When Joe meets an eccentric woman named Evie who questions his lonely life to date, he has to decide whether or not to trust her on his quest to find a friend.
Acquired Poison Immunity: Evie is The Stoner. So when Sandra feeds her a drugged brownie, it doesn’t affect her aside from her recognizing it as an edible.
Continuity Nod: Joe’s quest to find Sandra with romantic undertones turns out to be just about the worst case scenario for what Eugene went through in Seasons 10 and 11 of the main show. Whereas Eugene’s quest to find “Stephanie” did have consequences, he ultimately did find Max and love with her. Joe ends up nearly killed by Sandra after discovering she’s an insane murderer.
Crazy Survivalist: Joe had been preparing a bunker for an apocalypse well before the Fall and it allows him to live rather comfortably for over a year. Sandra turns out to be even better prepared, having a far more luxurious bunker. The trope is deconstructed throughout the episode since Evie points out that Joe’s dedication to preparing for an apocalypse resulted in him becoming lonely, and then Sandra turns out to have gone off the deep end (if she ever wasn’t to begin with).
Evil All Along: Sandra turns out to be insane and prepares to kill Joe and Evie, after Joe spent the whole episode trying to find her.
The Extremist Was Right: Both Joe and Sandra survive well into the apocalypse thanks to their extensive preparations and bunkers.
Go Mad from the Isolation: Joe seems to realize this is happening to him after the loss of Gilligan, and this is why he sets out to find Sandra. It’s unknown if Sandra went into this trope or if she always was this crazy.
No-Sell: Evie eats one of Sandra’s brownies with an edible, but it doesn’t work on her due to her extensive experience with them.
Present-Day Past: Sandra says it’s “leg day”, a slang term that didn’t come into use until the late 2010’s in the real world, whereas society and pop culture ended in 2010 in the show’s universe.
Puzzle Game: Joe plays sudoku every day at the start of the episode to keep his mind sharp.
Senseless Sacrifice: Poor Gilligan's instincts as man's best friend ultimately do them no good. Joe's defenses are enough to keep the walkers at bay, but Gilligan rushes to fight the walkers to protect Joe, allowing the walkers to deliver a fatal bite.
Ship Tease: Joe and Evie have a few sparks as their trip goes on, but Evie seems still devoted to her missing husband and Joe just got burned badly on his interest in Sandra. By the end of the episode, they’re still just good friends with no explicit romantic interest in each other.
Spotting the Thread: Evie quickly realizes Sandra is up to no good when she recognizes the brownie she made her has an edible, and how quickly Sandra stumbles on whether or not she knows Joe.
