Jarod goes undercover as a Commander in the Navy, and discovers bubble gum.
This episode contains examples of:
- Batman Gambit: Melina steals her own mother's car so that she can go get a tattoo, and she ends up getting a parking ticket for good measure. Jarod picks up on how these and other stunts are a deliberate attempt to get her mother to pay attention to her. An angry parent yelling at her is preferable to being ignored outright. This failing to work leads to her attempting to run away.
- Commonality Connection: Jarod relates to Melina feeling forgotten by her parents and all alone in the world. He gets through to her by talking about his own parents and his efforts to find them.
- Disastrous Training Sim Opening: The episode opens with Jarod serving on a naval vessel facing down a rogue submarine. After Jarod's quick thinking averts a near-disaster, it's revealed to be a Navy training exercise.
- Fun with Acronyms: Jarod befriends a troubled teen who keeps lashing out at her mother and misses her father (who's stationed on a submarine on the other side of the planet). She gets a tattoo "I.L.Y." but won't say what it stands for. Later on, she admits to Jarod it's from her father's messages back home (which she says can only be 40 words long). It's short for "I love you."
- Parental Neglect: Melina's father has been stationed on the Farragut for four months and isn't able to regularly send her messages. Her mother, meanwhile, is often busy working and can't ever seem to make time for her. When deliberately trying to get in trouble doesn't lead to any real reaction, Melina attempts to run away, though Jarod manages to stop her.Jarod: You have a great kid.
Paula: Yeah. I think I should tell her that a little more often. - Workaholic: According to Melina, Paula buries herself in work as a coping mechanism whenever Melina's dad is on assignment.
