Seasons of Love

An original web series created by Shrikecatcher, focused on the lives of High School students living in the suburbs of Los Angeles. The title comes from Rent, and refers to the three metaphorical "seasons" (autumn, winter and spring) of the relationship between the two leads, Kent Thomas and Holly Snow. Since there is a fairly certain plan as to the progress of the series, tropes relating to the as-yet unwritten second and third seasons are featured below in spoiler tags.

Can be read here.

Tropes

• Seventh-Episode Twist: In "The Mall", Kent is hit by a car and he (informally) begins a relationship with Holly. It becomes formal in the very next episode, "The Sin."
• Above the Influence: Jimmy subverts the trope when he takes advantage of a drunk Samara on the anniversary of her late sister's birthday in "The Performance."
• Absolute Cleavage: When the gang is at a Coolest Club Ever in "The Renewal," this is why Jimmy suggests it will be easy to find their classmate Stacey Milano. He tries using his hands to demonstrate their size, but this doesn't go so well.

Claire: "We're looking for Stacey Milano, not Christina Hendricks."

• Adults Are Useless
• All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Josh used to date Stacey before he met Vanessa, and Kent falls for Jessie shortly after meeting her.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Perhaps the reason so many of them are drawn to Milo, including Samara, Nicole (Rivers), Holly, and Stacey.
• All Men Are Perverts: Lex insists that this is true in "The Switch," and Melanie and Terra agree.

Terra: "It's not your fault."

• Analogy Backfire: In "The Censor":

Rusty: "Because sex is a classy thing, right? Sure, there's a smelly, messy exchange of bodily fluids going on, but it's like Pearl Harbor, you know? Everything is fucked up, but Michael Bay sure made it look incredible." Claire: "Did you seriously just compare sex to Pearl Harbor?" Rusty: "Well, Kate Beckinsale does have that effect on people."

• Anyone Can Die
• Arc Number: 27
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking
• Babies Make Everything Better: Subverted with Sloane.
• Audio Erotica: Rick's reaction to hearing Samara's voice on speaker phone in "The Birthday."
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Kent and Claire start out this way (much to Jimmy's chagrin), but it gradually stops as time moves on and they get to know each other.
• Beta Couple: Claire/Jimmy serve as a negative foil for Kent/Holly in the first season.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Lex, Melanie and Terra are the beauty, brawn and brains of Holly's friends from dance class.
• The Bet: Milo bets Tom he can deflower the latter's cousin Carrie when she visits for an episode. Tom, who wouldn't ordinarily tolerate such an act, goes through with the bet because he knows his cousin - and he wins. And he gives Carrie the money.
• Better as Friends: Rusty went out on one date each with Holly and Claire in middle school, and that was the end of that. At least for a little while.
• Blackmail: Used by Jimmy on Claire in "The Twist"; see Scarpia Ultimatum.
• Big Applesauce: Samara's family is from the Big Apple, and she moves on to NYU after graduation.
• Big Fancy House: Surprisingly averted with Kent and his family.
• Blackmail: Jimmy's usage of this (a Scarpia Ultimatum) on Claire and indirectly Kent in "The Twist," is arguably the turning point of the entire storyline.
• Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Rick's first three lovers: Iris, Mila and Cassie.
• Boy Meets Girl
• Breather Episode: "The Valentine," immediately following "The Charm," is a Lower Deck Episode focusing on the amusing antics of the younger kids. Subverted at the end when we learn that Kent and Holly have just broken up.
• The Bro Code: Mike supposedly violates this for dating Iris after her breakup with Rick, but it is Rick himself who really breaks the rules by sleeping with Mike's ex Cassie and taunting Mike with the video of it.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: While Kent isn't unhappy to the point of constant brooding thanks to good friends like Tom, Holly nevertheless expands his horizons and generally makes him feel better about himself.
• Buffy-Speak
• But Liquor Is Quicker: Stacey is mentioned as a frequent victim of this, and Jimmy uses this method to sleep with Samara on the anniversary of her late sister's birthday.
• California University: Played realistically, with the gang separating to attend different universities across the state (or country) at series' end.
• Call Back
• Calling the Old Man Out: Kent does this to Rod frequently, to little effect.
• Cannot Spit It Out: In "The Noodles," when Kent first tries to tell Holly he likes her, it backfires...and he ends up telling her he likes Claire instead. More severely, Claire's inability to tell Jimmy she loves him back is one the factors that helps drive him over the edge.
• Catholic School Girls Rule: Invoked by Holly and Jessie in the second Halloween episode, both of them vying for Kent's attention.
• Cat Fight
• Caught with Your Pants Down: Discussed in "The Cross," when Jimmy and Claire are having phone sex.

