Zoey 101/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acceptable Target: Stacey Dillsen. Even Zoey doesn't really treat her like a person.
  • Can You Hear Me Now?: So much of the drama Zoey and Chase went through could have been avoided if Zoey had just called Chase on his cell phone instead of wandering around looking for him all day.
  • Complete Monster: Rebecca could arguably be considered this, at least within Dan Schneider's standards. She dates Chase at the beginning of Season 3 and seems sweet at first, until we discover that she is out to keep him from ever talking to Zoey. When Chase finds out about this and dumps her, she ultimately becomes this when she gets ahold of Zoey's secret, threatens to expose it if she doesn't follow her orders, and forces Zoey to wear a banana suit and walk around campus (because she knew that Lola revealed that she was scared of people in costumes). She does get a nice kick in the ass from karma (see below), but still, Quinn put it right...

Quinn: Chase broke up with you because you're a bucket of nuts!

  • Contractual Purity: This became an issue when Jaime Lynn Spears, 16 at the time, became pregnant. Contrary to rumors, this is not what caused the show to be cancelled as the network had already made the decision to do so and filming for the final season had already been rapped up before Spears became pregnant. However, it did raise the issue of whether or not to air the final season.
  • Creator's Pet: Zoey, a rare occasion where the protagonist is one.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: Rebecca's Laser-Guided Karma at the end of "Zoey's Balloon": the entire group tells embarassing secrets to make Zoey's secret not look bad, then they all play the Macalana. Rebecca then flees in embarassment.
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: At the end of "Lola Likes Chase", Lola senses that Chase isn't into her. When she talks to him about it, he admits that there's another girl. When asked who, Chase tells her that it's a girl from his hometown, and Lola lets him go. A later episode reveals that Lola was aware of Chase's crush on Zoey, but chose to spare their feelings.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Quinn
  • Foe Yay: Logan has this with all the females in the series, but its most obvious and biggest case is with both Dana and Zoey.
    • Also with Lola, to a certain extent.
  • Fridge Logic: One episode the girls are trying to disprove the guys' theory that guys act different when hanging out with girls. So they disguise Lola as a guy. How does this prove their point if they don't know it's a girl?
    • It proves their theory because the guys were trying to argue that it's biology or natural or something that when a girl is around they just naturally act different, as though it was against their will or something. So if it really was biology then regardless of them knowing Lola was a girl, they wouldn't have been able to naturally act like themselves. You could see the idocy in that theory I'm sure?
  • Hilarious in Hindsight : Every time they show boys and girls hanging out in each others' dorm areas... what could possibly happen?
    • In the Episode "Time Capsule," the teacher says that in 20 years people will be laughing at their clothes. Lola says that their clothes will always be cute- and although their clothes were in style back then, now they are completely out of style.
    • In the same episode, Zoey mentions that she hopes they stil have DVDs in the future. With the subsequent invention of bluray it's funny
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: all of the characters in the series (with the exception of Dustin) fall into this. Among the females Lola seems to fall into this and among the males Chase and Logan share this trait
  • Moral Event Horizon: Coach Keller crosses this in "Wrestling" when he not only forces Zoey to join the wrestling team, but then admits that he was using her and that the whole reason he put her on the team was to get her in the tournament, make boys forfeit against her, and then lie to the ref saying she was "injured" so he could have another one of the wrestlers sub for her and get into the finals without being tired out. What a dick.
  • Purity Sue: Zoey. Her life is so perfect it's ridiculous - she is insanely popular, is usually the leader of whatever project the other kids are making, is kind, pretty, smart, strong, weak (yes, at the same time), a great athlete, nearly every male character of her age have some kind of attraction for her, makes friends in the drop of a hat, solves everybody's problems... did I forget something?
    • It's a grave offense of the highest order to disagree with her.
  • Strangled by the Red String: In a rarely done good example, Logan and Quinn. They suddenly fall in love midway through the final season despite having little to no interaction before, and actually end up a very good couple.
    • There was the whole free throw subplot in "Chase's Girlfriend". They had some nice Slap Slap Kiss chemistry there. Even though they didn't kiss, this troper wouldn't have been surprised if they had.
    • Zoey and James. He gets intoduced in an episode and everyone instantly loves him, except Micheal and Logan, who still miss Chase. So in the end after everyone thought they were dating because they interacted, the end the episode with them getting together despite having no chemistry. Sort of Deconstructed as she later realizes she doesn't actually love him. It was still terribly executed and lead to the series' Seasonal Rot.
  • Tear Jerker: There was one this troper remembers about the end that shows Zoey's Text Machine right beside the fountain with Chase's email saying 'I Love you' sent, but it falls down to the water as it rumbles, and short circuts.
    • How about the end of Goodbye Zoey when Chase admits it to Michael and Logan?
    • The final scene of 'Chase's Grandma', where Zoey comforts a sobbing Chase in the rain after Chase's grandmother passes away.
  • The Woobie: Stacy, without the slightest bit of doubt. In one episode she tried to audition for a play and got rejected before she could do anything. And in many others she and her cotton swabs are neglected.