Every vampire knows dragon blood is more savory than human blood due to the excess MSG in their diets.
Production Code: 227
It's Take Your Child to Work Day, meaning that Jake has to suffer through spending an entire day enduring his father's embarrassing antics at his accounting job. To make matters worse, a family of vampires is looking to feed on the American Dragon.
- Aesop Amnesia: You'd think "The Long Weekend" would've taught Jake that just because his dad can be embarrassing at times doesn't make him any less a good father and a brave hero in his own rights.
- Babies Ever After: Implied to be Jake's future. After spending a day with his father at the beach, Jake imagines that someday, he will have a son of his own to raise.
- Black Comedy: Fu Dog showing Jake some of the Strigoi's previous victims, which consists of dragons exhibiting highly stereotypical traits of their country of origin with "SLAIN" stamped over them. Even better, Fu Dog mocks Jake's cocky way that he nicknames himself the "Am Drag".Fu Dog: Tell that to the Can Drag, the Fran Drag, and the Azerbaijan Drag.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Spud and Jake simultaneously utter an "Aw, man!" after seeing that critic's son is unresponsive to attempts at comedy and the Strigoi believe Jonathan to be the American Dragon, respectively.
- Chekhov's Gun: The espresso machine at Jonathan's workplace.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Jonathan confronts the Strigoi for hurting his son, he crossly calls them out "You hurt my JAKE!" The Strigoi are confused and assume he names his Dragon half "Jake".
- Dramatic Irony:
- Nearly the entire episode, the Strigoi believe it was Jake's dad their queen foresaw as the American Dragon. While it keeps Jake out of their radar, it still puts Jonathan in mortal danger.
- Spud and his mother are terrified that all their attempts to entertain the critic's son have fallen flat due to his lack of speaking, laughing, or even smiling. However, it's revealed that he was physically unable to perform any of these actions due him still being under the effects numbing medication post-dental surgery and in fact considered the experience one of the best days of his life.
- Hero Killer: The Strigoi are said to be expert dragon slayers, with the Dragon of Canada, the Dragon of France, and the Dragon of Azerbaijan being three of their known victims. Near the end of the episode, they almost make Jake their next victim, leaving him largely out of commission for the final showdown.
- I Call It "Vera": One of the Strigoi named his fangs "Lefty" and "Bitey".
- Imagine Spot: When Jonathan points out that someday Jake will have a son like he himself, Jake is disturbed to imagine being just as embarrassing to his son when he's his dad's age.
- Our Vampires Are Different: As Fu Dog puts it, the Strigoi are essentially vampires. It's just that they suck the blood of dragons rather than humans.
- Papa Wolf: And how! Jonathan doesn't hesitate to face the Strigoi for harming his son. And this is under the false impression that they're three ordinary businessmen who think they are above the law. This is notably the few times Jonathan is so intense.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Jake makes one before destroying the Strigoi with Fu Dog's Instant Sunshine, which he put in the coffee maker.Jake: Coffee's ready! What better way to greet the dawn?
- Right Behind Me: Jonathan walks up behind Jake just in time to hear him rant about how tired he is of his father's constant nicknames for him.
- Shown Their Work: Michelin Stars only go up to three which is a rather low number compared to most ratings which measure by five or ten. Spud's mother mistaking the grade as going to five is what makes their 2.5 rating appear rather middling at first.
- The Stinger: Taking inspiration from the one Jake made in the episode, Fu Dog tries to come up with a Pre-Mortem One-Liner that could be used for the Krylock, Tiburon note , and the Huntsman.
- Tablecloth Yank: Spud makes the classic mistake of pulling the tablecloth upwards instead of downwards as he attempts to impress the critic's son, resulting in all the tableware flying off it.
- Tranquil Fury: Jonathan only has two words for his son before he goes to confront the Strigoi: "Stay here..."
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The A-Plot is Jake and Jonathan being stalked by the Strigoi while the B-Plot is Spud and his mother trying to entertain the son of a famous restaurant critic.
- What You Are in the Dark: Happens in the B-story. After so many convoluted attempts at entertaining a food critic's son, Spud and his mother's pizza parlor only get two-and-a-half stars. Now Spud's mother could've blamed her son, but instead she congratulates that he tried his best, and even disregards the food critic's review as being less important than her own son. ...As it turns out, they got two-and-a-half stars out of three.