Jimmy: "...unlike you, I'm not ashamed of anything. If my parents were to catch me in my room right now with my pants down, listening to you, I'd tell 'em to fuck off."

• Celeb Crush: Several characters have the benign type: Kent likes Alexis Bledel, Holly likes Eric Bana, and Claire likes Johnny Depp and Adam Brody.
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject
• Character Filibuster: Samara is prone to doing this almost Once an Episode, much to the annoyance of everyone else, but other characters, particularly Claire and Kent, will engage in a sizable speech if someone pushes their buttons enough.
• Club Stub: In "The Club," Kent's attempt at creating an on-campus nature club fails spectacularly when no one shows up but himself - and later, Claire, who's trying to hook him up with Holly for the Homecoming Dance. Ultimately, the club shuts down after one meeting, and Holly ends up going to the dance alone.
• Cluster F-Bomb: In the name of realism.
• Coitus Ensues: In "The Treasure," this is what happens shortly after Claire threatens to cut Jimmy off until he proves himself. It happens again in "The Performance."
  • This is also basically Milo and Kristen's M.O., yet the trope is subverted when the two of them finally meet and nothing happens.
• Coming Out Story
• Comically Missing the Point
• Confusing Multiple Negatives: In "The Stickers," when Kent and Holly are discussing not being on any Friending Network:

Holly: "You know what? You should make sure not to look for me sometime! Then you can not add me as a friend and we can not see each other every time we don't log on!" Kent: "I'll be sure to not do that." Holly: "I know you won't."

• Continuity Nod
• Cool Car: Kent receives a Porsche for his 16th birthday from his parents, and although he accepts it, he ultimately plans on replacing it with something more suited to his lifestyle.
• Coolest Club Ever: "The Renewal."
• Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Both subverted and played straight with Milo.
• Cough-Snark-Cough
• Country Matters: Beginning in "The Switch," when Rod first calls Claire this for her overreaction to Kent's kissing of Holly (despite having not met either of the girls yet), the word is tossed around more frequently than it should, mostly in reference to this incident.
• A Date with Rosie Palms: Alluded to many times by these Genre Savvy teenagers. Most notably, in "The Distance," an increasingly frustrated Holly leaves an embarrassing message on Kent's relatives' machine. Such are the perils of Kent not having a cell phone.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Claire and Jimmy begin to adopt this approach to their relationship in "The Parents," after Jimmy has manipulated her into having sex with him. She's hoping for a Love Redeems outcome, but instead, it gets worse. Kent and Holly are in a similar situation, his father convinced that just because her mother cheated on her father, Holly will do the same to Kent.
• Daydream Surprise: Most notably, Kent in "The Censor."
• Department of Redundancy Department
• Diamonds in the Buff: Holly takes a picture of herself in the tub wearing only Kent's birthday gift for her (a turquoise necklace) in "The Distance." This doesn't become important until much, much later.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud??

Melanie: I think I might be a lesbian. (everyone does a double take, and the girls sitting next to her scoot to the side) I just said that out loud, didn't I?

