Eager for a chance to return to his carefree childhood, Bernard joins Mark's gaming group. This leaves Craig stuck doing Bernard's chores, and soon fed up, Craig turns to Alexis to get his brother back to normal.
Tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: Nicole is mad about Bernard not doing his chores, but instead of confronting him about it, she lets Craig pick up his slack. Additionally, neither she or Duane do anything to help their eldest son with his personal crisis.
- Beyond the Impossible: Cariss is currently shown to be crowd surfing at a concert and is only at Bernard's intervention via phone, yet somehow was still able to receive and hand over the Small Uncle doll when it was her turn to talk.
- Call-Back: Kelsey starts the episode by promoting Reptiliana as an awesome hero who could beat Slide the Ferret.
- Chekhov's Skill: During her college tour, Alexis participated in a fencing demo. She then uses those skills to wipe the floor with Elder Mark.
- Contrast Montage: While Bernard embraces Elder Mark's toxic beliefs while having a blast, Craig is having a stressful time taking care of all the chores.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- When Craig confronts Bernard for spending all his time in the Creek and neglecting his chores, he acts like a mother scolding her teenaged child for staying up late, down to Craig wearing Nicole's bathrobe and making a Full-Name Ultimatum.
- Bernard's "friendship" with Elder Mark is treated like a substance addiction, to the point of Bernard saying, "I can stop whenever I want," and Elder Barry introducing himself saying he's "been Mark-free for almost three months."
- Gross-Up Close-Up: The one on the sink full of unwashed dishes.
- Growing Up Sucks: Continued from the previous episode. The general message seems to be that you have more challenging responsibilities as you grow up, but they don't have to consume you, if you don't let them.
- The Pig-Pen: Bernard has started to neglect his personal hygiene the more he hangs out with his new friend.
- Sanity Slippage: Elder Mark's clearly not handling his fallout with the other Elders very well. It's implied his hygiene's getting worse, and when he fights Alexis he starts getting into a rant about how he's always right about everything.
- Shadow Archetype: Elder Mark is presented as what Bernard might become if he stays in the Creek, an irresponsible, self-absorbed Manchild who alienates all those who care about him.
- Staging an Intervention: Craig tries this with Bernard's friends, and even Elder Barry. The latter warning Bernard about becoming Mark, who's let his nerdy manchild behavior completely consume him, so much so that being right leads to the exclusion of connecting with other humans.
- Valkyries: Alexis dons Valkyrie armor (which she borrowed from the theater club) to win back her boyfriend.
- You're Not My Mother: A literal example: As Craig is scolding Bernard as if he were their mother, Bernard storms out of the conversation exclaiming this, Craig taking it seriously as he notes "You don't mean that!"
