Deandra caught in the middle of the cheer squad/Van Buren feud in season one.
The Most Popular Girls in School takes a crude and somewhat satirical view on the high school lives of "popular girls", such as cheerleaders and girls deemed the prettiest and most popular. Creators Mark Cope and Carlo Moss have said in a behind the scenes video that when they imagine Barbie dolls talking, they see them as being very "bitchy" towards one another, and utilized that throughout the series.
Behavior in the characters
The show is notable for the characters to show extreme abrasiveness toward one another, whether it be at girls they do not like or even their own friends. An example of this can be seen in Episode 10. Mackenzie Zales berates Trisha Cappelletti after Mackenzie discovers Trisha nominated Brittnay Matthews for prom queen. Even though Mackenzie and Trisha are on the Overland Park Cheer Squad together and are shown to be close friends, Mackenzie has no problem taking her aggression out on her.
Bullying
While not directly confronted on the subject, bullying has been observed in many episodes with the main characters towards other students at the school. An infamous example is how Brittnay treats Rachel Tice in Episode 3, when she tells Rachel to "go eat another roly poly like [she] did in the goddamn third grade", referencing an incident that happened in the third grade where Brittnay caught Rachel eating a roly poly in the school sandbox, and causes Rachel to cry and flee from the girl's bathroom. Brittnay later shows no remorse for her actions further on in the episode. Another example is that of how most of the characters treat Jonathan Getslinhaumer; in Episode 5 when he asks why the lunch line is taking so long Shay Van Buren tells him to "shut the fuck up" and then all of the Van Buren sisters tell him to kill himself, with absolutely no care in the conduction of their words. Jonathan is also bullied by the school's Football Team, although their harassment's are due to Jonathan's odd behavior (like being in the locker room and watching them shower when he isn't on the team, and Jonathan's constant gay innuendos).
Another infamous example is the way Trisha treats Ashley Katchadorian after mistakenly confusing her with the person who was supposed to be watching the door in Episode 1. When she finally sees Ashley in Episode 11, Trisha berates her with a monologue in arguably one of the show's most memorable moments, and mocks her for going to Pearl Harbor, eventually making her cry. Then at Prom, when Ashley catches her boyfriend making out with Brittnay, Trisha says, "Yeah, that's what you get, Ashley Katchadorian, next time, you watch the fucking door!" and once again Ashley runs away crying.
Peversion and Lust
As shown in the series, many of the characters, especially the women (then again, the number of the women in this show outnumber the men), are shown to be quite lustful, and sometimes have wild perversions.
For example, in Episode 65, Mackenzie is shown to have sex with balloons with the men of Twilight taped on them, and earlier, her mother is enthusiastically having sex with husband, Jack Zales.
Real issues
In the show, no subject has been regarded as being too taboo for the creators to lampoon. They've poked fun at a number of things that regular shows wouldn't dare talk about in such a manner.
Abortion
A reoccurring joke with Cameron Van Buren is that she's had multiple abortions, even at her young age (which is suggested to be about twenty or so, any sort of college age). Brittnay even jokes while in an argument with her that she got a "free punch card" after her third abortion and that her fourth was free, to which Cameron calls her a "bitch".
Alcoholism
Jayna Van Buren at her doctor's office holding a bottle of alcohol. The series has made it clear that she is a bad alcoholic, whom willingly and knowingly drank while (thinking) she was pregnant.
Jayna Van Buren, the mother of Shay, Cameron, and Mikayla, is known to be an extreme alcoholic as well as a pill popper. Up until Episode 24 it was believed that she drank heavily while being visibly pregnant, being almost oblivious to how wrong that is to do, but it's discovered that she just had a inflated stomach from her damaged liver from drinking so much. Her girls take the news lightly, with Shay even commenting, "Goddamn it, mom, did you really drag me out of school just to find out you're a fat ass?", hinting no actual care that her mother may die. Mrs. Van Buren even makes the girls go out to get her more alcohol in Episode 17 when she runs out, indicating that her daughters' well-being isn't her major concern.
Pedophilia
There have been implications of pedophilia on the show.
Lunch Lady Belinda has shown a liking, and obsession with Cameron Van Buren, who is younger than her. Belinda also has flashed herself in front of her students, and has made comments about other students that are borderline harassment.
While it's not direct pedophilia (because it's unclear what Cameron's age is) there is also the idea of Cameron's recurrent boyfriends, each boyfriend she gets is older than the last. Her current boyfriend is 31 years old.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment has been shown two different ways on the show.
The first way was with Coach Spitz in episodes two and nine. Each time, he has been caught peering from behind the door of a bathroom stall at the students; the first time was in the boy's locker room as they were going to shower, and the second time was in the girl's bathroom shortly after the cheer squad had an extreme bout of diarrhea, both times he would follow his being caught with "Carry on".
The second way is the experiences Bridget Tice has had working at Pizza Street with her manager Terry Doleman. She has said the only guy that wants to "fuck" her is him, and in Episode 24, she says he asked her if she liked his "sausage pizza", and then made it very obvious to her that he was talking about his penis.
Homosexuality/Homophobia
Tristan and Tanner as seen in the season two finale.