• Disproportionate Retribution: In "The Sin," when Kent pulls Holly in for their First Kiss, Claire immediately calls him a rapist and inadvertently (via Rowan) ends up getting him sent to the office. The misunderstanding is cleared up, but not before Rod finds out and the trope is taken even further.
  • Rick joins this camp when he sleeps with Cassie and sends the video of it to her ex-boyfriend Mike in response to Mike beginning to date Rick's ex Iris.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Rusty and Claire both have moments of this in "The Distance," when they both spend the day with each other in their underwear to get back at Jimmy.
• Double Entendre: Besides being a common feature of the dialogue, this is also seen in many episode titles (e.g., "The Treasure" refers both to the episode's theme and to the movie the gang sees in it).
• Drama Class: Holly, Claire, Rusty, Tom, and Samara are all in this class at school from the beginning; Kent and certain others join them in the later seasons.
• Dramatic Pause
• Dramedy
• Drugs Are Bad: Averted with Rusty (a sympathetic drug dealer who provides marijuana to his friends), played straight with Jimmy, who begins taking harder drugs with his descent into villainy.
• Dysfunction Junction
• Even Evil Has Standards: Rod, when he finds out what Jimmy's been up to.
• Everyone Can See It: Said by various classmates of Kent and Claire, though both of them vehemently deny any such attraction.
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Averted with the main cast, played straight with several supporting characters.
• Everybody Must Get Stoned: In "The Renewal."
• Everyone Owns a Mac
• Everythings Better With Bunnies: Subverted with Holly (in a Shout-Out to Buffy the Vampire Slayer), but somewhat justified given that her father is from Australia and has told her stories of the chaos they've caused.
• Evil Gloating: Jimmy brags about cheating on Claire right after she finally tells him she loves him in "The Charm."
• False Start: How Kent and Holly's relationship begins.
• Fan Girl: Several, primarily Mila (Twilight), Emily (Justin Bieber, KidComs) and Dana (Star Wars). However, only Emily's fandom could be considered shallow, with Mila scoffing at the more obsessed Twilight fans and Dana having inherited a deep-rooted family love of Star Wars.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences
• First-Name Basis: The high school drama teachers, Roger and Diane Bowman, get this from their students due to the laid-back Nakama nature of their class.
• First Kiss: Kent and Holly share this in "The Sin".
• Five-Man Band: Rick's circle is a classic example:
  • The Hero: Rick.
  • The Lancer: Mike.
  • The Smart Guy: Alex.
  • The Big Guy: Tom.
  • The Chick: Iris.
  • Sixth Ranger: Kent.
• Flyover Country: Josh and Mila lived in Oklahoma City before moving to Los Angeles, and Jimmy spent the early years of his life in Lincoln, Nebraska.
• Foe Yay: Samara and Jimmy. Consummated in "The Performance."
• Forceful Kiss: Although the kiss Kent plants on Holly in "The Sin" isn't really forceful, it's treated as such by Claire, who calls Kent a rapist for it.
• Foreshadowing
• Freudian Slip: How Kent finally admits his crush on Holly in "The Censor".

Kent: "Melanie, when I told you that I liked Holly, did you believe me?" Melanie: "You didn't tell me you liked Holly. You told me you liked Claire." Kent: "Oh, no." Melanie: "Freudian Slip?" Kent: "No."

• Garage Band: Two examples: Holly and Josh's acoustic duo, and Tom, Oriel, and Kristen's ensemble.
• The Ghost: Several characters are handled this way before eventually appearing, such as Oriel, Rosalyn and Vanessa.
• Girl-On-Girl Is Hot
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Sloane and Nicole: they start out on a more or less even plane, but due to Jimmy's influences Sloane falls down the social ladder hard and fast, while Nicole remains unscathed.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Inverted: Claire aborts her baby while Sloane brings hers to term.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck: Rusty makes it his goal to get Kent out of a mild case of this in "The Censor."
• Halloween Episode: "The Sin"
• Happily Married: Marcus and Sandra (Rusty's parents).
• Hand or Object Underwear: In "The Distance," when his mother walks in on him naked and Claire in her underwear, Rusty is using his Guitar Hero guitar in this way.
• Hero of Another Story: You have no idea.
• High School
• High School Dance
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: In "The Stickers," Kent, Holly, Claire and Rusty make a pact to stop talking about sex until one of them actually loses their virginity, in an attempt to subvert the trope. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

Rusty: "This is a stupid pact."

