"WHO'S GOING TO DO THE DISHES?! And also, this is a great opportunity for you to see how insane my asshole friends are."
— Dee
Dee brings the rest of the gang to her therapist's office in order to settle a dispute over whose turn it is to wash the dishes, but their numerous other issues get dragged up in the process.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- And Call Him "George": At one point Charlie takes a dead pigeon out of his jacket and drops it on the table. He claims it was alive to begin with, but he "might've hugged it a little too hard".
- Badass Boast: After Dennis slaps Charlie because "that's what [he wanted] to do", the latter only has this to say...Charlie: Well, I applaud you for that. Absolutely. And now know, of course, I'll come back at you with everything that I have.
Dennis: What are you..? (Charlie cold-cocks Dennis and proceeds to throw him down the couch) - Bathos: Frank's childhood experience of being sent to a "nitwit school", hosed down by guards, kissing a girl with no lips, and befriending a frog kid is equally tearjerking and hilarious.
- Blatant Lies: Dee insists to her therapist that she was the first choice for the female lead in The Notebook but had to decline due to a scheduling conflict.
- Body Horror: Frank states that he got his first kiss at the "nitwit school" from a girl with no lips.
- Bottle Episode: The entire episode takes place in the therapist's office and waiting area.
- Butt-Monkey: Discussed, as Charlie admits that while he generally enjoys "Charlie work", he hates the rest of the gang telling him what to do and treating him like crap.
- Call-Back: Dennis does another of his pornographic drawings for the therapist.
- Continuity Nod:
- Dennis mentions that he has an academic background in psychology.
- Charlie says that he likes getting naked in the sewers and asks the therapist if it's weird that he's an abortion survivor who shares a bed with a man who might be his father, or that he eats cat food to go to sleep.
- Comically Missing the Point: Charlie misunderstands pretty much everything the therapist says to him.Therapist: Being comfortable in your own skin is never a bad thing.
Charlie: Oh, my God. Right, okay, so if I got like, more skin or something, I could like never do a bad thing in my life? And maybe I have never done a bad thing, 'cause I have a lot of skin. - Control Freak: Dennis reveals that he's been keeping "psychological dossiers" on the rest of the gang, having started Dee's when they were in the second grade.
- Corpsing: While Frank is mourning Donnie, Dennis and Dee's unborn triplet they devoured in the womb, Danny Devito can be seen smirking and holding back a giggle.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When Charlie advises Dennis to do what he wants, Dennis slaps Charlie in response. Charlie proceeds to punch and throttle him.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Mac asks the therapist if she can make him "more bigger".
- Description Cut:Dennis: You are gonna want to strap in for this next one.
(cut to Charlie in the therapist's office, repeatedly banging his head against the wall) - Does This Remind You of Anything?: Mac declares that the pen looks like a penis and immediately starts sticking it in his mouth.
- Dysfunction Junction: Lampshaded, with the therapist calling the gang a highly dysfunctional group of people.
- Fetus Terrible: Played for laughs; Frank claims that Dennis and Dee ate their third "twin" in utero.
- Freak Out:
- Frank is reduced to a sobbing mess after reflecting on his time in the "nitwit school", bawling that the therapist "unzipped" him.
- Dee goes berserk at the end of the episode after the therapist tells her to do the dishes.
- Freud Was Right: Mac spots a pen lying on the table and accuses the therapist of leaving it there to make him think it looks like a dick. He then spends the rest of his session stroking and sucking on it.
- Freudian Excuse: It's revealed that Frank was sent to a school for mentally disabled children at some point in his childhood, which probably explains a lot of his behavior as an adult.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Mac admits that he doesn't really get the whole "woman doctor" thing.
- Hidden Depths:
- Charlie shows a surprising awareness of just how bizarre his own behavior is, stating that he's "probably even weirder than someone from Saturn".
- Mac seems to be aware at least on some level of how toxic and psychotic the gang's group dynamic really is, admitting that he sometimes thinks they're not even really his friends.
- Frank genuinely breaks down into tears as he relives his experience staying at a mental asylum as a kid.
- I Ate WHAT?!: The gang's horrified reactions when Charlie reveals that he served them pigeon — not pheasant — at their dinner party.
- It's the Principle of the Thing: While Charlie normally likes "Charlie Work" - janitorial work that allows him to handle gross things and dealing with toxic materials - its the fact that the gang is always telling him what to do that has led to him contributing to the argument this whole time.
- Ivy League for Everyone: Averted; the therapist went to LaSalle, something which Ivy League-educated Dennis takes great pleasure in being smugly condescending about.
- Jabba Table Manners: Frank spends much of his session eating pistachios and spitting the shells everywhere.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Dennis considers himself to be an expert in psychology and invites the therapist to think of him as a "peer", seemingly unaware that she's just humoring him.
- Madness Mantra: Dee's excessive need for constant praise results in her repeating "Tell me I'm good" at the therapist until the therapist does so.
- Manipulative Bastard: Dennis reveals that he secretly drugged Mac into losing all the weight he put on in the previous season because he "looked gross", giving him "size pills" — actually Mexican ephedra — and playing into his insecurities by implying that he's smaller than he really is to get him to take them.
- Mood-Swinger: Mac goes from angry ranting to depression to maniacal laughter in the space of about a minute at the beginning of his session. Lampshaded by the therapist, who asks him whether this is normal.
- N-Word Privileges: Dee claims that somebody "dropped the N-bomb" at one point during their fight over the dishes.
- Only Sane Man: While Charlie is far from sane, the therapist states that given the circumstances of his upbringing, he's probably the most well-adjusted of the gang. Subverted with Dennis; he clearly thinks he's this, but the episode makes it clear that he really, really isn't.
- Oral Fixation: Mac apparently has a habit of sucking on pens as a manifestation of his latent homosexuality. Dennis claims it's gotten so bad that he has to hide all the pens in their apartment.
- Paste Eater: Charlie offhandedly mentions he likes the taste of bleach.
- Precision F-Strike: The therapist finally has enough and yells at Dee to "do the fucking dishes" at the end of the episode.
- Serious Business: The gang seek a therapist's help to determine whose turn it is to do the dishes. This is still all they care about at the end of the episode, even after it's made clear that they're all suffering from some quite serious psychological problems.
- Shout-Out: Dee does a bit from Good Will Hunting while trying to impress the therapist with her acting skills.
- The Sociopath: Dennis shows yet more signs of this. In addition to drugging Mac and keeping detailed files on all his friends, he goes on at some length about the thrill of getting in someone's head and makes comments that imply he's capable of murder.Dennis: It's like the thrill of being near the executioner's switch, knowing that at any moment, you could throw it, but knowing you never will... But you could. "Never" isn't the right word, because I could. And I might... I probably will.
- Therapy Is for the Weak: Frank has a low opinion of therapists after the last time he went to one he wound up a sobbing mess. Guess what happens.
- Weight Woe: Inverted with Mac, who admits that he was happier when he was fat because people were scared of him. Both the therapist and Dennis suggest that he probably has some kind of body dysmorphia making him perceive himself as being smaller than he actually is.
