Eddie begins to think he needs to find cooler friends to make his mark in high school. Meanwhile, Jessica decides to pocket the money she is given to have her photograph professionally taken for her book.
- Apathetic Citizens: When Eddie and the sackers sneak out of school for lunch to eat at "Taco Fiesta", and Eddie then asks for a cup of water but then clearly uses it to get soda, the cashier remarks that he knows what they're all doing but isn't paid enough to care.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: While Louis is talking to a baking soda telemarketer, his response to the question "How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend in casual conversation?" is incredulity that anyone would casually talk about baking soda, followed by shock when the telemarketer tells him at least three people have answered "Very Likely".
- Betrayal by Inaction: Although Eddie already has second thoughts about his current friend group after Louis calls them "good boys", he ends up deciding to try and cut tries after none of them help him take a stand against Trent for writing them citations about their clothes, with them not wanting to risk being pulled out of their extra-curricular activities.
- Brick Joke: The episode begins with Trent revealing his new position on the school safety patrol to Eddie, and asking how the vest looks from the back. When he regains the position and vest in the ending, he enthusiastically tells the principal that he's heard it looks good from the back.
- Drunk with Power: Trent is permitted to join the school safety patrol, and quickly writes citations to the rest of his friends, even sending Eddie to detention just for two days in a row of wearing non-regulation clothes to school.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Eddie ends up befriending some hackey-sackers in detention, and takes Trent's safety patrol keys to help them get into the principal's office and get their confiscated sacks back. Then the sackers admit they also took some money that was on the desk, which leads to Trent being punished and Eddie feeling guilty.
- Must Make Amends: After getting Trent in trouble and feeling guilty, Eddie asks his father for help, and ends up working at Cattleman's to help pay back the stolen money in addition to helping set up a sting for Trent and the principal to catch the hackey-sackers going off-campus for lunch.
- Mystery Meat: After catching the hackey-sackers going off-campus for lunch, the principal tells them they'll have to eat the same cafeteria food as everyone else, with that day's meal being "cheese soup".
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: When Trent's kicked off the safety patrol because his key was used to break into the principal's office, he tells Eddie not to pity him, and that it wasn't his fault...even though Eddie is at fault, having taken the key.
- The Operators Must Be Crazy: When Eddie first plans to brag about his violation to his dad, Louis is on the phone with a baking soda telemarketer that doesn't seem to grasp the concept of "private survey" and is overly eager to share other people's answers to the point where Louis slams the phone. Louis seems to be talking to the telemarketer again later, repeatedly answering "Strongly Agree"...but he's just talking with Grandma Huang.
- The Perfectionist: No matter how many photos she has Honey, Evan and Emery take of her, Jessica can't settle on which one to choose. When they decide to submit one without her permission when the deadline comes, she's absolutely furious, and admits that the indecision was also influenced by anxiety over the book. She does admit to loving the one they chose when she sees the book: an unflattering shot of her glaring back at the camera from the front seat of the car, as if daring people to like her book.
- Running Gag: The school's production of "Brent" is mentioned throughout the episode, from one of Eddie's friends playing the titular Brent, to the principal being out of her office when the sackers loot it because she's dealing with its legality, to the play itself being shown in The Tag.
- Writing Around Trademarks: In-universe, Trent busting the drama club for trying to perform RENT without proper permission have them try to retool the performance, renaming it "Brent" (which is their landlord's name, renamed from Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III) and having everyone suffer from the flu instead of AIDS. In The Tag, it turns out it isn't enough to stop legal action and the play has to be shut down mid-performance.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Eddie tries to brag about his clothing violation to his dad, but when Louis calls him and his friends "good boys", Eddie has an Imagine Spot of them all in preppy cardigans and decides he quickly needs to change his image.