• Hypocritical Humor
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode is titled "The ____".
• Imaginary Love Triangle: Jimmy imagines one between himself, Claire and Kent, and this is what eventually drives him insane.
• Incoming Ham
• Incredibly Lame Pun
• Informed Judaism: Samara.
• Insistent Terminology: Kent insists that Holly be referred to as "beautiful" and not "hot," because it sounds classier.
• Instant Humiliation - Just Add YouTube: In "The Noodles," Rusty records himself and Samara watching 2Girls1Cup and posts it online. Hilarity Ensues. Later, in "The Cross," ex-boyfriend Cameron wants to get back at her in a similar way, by hijacking the school news feed. Jimmy has other plans.
• Insult to Rocks: In "The Club":

Claire: "Samara, does Nickelback suck?" Samara: "Oh, yes. I'm not even going to waste my breath expanding on the thought. They suck." Claire: "Straight from the horse's mouth. They suck, Jimmy!" Jimmy: "Let's not insult the horse by comparing it to Samara." Samara: "I'm going to kill you in your sleep."

• Keeping Secrets Sucks: The entire premise of "The Twist."
• I Uh You Too: When Jimmy tells Claire he loves her, her decision to not tell him the same until she feels it is one of many things that helps to drive them apart. When Holly tells Kent she loves him over the phone while he's in New Jersey, he chooses not to respond until he gets back to California.
• Joisey: Kent's parents are originally from here, and that's where the rest of his family lives, including his godparents, Aunt Theresa and Uncle Calvin, who specifically reside in Pemberton, part of the Philadelphia metro area.
• Just Friends: Josh and Holly; John and Stacey.
• Lampshade Hanging: Rampant.
• Land Down Under: Mark is originally from Melbourne, and his daughter Holly sometimes speaks in the accent.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In "The Renewal":

Tom: "...I know this is our lives and not some TV writer's script, but does anyone else think the whole 'Person A cheating on Person B' storyline is starting to get ridiculous here?"

• Let's Wait a While: Kent and Holly are this way while dating, and so are Claire and Jimmy, although as part of his growing antagonism towards Kent, Jimmy becomes less patient as time goes by, enough to invoke a Scarpia Ultimatum to get Claire to finally sleep with him.
• Lingerie Scene
• Living Lie Detector: Samara shows traits of one. Most notably, when Jimmy makes a Suspiciously Specific Denial of any infidelity in "The Renewal," she changes his nickname from "Time Bomb" to "The Big Bang."
• Literary Allusion Title: From Rent.
• Loads and Loads of Characters
• Long-Distance Relationship: Tom and Oriel, who live an hour apart in La Crescenta and Long Beach, respectively. Later, Melanie and Kristen, who live in the same respective places.
• Los Angeles: Specifically, set in the Glendale area, at the eastern end of the San Fernando Valley.
• Lower Deck Episode: Several.
• Love Dodecahedron: Discussed in "The Renewal," before any cheating has even been revealed, as a result of Samara continually suggesting that this is what's going on.

Jimmy: "Nobody's cheating on anybody!"

• Love Makes You Dumb: Lampshaded by Holly in "The Renewal":

Holly: "The lot of us, we're all pretty dumb." John: "Now why would you go and say something like that?" Holly: "We're teenagers, and we're in love." John: "Point taken."

