Courtney, the most annoying girl in school, has taken a liking to Gene, who decides to date her in order to use her jingle writer father's gear. Meanwhile, Linda is inspired by envy of Gretchen to go on the "Skin Deep Diet", where she can only eat the peels and skins of fruits and vegetables.
The Unbearable Like-Likeness of Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: Bob stops Louise from yelling at Gene for not dumping Courtney when he had the chance... so he can yell at Gene himself.
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: When Gene comes clean to Courtney that he only kept dating her to get closer to her dad:Courtney: You were using me?Gene: I prefer the term "networking."
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Gene constantly groans throughout the episode in a way that really evokes Tina's trademark groan.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Gene can't bring himself to break up with Courtney. Even after practicing with his sisters, he still can't do it when he learns being Courtney's boyfriend gets him access to Doug's gear.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Courtney's mother appears at the birthday party and in the hospital, and all signs point to her and Doug still being together. Later episodes never even mention her, and the Wheeler household since then appears to solely be Courtney and Doug.
- Death Glare: At the hospital, Gene is told that Lenny hates him for what he did to Courtney, showing Lenny glaring at Gene from another seat with threatening music playing.
- Diet Episode: The B-plot involves Linda starving herself in a crazed attempt to lose a couple pounds.
- Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery: Courtney uses her congenital heart defect as an excuse for every obnoxious thing she does, including kicking the back of Bob's seat in the car.
- Disney Death: Courtney and Doug act like the former flatlined in the hospital to get back at Gene.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: At the hospital, Bob, Louise, and Tina pass around a helium balloon as if it's a blunt.
- Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Even Tina can't stand Courtney.
- Everyone Has Standards: Louise and Tina are both horrified when they realize Courtney is Gene's admirer and run down the school hallway, screaming the entire time, to try and save Gene before Courtney confesses to him. They're too late.
- The Fat Episode: Inverted. Gretchen shows up several sizes smaller, having gone on a diet consisting of eating the skins of fruits and vegetables. Like most crash diets though, she isn't able to keep the weight off.
- Helium Speech: Tina and Louise start doing this with the balloons at Courtney's birthday party. Tina sneaks one out with her, and Bob asks for a hit of it.
- Ignored Expert: After learning that Gene doesn't like Courtney, Bob tells him to be honest immediately because it'll be harder to break the truth to her the longer he waits. While he initially attempts to follow this advice, Gene backtracks when he learns about Doug Wheeler's music gear, and it bites him hard.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Despite her various annoying traits and the fact she basically pressured him to be her boyfriend, Courtney notes Gene basically used her, even hijacking her birthday party to plug his song.
- Loophole Abuse: Linda tries to justify licking the frosting off a slice of birthday cake as part of her diet by arguing icing is like the skin of a cake.
- Not So Above It All: Tina and Louise inhale helium from the balloons at Courtney's party. At the hospital, when Bob realizes they snuck out a balloon and looks like he's going to scold them for it, he asks for a hit from it.
- Oh, Crap!: Louise and Tina have an epic version of this after deducing that Courtney is Gene's secret admirer.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Tina is so horrified about the idea of Courtney having a crush on Gene that she runs normally and not in her usual arms-by-her-sides way.
- Oral Fixation: Courtney has a bizarre habit of sucking on her necklace. It's one of the many things the Belcher kids can't stand about her.
- Papa Wolf: After Courtney suffers a minor heart episode caused by Gene, he asks Doug if he can still visit "Gear Heaven". Doug's response?Doug: Nope, not a chance in Gear Hell, Gene.
- Plagiarism in Fiction: Doug steals Gene's song and gets it aired on TV, likely making him a decent sum of money.
- Sanity Slippage: Linda really starts to lose it due to hunger, at one point chewing on Tina's hair after smelling her cocoa butter shampoo.
- Shout-Out: The title is an allusion to the Czech novel-turned-American film, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Gretchen's Formerly Fat appearance doesn't last past the episode, because crash diets are hard to maintain. Additionally, when Linda tries the diet herself she doesn't immediately lose any notable weight, and the diet gradually wears on her mind.
- Trivially Obvious: Courtney and Gene's dads talk about them at her party.Doug: They make a cute couple, huh?Bob: They certainly are standing next to each other.
- Weight Woe: Linda spends the episode obsessing about her slight muffin top after seeing how much skinnier Gretchen's become.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: When going through girls that might have a crush on Gene, Tina suggests it was the girl who told them, Rupa, hoping to fool the Belchers that it's not her. Louise states Rupa isn't smart enough to try that, since she once thought elbow macaroni was made from elbows. Tina gives an embarrassed laugh, implying that she thought that too until now.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Bob makes it very clear that he loves Linda no matter how much she weighs.
