Many, many references to movies, TV shows, video games, and most notably plays, being Jack is a theater student.
- The first play that comes up in the narrative is The Winter's Tale, put on at Brow Ridge High. Jack is a bit surprised the school decided to put it on, since there's some dark stuff there.
- Kayla is The Ace at Super Smash Bros. 64.
- Naturally, when it comes to theater and Shakespeare, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet dominate and are referenced repeatedly.
- The first monologue we get to see Jack do is from Shakespeare's Coriolanus.
- Jack's favorite video game is Skyrim.
- During her brief and disastrous relationship with Craig, Kayla notes she hasn't heard "I'm sorry" so many times since a previous boyfriend insisted she read Fifty Shades of Grey.
- Kayla's having trouble finding the expected meaning and symbolism behind her assigned English class reading, Lord of the Flies, likening it to Lost, but making even less sense.
- The buildup to the climactic showdown of "The Kayla Saga" (Chapters 1-8) is scored with "Under Pressure" by Queen, played at the Homecoming dance. Surprisingly appropriate to the situation.
- Belle, appropriately enough, looks like Belle, though with lighter hair.
- After Lord of the Flies, Kayla's next assigned reading is The Great Gatsby, which she finds even more confusing.
- At Gamestop, Jack and his coworker Paul debate if Mordin or Legion had the saddest death in Mass Effect.
- They then agree Aeris had the saddest death in Final Fantasy.
- Jack goes as Sephiroth for Halloween. Kayla, inspired by delivering another Super Smash Bros. beatdown, goes as Samus (she makes a pretty kickass Varia suit out of milk jugs, soda bottles, repurposed off-the-rack costumes, and lots of red and orange paint). Joe goes as The Crow (1994), because "the Crow is only the coolest thing to ever do anything ever." Belle goes as Elsa.
- While working at GameStop, Jack has to deal with a customer upset because he was sold Ride to Hell: Retribution. Jack sympathies, because the game really is just that bad.
- As they leave for Jessica's Halloween party, Jack's dad bids Jack and Kayla "Have fun storming the castle!" Jack returns the following line, and his dad completes the bit.
- Jack says his Engineered Public Confession plan was inspired by Scarface (1983).
- Kayla wishes certain unpleasant memories could be wiped away with one of the "flashy things" from Men in Black.
- Apparently, much of Jack's personality (such as his drive to be a Nice Guy) was inspired by Man of La Mancha, specifically the song "The Impossible Dream".
- While Kayla insists on reading for school, Jack starts a new play of Bioshock Infinite. Kayla quickly gets sucked into the game's beauty.
- When Kayla comments that, while she's enthralled by the game, she finds Bioshock very confusing, Jack asks her about David Lynch, mentioning Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Dr., and Dune (1984). Kayla isn't familiar with any of them.
- To rescue themselves from Kayla, Amanda, and Tara having girl talk, Jack suggests he and Alan go do something manly, like eat a bacon cheeseburger while playing Call of Duty. Jack hates the game, but it's the manlinest game he can think of.
- When the gang meets Craig's cousin Carson he's watching Kick-Ass, but only because Craig doesn't have The Avengers (2012). Carson is put off by Jack not being a fan.
- When Jack relays to Carson the convoluted story of Brad (specifically, Brad stating that Jack's just as bad as he is), Carson finds something funny. When asked what it was after the story, he breaks out in "The Rains of Castamere."
- Kayla's favorite books are His Dark Materials, and she gives Jack a copy of the trilogy for their first Christmas. As of the end of the second year of college, he still hasn't finished them.
- Kayla's last assigned reading for sophomore year is The Sound and the Fury.
- Jack likens learning to like badminton to learning to like Dark Souls... after it's abused your for the thousandth time.
- Second semester of sophomore year, Brow Ridge High's musical production is Seussical.
- For scene work in drama class, Jack and Kayla pick the opening conversation in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Jack gives a brief synopsis of the play, including that it has a twist you cannot let anyone spoil for you, comparing it to Cabin In The Woods, Inception, Bioshock: Infinite, and contrasting Iron Man 3.
- Jack and Kayla discuss flying cars, she brings up all the practical downsides, and he laments that he wanted to see them in his lifetime. She retorts only if he lives another thousand years, and asks if that'll place him in the time of one-eyed women, Slurm, and lobster people, and she agrees. Jack reflects that you know you've found someone special when they get your references.
- As things with the twins get really bad, Jack muses that if he and his siblings get any more obviously depressed his friends will wonder if they're cycling Grave of the Fireflies through the DVD player.
- Sam gets Archer and Arrow confused.
- Jack gets Kayla the Sally Lockhart books for her birthday, since she loved His Dark Materials so much and they're written by the same author.
- Jack instantly regrets turning on his car radio to hear Cher Lloyd's "Want U Back" playing.
- Jack relates a bit about him and a coworker locked in a debate that has sundered friendships and destroyed families, and even now threatens to tear the veneer of professionalism away and cause them to come to blows. The debate? Batman vs. Superman (as in, the film had not come out yet and the debate whether Batman could defeat Superman, not the merits of the film itself).
- Jack's biggest break at ISU theater is playing The Fire Chief in The Bald Soprano.
- Jack's favorite play is A Streetcar Named Desire, and his fondest dream is to play Stanley Kowalski. When he finally gets the chance in class, he's warned not to have a hint of Brando about him.