• Love Makes You Evil: Jimmy, insofar as his relationship with Claire can be called "love".
• Love Redeems: This is what Claire attempts with Jimmy in "The Treasure."
• Lysistrata Gambit: As mentioned above, Claire attempts this in "The Treasure" to get Jimmy to improve his ways. It doesn't work.
• Ma'am Shock: In "The Sin":

Claire: "Are you messing with Texas?" Rusty: "No, ma'am." Claire: "Did you just call me ma'am?" Rusty: "No, ma'am."

• The Mall: In "The Mall."
• May-December Romance: Rod and Ashley.
• Motor City: Jessie's family hails from Detroit.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Suggested by Jimmy to Cameron about Samara in "The Renewal."
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Jimmy's ultimate plan for Kent. But first, he kills Scott to ensure that he will have Sloane all to himself.
• Must Have Caffeine
• Naked People Are Funny: Rusty in "The Distance."
• Narrative Profanity Filter: In "The Treasure," we're told that Jimmy insults Claire's mother quite loudly when she won't give him a ride home with the other kids after the movie.

Rowan: (speaking into his cell phone) "No, Dad, that wasn't me."

• Nephewism: Milo.
• New Transfer Student: John, Milo and Jessie enter the cast this way.
• Nice Guys Finish Last: Kent invokes this trope as justification to not bother talking to Holly when she appears on the bus with him and Tom in "The Mall". Luckily, Tom convinces him otherwise.
• No Bisexuals: Averted and discussed.
• Noodle Incident
• N-Word Privileges: Pam, apparently.
• One Steve Limit: Averted. There are two people named some variation of Sam, but one (Samara) is a student and main character, while the other (Sam Greene) is an adult and only occasional supporting character. In addition, there are also two minor supporting characters named Nicole: the first, Nicole Sullivan, is a classmate of the main cast members, while the second, Nicole Rivers, is the older sister of another classmate, Sloane.
• Only Child Syndrome: For most of the main cast.
• Operation: Jealousy: Attempted in "The Noodles," when Holly recruits Josh in order to help Kent say what he meant to say before. It Got Worse.
• Ostentatious Secret: In the beginning, Kent openly admits to Holly and the others (except Tom) that he's hiding something from them, and will tell them when he's ready. Then Claire finds out what it is in "The Twist," he only allows her to tell one person, and she picks the wrong one. Kent finally opens up after that to avoid further misfortune for anyone else.
• The Other Rainforest: Dana is a wildlife student at Humboldt State University, among the redwoods in northern California, and her influence is what ultimately persuades Kent to go there for his college education.
• Overly Narrow Superlative: In "The Treasure":

Kent: (after being asked for his opinion on National Treasure 2) "I for one think there are much better Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movies starring Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris out there. Those movies are called The Rock."

• Precision F-Strike
• Put on a Bus: Most everyone at series' end as they head off to college, but done more conventionally with Alex.
• Rant-Inducing Slight: Given by Samara.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: After Jimmy cons Claire into having sex with him, everyone treats him differently, as they should.
• Ravens and Crows: The differences between the two are explained by Kent, a birder, in "The Exchange." American Crows are the species flying around the high school campus.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Claire is red, Holly is blue. A literal example occurs in "The Charm," with these as the girls' respective dress colors.
• Rule of Three
• Running Gag
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Kent and Holly have elements of this.
• Scarpia Ultimatum: Done by Jimmy to Claire in "The Twist," when she reveals to him the then-secret of Kent's wealth and he threatens to tell everyone or else. They both end up losing their virginity.
• School Play: As most of the cast are in or eventually join the high school drama classes, this is inevitable.
• Seinfeldian Conversation
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Kent and Jimmy, respectively. Rusty bridges the gap between them.
• Shaped Like Itself: When Kent first visits Humboldt County:

Kent: "What smells like weed?" Dana: "Probably the weed."

