"They could be like The Golden Girls! A couple of old ladies getting together, chasing men, eating cheesecake... that'd be cool!"
— Mac
Mac and Charlie decide that Mrs. Mac should move in with Mrs. Kelly after the former burns her house down, but the new partnership gets off to a rocky start. Frank tries to look after Dee when she falls ill in an attempt to score brownie points so that she'll feel obliged to care for him when he's old.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Dennis repeatedly calls out Frank for being a horrible father to both him and Dee.
- Call-Back: Mac is adamant that he's not sending his mother a nursing home for fear that she'll get raped.
- Chained to a Bed: Non-sexy variant; Dennis and Frank tie Dee to the futon in Frank and Charlie's apartment "for her own protection" after she falls down a flight of stairs while drugged.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Mrs. Kelly won't go to grocery stores because she believes shopping carts are dangerous, in addition to various other odd behaviors and beliefs.
- Comically Missing the Point: Mac and Dennis are apparently under the impression that Josh Groban is Charles Grodin's son.
- Continuity Nod: Charlie mentions that Uncle Jack has moved out of his mother's house.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Mac is very fond of his mother and initially wants her to move in with him and Dennis after her house burns down. He also tells Charlie off for disrespecting Mrs. Kelly.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: This is Mrs. Kelly's view of the world, to the point where she thinks that shopping carts are dangerous.
- Extreme Omnivore: Mac's dog Poppins will eat anything from cigarette butts to shampoo and body lotion.
- Eye Scream: Poppins's eye periodically falls out of its socket and Mac nonchalantly pops it back in with his knuckle, disgusting both Dennis and Charlie.
- Fangirl: Dee is a self-confessed "Grobanite".Dee: I'm a Grobanite. Grobanites don't miss shows. Josh Groban comes to town and we consider it a call to action.
Frank: What you're saying is very dorky. - Got Me Doing It: After learning that Mrs. Kelly does things in threes, Mac and Charlie wind up doing it as well.
- Hidden Depths: Mrs. Mac is revealed to be very handy and good at fixing things.
- It Runs in the Family: Mac claims that he gets his awful temper from his mother after she almost strangles Mrs. Kelly.
- Not Quite Dead: Dennis and Frank think they've killed Poppins after the dog gets into the drugged juice they gave to Dee and attempt to hide the body from Mac by throwing it in the trash. It turns out to be a false alarm, however, as Mac discovers Poppins alive and well, chewing on a diaper at the bottom of the trash can.
- Obsessively Organized: Mrs. Kelly has to do everything in threes "so that Charlie doesn't die". It's apparently contagious, as both Charlie and Mac later end up doing it too.
- Odd Friendship: After a rocky start, the end of the episode sees one of these beginning to blossom between the surly, mannish Mrs. Mac and timid, fussy Mrs. Kelly.
- Oh, Crap!: Dennis's reaction when he realizes that Mac intends for his mother to move in with them.
- Racist Grandma: Mrs. Mac and Mrs. Kelly eventually end up bonding over their mutual racism.
- Rule of Three: Invoked: Mrs. Kelly is of the opinion that if she doesn't do things in threes, Charlie will die.
- Sick Episode: Dee's subplot sees her coming down with a slight cold and then using it as an excuse to boss Frank around when he offers to take care of her. Then Frank and Dennis conspire to make her sicker so that she has to depend on Frank.
- Shout-Out: Mac and Charlie want their mothers to be like The Golden Girls, and at one point they sing the theme tune.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Both Mac and Frank seem to think that nursing homes are a hotbed of rape.Dennis: You people have a very strange conception of what goes on in nursing homes.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Frank and Dennis spike Dee's juice with cough medicine to make her feel worse so that she becomes dependent on Frank.
- Voice Grunting: Mrs. Mac largely communicates in grunts that Mac understands and translates for the others.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Mrs. Kelly has a phobia of animals and is terrified that they'll "eat her face off".
