"Okay, gang, let's solve this North Korea situation once and for all."
— Charlie
After learning that a nearby Korean restaurant has signed up to take part in an annual pub crawl, meaning that Paddy's is no longer the last stop, the gang find themselves at odds with it's owner, who bears a striking resemblance to former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il. Charlie becomes involved with Sun-Li, the owner's daughter, and Mac, Dee and Frank organize a talent contest in an attempt to boost business for Paddy's.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Achievements in Ignorance: Subverted when Charlie tries using his apartment key to unlock the Korean restaurant's private room, thinking there's a chance the locks were made the same. It doesn't work.
- All Asians Know Martial Arts: Lampshaded when Mr. Kim throws Charlie and Dennis out of his restaurant.Dennis: Does every Asian know martial arts?!
Charlie: Well, they have to learn it when they grow up. - Badass Longcoat: Mac enters the bar at the beginning of the episode wearing a duster, which all the guys think is insanely badass.Mac: It's not a jacket, it's a duster. It's like a jacket, only it's longer, thicker and far more badass. I look like Lorenzo Lamas, and women find it irresistible.
Dee: Well that part's just simply not true. - Bait-and-Switch Comment:Charlie: Wait a second. You're gonna blast my fiancée with water, exposing her breasts to this entire crowd?
Dennis: Yeah, man. Is that cool?
Charlie: It's very cool. - Big "WHAT?!": A common reaction from the Gang when they learn how old Sun-Li actually is.
- Birds of a Feather: Charlie is shown to have a surprising amount in common with Sun-Li, a twelve-year-old Korean girl.
- Cock Fight: Dennis and Charlie compete for Sun-Li's affections.
- Continuity Nod: Dee reminds Frank that he isn't her father.
- Dawson Casting: 12-year old Sun-Li is played by 24-year old Tania Gunadi.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The gang's feud with the Korean restaurant parallels relations between North Korea and the West. The owner is a "Mr. Kim" and Dennis and Charlie become convinced that he's "enriching" the microbrew, referencing the controversy over North Korea's nuclear program and arsenal. Mac raises the bar's alert level to yellow, satirizing the Bush administration's Homeland security advisory system.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Mr. Kim, as both Dennis, Charlie, and later Dee point out.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Frank is horrified when he learns that Sun-Li is only twelve, and shields her from the water in the wet t-shirt contest. When he explains the situation to the others, they all agree that would have been bad.
- Mr. Kim's an aggressive business owner who treats his employees, including his own underage daughter, like slaves, yet is appropriately horrified when said daughter goes missing and closes the business to focus on finding her. They're also disgusted when Frank suggests that maybe she just met a guy, because Sun-Li is only 12.
- Fan Disservice: Frank throws himself in front of the hose in order to protect Sun-Li. Since he happens to be wearing a white vest, the results are less than pretty.
- Flowery Insults: Mac lets loose with some Simon Cowell-style putdowns while he's judging the talent show.Mac: Well, Martha, you are terrible. I wanted to pluck out my eyes and jam them into my ears. I wanted to pummel you with a manhole cover. There is no point to you.
- Foreshadowing: When they first visit the Korean restaurant, Dennis and Charlie comment that they find it impossible to gauge how old the Koreans are. This becomes much more important later on when it's revealed that Sun-Li, the girl they've been competing over, is much younger than either of them thought.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Charlie and Sun-Li get engaged just hours after meeting.
- Gargle Blaster: Paddy's is apparently known for their micro-brew during the pub crawl. It's actually just a mixture of all leftover hard liquor they had on hand put into a tub. Frank makes sure it's heavy on the moonshine and talks of putting in radiator coolant for sweetness.
- Harsh Talent Show Judge: Paddy's Pub is hosting a Talent Contest as part an annual pub crawl. After learning that the nearby Korean restaurant has taken their place as the "last stop" on the crawl, Frank and Mac hijack the show in an attempt to improve it and act as judges in the American Idol fashion. Mac takes the "Harsh Judge" role in the vein of Simon Cowell, while Frank acts as Randy and (a very drunk) Dee acts like Paula Abdul.
- "L" Is for "Dyslexia": Charlie thinks that a door marked "private" reads "pirate", and wonders whether a pirate lives behind it.
- No Shirt, Long Jacket: Dennis starts wearing Mac's Badass Longcoat with no shirt underneath in an attempt to be Mr. Fanservice. Results are mixed.
- Oh, Crap!: Frank has the reaction when he learns Sun-Li's age.
- Pet the Dog: Mr. Kim is mostly portrayed as a petty tyrant, but he seems genuinely distressed when his daughter goes missing.
- Product Placement: As part of their spoofing American Idol, Mac, Frank and Dee all have red Coca-Cola cups next to them with the logos obviously turned toward the camera.
- Sexual Extortion: An elderly busboy at the Korean restaurant offers to give Dee the microbrew recipe if she has sex with him. To add insult to injury, it's revealed after they do the deed that he was lying about knowing it in the first place.
- Shirtless Scene: Dennis "pops his shirt off" in an attempt to impress Sun-Li, and spends the rest of the episode wearing Mac's duster over a bare chest.
- Shout-Out: Dee does an impression of Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction. Dennis tells her she sounds more like Rosie Perez.
- Skeleton Key: Charlie seems to be under the impression that he can use his apartment key to unlock the office in the Korean restaurant, as there's only a finite number of locks in the world, so there must be some "overlap".
- Taking the Bullet: While not a bullet, Frank acts out the trope by nobly jumping in front of the water hose at Paddy's wet T-shirt contest to preserve the underaged Sun-Li's modesty.
- Talent Contest: Dee, Mac and Frank end up judging one in an attempt to compete with the Korean restaurant's karaoke contest, each of them taking on the personas of the American Idol judges.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Sun-Li is admonished by Mr. Kim for smoking a cigarette in the back alley when first seen. It's part of the reason the Gang assumes she's older than she actually is.
- Use Your Head: Charlie tells Dennis to "hold him sideways and use his head like a battering ram" while they're trying to break into Mr. Kim's office.
- Wet T-Shirt Contest: The gang decide to hold one in the bar to keep people from moving on to Mr. Kim's.
- Younger Than They Look: Sun-Li is revealed to be just twelve, while Dennis and Charlie had both been under the impression that she was at least eighteen.
