Evan seeks out a former spelling bee champion, Symrin Patel (played by Megan Suri), whose family owns The Magic Motor Inn, to coach him for an upcoming competition. He's accompanied by Eddie, who wants to gain Jessica's favor before their SAT scores arrive...and is surprised when they do arrive and he's scored incredibly well. Meanwhile, Emery gets a job as a shirtless model for a mall clothing store, to Jessica's dismay.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Jessica wanted Emery to get a job. She is aghast at the job he gets.
- Big Eater: Mrs. Patel gives Eddie a large thermos of soup to take with him on the ride home. After Mr. Patel leans in to "hug" Evan, actually checking to make sure he's not smuggling any mini-shampoos on him, Eddie gives the thermos back, having already eaten the contents entirely.
- Bland-Name Product: The clothing store Emery gets a job at (which Jessica initially confuses for a law firm) is named "Abernathy & Fitz", based on the real-world clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Evan ends up having a breakdown because Eddie was a "natural" at the SATs, and Symrin has synesthesia that helped her succeed without studying. However, he's eventually convinced to get back into studying after learning how being a "natural" at things like filling out bubbles on a sheet isn't as useful at succeeding in life as being willing to put in the effort to overcome obstacles.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Between Jessica finding out about Emery's new job, and Louis finding out, Louis praises Jessica for teaching Emery responsibility and helping him to find work he's interested in.
- Never My Fault: Jessica does admit (after Louis catches Emery working shirtless at the mall and is aghast) that she was wrong to push Emery to get a job because of the one he ended up with. But when Louis tries to make her feel better by admitting that Emery's at an age where he needs some pushing, Jessica uses the opportunity to state she's more right than him at parenting.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The A Plot at the Magic Motor Inn spends more time showing the Patel family dynamic than on main characters Eddie and Evan.
- Tastes Like Purple: Symrin Patel reveals that she has synesthesia, describing individual letters as having colors, which is how she succeeded at winning three spelling bees.
- You Remind Me of X: Eddie, in the same conversation with Mr. Patel, compares him to both Jessica (for being snarky about the poor work Eddie's done at the Inn to help out while Symrin's busy "tutoring" Evan, and how highly he values taking time to study) and Louis (for boasting about the Inn his family has worked hard to maintain, despite it not being famous outside of a specific niche, akin to Louis boasting about Cattleman's).