The show has been very positive about portraying its gay characters; fans have even commented praise about the relationship between Tanner Christiansen and Tristan Mckie, as Tanner is a macho-football player and Tristan is a feminine type of guy. All of the show's characters are known to be supportive of homosexuality; Matthew Derringer, one of the football players, says in front of everyone in episode four that the team accepts him, and high-fives him, and Brittnay has taken a liking to Tristan, befriending him and even getting facials together (or so it's implied).
The only character to have shown some aspect of homophobia is Jonathan Getslinhaumer, as he always calls Tanner "gay" in a negative way, but it's discovered in later episodes that his bashing of homosexuality is his way of covering up his own gayness. Viewers have commented positively on how they've portrayed Jonathan's closeted attitude. After he accepts himself (after forcibly kissing Tanner), he rubs his sexuality in everyone's faces, dressing differently and even acting out in a promiscuous way (giving a random stranger fellatio in a glory-hole); viewers loved that the creators were basically saying it's okay to be gay, but not okay to lambaste it for everyone ignorantly. However, in the season two finale, Jonathan went back into the closet after revealing he was only pretending to be gay so people would like him. Tanner tries reasoning with him, as much as he hates Jonathan, that he really is gay, but Jonathan wouldn't have any of what Tanner was saying, and he, along with the other characters, leave in frustration. In season 3 however, Jonathan has come out as bisexual.
Teen pregnancy
Saison beginning to show her baby bump in episode 28.
Saison Margeurite revealed in the beginning of season two that she was pregnant with Blaine's baby, marking her as the first character on the series to be pregnant. It's not shown how Saison will care for the baby once it's born, or if she understands the repercussions of having a child, but it has been shown that Blaine has absolutely no idea what fatherhood will in-tale, thinking at first it'll only be a "3 hour a week job". The football team tries to help coach him on the subject, but due to his low IQ, he doesn't fully grasp the concept. When he is handed a football after the guys tell him it's supposed to be his baby, he just throws it out of habit, and doesn't get exactly what the guys are trying to do for him. Saison ends up having her baby in season three, but it has not been shown yet how she and/or Blaine care for it; it has only been shown that Saison carries her baby in a holder in front of her body.
Revenge
The show's most notable reoccurring theme is revenge. In season 1, the central plot was the feud between the Van Buren sisters and the Cheer Squad. Shay Van Buren swore revenge on the squad after Mackenzie cost Shay a spot on the third grade cheer squad, being the first female in her family not to be head cheerleader, and Mackenzie wanted revenge on Shay and her sisters after they took control of the Cheer Squad's bathrooms.
Season 2 shifted from the Van Buren/Cheer Squad rivalry to the cheer squad beginning to feud with the newly introduced Atchison High Cheer Squad. There had already been a tiff between Taylor McDevitt and Brittnay Matthews, as Taylor was fingered by Brittnay's previous boyfriend.Taylor was subsequently kicked off the team and joined Atchison. But what sets the feud off is when the Atchison squad invades Oak Park Mall, as cheerleaders aren't allowed to enter other mall's without "proper written consent". They went to the Oak Park Mall because their mall in Atchison had burned down, and they needed another one to go to. Both squads decided to see who would own the mall after Cheer Nationals. Overland Park would eventually win the competition.
The revenge comes in two parts; first with Deandra joining the squad when they thought they didn't have a chance at winning after Ashley's betrayal. It's revealed in the first part of the season finale that Deandra was Head Cheerleader for Atchison but had to leave the school due to an incident where she had explosive diarrhea during a cheer. She believes the incident was Tanya's doing, as before the cheer she gave Deandra pop-rocks that didn't settle right in her stomach with her also drinking Diet Mountain Dew, and that Tanya wanted top spot on the squad, so Deandra helping Overland park win Nationals would settle the score. It also comes from Ashley wanting revenge for the drama Trisha caused concerning the bathroom.
The tables turn in season 3 when the brunt of the retaliation is focused on the cheer squad. Jenna Darabond returns to Overland Park and sets her sights on them and to take them down on the "popularity chain", due to an incident while she was still on the squad where Mackenzie made out with Jenna's boyfriend. Jenna admits to causing all of the drama from the first two seasons, as she was the one who let Deandra into the bathroom and said she was Ashley Katchadorian (although she didn't plan on Deandra having her arms ripped off), and then started the drama between Mackenzie and Shay that ended with the squad losing control of the bathrooms. Then she admits she was the one who set the fire that burned down the Atchison Cheer Squad's mall, so it would make them have to go to Oak Park mall, hoping the Overland Park Cheer Squad would lose Overland Park Cheer Nationals.Her current goal in her revenge is to turn all the students at Overland Park into "hipsters", and destroy the cheer squad's popularity once and for all. But Makenzie shows Jenna up by effectively destroying her life. She has her dad resign his senator position after causing a sex scandal by having him meet Cameron, and gets Jenna arrested after confessing she set the Atchison mall on fire, proving it by playing the memo she recorded on Deandra's robotic arm. Mackenzie gets her revenge, and did so by sacrificing Brittnay's car, blowing it up so Brittnay would think Jenna did it so Brittnay could punch her in the face, leading to a Parent-Teacher Conference where Mackenzie began her revenge plot.
The central focus of season four is Brittnay getting payback on Mackenzie for blowing up her car.