A new student's arrival at Wagstaff brings up some bad memories for Zeke; a ball pit inspired food concept sparks yet another rivalry battle between Bob and Jimmy Pesto.
Bully-ieve or Trope:
- Big Brother Bully: While assuring Zeke that everyone has done some things that they aren't proud of, Jimmy Jr. reveals that he used to mess with Ollie and Andy by telling them that there was actually only one of them and that it freaked them out for weeks.
- Bring My Brown Pants: When hearing that Zeke used to be called Pee Streak Zeke, everyone assumed that Will made him pee his pants. Louise plans to get him back by having apple juice squirted onto his pants so it looks like he peed himself, but Zeke stops the plan and explains that Will wasn't the bully, he was. The nickname came about because he made another kid wet his pants and he made this his usual form of torment to stay in a jerkish group of boy's good graces.
- Bully Hunter: Louise was ready to humiliate Will under the assumption he bullied Zeke, making it clear she doesn't appreciate bullies in her school.
- The Bus Came Back: After being completely absent from Seasons 12 and 13 and being reduced to a minor cameo in the movie, Jimmy Pesto Sr. makes his speaking return.
- Call-Back:
- Zeke had previously mentioned before that his family moves around a lot (and tried to use that as an excuse not to get punished as the Mad Pooper). He mentions that fact again regarding his past, and we see a few flashbacks to him attending multiple schools while growing up.
- The Booger Wall was previously mentioned as an offhand gag in "The Gene Mile", where Mr. Frond mentions during the assembly that Mr. Branca will be cleaning it off later that day. It seems the attempt didn't take, given the wall is still intact here.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Booger Wall is a twofer. Not only is it mentioned by the students as Tina gives Will a tour of Wagstaff, but it was previously mentioned as a one-off gag all the way back in Season 9. It finally becomes relevant at the end of the episode, where Zeke has to lick the wall so Will and Jimmy Jr. can forgive him.
- Confess to a Lesser Crime: After being pressed about his past connection to Will, Zeke admits that he used to be a bully at one of his old schools that Will also attended, and that he earned the notorious moniker "Pee Streak Zeke" for his usual torment style of holding kids in a wrestling headlock until they peed themselves. However, as bad as this is, his real nervousness about confronting Will over the incident is because he doesn't want the others to learn the truth about Will's particular bullying history; while Zeke was able to get him in a headlock, he never actually made him pee like the other kids, and instead chose to mock Will over his lisp that he spoke with at the time until Will ran crying into the bathroom. This goes over much worse with the rest of the group, since it means Zeke bullied a kid over a speech impediment that he couldn't help at the time instead of just an embarrassing incident, and Jimmy Jr. takes it especially hard given his own speech impediment.
- Dark Secret: Zeke's past as a former bully gets exposed, revealing he started ambushing kids when he was younger because of how difficult it was to make friends due to his family moving around. When one kid peed his pants because of Zeke wrestling with him, it got Zeke attention from a group of boys who thought his antics were funny and so he deliberately started bullying kids to seem cool. That in itself was bad, but then it turns out he's got another worse secret. He made fun of Will for having a lisp to the point Will ran into the bathroom and cried in a stall. Jimmy Jr., who is well known for his speech impediment, does not take this well.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Jimmy Jr. spends the whole episode trying to stick by his best friend's side, but as someone who struggles with a lisp himself, he's absolutely appalled to learn that it was Will's own former lisp that Zeke bullied him to the point of tears over and temporarily swaps to Will's side against him over it. Thankfully, the two boys accept that Zeke has truly changed his ways and is genuinely remorseful over what he did when he's willing to lick the Booger Wall as punishment and forgive him.
- Everybody Knew Already: Jimmy Jr. "reveals" that he has a speech impediment, a prominent part of his character since Season 1, clearly expecting the other students to be shocked. Unsurprisingly, they aren't. He seems to have forgotten he told Tina about his speech impediment way back in Season 3 in "The Unnatural."
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Teddy's made it clear he considers Bob's Burger of the Day the only constant in his life, but he doesn't find "Burger Ball Pit" appealing in the least. Likewise, he doesn't appreciate Bob calling his therapist an idiot and screams at him over it.
- The kids are mortified when they learn Zeke was Will's bully, and are even more so shocked when they learn he made fun of Will's lisp and made him cry.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Parodied. Zeke is shown sticking his tongue out and leaning closer to the Booger Wall, but Zeke's tongue actually making contact with the Booger Wall isn't shown. Reactions from the other kids and their conversation afterwards confirm that he did the deed.
- Honor Before Reason: Bob spends the episode livid that Jimmy stole his burger idea and used it to make pizza, despite that reception to "Burger Ball Pit" wasn't great to the point Teddy didn't want to try it and Mort didn't like it. Bob eventually decides to let it go, figuring it's not worth getting so worked up over when he can always come up with better ideas while Jimmy can only steal his worst.
- If You Taunt Him, You Will Be Just Like Him: Jimmy Jr. warns Louise that getting back at Will for being a bully is no different than being one.Jimmy Jr.: If you bully a bully, it's still bullying.
- Karma Houdini: Played-with. While Jimmy Pesto does pretty much get away with stealing Bob's idea and even benefits from it, Bob makes it clear in his "Reason You Suck" Speech how pathetic he actually is for relying on stealing his competitor's idea — an idea that wasn't even that good — and it's clear that the speech got under Jimmy's skin.
- Lost Food Grievance: Downplayed. Although he's not too upset, Gene isn't thrilled that he has to spill his apple juice for Louise's plan to get back at Will.
- Nose Nuggets: The Booger Wall, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Plagiarism in Fiction: The B-plot is Bob getting upset that Jimmy Pesto stole his Meatball Pit Burger idea and is getting attention for it. He eventually comes to terms with it, realizing that he can come up with much better ideas than a meatball burger, while Jimmy can't come up with any new ideas and has to make do stealing one of Bob's lesser ideas.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: As Bob puts it, he'd rather be himself than be like Jimmy Pesto, because at the end of the day Bob may not have a successful restaurant, but he will have better ideas than "Burger Ball Pit." Meanwhile, Jimmy can only get customers by stealing Bob's bad ideas, and if Jimmy and his patrons actually like it then it probably wasn't all that great of an idea anyway.Bob: I came here to tell everyone that you're a liar who stole my idea. But now all I want to do is tell you something. I'd rather be me than you. I can always think of other ideas, Jimmy. This wasn't even one of my best. It might be one of my worst. And since you and your customers like it, that's a red flag. So this idea — you can have it. I don't need it. All I need is right up here.
- Sanity Ball: Tina is surprisingly rational and not at all awkward when guiding Will around the school on his first day. Though she makes some dorky jokes here and there, she doesn't trip over herself and has an easy time chatting with him despite her known history of flubbing in the presence of a new boy. She's also the one who comes up with a way for Zeke to atone for his actions toward both Will and Jimmy Jr.
- Spit Take: Gene does one with his remaining apple juice after Zeke drops the bombshell about having bullied Will.
