PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written 2/11/25-2/12/25)

2/11/25

-I had the idea for this episode a year ago, but it wasn't what it ended up being. The title stayed the same, and it was always going to focus on KG and his friends, but initially, it was supposed to be something similar to "These Are Our Heroes." I was reading a message board thread about guys who would go to high schools and pick up their girlfriends there, with the guys being significantly older. This isn't something I personally saw when I was in high school, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it happened. It never stopped being a thing. I thought about telling that same story on the show, but with the genders reversed.

-Since Denise is the only female character on the show I could tell this story with, and have it mean something, I decided it would be better to do it from a male perspective. Rodney is with Beth, so Trevor was the best candidate. If not, I probably would have created a new character for the sake of this episode. The idea was that Trevor finally gets a girlfriend, but she's in her mid-to-late twenties. Everything about the episode would have been like it was in real life, with the girl being a predator and taking advantage of Trevor for being young. I was thinking about the De La Soul song "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa" when I was coming up with ideas for the episode.

-Eventually, that led me into a different kind of story involving Trevor being seduced by an older teacher. She wouldn't have been as old as I originally thought, but in her early twenties. It would still be inappropriate, but the lines would be more blurred in terms of it being a horrific criminal act. I had to remember the kind of show Thank You, Heavenly was and not go down the serious route, but still be mindful of the story I was trying to tell. I threw out that idea and circled back to what it was originally going to be. The episode ended up being lighter than I originally thought it would be, but it was for the best because I didn't really figure everything out until the writing and I threw out a lot of material.

-When I finally started writing the episode, I ended up going through the overthinking process and things became complicated. Danielle was originally part of the episode and I wrote multiple scenes including her. In the first draft, the bachelorette party was for one of Danielle's friends and the guys ended up crashing it without her knowing. This would lead to Trevor meeting Brenda, and when the guys become suspicious, they get information about Brenda with Danielle's help to expose her. Things were getting too convoluted for me and with the way the story was written, Danielle didn't need to be in the episode. I didn't have enough time to justify her role in the rewrite, so I removed her entirely and just turned the bachelorette party into a random encounter.

-Another thing that influenced the writing of the episode was me finding out that the age of consent in Washington state was 16. Unless the adult had power over the minor, such as them being a teacher, which meant that the age of consent would be 18. I was still going to do the story of Trevor being with a teacher, but once I found that out, that's what shifted my direction. What I was going for was that Brenda was a creep, not a criminal. Even though a lot of guys who picked up girls at high schools were most likely criminals, I couldn't tell a story like that without the characters being reactive to it. It also keeps Brenda from being evil. She's definitely taking advantage of Trevor and her actions are questionable, but it's different from her just using power to manipulate Trevor.

-This is also one of the few episodes to humanize Trevor and make him less of a caricature. His primary interest is sex, and he sees Brenda as his way towards getting it. He is perfectly fine with lying about his age until the guys convince him to tell the truth. When Brenda brushes it off, he genuinely falls for her and believes they're in a committed relationship. He does have enough self-respect to recognize he's being used and ends things with Brenda the minute he finds out about her kissing Glenn. This is the first time Trevor sees a girl for more than her body and he ends up paying the price for it.

-The subplot was originally meant for "Met Her Last Night," when Sparky was in Wade's role. However, when I gave the B-plot to Sparky, Buster, and Halley, I decided to save this plot for a later episode that suited it better. This is similar to "RK & Wade's Night Out," with Jaylynn and Lynne's conversations mirroring a romantic relationship. But unlike that episode, I didn't take this plot as seriously because it's ridiculous on paper. Lynne being so bothered that Jaylynn won't be her roommate is a funny idea, and Jaylynn playing into it makes it even funnier.

-There's also somewhat of a C-plot with KG trying to relate to Jaylynn and being upset that they're not friends anymore. Meanwhile, Jaylynn is completely oblivious to it and when she's confronted, she admits that she just sees KG as RK's weird older brother and nothing else. I didn't intend for this to happen, but it lines up perfectly with the history of the show. In season two, Jaylynn starts hanging out with KG and smoking weed with him. She's still new to Seattle and doesn't really know KG, so to her, he's the cool older guy. This dynamic continues until season six, with KG acting as Jaylynn's older brother and trying to protect her ("It's Her Party (She'll Sneak Out If She Wants To)"). Even after Jaylynn's stopped smoking weed with KG, she still feels comfortable around him ("The Blight Before Christmas").

