Bobby gets gout after enjoying the food from the New York style Deli and has to choose between the food and taking Connie to the dance. Hank gets mortified when a picture of his colon from his constipation is at a museum.
Tropes:
- Agony of the Feet: As a result of eating Deli food, Bobby ends up getting gout.
- Artistic License – Law: Hank gets his X-ray taken out of the museum, and its poster arrested, because Texas has a law against "defaming beef", a parody of food libel laws
(particularly as they applied to Oprah Winfrey's then-recent lawsuit with the beef industry). However, the real thing only aids food producers in civil (not criminal) cases against people they claim have financially damaged them. A photograph with some very vague implicit moral statement about the food wouldn't even qualify for a libel case, as it's not making a factual claim that could be disproven. - Bad Liar: Connie catches Bobby eating chopped liver at the Showbiz Deli, which naturally upsets her as she finds the right dress for the dance and Bobby not seeming to care if the food is making his gout worse. Bobby tries to assure her that he just came in to use the restroom.... as he eats the meal, then the owner serves him another meal before she runs off crying.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Seems to be the case for Joseph and his crush Charisse who tries flirting with her and even doing some things like tripping her, hiding her lunch, whacking her butt with a shovel, with her even telling him off each time. But at the end, during the school dance, they're both seen together.
- Brick Joke: The beginning has Joseph trying to win Charisse over and then getting the idea of whacking Charisse in the butt with a shovel. Then a few scenes later, Peggy talks to Bobby about how she and Minh are planning to take the kids to the dance, with Minh being able to fit 8 in the minivan and she asks Bobby if Charisse's hip is healed.
- Call-Back:
- Talking to Luanne about the dance, Bobby mentions his practice kiss he had with Connie and his experiences with Marie.
- The secondary plot is Hank finding out an X-ray of his colon from when he was constipated got put up in a museum.
- Comically Missing the Point: At the doctor, Bobby is assigned a cane, but instead of thinking it's for assistance purposes, he thinks it's for entertainment and excitedly asks if it comes with a hat.
- Commitment Issues: Bobby's reluctant to go to the dance with Connie, seemingly afraid of getting into something serious with her. He seems to get over this by the end.
- Cool Old Guy: Carl the Deli Owner hits it off with Bobby and after he sees Connie run off crying after she sees he would rather eat Deli food than go to the dance with her, he tries to get him to stop. And in the end, with Bobby being upset over what happened with Connie, he pretty much tells him to go see Connie at the dance.
- Cutting Corners: Implied to be why the owner of the Showbiz Deli chose his style of food. He mentions previously having ran an Italian restaurant and complains about having to heat up the food.
- Determinator Bobby becomes this at the end while heading to the dance to see Connie. His Rascal's battery ends up dying, leaving him to roll down a hill, making him jump off before it crashes. He then hops and rolls down another hill, despite his agony, making it to the dance and dances with Connie. As Bobby puts it, his dad says "...that when you really want something, you play through the pain".
- Dude, Not Funny!: When Dale ribs Hank for his art portrait, Kahn kicks him in the ass (calling a hillbilly moron) and tells him it's not funny; that Hank's colon portrait contrasting with the painting of the starving Indian boy with an empty bowl is brilliant art work.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Bobby likes that New York Deli food and keeps indulging himself with it, making his gout worse and essentially choosing it over going to the dance with Connie. By the end, he then decides to stop eating the food and dance with Connie.
- Gallows Humor: Downplayed with his gout not really being life-threatening, but Bobby takes humor with the situation, naming his bandaged swollen toe "Madame", even drawing a face on it and having it speak with a French accent, something that concerns Peggy and Connie.
- Haggis Is Horrible: While haggis itself isn't involved, the trope is played straight otherwise with the New York Showbiz Deli food, such as tongue, as far as Hank is concerned. Bobby, however, is more open-minded.
- High-School Dance: Or Middle School dance, with the plot of Bobby dealing with his feelings over going to the dance with Connie.
- I'll Tell You When I've Had Enough!: Bobby says this to the Deli owner after an argument with Connie over choosing the food over going to the dance with her and he suggests that Bobby had enough.
- Justice by Other Legal Means: Hank gets the X-ray of his colon taken down, not because it was a violation of his privacy, but because it was judged as a defaming the beef that caused his blockage.
- Karma Houdini: The artist gets arrested for Hank's colon portrait for defaming beef, a law in Texas. He also had an agent with him who defended the artist, but when Hank brings out the Sheriff, the agent just much leaves the artist to take the fall and doesn't get arrested himself.
- Lethal Chef: The deli owner's food not only giving Bobby a bad case of gout in a matter of days, but he also mentions he didn't know Italian food needs to be cooked and gives Bobby a plate of expired herring.
- Muse Abuse: An artist uses an X-ray of Hank's constipated colon and exhibits it at a museum without his permission. Hank naturally doesn't take it too well.
- Non-Answer: During a show-and-tell about diseases of the middle ages, with Bobby talking about his gout, he seems willing to ask questions, with Connie asking if Bobby will take her to the dance. He avoids it by saying he was pointing at Dooley, who just tells him to answer the question. Then Bobby says he was pointing to Joseph, who then asks the same question. Bobby then ends the presentation promptly.
- Oh, Crap!: Dale and Bill when they play around on Bobby's electric cart and Bobby catches them and both quickly run off. Though Bobby is too depressed to care.
- Operation: Jealousy: Connie does this to Bobby when she tells him that since Bobby doesn't want to go, she's going with someone else. In the end, with Bobby making it to the dance, Connie admits that she went alone and was hoping to make him jealous.
- Single-Episode Handicap: Bobby's gout worsens to the point he needs an electric rascal to ride around in.
- Statuesque Stunner: Charisse towers over Bobby, Connie and Joseph (this being a couple of years before Joseph hits his own growth spurt).