• Shirtless Scene
• Shout-Out: Plenty. Several character names: (Jack Dawson, Nicole Sullivan, Mark Snow, Veronica Taylor). Holly's parakeets are named Pinky and Brain, Kent's golden retrievers are Beamer and Shelby, and his own parakeets are Chip and Dale.
  • In "The Stickers":

Claire (to Kent): "Sin City? You're not a comic book guy, are you?" Rusty: "Worst. Comparison. Ever."

Rusty: "All right, rainy day women, let's go get stoned."

• • In "The Noodles":

Kent: "What are you talking about? You and Oriel are inseparable! You never fight!" Tom': "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

• • In "The Club":

Claire: "Where are Holly and Jimmy?" Rusty: "In the club." Claire: "What are they doing there?" Rusty: "They're into having sex, they ain't into makin' love." Claire: "Do me a favor, Rusty, and don't ever quote 50 Cent around me ever again." Rusty: "So come give me a hug."

Kent: "You're not going to dump a bucket of pig's blood on my head."

• • In "The Mall":

Holly: "Look at what they do have. The new Britney Spears and the new Backstreet Boys. But no Eagles. What is this, 1999?" Kent: "I sure don't feel like partying."

• • In "The Parents":

Mark: "Holly's no gold digger." Rod: "But she ain't messing with no broke--" Holly: "I know I am.... But I don't care. And neither does Kent."

• • In "The Cross":

Claire: "Well, when you put it that way it sounds bad, I'll agree." Rusty: "'That way' is called the facts, Claire." Claire: "I reject your reality and substitute my own."

Holly: "Good news, everyone!" (Beat) Jimmy: "So just tell us already, Farnsworth."

• • In "The Birthday":

Kent: "Twenty-seven?" Holly: "It's just a number, Kent. Also, I think you might be reaching a bit here." Kent: "Yeah, I know but Weird Al's my favorite artist, which makes that my favorite number, which means I'm going to notice it everywhere." Tom: "Just be careful not to turn into a psychotic Jim Carrey when you do."

Jimmy: "Am I wrong?" Rusty: "No." Jimmy: "Am I wrong?" Rusty: "You're not wrong, Jimmy, you're just an asshole." Claire: "I know you're both shamelessly competing for my affections, but I sure appreciate that you can work together to make Big Lebowski references when you argue."

• • In "The Treasure":

Samara: "Hey, I get it. First rule of cheating: you don't talk about cheating."

• Show Within a Show: In addition to the several student plays, there's also The Swanson Princess, a fictional Disney Channel show watched fervently by Emily.
• Sibling Triangle: Scott ends up in a brief one between his girlfriend, Sloane, and her older sister, Nicole, after they engage in Three-Way Sex per Jimmy's suggestion. Besides the Squick factor both sisters admit to, it becomes worse when Jimmy's plan to sleep with a disgruntled Sloane afterward comes to fruition.
• Something Else Also Rises
• Spell My Name with a "The": Jimmy, aka "The Big Bang."
• Spit Take
• Status Quo Is God: Lampshaded by Kent at the beginning of the third season.
• Sweet Home Alabama: Mike spent his earliest years in Huntsville before his family moved to California; Cassie was much the same, except she came from Memphis, Tennessee.
• Suspiciously Apropos Music: Both for chapter titles and in-universe, sometimes concurrently.
• Take That: Michael Bay, Nickelback, and Twilight are frequent targets, though fans of each exist in-universe with varying amounts of sympathy.
• Teen Pregnancy: Claire and Sloane.
• Thanksgiving Episode: Holly and Kent meet each others' families and Claire opens up to her own about her flawed relationship with Jimmy in "The Parents," set on this holiday.
• Their First Time: Jimmy and Claire consummate their relationship in "The Twist," with bad results. Kent and Holly attempt to lose their virginity in "The Charm," but the consequences of Jimmy's revelations earlier prevent them from thinking clearly and they are unable to continue.
• There Are No Therapists: Subverted.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Invoked in "The Renewal," when Jimmy and Cameron are discussing solutions to the latter's frustration with ex-girlfriend Samara:

Cameron: "And you don't think this is overkill?" Jimmy: "There's no such thing as overkill. There's just kill." Cameron: "All she did was use me for sex!"