-Now, in season ten, Jaylynn is two years older with her own life, her own problems, and her own group of friends. Her and KG barely interact anymore, she knows way too much about him now, and the idea of them smoking weed was always inappropriate, so with all those factors, she's keeping her distance from him. I wrote it into the episode as a joke, but I've hinted in recent episodes that Jaylynn and KG aren't friends anymore ("RK the Charlatan," "KG the Administrator"), so this was me addressing it directly.

-The episode title is a reference to the Boogie Down Productions song "13 and Good," which was about KRS-One unknowingly sleeping with an underaged girl and getting killed by her father for it. However, the song's tone was more comedic than the subject matter, unlike "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa" which is a serious story about child molestation.

-In the opening scene, KG quotes a joke from George Carlin's 1999 comedy special You Are All Diseased.

-Trevor's responses to Denise reference part two of the Degrassi: The Next Generation episode "Bittersweet Symphony." In that episode, Dallas is enraged after Cam's suicide, and projects his anger onto Alli by claiming that she did nothing to help Cam with his problems.

-Denise calls back to "I, Truman" when she mentions the girl that comes to Trevor's house to spit on him.

-Originally, Jaylynn was going to have to leave her house because of problems with her water heater, but I didn't like how the first scene was written, so I changed it to her having a leaky roof. Also, when I first started writing the episode, RK's dialogue was Halley's. I have no idea why I did this because it would have made Halley out of character, so I changed it to RK as soon as I could.

-Trevor calls back to the season eight episode "Body Language," where he confuses KY jelly for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and tells KG that he should eat some to boost his stamina.

-After I removed Danielle from the episode, I deleted multiple scenes and rewrote new ones. The scene where Trevor tells Brenda his real age was one of the earliest scenes written for the episode, before the scene where they even met at the bachelorette party.

-The "Touch" montage was a last-minute decision, mostly because I never planned on having a montage before writing Danielle out. Trevor talking about having emotional sex with girls was what inspired me to use "Touch," because the song is about connecting with someone beyond physical contact.

-The scene with RK, Wade, Jaylynn, and KG was one of the last scenes written for the episode. Mostly because I needed to include Wade in the episode, but also because I wanted to set up the mini-conflict between Jaylynn and KG. Since KG was in the A-plot and RK decided on his own to invite Jaylynn, I wanted to include KG's thoughts on the situation without having to spend a lot of time on it.

-Jaylynn claims that Lynne told her "Shut up, Marisol" over the phone. This is a reference to part one of the Degrassi: The Next Generation episode "In the Cold Cold, Night," where Fiona simply tells Marisol to shut up. "Shut up, Marisol" has lived rent-free in my head for years, because that line was used in the episode's promos.

-The guys' conversation and screaming/high-fiving afterwards when they leave Wendy's is a reference to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Will Goes a Courtin.'" In that episode, Uncle Phil has a fantasy of a pool party Will and Carlton hosted, and their dialogue/actions are the same as KG and his friends.

2/12/25

-Trevor's rant towards Rodney, and the fight that ensues from it is a parody of a scene from the 1992 film Juice. In the film, Bishop tells Q that he needs to be willing to do whatever he has to in order to gain street credibility, even if he dies trying. Q then asks Bishop if he's telling him he "ain't shit," at which point Bishop replies with "I'll tell your mama you ain't shit."

-Trevor asking Rodney why he doesn't want him as a friend is a reference to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse," known for the scene where Will breaks down over his father leaving him again ("How come he don't want me, man?").

-Trevor asking Rodney if he likes him and wants him is a reference to the infamous sex criminal Fleece Johnson, known to the world as the "Booty Warrior." He became famous when describing his desire for sexually assaulting men in prison, and a quote that he used whenever he found his target: "I like ya and I want ya."

