A Plot: Johnny Atkins turns Erica on to his favorite band, Rush, and after listening to "Tom Sawyer", she becomes oddly attracted to him and joins his Rush cover band called "Speed Up". Though Erica soon realizes her attraction to Johnny was a momentary thing, she continues to date him in order to spite her father, Lainey and the JTP, whom she thinks are all trying to run her life.
B Plot: When Beverly gives Adam a "World's Best Son" trophy in the shape of an Oscar for his birthday, Barry complains that Beverly clearly plays favorites among her children. When Beverly eventually learns that Barry is right, she begins to shower him with the same attention she used to give to Adam, and Adam is more than happy to be rid of his mom's constant meddling.
- Battle of the Bands: In the end, Erica realizes she doesn't need a boy to achieve her rock n' roll dreams, and recruits Lainey and Carla to join her own Rush cover band to perform against Johnny's at the school's Battle of the Bands.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Barry realizes the consequences of being his mother's favorite when she starts doing things like feeding him big meals before sports practice, while Adam's relief at being out of the spotlight goes away when his plans for an epic mom-free birthday party end up falling apart.
- Consolation Prize: When Beverly tries to make Barry her new favorite child, she claims that the "Best Son" award she gave to Adam was one of these, since Barry is a great athlete who can earn his own trophies.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Erica continues to date Johnny Atkins, even though she's no longer attracted to him, just to spite Murray. When Johnny learns this, he breaks up with her, considering it hurtful.
- Drugs Are Good: In The Tag, when Johnny sees Geoff a fad behind and mistakes him for his own doppelganger, he blames the sight on eating his friend's "fudge".
- Flash In The Pan Fad: The episode begins with a montage of Erica and her friends cycling through various fads over the years. In The Tag, Erica and her friends are covering a completely different band, saying that Rush was "so last week". Unfortunately for Geoff, who's trying to impress Erica, he tends to be a fad behind.
- I Warned You: Pops tries to tell Murray that trying to separate Erica from Johnny Atkins will inevitably just draw her closer to him, but Murray doesn't believe him, leading to Pops saying "It's happening!" in a sing-song voice when Erica is indeed drawn closer to Johnny.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: The episode ends with a clip of the real Adam's childhood, showing that he actually did receive an Oscar-inspired "Best Son" trophy from his mom for his birthday, with a note that the real Barry's still jealous about it. Another note is at the top of the "Adam F. Goldberg Productions" logo, stating that the picture used in it (showing that the real Beverly's photo of Adam is indeed the largest of the children's) is also authentic.
- Parental Favoritism: The A Plot starts with Bev realizing that Adam is her favorite. Murray says that this is natural, and freely admits to Bev that his favorite is Erica, right before she starts dating Johnny.
- Shout-Out: Mr. Glascott thinks that Johnny Atkins might be an undercover cop, like in 21 Jump Street.
- The Unfavorite: Barry feels this way about how Adam gets all of Bev's attention. Beverly feels sorry about this and redirects her doting to Barry, who eventually starts to regret it.
- Unusual Euphemism: Johnny Atkins asks Erica to replace one of his band members, who got arrested for selling...fudge. It was "so good it's legal".
