Operation Popstar: Ronnie Anne and Sid try to get Yoon Kwan’s autograph and Carlota helps Alisa prepare for the Great Lakes City Music Festival.
"Operation Popstar" contains examples of:
- Chekhov's Gun: The “use the hotel room service food cart to smuggle someone through the hotel” trick that Alisa’s fan used is soon used by Carlota and Alisa to smuggle the superstar out of the hotel. Ronnie Anne and Sid use it themselves later to smuggle out an amnesiac Yoon Kwan.
- Cry Laughing: During Alisa's break, she, Hector, and Rosa all laugh as Alisa chops onions in a sophisticated manner—only to break down crying from the said onions.
- Decoy Getaway: To aid in their escape from the hotel, Sid uses her life-size cardboard cutout of Yoon Kwan to distract the excited fans in the lobby away from the real deal and Ronnie Anne.
- Dressed in Layers: When Alisa declares she’s quitting music, she whips off her stage outfit and is in casual leisure clothes and slippers. When she gets inspired to return at the end of the episode, she whips off that outfit and is instantly wearing a tracksuit suitable for musical performances.
- Easily Forgiven: Despite what Carlota had done to try and force Alisa back into show business and her motives behind it, witnessing Carlota tell off Blaze and stick up for her (especially without Carlota knowing she was there,) is enough for Alisa to forgive Carlota.
- Easy Amnesia: Ronnie Anne and Sid give Yoon Kwan amnesia after accidentally falling on him from the ceiling vent in his hotel room.
- Fangirl: The whole Casagrande family towards Alisa, and Ronnie Anne and Sid towards 12 Is Midnight, especially Yoon Kwan.
- Foil: Carlota and Blaze (Alisa’s manager) in this episode. Both of them were using Alisa the celebrity as a means to get what they wanted without caring for Alisa the person (being able to live the high life as a celebrity’s BFF for Carlota, and money and success through booking endless gigs for Blaze). While Carlota eventually saw the error of her ways after her actions broke her friendship with Alisa, Blaze was far less sympathetic, stubbornly intending to continue overworking Alisa such that he literally had to be tied up to get him to back down.
- Gone Horribly Right: Upon hearing Alisa’s longing for a home-cooked meal, Carlota decides to bring her to the Casagrandes’ home for lunch, attempting to greatly curry favor with Alisa in doing this. However, Alisa ends up loving the break from her work so much that she decides to quit the music business and live a normal life as their neighbor.
- Heel Realization: Carlota realizes that her actions of trying to force Alisa back into the music business just so she could be friends with a celebrity were terrible and indefensible, once Alisa finds out and confronts her about it.
- He's Back!: The appropriately-named song of the episode “I’m Back”, serves as such a moment for Yoon Kwan, who was inspired and came up with it right after recovering from his amnesia. It also doubles as one for Alisa who, upon hearing 12 Is Midnight singing it, is inspired to return to the stage herself, adding to the song with her own recent experience making it an impromptu collaboration.
- Imagine Spot: Carlota has one near the start of the episode of her exiting a jet all fancied up by Alisa’s side when Carl tempts her with the thought of being a celebrity’s BFF. When Alisa declares that she’s quitting being a celebrity, the spot reappears, only this time with all the fancy things disappearing in puffs of smoke.
- Loony Fan:
- As expected, Ronnie Anne and Sid, (especially Sid) can barely contain themselves when they learn 12 Is Midnight is staying at the nearby hotel. There’s also scores of other 12 is Midnight fans trying to see the band at the hotel, and a fan of Alisa’s who sneaks into her green room in a room service food cart.
- Sid in particular has a whole slideshow presentation describing every member of the band, including one shot of her dressed in a wedding gown and marrying Yoon Kwan.
Sid: And this one hasn't happened yet, but it will.
- Onion Tears: See Cry Laughing above.
- Rejected Apology: When forced to confess what she did to Alisa to try and get Alisa back into the music business and why, Carlota tries to apologize but Alisa is not willing to forgive her.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In his first appearance Blaze was just apathetic and at worst slightly irritated having to give the Casagrandes a tour. Come this episode he's a Jerkass manager who works Alisa to exhaustion.
- Toxic Friend Influence: When Carl sees Carlota get a call directly from Alisa at the start of the episode, he urges Carlota to get closer to Alisa so that she (and also he somehow) can enjoy the high life of being a celebrity’s BFF. Carlota is tempted and acts in this interest, and not for Alisa’s sake, for most of the episode.
- Weirdness Magnet: According to the other members of 12 Is Midnight, amnesia is far from the strangest thing to have happened to Yoon Kwan. Sometime last year he was possessed by a ghost, and these incidents seem to happen so much that the other band mates put a GPS tracker in Yoon Kwan’s earring.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Alisa discovers that Carlota was involved in making her “normal life” miserable on purpose to try and get her to go back to the music business just so that Carlota could be friends with a celebrity, she is justifiably angry:
- Carlota: I was a horrible friend.Alisa: You weren’t a friend at all.
- What You Are in the Dark: After Alisa breaks off her friendship with Carlota and leaves her, Blaze comes to Carlota intending to take Alisa back. As he’s talking, Carlota learns just how much Blaze plans to continue overworking Alisa. Though she no longer has anything to gain by sticking up for Alisa, not even her friendship, Carlota angrily tells Blaze off and kicks him out, declaring that she’ll be a real friend this time and give Alisa the support she deserves.
- Workaholic: Alisa’s schedule is so packed that she gets less than a minute for her lunch break. Played for Drama near the end when it’s revealed that this wasn’t Alisa’s choice. Blaze had been packing her schedule full to try and exploit her shining stardom to its fullest.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Ronnie Anne’s reaction upon learning that Yoon Kwan’s amnesia can be cured simply by singing to him.
- Your Makeup Is Running: Happens to Alisa whenever she gets tears in her eyes.