-KG and the guys deciding to crash the bachelorette party and their mantra ("Crash the rachelorette!") when doing so is a reference to a Jersey Shore: Family Vacation episode where Mike, Vinny, and Pauly D decided to surprise Angelina and the other girls at her bachelorette party in New Orleans.

-KG references the 2016 film Magic Mike.

-Trevor tries to impress Brenda by claiming he was the stunt double for Joseph Quinn's character Eddie Munson on Stranger Things.

-Trevor references Dominik "Dirty Dom" Mysterio's love for chicken tenders. Later on, he references Mysterio's heel turn on his father Rey Mysterio in 2022, believing him to be a deadbeat and joining the Judgment Day. He also references Dominik getting sent to prison (in storyline) on Christmas Day 2022, which created the "Dirty Dom" character.

-In the first draft, I didn't mention anything about Brenda having an ex-boyfriend. I needed to give Trevor a reason to want to break up with Brenda since he didn't care about the age difference, so I created Glenn as a way to drive conflict.

-Brenda references the long gaps in production between seasons of Stranger Things, with the fourth season having aired in 2022 and the fifth/final season set to premiere this year.

-KG talking about the difference between paedophilia and ephebophilia was one of the first things I came up with for this episode. Originally, I thought it would be Denise's line.

-Trevor references the "Sure, Jan" meme that originated from The Brady Bunch.

-I really liked writing RK and Lynne's conversation because as far as I know, they've never talked to each other before. Despite Jaylynn and Lynne being friends, I've kept Lynne away from the guys so it's me making fun of the fact that Lynne is just Jaylynn's friend and nobody else's.

-Lynne crying and saying that she wanted Jaylynn to see her value as a roommate is a reference to the Power Book II: Ghost episode "The Reckoning." In that episode, Cane breaks down and tells Dru that he wanted their father Lorenzo to respect him and see that he could take over the family business.

-Jaylynn references the season eight episode "Rebirth of a Salesman" where her, Anja, and Lynne end up fighting over some money that was found outside. It's one of the few times Jaylynn and Lynne get into a physical altercation.

-Jaylynn and Lynne poke fun at the fact that Thank You, Heavenly is in its tenth season and Lynne's first appearance was in "Night of Divinity" in season three, ten years before this episode came out.

-I didn't have enough time to write a scene where Denise tries to lure Brenda into a confession without dragging it out, so I had to streamline it. That's why Denise mentions there's no wine.

-Another thing I came up with months before was Brenda being referred to as Brianna Peck. This is a reference to actor and convicted sex offender Brian Peck. Peck worked in the entertainment industry for several years, including Nickelodeon. He was arrested in August 2003 and later imprisoned for lewd acts with a minor, but the minor's identity was kept private. It wasn't until the Quiet on Set documentary in March 2024 that the minor was revealed to be Drake Bell.

-KG pays tribute to comedian Groucho Marx and his joke about shooting an elephant in his pajamas, substituting the elephant for U.S. President Donald Trump.

-Trevor references the Sopranos episode "Whitecaps" when he questions how it would be the healthy thing to forget about Brenda kissing Glenn. In the original scene, Tony decided to pull out of his arrangement with Johnny Sack where he has Carmine killed. Tony tries to get Johnny to move on, but Johnny is enraged that Tony would abandon the plan.

-Initially, the "Whitecaps" parody was meant for "Scenes from a Backyard Theater," specifically the scene where Ashley decides to quit the movie theater. I didn't like how it flowed, so I scrapped the idea and rewrote the dialogue.

-KG references the children's television show Bluey. A joke I've seen in sitcoms is when a character is dating someone much younger than them, the character's friends normally mock the younger person by wondering what their favorite character is from a TV show meant for children.

-When I wrote the initial scene with Jaylynn imitating Flip Wilson, it was really just me coming up with anything to get the script going. Even after I replaced Halley with RK, it still didn't make sense that Jaylynn would know who Flip Wilson is. Considering the issue with KG, I thought it made sense if the impression came from him, and RK passed it on, which led to Jaylynn doing it.