"She swooped at me!"
A Plot: Brent and Hank stumble upon the tree house they had as kids, only to find that is has been re-occupied. They foolishly wage war with the kids to get their tree house back.
B Plot: Oscar's old friend Peggy comes into town, and her constant flirting angers Emma. Oscar is completely oblivious until Peggy gets more blatant by inviting him over for house work.
C Plot: Davis tries to prove that Wanda can't get out of the patrol car, while Lacey tries to prove she can learn kung fu from Karen.
Tropes Referenced:
- Advice Backfire: Lacey tells Emma to try a little romance with Oscar, so she makes him a romantic dinner. Then Oscar invites Peggy.
- Captain Oblivious: Oscar repeatedly denies Emma's accusations that Peggy wants him. He honestly thinks she's just being friendly, until Peggy just throws herself at Oscar and he runs away, finally getting it.
- Chekhov's Gun: Hank's front loader.
- Epic Fail:Emma: The last thing Oscar fixed was breakfast, and he broke the toaster... and we weren't even having toast.
- Escape Artist: Wanda appears to be one initially, escaping from the patrol car multiple times and getting out of handcuffs. It turns out the latch on the car door is broken and Karen let her borrow the cuff keys.
- Insistent Terminology: Karen greatly objects to "kung fu" being used as a verb, though at one point she does the same thing.
- Kids Versus Adults: Brent and Hank against the new tree house kids.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Subverted in the Cold Open. Brent explains to Lacey that arm wrestling isn't about strength, it's about physics and leverage, and it doesn't matter how big or skinny your arms are. Then he examines Lacey's arms and says that in her case, it does matter, because her arms are just that skinny.
- And still subverted when Lacey thinks Karen used physics and leverage to take down a thief, but Karen insists it was strength.
- Noodle Implements: Hank comes up with a plan for he and Brent to get the tree house back. A cut shows the two of them retreating with a wheelbarrow full of potatoes and an electric fan.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Both times Karen subdues someone with kung fu (the thief at the diner and later Lacey), we only see the aftermath of her holding her opponent down.
- Pun-Based Title: The episode title is based on the phrase "two's company, three's a crowd", referencing both the treehouse plot and the Oscar/Emma/Peggy triangle.
- Rage Breaking Point: Emma manages to keep her anger about Peggy in check for a while. Then she sees that Oscar has put the spoons away wrong and starts yelling at him to, "STOP MOVING SPOONS!" Oscar is insightful enough to realize that something other than spoons is bugging her, but he just asks, "Is this about the salad forks?"
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Hank, when the kids start firing pellet guns at him and Brent. Brent runs too, though insists that it's only because Hank is his ride.
- Skewed Priorities: When Emma accuses Oscar of having an affair with Peggy.Oscar: Aw, come on! She's a grandma!
Emma: She's two years younger than you!
Oscar: Yeah! But I'm not gonna hit on a grandma. [makes a disgusted face] Eeugh. - Shout-Out: When Davis attempts to catch a thief, but just slips off his car and falls, Wanda sarcastically exclaims "Good work, Starsky!"
- Stealth Insult:Hank: To defeat a child, you gotta think like a child.
Brent: You are uniquely qualified. - Treehouse of Fun: The A Plot centers around the treehouse that Brent and Hank used to read comic books in, which has since been taken over by a group of kids that do the same thing.
- What the Fu Are You Doing?: Lacey constantly fails at the "swoop" move that Karen teaches her.
