This note addresses a number of subtle issues pertaining to the long-standing problem of strong phonon-like fermion-boson coupling. Among the central topics are the customary Migdal-Eliashberg approximation in the pertinent Schwinger-Dyson gap equation and its solutions. The previously gained insight is assessed by contrasting it against the various (non-)supersymmetric variants of the Yukawa-Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model. Also, some previously discussed (pseudo-)holographic aspects of fermion pairing in such models are commented upon.