
JD: I love you, man.
Turk: Hit me one. - Secret Test of Character: Cox decides not to do JD's evaluation and hands him the form. Turns out he wanted to see how honest JD would be about himself. However, it did give JD the opportunity to stand up and demand Cox do it himself, which was a different lesson.
- Token Minority: Instead of highlighting that Turk and JD happened to be on the spot and did a good thing, Kelso turns it into a "diversity" ad campaign, infuriating Turk. Turk even showed up on the cover of their college's brochure. Twice. In the same photo.
- What You Are in the Dark: After ripping JD a new one for caring too much about what other people think, Cox praises him to the board as a really special intern, although he notes that JD maybe "cares too much".