• Thirteen Is Unlucky: In "The Birthday," Tom remarks on the fact that Kent (December 14) and Holly's (December 27) births are separated by only thirteen days.

Kent: "Since when are you triskaidekaphobic?"

• Three Amigos: Holly, Claire and Rusty; Rick, Mike and Iris.
• A Threesome Is Hot: Subverted. We don't see it, but when Jimmy suggests this to Scott as a solution to his problem, it ends up ruining Scott's relationship with Sloane (although it does fix the original problem). Of course, this was the plan from the start, enabling Jimmy to sleep with Sloane in the aftermath. After they break up, Samara invokes the idea that we're supposed to feel sorry for him about this.
• Teen Drama
• Tempting Fate
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Claire is the tomboy, Holly is the girly girl.
• True Love Is Boring: Lampshaded by Claire in "The Performance":

Claire: "The world can always use more happy couples." Jimmy: "So, how are Kent and Holly?" Claire: "They're happy, so, not much to tell."

• Turn of the Millennium: Set from fall 2007 (when Kent and Holly first meet) to summer 2010 (shortly before they head off to college).
• Two Gamers on a Couch: Rusty and Claire act this way in "The Distance," the twist being that they're both lacking in clothing.
• Two Girls and a Guy: Holly, Claire and Rusty.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Rick, Mike and Iris.
• Two-Teacher School: Averted.
• T-Word Euphemism: Insisted by Kent when discussing with his classmates his father's use of a certain word in reference to Claire.
• Valentine's Day Episodes: One per season, starting with "The Valentine."
• Vapor Wear: Stacey in "The Renewal."
• Very Punchable Man: Andrew in "The Renewal," who exists solely to have sex with Stacey before getting punched out by John. Until he returns in a few later episodes.

Jimmy: "Sweet, I get to punch somebody." (except he doesn't)

• Villain Team-Up: Jimmy and Rod.
• Visit by Divorced Dad: Claire gets one in, naturally, "The Parents."
• Viva Las Vegas: Lex's older sister Brooke attends UNLV and works as a stripper to pay her dues there.
• Waxing Lyrical
• Wham! Episode: "The Charm," the mid-season finale of Autumn, in which, after Claire finally tells Jimmy she loves him, he immediately rejects her and gloats about his affairs with three other girls, two of whom are at the dance that night with other dates. Shortly afterward, Jimmy begins his secret collaboration with Rod.
• Who's Your Daddy?: Sloane's is either Rick or Jimmy's.
• The Windy City: Terra's family is from Chicago, and she moves back there along with boyfriend Alex at the end of the series.
• World of Snark
• Wrong Name Outburst: In "The Twist," Jimmy claims to the others that Claire shouted Kent's name instead of his in the moment; Claire insists she was just mumbling incoherently. Needless to say, this combined with what instigated the sex helps to drive a wedge between them.
• Your Cheating Heart: Jimmy cheats on Claire (three times) after becoming suspicious of her relationship with Kent. Through backstory, we learn that Holly's mother Pam cheated on her father Mark; Claire's father Walter cheated on her mother Lisa; and Kent's (still-together) parents are both notorious cheaters to this day.
  • Barely subverted with Rick when he and Iris break up before he has the chance to cheat on her with Mila. Played straight again some time later when Mike is seduced by Kristen while in a relationship with Iris. Later still, Rick sleeps with Sloane (and possibly puts a bun in her oven) when she turns to him to escape from Jimmy's corrupt ways. Yeah, this trope is awfully prevalent in the series.