"Marriage blows."
— Frank
Dennis quickly grows disillusioned with being married to his high school sweetheart and decides to divorce her, as Frank and Charlie's domestic partnership also deteriorates. Meanwhile, Dee finds herself with an unwanted house guest when Bill Ponderosa gets kicked out of his marital home after telling his wife about their affair.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Kidnapping: Dee ends up accidentally kidnapping Bill Ponderosa's children after he takes them from his wife's house and makes her drive away with them in her car.
- Awful Wedded Life: The novelty of married life begins to wear off very quickly for both Dennis & Maureen and Frank & Charlie, and both unions are dissolved by the end of the episode.
- Continuity Nod:
- Mac reminds the others that the Lawyer has a restraining order against them.
- Dennis tells Maureen not to look at his sex tapes as a way to get her to leave him.
- Crazy Cat Lady: Dennis mentions that Maureen has turned Mac's room into a "craft studio" where she makes cat sweaters.
- Creepy Uncle: In addition to his usual inappropriate behavior towards Charlie, Uncle Jack dishes out some solidly creepy advice to Dee when she reveals that she's kidnapped Bill's kids.Jack: Alright, are the kids confined in any way? Maybe in a crawlspace or a backyard bunker?
Dee: No, they're out in the car.
Jack: Have you touched them yet?
Dee: Absolutely not! What — who is this man? - Divorce Assets Conflict: Dennis and Maureen go through one as well as Charlie and Frank, on account of neither couple having made a prenup agreement. Mostly Played for Laughs with the latter pair due to their "marriage" being completely platonic and them still living together afterward, but it gets real nasty with Dennis and Maureen. Dennis is only able to get his apartment back by taking on Maureen's debt totaling 90,000 dollars.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The conflict between Dennis, Mac and Maureen over the apartment strongly resembles a Love Triangle. At one point Maureen refers to Mac as Dennis's "boy toy".
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- None of the gang are particularly fond of Uncle Jack, as noted under Creepy Uncle.
- Even Frank is disturbed by him continually reaching over and trying to touch a clearly uncomfortable Charlie during their divorce proceedings.
- None of the gang are particularly fond of Uncle Jack, as noted under Creepy Uncle.
- Fan Disservice: Bill Ponderosa lounging around in Dee's robe and a pair of tighty-whitey briefs.
- Get Out!:Dee: (to Bill) This is gonna be kinda hard to hear, but, um... GET OUT! GET OUT!! You gotta go back to your wife, okay, and get outta my place!
- In Vino Veritas: Dennis dishes out some harsh home truths to Maureen after coming back to the apartment drunk at two in the morning.
- Lack of Empathy: Dee has very little sympathy for Bill's situation with his wife and kids and is mostly concerned about whether or not she'll get to keep the car he gave her.
- Mistaken for Prostitute: Bill's wife initially thinks that Dee is a prostitute since she's the only one who didn't have to get paid to sleep with him.
- Multi-Part Episode: Even though the titles are different, this directly follows up and concludes "Mac Fights Gay Marriage".
- Pet the Dog: Frank telling Charlie that he likes the elephant drawings Charlie did for him, in the middle of their bitter divorce row.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Dennis delivers a vicious one to Maureen when he's telling her he wants a divorce.Dennis: I don't love you, Maureen. I don't love you, I never loved you. You're annoying, and you're strange!
Maureen: I don't know what to say.
Dennis: Don't say anything, 'cause every time you open your mouth I'm like "ugh!" It's like your breath is, like, always so bad! It's the dead tooth, I'm saying it now. I'll say it. You have a dead tooth, you realize that, right? And I hate it, and it's annoying! - Running Gag: Dee once again loses a new car within days of receiving it.
- Shirtless Scene: Both Mac and Dennis are shown bathing shirtless in the sink at Paddy's after getting kicked out of their apartment.
- Shout-Out: Maureen starts repeatedly hitting herself in order to falsely accuse Dennis of beating her, in a reference to Fear (1996).
- Stag Party: Dennis insists that Mac throw him a bachelor party as he didn't have one before getting married.
- Status Quo Is God: By the end of the episode, Dennis has divorced Maureen and Frank and Charlie have gotten an annulment.
- The Teetotaler: Maureen claims that she doesn't drink as she thinks it "makes people look ugly".
- Third Wheel: Mac ends up awkwardly hanging around for most of the conflict between Dennis and Maureen.
