Joel and Sheila's marriage gets a jumpstart when Sheila debuts a truly killer new personality and an anything-goes menu. And they used to be so normal.
Tropes in this episode:
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Eric's mother Lisa nonchalantly tells Abby that Eric has photos of her "in his spank bank", in full earshot to a mortified Eric.
- Ask a Stupid Question...:Joel: Do you know which one of these (toaster ovens) has a knob without any slack?Ramona: No. Does it matter?
- Asshole Victim: Gary tries to blackmail Sheila into sex while aggressively groping her. She responds by eating him alive, starting with his fingers, and then moving on to his abdomen.
- Artistic License – Economics: Rite Aid is not a department store, but a convenience store/pharmacy, and is therefore unlikely to sell items like a toaster oven.
- Cliffhanger: Joel returns home to the horrific sight of Sheila eating Gary's corpse in the back yard, and she responds to his horror by insisting she wants to make their marriage work, showing just how much her personality has shifted.
- Faint in Shock: Sheila demonstrates her newfound lack of pain to Joel and Abby, and then asks them not to freak out. Then she ups the ante by demonstrating that she no longer bleeds when cut, and what little blood she does have has been replaced a black, viscous substance. Joel and Abby promptly pass out in shock.
- Fingore: Sheila devours Gary's right index and middle finger, which she gruesomely tears off with her teeth, spraying blood in both their faces.
- Horror Hunger: Sheila starts displaying it by eating large amounts of raw meat. The troubling thing is she doesn't seem to think it remotely worrisome. Then she progresses to eating Gary.
- Jerkass: Multiple characters are setup this way.
- Dan is shown to be loud, obnoxious, and generally a dick to everyone while lording it over them that he is a cop.
- Carl, Joel and Sheila's boss, immediately makes a sexist comment about Sheila when introducing her.
- Gary, who steals the Hammond's listing, tries to seduce Sheila, and when that doesn't work, assaults and attempts to blackmail her.
- Mondegreen GagGary: You ate my fingers!!!Sheila: (With his severed fingers still in her mouth) I do not hate your fingers.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: Eric settles on not calling Sheila a "Zombie" (she's technically a Revenant), and instead refers to her exclusively as "Undead".
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Joel has a mini breakdown talking to Ramona, initially about a toaster oven, but then descending into venting about his family life. Ramona, confused, keeps talking about the toaster oven.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Sheila starts out being generally low-energy, feeling depressed, and with a low libido. All of this changes when she briefly dies and comes back, which unsettles Joel.
- Revenant Zombie: Sheila has no heartbeat, her blood is black and congealed, and feels no pain, but she looks and feels otherwise very much alive (ironically more so than she did when technically living). She just has an intense craving for human flesh.
- Running Gag: Joel invariably keeps going back to Rite Aid and getting lost in thought while looking at items, and employee Ramona comes over to question his behavior.
- Sassy Black Woman: The nurse heading patient intake at the ER has absolutely no patience for Joel and Sheila.
- Teen Genius: Eric appears to be one, having enough medical knowledge to fairly accurately diagnose Sheila and predict some of the turns her condition is likely to take.
- Title Drop: When trying to determine the source of Sheila's infection, Eric speculates that she could have been bitten by a bat or a monkey.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Sheila pukes profusely in full view of Joel, their potential customers, and the audience. She then (offscreen) goes to the restroom and absolutely covers the entire place in vomit to an absurd degree, and significantly more than should have been in her stomach. She also coughed up a red, ball-shaped object resembling an organ, but is baffled by what it could be.
