Marco wants to prove to Sensei that he’s more worthy than Jeremy.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: The Grandmaster calls Jeremy "William".
- Bilingual Bonus: Before showing his Karate demonstration to Sensei, Marco appropriately says "Hajime," which is Japanese for "begin."
- Blackmail: Marco's plan is to blackmail Jeremy, but he eventually decides against it.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Because of his behavior, nobody likes Jeremy. Sensei in particular only puts up with him because he doesn't know much if anything about running a business and Jeremy's parents being rich is the only reason he can keep the dojo open.
- Brutal Honesty: When Star interrupts Marco hiding in the bushes videotaping Jeremy—a child—she tells him he's being a creep. Downplayed in that Star isn't trying to call him out on anything; she's just making an observation about his behavior.
- Cash Lure: Jeremy does a variation, in which he glues a $100 bill on the pavement and puts a large turd on top of it.
- Comically Missing the Point: Marco sends Sensei a text message inviting him for tacos. Since Sensei doesn't have Marco's number, he turns to Marco and says "Some dude invited me for tacos! You wanna come with?"
- Credits Gag: It's subtle, but the opening credits to the episode are under the same VHS effects as the rest of the Grandmaster's tape.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Marco. Star only appears in one scene.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Sensei avoids telling Marco the truth about why Jeremy was selected by instead saying that Marco still needs to learn about honor. He's actually not wrong since Marco's protests don't really showcase the maturity that should go with such a position and he's willing to sink to pretty low depths to get his own way.
- Epic Battle Boredom: Jeremy made a big, egotistical intro then quickly and arrogantly defeated a yellow-belted opponent. This actually bored the Grandmaster so much he fell asleep. When the Grandmaster woke up, he assumed that the event was over and quickly left despite Jeremy trying to tell him that he wasn't finished.
- Exact Words: Sensei justifies having Jeremy represent the dojo by saying he "brings so much to the dojo." He literally meant that because of Jeremy's rich parents he brings in a lot of money.
- Hard Truth Aesop: In-universe, Sensei apparently learned from watching a children's show that friends "do hurtful things to each other without explaining why, because they know their friends will understand."
- Innocently Insensitive: Star doesn't mean anything negative when she says that Marco's acting like a creep. The way she says it makes it clear that it's just an observation on her end.
- Jerkass Realization: Marco eventually realizes how petty and dishonorable it is to keep insisting on representing the dojo over Jeremy and blackmailing the latter for this purpose. Instead, the whole problem takes care of itself because karma caught up to Jeremy with everyone's disapproval of his bratty behavior.
- Kick the Dog: Jeremy glues a $100 bill on the sidewalk with a turd on it in order to mess with someone who wanted the bill. Bearded Hipster falls for the trick and ends up having his glasses land on the turd...on his birthday.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Marco calls off his plan to blackmail Jeremy when he sees Sensei hanging a banner for "Honor" in the dojo.
- Poor Communication Kills: Marco tells Sensei that real friends should be upfront with one another, instead of "doing hurtful things to each other without explaining why, because they know their friends will understand."
- Pyrrhic Victory: Jeremy may have been selected to represent the dojo, but he ends up ashamed when his mediocre display bores the Grandmaster to sleep and they only barely get his approval for certification. Plus, the entire audience sees firsthand what a conceited brat he is and he gets abandoned by everyone but his butler once the karate demonstration is over.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Sensei eventually admits that the only reason he made Jeremy the representative is because his rich parents gave the dojo a lot of money to help keep his business afloat.
- Shoehorned First Letter: According to the Grandmaster, the How To Karate videos are based on the principle of D.U.H.: Discipline, edUcation, and Honor.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: The Grandmaster appears and disappears quite suddenly. Parodied when we see him in the background chasing a bus after his disappearance.
- Troll: Jeremy's Cash Lure is this, as he did it to mess with someone who wanted the cash.
- What the Fu Are You Doing?: The audience is easily able to tell that Jeremy has no idea what he is doing with his martial arts demonstration.
