A Plot: After Geoff invites Erica to join him in the audience of Nancy Glass' popular talk show, Barry gets jealous that his friend keeps picking Erica over him.
B Plot: As Adam's girlfriend, Brea, heads to visit her cousin at the University of Virginia, Beverly projects her own insecurity onto Adam, convincing him to make a grand gesture to prevent Brea from choosing UVA for college.
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Beverly uses this rationale to convince Adam why he should chase after Brea.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Murray drives all the way to Virginia to stop the Grand Romantic Gesture and point out Beverly's true motivations, Beverly asks if it's so wrong to want to keep her family close. When Adam states that it is if she ruins their dreams in the process, she quickly relents to returning home, and apologizes for overreacting.
- As Himself: Nancy Glass is played by herself when Geoff and the others attend her show.
- Becoming the Mask: At the end of the B Plot, Joanne is glad to stop fake-dating Barry, but does admit that the relationship was better than some of the actual relationships she's had in the past.
- Didn't Think This Through: Played with, in that Barry and Joanne say to themselves that it's a foolproof plan when they conspire to fake dating in order to get the one extra ticket to Nancy Glass from Geoff that they both want.
- Dynamic Entry: Just as Adam is about to surprise Brea at her cousin's sorority, he gets tackled down by, of all people, Murray, who drove all the way down to Virginia to stop him.
- Foreshadowing: At the start of the episode, when Geoff invites Erica to the Nancy Glass show, Beverly is excited and plans to make her look nice so she'll end up getting more attention than the freaks on stage. Later, the drama involving her, Geoff, and Barry does end up taking all attention away from the freaks on stage.
- Friend in the Black Market: When Barry and Joanne end up in Nancy Glass' audience to call Geoff out despite neither of them getting Geoff's ticket, Barry plays it off as having a similar connection as Geoff's father's thankful patient.
- Grand Romantic Gesture: Adam attempts one of these so he and Brea won't end up attending different colleges, driving cross-country with his mother in order to declare his feelings in person. Murray ends up having to interfere and talk some sense into Adam before he appears too clingy and ruins the relationship entirely.
- Karaoke Bonding Scene: Barry and Joanne singing "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, which Geoff told Erica that he and Barry sang ironically.
- Love Triangle: Both plots have played-with cases of one; Beverly's worried about Adam choosing Brea over staying close to her, while Barry is competing with Erica over Geoff's attention (with Barry even calling it a Love Triangle, to Joanne's confusion).
- Malaproper: To quote Beverly when she's convincing Adam that Brea will leave him if he lets her go to Virginia, "If you love someone, never set them free!"
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Geoff got two tickets to Nancy Glass in the first place because of his father, who accidentally temporarily blinded a man that works for the show during surgery, but said man ended up grateful after developing a better sense of smell that helped him find a lethal strain of mold growing in his house. Everyone chooses to brush over the medical malpractice part after Beverly points it out.
- Now You Tell Me: Murray has this reaction after learning how Adam and Beverly are using his credit card to pay for gas during the trip, as well as a white stallion and various gifts for his Grand Romantic Gesture. This frustrates Pops, who did try to get him involved as soon as it was happening but was ignored due to Murray not wanting to upset his wife.
- Operation: Jealousy: After misinterpreting Matt Bradley's advice, Barry's plan to get Geoff to stop hanging out with Erica is to date Geoff's sister Joanne. Joanne can't stand Barry, but also wants the ticket to Nancy Glass, and agrees to fake a relationship.
- Point-and-Laugh Show: Nancy Glass' show is one of these. The episode Geoff et al attend has her talking to a family that was haunted, only to dismiss them entirely and state that ghosts aren't real when the drama between Geoff, Barry, Erica, and Joanne in the audience becomes better entertainment.
- Southern Belle: In The Tag, Beverly has prepared a lot of Southern American cuisine and is speaking with a notable drawl, claiming she picked it all up during their brief time in Virginia.
- Stalking is Love: Beverly tries to pass it off as "romantic" when she tracks Brea's location down with complete accuracy while she's in the middle of the drive to Virginia, calling the appropriate pit stop.
- Talk Show Appearance: Geoff and Erica get seats at Nancy Glass' talk show audience, with Barry and Joanne butting in to try and make Geoff jealous. Eventually, all four are brought on stage to discuss their problems.
