After an entire summer of dating and a run-in with Dementor just before the first day of school, Kim and Ron (and Monique) are finally seniors—and Kim and Ron's romantic relationship is still going strong. After confirming to Bonnie Rockwaller that she and Ron are still dating after what happened at prom back in the spring, the snobby cheerleader openly expresses her disapproval of Kim going out with Ron. Bonnie's reasoning for this is because she feels it's "practically a rule" for cheerleaders to date jocks, especially since she and Kim are seniors now—Bonnie advises Kim to "trade up" Ron for a jock if he can't "step up."
After Bonnie leaves, Kim tells Ron not to obsess about what she said, but he ends up doing just that, and later, he mistakenly thinks that Kim's planning on eventually dumping him for a jock. Ron then decides to try out for the varsity football team, even going so far as to "secretly borrow" Kim's (relatively new and virtually indestructible) battle-suit, which helps him to make the team as the new star quarterback, filling the spot that Brick Flagg left due to finally graduating from high school. Unfortunately, following his introduction to it, Dementor now has his eyes on Kim's suit.
During a confrontation with Dementor at Bueno Nacho, Kim discovers that Ron has her battle-suit and pieces together what really happened during their school's latest football game—but after Ron explains to Kim why he did what he did, she's able to finally assure him that she honestly doesn't care that he's not a jock but that she cares about him for who he is. In the end, the couple defeats Dementor and Ron confesses to Mr. Barkin (the football coach) that he cheated his way onto the football team.
However, because of what happened in a previous game (one without Kim's battle suit), where Ron's "mad running away" skills had broken the "all-time rushing record," Mr. Barkin allows Ron to stay on the football, but as the new star running back instead of the quarterback. Ron's excited about being able to stay on the football after all, but Barkin puts a bit of a damper on it by making Ron crabwalk laps around the football field as punishment for cheating his way onto the team in the first place.
This episode provides examples of:
- All Just a Dream: Subverted and discussed. Ron thinks that him and Kim getting together was just a dream when he wakes up from this Catapult Nightmare, but Kim confirms that everything (except for the part about her being a synthodrone) really did happen and that they really are together.
- Call-Back: During the battle in Bueno Nacho, Kim ends up slumped under the ice dispenser, having ice cubes tumbling down on her head, much like Ron did in "Triple S", in which he also tried to become a jock just to impress girls.
- So the Drama ended with the Middleton High School Reader Board reading “The End”, given it was
originally supposed to be the Grand Finale of the show. Since this is the first episode of the Post-Script Season, the Cold Open (which recycles the ending scene from The Movie) opens with the reader board reading “Not the end”. - Ron’s Catapult Nightmare of him kissing Kim, only to learn that she was a synthodrone all along is a reference to Ron’s
disgusted reaction to him thinking Kim kissed one.
- So the Drama ended with the Middleton High School Reader Board reading “The End”, given it was
- Cassandra Truth: Professor Dementor doesn't believe that Ron is Kim's boyfriend. He later doesn't believe Kim isn't wearing her battlesuit until she asks if it looks like she's wearing it under her cheerleader uniform.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: In the climax, Kim and Ron sort out their relationship issues by communicating with each other and Kim telling him that she doesn’t care about dating jocks and that she only cares about dating him, as long as he is honest...while fighting him as he's wearing her battle suit as it is being controlled by Dementor.
- Cat Up a Tree: Professor Dementor disguises himself as an old lady whose cat is stuck up a tree in order to set a trap.
- Catapult Nightmare: Ron's dream about him and Kim at the prom turned into this when Kim melted like a synthodrone.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: In the fight between Ron, in the battle-suit controlled from Dementor, it happens with Kim in her new senior-year cheerleading uniform after she jumps off of Ron and lands right at the screen.
- Disguised in Drag: Dementor's Paper-Thin Disguise is just him in a dress with a wig covering his eyes.
- Easily Forgiven:
- Kim forgives Ron for stealing her battle suit and using it to cheat his way onto the football team.
- Played with in Barkin's case—he allows Ron to stay on the football as a running back instead of the quarterback, but he still ends up punishing the latter for cheating his way onto the team in the first place.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Ron had one when Kim said "homefield advantage," leading him to come up with the idea to use Kim's battle suit to join the football team.
