Reagan and Staedler's relationship is getting serious and she wants to ask him to be her boyfriend. On an unrelated note, Rand wants them to brainwash the Pope in order to have a contract with Cognito signed. What could go wrong?
Tropes:
- Alternate History: In this universe the TSA was founded by Orville and Wilbur Wright's brother Judas Wright as revenge for dropping him out of their plane to save weight. Or at least that's what the documentary they force Glenn to watch says. IRL the Transportation Security Administration didn't exist until after 9/11.
- Artificial Afterlife: Turns out the Catholic Church had hired Cognito to build an artificial Hell beneath Vatican City in order to bring up attendance.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Misusing Staedler's brainwashing technology results in the Pope declaring war on humanity using the fake-Hell built beneath the Vatican.
- Clock Punk: One of the secret entrances into the Vatican includes a Rennaissance-era gear-wound security system behind a stone face.
- Corrupt Church: While we already knew the Catholic Church was this in the first episode of Part 2, here we see that with the exception of the open-minded Pope, the Catholic Church is depicted as outright building a facsimile of Hell itself to terrify the populace into going to church again.
- Dude Where Is My Respect: Both the TSA and Glenn driving motive is the yearning for the recognition they are not given but they feel they deserve. Keyword being feel.
- Easily Forgiven: Because they understood each other, Staedler forgives Reagan for messing with his brainwashing technology and nearly unleashing a literal Hell-on-Earth.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Apparently, Andre's torrid and graphic sex affair with his own clone is going too far for a chunk of Cognito.
- The Fundamentalist: The Pope post-brainwashing expresses Skewed Priorities met with Disproportionate Retribution. You a woman showing your ankles? Street-walker! Are you a label-free couple holding hands? Fire the Vati-cannon!
- Gone Horribly Right: Reagan speeding up Staedler's brainwashing device makes the Pope more conservative. Unfortunately, it causes him to literally unleash Hell and almost destroy Italy.
- Good Shepherd: The current Pope is very progressive, Rand having sent Reagan to turn him into a hardcore religious conservative so that he would use the Hell Project.
- Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Upon forcing his way into the crew's Italy trip Glenn rips off his suit, exposing a Hawaiian shirt. He then explains that at his size it's harder to find non-Hawaiian shirts.
- Hollywood Hacking: Subverted For Laughs, when Reagan is denied entry to hell by one of the Pope's guards, she responds by pulling out her phone and claiming to have hacked all his social media accounts in order to blackmail him. Turns out she was bluffing.
- I'm Going to Hell for This: After Reagan zaps the Pope several more times with the Catholocizer to speed up his fundamentalist conversion, she then grabs his unconscious face and starts using him as a dummy to speak in a faux, stereotypical Italian accent. She then laughs and says, "If God is real, I'm fucked."
- LOL, 69: Reagan guesses that one of a guard's social media username is JesusDaddy69... She was right.
- More than Mind Control: How Staedler's Catholocizer works it doesn't make non-catholics into catholics, but can turn anyone with a history of catholicism into hardcore zealots. It turns the otherwise quite liberal and modern Pope into a religious nutcase who damns Rome, and turns the currently non-religious Staedler into a walking Guilt Complex who damns himself to hell because he believes he deserves it for coveting his neighbor's game system and
telling Kanye about politics. - Old-Timey Ankle Taboo: The Pope post-brainwashing seems to think that a woman exposing her ankle is Serious Business, calling her a prostitute for it. Reagan exploits this later by exposing her ankle to the Pope and his guards, distracting them long enough for her to escape.
- Oven Logic: Reagan dials up Staedler's device under the reasoning that it will perform the same job faster. Instead, it makes the effect far more intense, making the Pope go full damnation for sinners as opposed to merely being as conservative as the rest of the church.
- Overreacting Airport Security: The TSA ends up detaining the entire Cognito group and subjecting them to torture because Glen refuses to acknowledge them as a branch of the military.
- Poor Communication Kills: All Reagan had to do was be upfront about Staedler about hooking up officially. Instead, she tries wooing him with a work-vacation to Rome and accidentally turns the Pope evil. Granted, Gigi told her not to, but still...
- Relationship Labeling Problems: Reagan realizes she wants to be his girlfriend, but before she can ask, she learns that he isn't willing to date. While trying to save Rome from an uber-Catholic brainwashed pope, Reagan tries to covertly convince Staedtler to figure out what their relationship actually is and offer a bit more commitment. The animatronic Heteronormative Crusader devils even try to attack them for being a "label-free couple holding hands." By the end of the episode, it turns out they both wanted to date officially, but were both too insecure to ask outright.
- Shout-Out:
- The episode's title references the song "We Found Love" by Rihanna.
- Sharing a plate of spaghetti is an Italian dog romance custom, an obvious reference to Lady and the Tramp.
- Take That!:
- The TSA is not only obnoxious, but they were founded specifically to make air travel less convenient and they use their power to bully people when they express opinions they don't like. Even the Deep State is powerless against it.
- The TSA tortures Andre by subjecting him to Seinfeld.Andre: Oh God! They're torturing us with dated observational comedy about airline travel! Where's my suicide pill?!
- Quite a few to the Catholic Church working by causing and exploiting a deep sense of shame and guilt in its followers. It's also depicted as exceedingly corrupt, willing to construct a false Hell in order to terrify the populace into what they want.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: After all their endeavors with the TSA, the team finally gets to Rome for their vacation. Their plane is even on time! Too bad Rome has been destroyed by a literal (though artificial) hell opening beyond it and they will have to spend their vacation working to cover it up.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Once Glenn decides to actually start fighting back against the TSA he fares about as well as a trained super soldier against a bunch of ego-tripping college dropouts can expect.
- Glenn action hero stunt freeing his colleagues from the TSA does not get him the praise he expected since they point out that it's his fault they were even subject to torture in the first place.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Despite the Searching General letting Glenn pass through security without hassle, Glenn snaps at him for referring to the TSA as an unofficial branch of the military.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Gigi's constant advice to avoid communication and play mind games with your partner is sure bad (and unhealthy), and starts a domino effect that leads to the destruction of Rome.
- Waxing Lyrical: When Staedler tells Reagan about how he was raised Catholic, he shows her a picture of himself when he was younger and says "That's me in the corner, losing my religion".
- Wedding Bells... for Someone Else: Near the end of the episode, Reagan and Staedler decide to do something "impulsive and romantic." Cut to them standing at a wedding chapel... marrying two gay dogs, as a Call-Back.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: After the whole mess with the TSA, the rest of the gang get to Rome, only to find Reagan's antics have, both metaphorically and in some places quite literally, burned the place to the ground. Brett complains that they're likely going to have to cover the whole thing up, and Gigi accentuates the point by stomping in anger and bringing an entire building down behind her.
