Airdate: November 10th, 2005
Wyatt’s breakup with Serena has turned him angry and paranoid. His friends are at a loss at how to help him, so in order to help him release some of his pent-up anger, Starr signs him up for the mall’s poetry reading group. Wyatt is reluctant at first, but soon realizes it’s a good outlet for him. Now he just has to keep it a secret from his friends to avoid their inevitable teasing. Meanwhile, Jonesy gets a new job at the pharmacy, Kristen & Kirsten go brunette, and Jen finds out her boyfriend prefers blondes.
Tropes
- Awkward Poetry Reading: Zig-zagged:
- Despite being Pushed in Front of the Audience with no material, Wyatt ad-libs a poem venting his anger towards his ex, which not only makes him feel better, but ends up being well-received by the patrons.
- In an effort to make up for embarrassing him, the gang groups together and writes Wyatt an apology poem, which is recited before him and the rest of the coffee shop. It's absolutely terrible (enough to earn outright boos from the audience), but Wyatt recognizes the sincerity and forgives them.
- Among the other characters reciting poems throughout the episode, Ron The Rent-A-Cop recites an...intense poem about the horrors of jungle warfare, evidently drawing from personal experience. While the patrons are generally polite and respond kindly to all the readings, this particular one leaves everyone silent and freaked out.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Jen becomes insecure in her relationship with Charlie after she catches him ogling a blonde customer at work and wonders if he would like her better if she dyed her hair.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Wyatt becomes one in this episode, convincing himself that Charmaine is stiffing him on the amount of foam in his coffee (apparently only 12% compared to his usual 25%) due to her friendship with Serena.
- Copycat Mockery: When Kristen & Kirsten ask Nikki to watch the store so they can dye their hair back to blonde, Nikki mimics them in a high-pitched voice and compares herself to being treated like their “ugly stepsister.”
- Disgusting Vegetarian Food: Starr's "Fun with Fungi" dish.
- Subverted later with her "Colon Blow Bean Burritos," as the group devours those.
- Garbage Hideout: Wyatt hides behind a trash can to avoid Serena and gets a soda accidentally thrown on him as a result.
- Gasshole: Caitlin ends up like this after eating Starr’s new “Colon Blow Bean Burritos.”
- Holding in Laughter: The rest of the group does everything they can to not laugh during Wyatt’s poetry reading, but Cailtin farting puts them over the edge.
- Look Behind You: Jonesy pulls this move to get Starr & Jude to look away while the group tosses Starr’s disgusting “Fun with Fungi” dish.
- My Hair Came Out Green: In one of the subplots, Kristen and Kirsten (two of the Clones) dye their hair brown for some reason. However, after they see Jen and Caitlin wearing blonde wigs (which they're using to spy on Wyatt), they decide to dye their hair back to blonde—but unfortunately, they accidentally turn their hair green due to over-processing the hair dye they used (at least that's what they assume). Nikki helps her coworkers by giving them the blonde wigs her friends used, which the Clones can wear until the dye wears off.
- Nap-Inducing Speak: The group grows so bored with Starr’s rambling stories that Jonesy even falls asleep at one point.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Jonesy’s Once per Episode job change continues as he gets a new job in the mall’s pharmacy. True to form, he manages to get fired once again by the end of the episode. This time it was for breaking the pharmaceutical oath by blabbing to Jen what her boyfriend bought at the pharmacy. Turns out, the women’s fashion magazine and tampons were for his mom.
- Noodle Incident: Nikki mentions that Wyatt "went postal on the pizza guy." We never find out what the pizza guy did to make Wyatt flip out.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The only things Jen and Caitlin use to disguise themselves to spy on Wyatt are sunglasses and bad wigs.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode’s title is a play on the word “deadbeat” and the movie, Dead Poets Society.
- Pushed in Front of the Audience: It’s bad enough that Starr signed Wyatt up for a poetry reading without his permission, but then she shoves him on stage without anything prepared. Luckily, the crowd ends up loving his dramatic ranting about his breakup with Serena.
- Secret Relationship: Jen and Charlie, who are co-workers, are dating and have to keep it hidden from their boss.
- Series Continuity Error: When the group is trying Starr’s new fungus recipe, Jen is disgusted but otherwise experiences no adverse side effects despite, in earlier episodes, being highly allergic to mushrooms.
- Shout-Out: Caitlyn compares herself to Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov when describing how Starr’s gas-inducing burritos won’t bother her due to her strong glutes. This leads Jonesy to sarcastically make this reference again after Caitlyn finds out her glutes might not be as strong as she thought.