- Failed a Spot Check: Thanks to his tracking device, Dementor is absolutely certain that Kim is wearing the battle suit, as it's seemingly right on top of her. Unfortunately, Kim is wearing her midriff-baring cheerleading outfit, which leaves it abundantly evident with even a cursory glance that she couldn't possibly be wearing the battle suit. As it happens, Dementor's device isn't faulty - it's correctly tracking the battle suit, but it's currently being worn by Ron underneath his much-more bulky football gear.Kim: Hello? Does it look like I'm wearing full body armor?
Dementor: Well, no, now that you mention it... - Fighting Your Friend: When Dementor takes control of the battle suit, which is being worn by Ron, he forces him to fight Kim.
- Foreshadowing: After seeing Ron's first game, Kim wondered how he could've done so well, to which Monique suggested that all that running away from villains over the years is finally paying off. She's ultimately proven right.
- Held Back in School: Brick (Bonnie's on/off-boyfriend for most of Seasons 2 and 3) is indirectly revealed to be this. Since Brick was a grade above Kim, Ron, Monique and Bonnie, it was initially assumed that he was only about a year or two older than them—but when Ron's at the football tryouts, Mr. Barkin offhandedly mentions that Brick Flagg graduated Middleton High School after seven years. This would mean that Brick had gotten held back in high school at least three times.note
- Hoist by His Own Petard: By wearing Kim's battle suit, Dementor became vulnerable to the device he made to control it.
- Hourglass Plot: Ron trying to get onto the football team, failing, cheating his way in (to Kim’s disapproval), then winning his way in the team by his own talent mirrors Kim failing Driver’s Ed, cheating (though not willingly) to Ron’s disapproval, then passing the test on her own merit from The Car Trouble. The difference being, Ron only disapproved of Kim’s cheating because she didn’t let him cheat too, whereas here, Kim wanted Ron to be honest and here Barkin actually finds out that Ron initially cheated.
- Imagine Spot: Ron had one where he realized that using Kim's battle suit would help him join the football team and impress Kim.
- Insecure Love Interest: Much like how Kim felt insecure about stuff relating to boys/romance/dating prior to getting together with Ron in So the Drama, Ron finds himself feeling insecure about his relationship with Kim, fearing that he's not good enough for her and that she might end up leaving him for someone else.
- Insistent Terminology:
- Dementor objects to comments about wearing a "dress," shouting "It's a housecoat!" in response. Although after he acquires Kim's battle suit, he ends up referring to it as a "housedress."
- Ron claims that he didn't steal Kim's battle suit, claiming it was "secret borrowing."
- Jumping the Shark: Referenced in-universe during The Stinger when Ron asks if Kim waterskiing over a shark was real or a dream.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Ron and Kim are officially a couple. To a lesser extent, Kim, Bonnie, and the rest of their fellow senior cheerleaders get new uniforms in this episode that stay that way for the rest of the series.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping/Poor Communication Kills: Ron misunderstanding Kim's conversation with Monique over [Monique] trading her current cellphone in for a newer model is what sets off the plot for most of the episode—during their confrontation with Dementor at Bueno Nacho, Kim explains to Ron what she and Monique were really talking about.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Dementor uses one of these to get close enough to Kim to analyze her battle suit. Surprisingly, no one picks up on it.
- Running Gag: Dementor continuously stating he's wearing a housecoat, not a dress.
- Shout-Out: Dementor drops one just before the episode's climax.Dementor: All your battle-suit are belong to me!
- Stop Hitting Yourself: When Rufus takes control of Dementor's controller of Kim's suit while he's wearing it, he makes him hit himself.Ron: Hey! Stop hitting yourself.Dementor: I cannot!
- That Came Out Wrong: Ron tries to explain himself:Kim: "You cheated your way onto the football team!"Ron: "Yeah, but that was just a perk. I was really trying to cheat on you!"Kim: (glares)Ron: "Ah, for you! To win you!"
- That Was Not a Dream:
- At the beginning of the episode when Ron called Kim about his dream about them being at the prom, Kim told him that part where the two of them kissed actually happened—but she also threatens that it won't happen again if he keeps calling her in the middle of the night.
- It happens again during the Creative Closing Credits, but rather than break up with Ron for calling her in the middle of the night again, she just hangs up on him in the middle of their conversation.
- Unishment: In an extended Berate and Switch, Barkin tells Ron that he's no longer the quarterback, and as disciplinary action for cheating his way onto the team, Barkin wants Ron to "think very carefully about what you've done... when you're playing as the new Middleton running back!"
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Professor Dementor. After stealing Kim's battle-suit, he laments that isn't as comfy as the dress he wore when he was Disguised in Drag.
