Luanne deals with the stress of passing her beauty academy tests when Buckley's angel comes back to guide her to something better.
Tropes
- Always Someone Better: Sharona Johnson for Luanne. While Luanne is quite inept in hair care, Sharona is shown to be the top of her class, someone who works hard and impresses Miss Kremzer, whom is shown to be quite harsh with Luanne, praises her greatly. Luanne is of course envious of her.
- Bait the Dog: Sharona pretends to lighten up and says something nice to Luanne just so she and the others can laugh at her for buying it and make her feel worse.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: "This was Buckley's favorite trampoline. It was his favorite one. He named it 'number one'".
- Brick Joke: Peggy recalls to Minh how she was using a hair dryer and thinks she heard a voice say "Jesus is Love". Then later, with Peggy holding the hair dryer close to her ear, Hank complains about the angel-crazy neighbors and then scoff about how she heard the voice again. To which she thinks she did.
- Broken Tears: Luanne at the beginning, crying to Hank and the guys, about the stress of passing her tests and Sharona's barbs.
- The Bus Came Back: After being killed in the Mega-Lo-Mart propane explosion in "Propane Boom", Buckley comes back to earth in the form of Luanne's guardian angel.
- Epic Fail: At the barn, with Luanne and the beauty academy students doing hair projects on horse tails, Luanne somehow manage to remove the hair off the tail of her horse.
- Forged Message: Hank makes one up saying it's from Buckley's Angel and after he "finds" it, he reads to them that he can't find a woman for Bill, a crankshaft for Boomhauer's 1968 Dodge and warns Dale that the porthole to Hell is actually in Hank's garage. They all read the letter for themselves and realize it's not Buckley's handwriting before Hank hoses them all down to bring them to their senses and continue fixing the trampoline.
- Guardian Angel: Buckley comes back to Earth and serves as one for Luanne to abandon beauty school.
- Hint Dropping: Hank does this with Luanne while talking about Buckley's Angel. Hank says Buckley can help her pass her tests and find an apartment. And he even says this last piece before he leaves the room.
- Holy Halo: It's implied that Buckley earned his after helping Luanne move on with her life before flying back to Heaven.
- Hope Spot: Briefly for Luanne when she breaks down crying while studying at the trampoline waiting for Buckley's Angel and having a hand land on her shoulder. She turns around excitedly, only to see it's Peggy.
- I Wished You Were Dead: Inverted; during the argument with Buckley's Angel before her car accident, Luanne tells him she wishes he never died.
- Jerkass: Sharona Johnson, Arlen Beauty Academy's best student, whom takes great delight in mocking Luanne, looking down on her and laughing at her. Two other students also hang with Sharona and laugh at Luanne as well.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Miss Kremzer is something of a Stern Teacher and doesn't seem very supportive of Luanne, but considering Luanne is incredibly inept at the craft (such as the horse tail incident mentioned above), she knows that hair care is not for Luanne. On the other hand, she's not shy about giving praise to her other students (like Sharona Johnson) who are much more competent than Luanne.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Luanne is absolutely terrible at beauty school, something Buckley's Angel passes on to her from Jesus, who says she's intended for something better. And after a car accident near Arlen Community College (on her way to the Beauty Academy exam), Luanne realizes that it is indeed not for her, quitting the Beauty Academy and enrolling in the college.
- Last Kiss: Subverted; Luanne and Buckley's Angel say their final good-byes and he then asks for one more kiss and goes in to do so, but Luanne turns him down, saying that part of their relationship is over and when he asks why, she responds "Chicken thigh."
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Was Buckley's angel an actual angel/supernatural phenomena, or the hallucinations of a stressed out and sleep deprived Luanne? The episode gives enough evidence for both being possible.
- Only Sane Man: With all the angel craze, Hank is this to the guys, to which Bill writes a letter to Buckley's Angel asking to help him find a woman. Bill and Boomhauer (alongside Luanne) pray to Buckley's Angel and Dale becomes conviced it's a porthole to Hell.
- Pig Latin: Peggy says to Luanne "ix-nay ix-nay, obby-bay too-yay oung-yay" after she refers to meeting Buckley's Angel as a "religious experience", with Peggy thinking she meant something else.
- Reverse Psychology: Hank and the guys do this with Kahn to trick him into letting them fix the trampoline he got from Buckley's estate, which he was letting go to waste. In exchange, Kahn has them mow his lawn for two months (another thing they love doing). Earlier, when first proposing this idea, Hank mentions how effective this tactic is, having previously used it to get Bill to brush his teeth.
- Rocky Roll Call: When the guys propose to Kahn to fix his mower, using reverse psychology:Hank: Say, Kahn, we were just thinkin'-Dale: We don't wanna fix your trampoline.Bill: I do.Dale: Bill!Bill: What?Hank: Dale!Dale: Gih!
- Sarcasm-Blind: Luanne sees Sharona Johnson and her friends after she had a talk with Miss Kremzer. Sharona speaks to Luanne in a mock-sympathetic tone about all she's gone through (losing her hair, Buckley's death and being on academic probation) and even "encourages" Luanne, stating she can turn it around if she passes the final exam. This seems to pep Luanne up, who fails to convey Sharona's sarcasm until they all laugh at her before walking away.
- Sassy Black Woman: Sharona Johnson is black and is not above making disparaging comments at Luanne.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Buckley's Angel jumps out of the car right before Luanne has her accident. And afterwards, he quickly flies off. Though he does apologize to her for it in the end.
- The Stinger: The last scene has Kahn sitting at the trampoline, frustrated over why Buckley's Angel didn't visit him.
- Stood Up: Buckey's Angel seems to do this to Luanne again, something he often did when while alive. But then subverted when he comes when she needs him, advising her to quit Beauty School.
- Surprise Car Crash: Happens to Luanne after an argument with Buckley's Angel over quitting Beauty Academy. While not hurt, it does bring her to a newer, better option for her life, bringing her to the Arlen Community College, where she enrolls.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Buckley while on Earth was Luanne's inattentive and uninterested boyfriend. But since his death and becoming an angel, he treats her better and helps her choose a better path in life.
- Trust Password: To prove Luanne isn't hallucinating Buckley's Angel, she asks something that only he would know. He then states she has a birthmark on her butt the shape of a Honda key, which immediately convinces her.
