Peggy's Spanish language comprehension goes to mierda during a trip to Mexico, where she mistakes a native girl (the eponymous Lupé) for one of the students and gets busted for kidnapping. Meanwhile, a lusty female cop hits on Hank.
Tropes:
- Accidental Kidnapping: The plot is set in motion following the end of the field trip to Mexico, when Lupé, a young Mexican girl selling bubble gum, is accidentally smuggled into the U.S. by Peggy, who assumed Lupé was saying "Viva México" (Long live Mexico) when she was actually saying "yo vivo en México" (I live in Mexico).
- An Aesop: Men can be the victims of sexual assault too.
- Batman Gambit: At Peggy's court hearing, she refuses to admit her lackluster knowledge of Spanish to the judge. Hank proposes that Peggy simply tell the judge her side of the story — in Spanish (playing to her delusions of being fluent in Spanish). It works perfectly; Peggy's mangled Spanish backs up her defense attorney's claim that the whole situation was just a misunderstanding.
- Comically Missing the Point: Peggy hearing the judge's sentence.Mexican Judge: Inocentenote (bangs gavel)
Peggy: Oh my God, I'm going to jail! - Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Averted actually. Although the guys make fun of Hank because he told them that a lady cop has been harassing him lately, the episode shows that the cop's actions are not humorous as she is abusing her authority in order to get him to pay attention to her.
- Everyone Calls Her "Barkeep": Subverted - while nearly everyone calls the lady cop just that, her name, Jane Cooper, is shown in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of the "ticket" she gives Hank.
- Honor Before Reason: Peggy would rather risk spending years in Mexican prison than claim to the court that she's a poor Spanish speaker.
- Karma Houdini: Aside from being turned down by Hank, the lady cop gets no consequences for harassing Peggy and using threats against Hank so that she can feel him up.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Once again, Peggy's ignorance of Spanish and Mexican culture is on full display. It starts with her taking the students to what she thinks is a Carnival celebration but is actually a butcher shop and goes downhill from there.
- My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Peggy's testimony is full of badly pronounced Spanish homonyms, which is what saved her from being convicted of kidnapping as it proves that she didn't understand what was going on.Peggy: (in Spanish) I can tell you are a reasonable horse. I am very pregnant because of what happened with Lupe. She ate my bus accident and all I wanted was to make Lupé into a book. I have too many anuses ahead of me to spend my life in a cigar factory.What Peggy tried to actually say was: I can tell you are a reasonable gentleman. I am very embarrassed because of what happened with Lupe. She got aboard my bus accident and all I wanted was to make Lupé free. I have too many years ahead of me to spend my life in jail.
- Public Secret Message: After Peggy refuses to admit to the court she's a poor Spanish speaker, Hank suggests to her and her lawyer that they put Peggy on the stand and testify what happened in her own words. Peggy thinks her honest testimony will sway the court, while Hank and the lawyer know that she will just prove to the court she doesn't actually know Spanish and be let off the hook.
- Shown Their Work: All the Spanish mistakes Peggy makes are simple ones that any beginning Spanish student could make. "Embarazada" does indeed sound like "embarrassed" but mean "pregnant". "Caballo" (horse) and "caballero" (used to mean just "horseman" but now also means "gentleman") are very similar. When she said fabrica de cigarro she likely confused the word carcel, which means jail, and cigarro which means cigar. And "carnival" and "carniceria" both do indeed come from the same root word meaning "meat", as a carnival was originally a time of celebration before Lent.
- Skewed Priorities: Hank is more upset about missing his odometer passing "1000" than he is about getting pulled over by the police.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Once again, Peggy's Know-Nothing Know-It-All tendencies get her into trouble when her poor Spanish causes her to mislead her class on a field trip, kidnap Lupé, and get arrested. Even at her court hearing, she refuses to admit to the judge that she cannot actually communicate in Spanish, as though she would rather risk spending years in a Mexican prison than compromise her pride.
- Stalker with a Crush: The cop that follows Hank around town was girl that had crush on him in high school, and tries to sweet talk to him. She even pulls over Peggy to tell her that she's much more attractive than her. When Hank drives down to the Mexican court house, she pulls him over for speeding and says that he has to check him for weapons, but is actually an excuse to feel him up, and Hank is visibly uncomfortable with how much she seems to enjoy it. However, the cop sees that Hank is Happily Married, and sadly decides to give up on him.
- Sustained Misunderstanding: After Peggy drives Lupé back to Mexico and the people are happy to see her back, she thinks she's being celebrated as a hero for returning her even as Lupé angrily points at Peggy as the one who kidnapped her and she's arrested and brought in for questioning. It's not until she's handcuffed and dragged away from the interrogation room in the middle of a call to Hank to tell him how well everything went that she finally realizes the trouble she's in and yells at him to come help her.
- Tranquil Fury: When the cop that's been stalking Hank drives in front of the house, Peggy, who's carrying a tray full of food for Lupé, scolds Bobby for selling her out to the cops. Bobby gives her a brief Death Glare, takes the tray and walks away without saying anything.
- Varying Competency Alibi: At the trial, Hank convinces the court to let her testify in Spanish, knowing she'd never pass up a chance to demonstrate her "fluency". The jury concludes that her grasp on the language is so bad, the incident had to have been a misunderstanding, and she's declared not guilty.
