Liz realizes her boyfriend, Drew, is so handsome that he lives in a bubble where everyone is nice to him and he doesn't experience hardships of real life, and Liz has to wonder whether she should burst that bubble. Meanwhile, Jack tries to find a way to get Tracy to renew his contract.
Tropes
- Brainless Beauty: The episode promulgates the theory of the bubble, where beautiful people have things so easy for them that they never have to develop any other skills.
- On account of people being extremely nice to him, Drew is unaware that he is very bad at many things, including that he shouldn't put gatorade on fish, that he's terrible at tennis, and he doesn't know what to do when someone chokes despite being a doctor.
- Jack gives himself his own example of his experience for example he thought he spoke excellent french but it is actually beyond terrible.
- Brick Joke: Jack claims that due to the Bubble, he always thought he was good in speaking French, but it wasn't until he left it, he realized he was terrible at it. The episode ends with Drew, deciding to stay in the Bubble, speaking in French, thinking he is nailing it.
- Favors for the Sexy: Explored. Liz's boyfriend is so handsome people are willing to do anything for him. He believes this is how everyone lives, but Liz shows him that normal people have much rougher.
- I Was Quite the Looker: Not that Jack looks bad, but an (unseen) picture of him shows that he was an absolute showstopper of a man when young, and Liz is blown away by it.
- Irony: At the end of the episode, Drew claims that he finds his whole predicament ironic. When Liz tries to explain that that is not what "ironic" means, he says he doesn't care and wants to use the word the way he wants.
- Lousy Lovers Are Losers: Liz is annoyed when she finds out her Drew is a Brainless Beauty who's bad at almost everything he does, including sex, but believes he's not because he lives in his own bubble world where everyone acts like he's great at everything. Funny enough, the way she says it to Jack is that Drew is "only as good at sex as I am", implying she knows she herself is bad at sex, but just doesn't see the problem with it.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Apparently Tracy and momma Jordon have been at it since he took a break from work, she's gone to a spa before he "broke it in half".
- Shout-Out: According to Drew, pictures of him in a swim team were used to create Prince Eric.
- Sore Loser: When Liz decides to show Drew what real life looks like by playing tennis with him for real, and he immediately loses it and accuses her of cheating when he plays much better than him.
- Title Drop: "The Bubble" is referred to multiple times as this environment where beautiful people don't really have to deal with several everyday unpleasant things on the fact that people are nicer to them.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Tracy jr. has the energy and suit of a young corporate executive and immediately lays into Donaghy, the entire scene is played like a boss railing against his subordinate. Though perhaps little miss business
