"It’s Vegas. People come here to be animals."
Directed by Richard J Lewis
Written by Jerry Stahl
In the A-Plot, Catherine and Brass encounter a car crash with two victims, one of which is discovered to be a raccoon furry. In the B-Plot, Nick and Sara investigate a man shot dead in a freezer and attempt to find a culprit, made harder by a seemingly incriminating false lead.
This episode is notorious for its depiction of furries, rife with inconsistencies and Artistic License, and reviled enough that a google search for 'That Episode' with no further context turns it up on most search engines. This is largely due to being one of the first mainstream depictions of the fandom, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of most who were only shown a group of deviants and perverts.
Interestingly, real furries were consulted as fact checkers, and the PAFCon scenes were shot with a few real suiters. However, the majority of the depictions consist of actors in poorly made animal costumes, and the consulted individuals have since claimed the majority of their comments and notes were ignored.
Original air date, October 30, 2003.
This episode provides examples of:
- A Deadly Affair: One of these occurring between Linda, Mr. Lee, and Robert sets in motion the events of the furry plot.
- Artistic License – Medicine: Blood is stated to freeze at around 22 degrees farenheit. Actual blood freezes around 31 degrees, and is unlikely to freeze that fast midair as depicted.
- An Arm and a Leg: Mentioned to have happened to the last victim left inside the Big & Best Freezer, upon his attempted removal from the floor.
- Atrocious Alias: Sexy Kitty. Mr. Lee even has trouble saying the name in one go when being interrogated.
- Black Comedy: As usual for this show, when discussing victims.Robins: Last time this happened they tried to chop the guy out. 1989, day the Mirage opened.Nick: What happened?Robins: Lost an arm and a leg. I miss the cold weather.
- Blame the Paramour: Mr Lee's reasoning behind attempting to make Robert sick on purpose.
- Bodily Fluid Blacklight Reveal: On Bud's fursuit during inspection, leading to Catherine's significant revulsion.
- Casual Kink: Exaggerated at times, as while it's reasonable for attendees at PAFCon to assume other attendees are all furries, they continue to keep up their discussions even after it become clear they're talking to investigators.
- Connected All Along: George and Virgil are revealed at the end to be cousins.
- Creepy Crossdresser: Bud (known in Kayfabe as 'Sexy Kitty') is portrayed as one of these, and treated as such by his interrogators.
- Creepy Doll: Although they're only plush raccoons, the investigators are creeped out by the mass amounts of them on Robert Pitt's bed when they search his house.
- Creepy Mascot Suit: David admits he finds the sight of the corpse in a fursuit as this, due to its similarity to an old children's show character he was fond of.
- Detectives Follow Footprints: The first clue found at the scene are a set of large pawprints leaving the crash.
- Dramatic Unmask: The removal of the fursuit head at the crime scene.
- Drunk Driver: Robert Pitt is identified as one of these, leading to his court mandated AA meetings.
- Fantastic Racism: Mr. Lee dislikes Rocky for his chosen fursona species, claiming all raccoons to be 'lowlifes'.
- Fetishes Are Weird: The Episode, which led to most of its negative reception. The murderer and victim are both furries, as are most of the people encountered during the investigation. None of them are portrayed as anything but sexual deviants.
- Fight Fur Your Right to Party: Inevitably, everyone at the 'furpile' Brass and Catherine attend.
- Get Out!: Said from Linda to Robert while driving after mistaking him for drunk.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Subverted Trope. The camera clearly pans over to the car driver and their smashed in face. Then again, its kept partially obscured by shadow, meaning you only see streams of blood and a peacefully shut eye.
- The Joy of X: The title obviously references Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Referenced in the End-of-Episode Silliness.
- Loners Are Freaks: Surmised about Robert Pitt while searching his house. Since he has no family to be contacted, Catherine surmises the raccoon plushies may be his attempt to create a fake family.
- Murder by Mistake: Robert is revealed to have been shot this way, mistaken for a wild animal while throwing up.
- Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers: Virgil, who is eventually revealed to be the killer, demands a lawyer upon being taken in.
- Predator-Prey Friendship: In the eyes of Linda and Mr. Lee at least, which is noted as odd.
- Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic: The presenter at PAFCon talks with relatively normal diction, casting him as socially awkward in contrast to the scripted, smooth talking main cast.
- The Reveal: PAFCon plot: Linda Lamb is Linda Jones.
- Freezer Plot: Virgil and George are cousins.
- Running Over the Plot: First few seconds- car crash. Instantly the plot is established.
- Shout-Out: Even after his identity is revealed, Robert Pitt is continually referred to as Rocky Raccoon for his fursona.
- While considering how to go about identifying suspects, Brass suggests putting out an APB on Tom and Jerry.
- The Silent Bob: Oddly, everyone at PAFCon in a mask is depicted as one of these, refusing to talk even to the investigators or each other except for vocalizations and animal noises.
- Surprise Car Crash: The victim's attempt to avoid a collision with an animal leads directly into a collision with a vehicle.
- Suspicious Ski Mask: Virgil wears one of these in the freezer while holding up Al.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Bud as the feline stripper 'Sexy'.
- Yiff: Defined, albeit in the real-life definition and loosely, by Bud in an interrogation.
