"If you think I'm going to stand around and let you be nice to your mother, think again!"
A Plot: Brent breaks his mother's heart when he takes her suggestion the wrong way and gets her nothing for Mother's Day. This has far-reaching consequences, as Emma suddenly likes Hank better in comparison. Furthermore, Oscar discovers that Emma's depression over Brent means she doesn't notice what Oscar does, allowing him to get away with anything. Brent's efforts to get back into his mother's good graces only dig him further into the hole.
B Plot: After Lacey gets teased by Davis's mocking of her pronunciation of the word "especially", she makes it her mission to embarrass him back. However, true to form for Lacey, her attempts only end up increasing her humiliation. That is, until she lets slip about Davis's Missing Mom.
C Plot: Karen buys a hutch from the "Swedish Superstore" and Wanda butts in to help assemble it. Wanda is more of a hindrance than a help, causing the two to head back to the store and try to steal a broken piece.
Tropes Referenced:
- A Rare Sentence: After Wanda has broken the hutch and there are no more in stock:Wanda: I hope you've learned your lesson.
Karen: Yeah. Never let you assemble my furniture... reassemble my furniture... reassemble my pre-assembled furniture!
Wanda: You can't even assemble that sentence! - Ambiguous Syntax: After Davis tells Lacey about his Missing Mom:Davis: There was this woman around the house, I just assumed she was my mom. It turns out, she was the cleaning lady.
Lacey: [shocked] Davis, I've never heard this before!
Davis: Oh, yeah. There's women out there, you pay them, they'll clean your whole house.
Lacey: I- I meant about your mother.
Davis: Oh. - Bait-and-Switch: After Wanda offers to build Karen's hutch, there is an immediate cut to the two of them looking at a built one. Karen claims she's impressed... and then the camera pans out to show they're looking at a demo hutch in the store.Wanda: And yours should look just like this one when I'm done.
- Black Comedy:Brent: There's two ways we can fix this: I can do something nice for my mom or you can do something crappy. If you're my friend, you'll do something crappy to my mom.
Hank: But-
Brent: If you're my friend, you'll do something crappy to my mom!
Hank: But I don't want to do something crappy to your mom.
Brent: If you're my friend-
Hank: Stop sayin' that! I'll do it.
Brent: Ha ha, sucker! ...I mean, thanks, friend. - Brick Joke: When Hank surprises Emma with flowers, he states that the shopkeeper from the Cold Open wouldn't sell him the whole stand.
- Burn Baby Burn: At the end of Karen and Wanda's plot, they are so frustrated by the now-disassembled-and-broken hutch that they end up turning it into a bonfire.
- Cassandra Truth: To make extra-sure that Emma stays too mad at Brent to notice his bumbling, Oscar cleans up her garden and then drags Hank in front, making it look like he did it. When Emma calls him thoughtful, Hank says he didn't do anything, which is interpreted as also being humble. Later, when their family photos end up caked in mud because Hank misinterpreted a request and buried them, Brent takes all of the blame.
- Comically Missing the Point:Wanda: Davis, have you seen the instructions?
Davis: No, but these cartoons are really funny. Look, he can't get his furniture together!
Wanda: Those are the instructions.
Davis: [chuckling] Oh, he's calling the store! - Description Cut: Brent decides to apologize to his mother with a photo album, which he asks Hank to hide. Hank does so by burying it. When Brent tries to get it back, Hank declares he knows where it is...and then it cuts to Hank in a field of holes, stating that he now knows where it isn't.
- Doom It Yourself: Wanda is hopelessly inept at assembling Karen's hutch for her. Hell, before they even get it out of the store, Wanda makes it perfectly clear that she isn't going to do as good a job as she says she is.Karen: There must be 9000 pieces in here!
Wanda: [smugly] Ah, relax. You don't have to use all of 'em. - Dude, Not Funny!: Subverted. Every time Lacey tries to make fun of Davis for some little quirk to get him back for making fun of her earlier, it backfires and everybody thinks she's just being mean. In her frustration, she accidentally insults him regarding his Missing Mom, but quickly apologizes because that actually is mean... only for everyone else (except Davis) to find it hilarious.
- Entertainingly Wrong: In the Cold Open, Brent is standing with Hank in front of a flower stand:Brent: Hey, maybe this is what I should get my mom for Mother's Day.
Hank: You sure she wants to run her own business? A flower stand seems like a lot of work.
Brent: Right. Maybe just some flowers, then. - Exact Words: Emma tells Brent "I don't care what you bring" for Mother's Day. Brent interprets this as an excuse not to bring anything, but Emma erupts because she wanted him to bring something.
- Fictional Counterpart: The Swedish Superstore is a clear parody of IKEA, down to assembly instructions featuring a confused cartoon man and products with names that sound funny to English ears.
- Furniture Assembly Gag: Wanda has a terrible time trying to put together Karen's hutch, and it's only when Karen works on it behind Wanda's back that it gets done.
- Heävy Mëtal Ümlaut / As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The hutch Karen buys from Swedish Superstore is called a Yagenplütz, which is faux-Swedish gibberish; Swedish doesn’t even use the character ü except in foreign words.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X": When Karen walks into the Ruby to tell Lacey about the Swedish hutch she bought:Karen: Hey, Lacey. I got a Yagenplutz.
Lacey: Well, don't do it in here. - Karma Houdini: Oscar gets away with terrible things in front of Emma, like running over her tomato plants, dragging mud all through the house, getting mustard on her while eating a sandwich in bed, and deliberately dropping and breaking a vase on the floor. Emma is so angry with Brent that she doesn't even notice.Brent: Well, I'm glad me screwin' up could help you out.
Oscar: It's not just you screwin' up. It's you screwin' up and Hank suckin' up that's formed some kinda magic sweet spot! I'm flyin' under the radar! These are the best days of my life. - Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Wanda is so convinced that she is the best at building the hutch, that even after Karen has put the entire thing together herself, Wanda insists that she must have screwed it up somehow and takes the whole thing apart again to do it "flawlessly". She ends up breaking a piece.
- Missing Mom: It's revealed that Davis's mother left to join a rock band when he was very young. For years he had assumed the cleaning lady that came once a week to clean the house was his mom.
- Right Behind Me: An odd variation, in that after Brent convinces Hank to do something crappy to Emma to reset the status quo, Hank calls to confirm that the deed is done...using the Leroys' phone, while Oscar and Emma are sitting next to him, which Hank is fully aware of but Brent isn't. This leads to Brent having to clean up the mess he asked Hank to make.
- Sure, Let's Go with That:
- Title Drop: The A Plot is focused on Mother's Day, making this inevitable.
- Tranquil Fury: Emma when Brent first admits that he didn't get her a Mother's Day present:Brent: I didn't get you anything. I ran out of time.
Emma: You've had a year... - Truth-Telling Session: Between Lacey and Davis, although Lacey is trying (and failing) harder.
