Oscar's overprotectiveness strikes again and he interferes with Penny and Kareem's date, to which she yearns she could be left on her own. The returning Al Roker offers his assistance by arranging her and her friends to live the life of a college sophomore. But how long will it take for them, and particularly Penny, to realize that life in college is no piece of cake?
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Oscar is at his worst here. He not only ruins Penny's date, but he embarrasses her in front of all the people who attended the play.
- Alternate Self: Al Roker's college reality has it's own version of Myron.
- Artistic License: Oscar first embarrasses Penny by showing up while the play's still going on. In real life, if you showed up late for a play, the doors would not only be shut but locked and you wouldn't be allowed in.
- As Himself: Al Roker returns to portray himself in this episode.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Penny goes through this…the hard way.
- The Bus Came Back: Al Roker, obviously. Complete with his shorter henchmen.
- But Now I Must Go: Penny’s friends plus Kareem leave her in the college world to resume their normal lives (They took the trial version of Al Roker’s offer and bailed as soon as possible). Dijonay however, refused to leave Penny to her fate, and informs Oscar when she couldn’t convince Penny herself.
- Call-Back: The Big O from “One in A Million” is back, and temporarily restored to his former glory to save Penny.
- Continuity Nod: Roker reminds Penny of his prior appearances, even playing a clip from “Twins To Tweens”. He even offers to get rid of the adults again, but Penny remembering how that went, decides that she and her father should just live their own lives.
- Crapsaccharine World: Peoria University, the college Roker takes Penny, Dijonay and their friends to is presented as an academic utopia where Penny can indulge herself and party all night long every night. It's all fine and dandy until one week into the lifestyle of this place causes Penny to suffer from poor grades and overdue bills, revealing it to be essentially an Assimilation Academy Roker set up to make life miserable for the neglectful Penny.
- Dean Bitterman: A very malicious example. The dean of Penny's college is the Big Guy, aka Al Roker.
- Death Glare: Towards the beginning of the episode, Trudy glares at Oscar when he says to her that Penny’s just “being sensitive”.
- Despair Event Horizon: Penny notably subverts this, even after all she suffers through, as she was rescued by the college-aged version of her father.
- Didn't See That Coming: If there’s one thing Al Roker didn’t count on, it’s that Oscar in any reality is a wild card. Such a wild card that “Big O” Oscar challenges the Big Guy no matter how much this contract affected Oscar.
- Expy/Captain Ersatz: Penny’s literature teacher bears a near-exact resemblance to Sherman Klump from The Nutty Professor (1996).
- Foreshadowing: LaCienega states that she's looked forward to her Quinceañera her whole life, which is celebrated two episodes later.
- Fun with Acronyms: Peoria University's initials are P.U., which often means that something stinks, and it's a clear indication that Penny's college experience is going to stink. The meaning of this is not lost on LaCienega.
- Helicopter Parents: Oscar's overprotective nature is even worse compared to the original series. He accompanies Penny and Kareem on their date, puts a parental block on her phone at nighttime, embarrasses her, makes too much noise and neglects to turn off his phone during the play. It's all there to give Penny an incentive for wanting to grow up quickly. After talking about it, Oscar later confesses that he didn't tag along with Penny just for the sake of being overprotective, but because he really did want to be on stage. Penny appreciates his honesty in that one.
- History Repeats: Penny makes a wish off of Al Roker that uses the same idea as moving the adults into another world, except this time, she wishes for herself and her friends to be in another world, but aged up.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Al Roker’s contract can age tweens to college age, but Penny still would still have the mind of a 14-year old and Roker banked on her being none the wiser. The wording however, didn’t prevent adults from entering and getting aged down, so when Oscar arrived, he still retained his adult intelligence and he was sharp and clever enough to outdo Roker.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Penny tries to get her friends to stay by telling them how much they dreamed of this, LaCienega rightfully fires back that it was her dream, not theirs.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After spending nearly a week as college kids, Penny's friends realize the experience is too much for them and they're not ready for the college world so they end their trial with Roker and go back to their normal lives. Of course, Dijonay refused to abandon Penny to this accursed reality, so she gave Oscar the contract to rescue her.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Roker asks Penny if she’s been in middle school for 20 years.
- Like Parent, Like Child: The eviction notice lampshades to Penny that she fails as a human being… just like her dad.
- Never My Fault: Penny simply refuses to grasp that her Face–Heel Turn is what lead her friends to leaving her, blaming it on them chickening out. Dijonay proved she wasn’t leaving Penny behind by sending Oscar to save her.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Kareem lampshades that Penny isn’t acting like herself, which later leads to him and her group ditching her, and for good reason.
- Only Sane Man: Inverted in this case, where Penny has lost sight of what's important, while her friends and Kareem are the level-headed ones who recognize that this reality is not for them.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Penny’s wish made herself and her friends age 5 years to fit into college life, while Oscar is made younger. The contract enables the wisher to experience college life, so it will age them accordingly.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: A non-time travel variant. Penny and her friends are aware they’re in an alternate reality because Penny made wish and sent the link to them.
- She Is All Grown Up: The aged versions of Penny and her friends are complete glow-ups of their original selves. Special mention goes to Zoey, who goes from a skinny nerd to a beautiful young woman with a gorgeous singing voice.
- Shout-Out:
- Penny, Kareem and Oscar see a play called Benedict, which is an obvious parody of Hamilton; so obvious, in fact, that the latter is even name-dropped by Oscar!
- One of the objects Penny is given to sell by Roker is a DVD of the cult animated film Bébé's Kids, which was directed by series creator Bruce W. Smith.
- Something Only They Would Say: When the teen version of Oscar shows up in Penny's dorm, she refuses to believe that it's her father until he reveals that he knows his daughter is afraid of clowns, has a birthmark on her left buttock, and is angry with him for going on her date with Kareem at the beginning of the episode.
- Sure, Let's Go with That:Roker: I report directly to the man downstairs.
Penny: Don’t you mean “upstairs “?
Roker: [after a Beat] …Sure. - Take That!: "Now Space Jam 1 is a classic but this new one I don’t know what-"note
- Toxic Friend Influence: Penny probably would have had a better chance of passing her classes if she hadn’t listened to her friends talking about having all the fun they could have. This is downplayed when things start to get serious for the group, who comes to their senses, but Penny still wants to party.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Penny’s impatience and unwillingness to read Roker’s contract more attentively, including not going with her friends when there was an out, as well as neglecting her studies and failing to pay her funds leads to her getting stuck in the college world with no hope of escaping until Big O arrives thanks to Dijonay.
- What the Hell, Hero?: As Penny's friends leave, they give her this for wanting herself and them to miss out on the last five years of their teenage lives.
