A Plot: Erica and Geoff want to get some "alone time" away from their families in order to celebrate their anniversary. They are gifted an evening at a fancy hotel by Barry and Joanne, but Erica is too exhausted to properly enjoy it, so they instead end up finding excuses to make out in Pop-Pop's old apartment/Barry and Joanne's new "Love Shack" while the latter two are away.
B Plot: While cleaning out Pop-Pop's apartment so he can move in with the main family and Barry and Joanne can live there together, Adam finds an unpublished sci-fi novel script written by Pop-Pop and realizes they had more in common than he thought.
- Baby's First Words: Muriel crawls for the very first time while Erica and Geoff are away, which they're ashamed of because they see it with the same significance as first words.
- Commonality Connection: Adam is thrilled to learn that Pop-Pop used to be a nerd like him, though Pop-Pop is still bitter over his old script being rejected and uses it to help fuel his current grouchy attitude.
- Damned by Faint Praise: When Pop-Pop attempts to thank Adam for rebuilding his confidence, the best he can muster is the basic acknowledgement "You're my grandson." In the end, he's able to think of a more impressive compliment, but only after Beverly admits how she sometimes overhypes people so they're motivated to follow their passions.
- Fun with Acronyms: When Adam asks Beverly for advice on how to boost Pop-Pop's confidence and help him feel better about his old rejected novel, she teaches him how to BEV: Build confidence, Enable delusions, and Value their contributions over everyone else's.
- Her Code Name Was "Mary Sue": Pop-Pop mocks how Essie Karp wrote about a torrid love affair with a "Brad Mattley", pointing out that it's clearly a self-insert fantasy starring her and fellow writing group member Matt Bradley.
- Hourglass Plot: The episode starts with Erica and Geoff being exhausted about taking care of Muriel, and Barry and Joanne excited to get busy in their "Love Shack". Midway through, Erica and Geoff are caught getting physical by Barry and Joanne, who had just come back to their new home after taking care of Muriel and feeling like parents after watching her crawl for the first time. Barry and Geoff even end up giving Erica and Geoff good parenting advice in the end, telling them it's alright not being there for every moment of Muriel's life if it makes them exhausted and unhappy, because unhappy parents will lead to an unhappy child.
- It's the Journey That Counts: Beverly comes clean about her Suspiciously Specific Denial to Adam towards the end, stating that she has in fact BEV'd him throughout his life and most of the things he thought were great accomplishments weren't actually as good as he was told they were, in order to help him and Pop-Pop realize that they shouldn't give up on their passions just because sometimes they might strike out.
- Mills and Boon Prose: In-Universe, when Pop-Pop's inspired to write more sci-fi stories by Adam, he ends up writing about "rigorous Martian love" that nobody else in the writing club Adam organizes (consisting of himself, Pop-Pop, Mrs. Kremp, Mr. Glascott, Matt Bradley, and Essie Karp) wants to hear about. Adam quoting from it includes the line "a green-skinned broad with a skirt so short you could use it as an eye patch". In The Tag, Kremp tries to write her own about a woman with a sexy plumber, but not only is the most explicit activity mere handholding while fully clothed, Mr. Glascott ends up prioritizing the fact that the sink never got fixed by the plumber.
- Moment Killer: The pre-title card scene has Geoff and Erica attempt to make out in Erica's room, only to be interrupted by, in order, Beverly offering fish chili, Barry and Adam fighting, Pop-Pop asking where the plunger is, Mr. Glascott saying he could see them through his window and wants them to close their blinds, and then everyone at once (plus Muriel's crying).
- The Power of Hate: When boosting up Pop-Pop's confidence with regular compliments doesn't work, Adam reignites his passion by saying he'll be able to spite the editor that rejected him and everyone else that thought he'd fail.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Adam asks Beverly for advice on how to BEV, he recognizes her techniques of lying and exaggerating as what she does with Barry. Beverly then agrees that's exactly who she does with Barry, just Barry and nobody else, with Adam genuinely being oblivious to how he's been BEV'd himself over the years.
- Title Drop: Barry refers to Pop-Pop's apartment, which he and Joanne are moving into, as a Love Shack after the song by The B-52s, in the process ruining the song for Geoff.
