Accidental Aesop: If you're in a position of authority, don't make jokes that seem like threats.
Fridge Brilliance: This or Fridge Horror; the reason Ted isn't seen again after this episode? He may have been reported for traumatizing two eight-year-old kids, or had a run-in with the Tough Customers.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: Arthur and Brain, regarding Ted's joking around. The ending has D.W. ridiculing them for believing Ted's claim that he'll send goons after them if they don't pay up, but he sure doesn't seem like he's joking.
"D.W.'s Very Bad Mood"
Broken Aesop: While "D.W.'s Very Bad Mood" tries to come off as teaching the audience about how you can't expect to be invited to every party and how to deal with disappointment, it instead ends up coming off as telling them they should try to one-up the person who didn't invite you.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: D.W. herself, for having a fit over not being invited to a birthday party of a classmate she hardly even knows (and who has only been a background extra until now to boot). While D.W. does eventually learn that you can't expect to be invited to every event, it's still hard to feel sorry for her when she spends most of the episode taking out her anger on everyone else and being even brattier than usual. What's worse, she receives no consequences for her actions—if anything, she gets rewarded for throwing a tantrum when Francine invites her to her own party.
Matt Neff: Let's review; D.W. went on an unholy tirade of screaming and slamming doors because she didn't get invited to a random girl's birthday party. She took out her frustrations on her family, who did little-to-nothing to discipline her bad behaviour. She tricked Arthur and Francine into wasting their own money, just so she could crash the birthday party, and then immediately leave when things didn't go her way. And in the end, not only was she never punished for her bad mood, but she was even rewarded with a trip to the movies, and an invitation to an older kid's birthday party. Eff you, D.W.
