A Plot: When Pops falls asleep during the movie Cocoon, which ironically is about elderly people recapturing their youth, Adam worries that his best friend no longer has the energy to enjoy life. After seeing Barry, Andy and Naked Rob taking a bodybuilding powder and displaying unusual pep, Adam thinks it might work for Pops.
B Plot: Bev is power suit shopping for Erica after learning she's going into pre-law, when she spots her cookbook in a bargain bin with a 99-cent price sticker. When the publisher presents a forged addendum to their contract that permits him to do so, Beverly has Erica make use of her "lawyering skills", with some unwitting help from Murray.
- Actor Allusion: Dr. Katman, the school's chemistry teacher, talks disparagingly about the main character of Cocoon; both are played by Steve Guttenberg.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: When Beverly wants to take her publisher Mr. Whitby to court, he claims to have experience, having been in arbitration with his wives, his children, his children's wives, and his wives' new wives.
- Crusading Lawyer: Erica wants to become a lawyer that fights for the helpless instead of for riches, despite Beverly constantly picturing her becoming the next "lawyer to the stars".
- Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn: The Tag has all of the JTP (save for Matt Bradley) suffering from these, having sunbathed on the roof as the next step of their body improvement plans.
- Foreshadowing: Pops is rather dismissive of the bodybuilding powder from the start, since it's endorsed by Rambo and Pops points out that he's fictional. Additionally, the High-Dive Hijinks is what Pops quickly suggests after Adam thinks of something more exhausting to do. Thus, the fact that the Placebo Effect wasn't actually occurring can be figured out before he outright states it to Adam at the end.
- Graceful Loser: When Erica manages to find photographic evidence that the addendum was forged (as Beverly insisted that Murray take pictures of the original contract signing to celebrate her accomplishment), Mr. Whitby admits that he lied and admits defeat.
- High-Dive Hijinks: Pops attempts to jump off the diving board like in the movie, but he instead slips and belly flops into the pool.
- Placebo Effect: Discussed when Adam asks Dr. Katman about how the bodybuilding powder gives the JTP energy. Katman notes that the powder won't have any noticeable effect, but that thinking it does makes people act like it does; he also reminds Adam that they were discussing it in class. Adam decides to try it out on Pops and is so delighted by the results that he lets Pops believe in the magic powder. Katman then explains that the Placebo effect can only go so far before reality catches up; and sure enough, Pops ends up making a fool of himself at the pool. Ultimately subverted when Pops admits he knew the powder was fake from the start, but acted like it worked to make Adam feel better.
- Pun: Dr. Katman is prone to jokes, including "Why are chemists so good at solving problems? Because they have all the solutions."
- Taught by Television: Beverly thinks she's watch enough L.A. Law to know how the legal process works. But when she and Mr. Whitby are at their arbitration meeting, they just shout random legal terms at each other.
- Vicariously Ambitious: When Erica declares that she's studying to be a lawyer, Beverly starts going around announcing that, along with Barry studying to be a doctor and Adam going to be an "award winning filmmaker", the Goldbergs "win at parenting."
