"I'm getting sick of this shit, I really am, you know? You treat me like a dumb-dumb and a grunt, and I have potential, you know? I can go places, I can do things! Who knows, I might even rule the world one day."
— Charlie
Dee enlists Charlie's help in playing Techpocalypse, an online RPG, but the two of them along with Mac and Frank quickly develop an unhealthy addiction to the game. Meanwhile, Dennis struggles to define what reality is and takes a trip inside his own mind to find the answer.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Charlie becomes increasingly egotistical as a result of being good at the game, treating Dee like a kept housewife and ordering the rest of the gang around.
- Alpha Bitch: Hilariously, Frank becomes one after creating a female avatar for the game, making "catty" comments about the other women. He even gets himself a Girl Posse who laugh at all his jokes.
- Ambiguously Gay: At one pont Charlie lists Mac's sexual preferences as "ugly or sick or male or female or whatever it is that you like". Mac just kind of shrugs noncommittally.
- Boisterous Weakling: Mac apparently keeps trying to fight everything he encounters in the game. Unfortunately for him, he sucks at virtual fighting as much as he does in real life, and quickly gets demoted to the rank of "soiled fool".
- Brick Joke:
- Dennis comments at the beginning of the episode that he'll "blow himself" if Charlie ever rules the world. He later ends up doing just that when he hallucinates a British version of himself while in a sensory deprivation chamber.
- Frank states at one point that they have no way of knowing what reality is and that for all they know, they could be in a "turtle's dream". The episode's end credits are played over a picture of a turtle in space.
- Butterface: Frank's avatar has a sexy lady body, and his Danny DeVito face. He's still apparently very popular among other players.
- Butt-Monkey: The episode opens with Charlie holding wires together to get a good picture for Mac and Frank to watch the TV in the bar, repeatedly shocking himself in the process as the rest of the gang all shout demands at him. The main reason he becomes so addicted to the game is because he actually has status and respect for pretty much the first time ever, even if it's only virtual.
- Call-Back: Dennis performs Frank's weird gyrating dance move.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Dee, Mac, Charlie, and Frank end up becoming this due to their obsession with the game, acting as if it's a part of their real lives much to the annoyance of everyone else around them.
- Comically Small Bribe: Dee offers Charlie a paltry three dollars to stop what he's doing for the rest of the Gang and play a video game for her. The others remind Charlie that he works for them, and Frank pays his rent. Dee increases the offer to five dollars, and Charlie accepts after suffering abuse from the others.
- Contrived Coincidence: A random stranger at the bar recognizes Mac and Frank from Dee's avatars of them in the game, kicking the episode's B-plot into motion as they attempt to get revenge.
- Cutting the Knot: Dennis manages to end the Techpocalypse plot merely by deleting the others' accounts.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Charlie allowing Dee to spend their (virtual) money on things to make herself look pretty so long as she makes him food and doesn't bother him while he's playing the game is strongly reminiscent of the dynamic between an abusive husband and subservient trophy wife.
- For Want Of A Nail: Had Charlie not been forced to steal cable from the other building (making him agitated and tired), it's very likely he wouldn't have become as power crazy as he had. Likewise, Dee choosing him to watch over her game also wound up being a factor.
- Food Slap: "Queen of Thrones", the girl who Charlie meets from the game, throws her drink in his face after he presents her with a box of spiders and reveals that he's only meeting her as a distraction so that his followers can attack her tribe.
- A God Am I: Dennis decides that he's a god after realizing that he has complete control over his own universe.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Mac states once again that he hates women.
- Hidden Depths: Charlie proves to be a natural at playing Techpocalypse.
- Hypocritical Humor: Charlie ranting that he's "thriving" while filthy and covered in Hawaiian Punch.
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue:Dennis: (about The Real Housewives) Real women don't even look like that.
(enter Dee with messy hair and dark circles under her eyes, looking like she hasn't slept in about a week.) - It's a Costume Party, I Swear!: A variant occurs where Frank invites Dee to what he claims will be a "classy" party, only for her to look completely overdressed when she turns up in a mink coat.
- It's A Small Net After All: Some guy in a restaurant recognizes Dennis, Mac, and Frank as being part of Dee's tribe just from their similar-looking cartoon NPC's.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While he is an asshole about it, Dennis' refusal to jump into the game and become obsessed the same way as the rest of the gang do ends up being justified, as the rest of the gang becomes unhealthily addicted to the game by the episode's climax. Although Dennis ends up claiming that due to his control over "his own universe", it makes him a God.
- Just One More Level!: Dee admits at the beginning of the episode that she hasn't showered in "a few days" due to her newfound gaming addiction.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: At the end of the episode, Dennis says that "sometimes things just... end." Cue credits.
- Licking the Blade: Dennis does this with a pair of scissors before cutting a girl's hair in one of his sex tapes. It's as creepy as it sounds.
- Love Triangle: Between Charlie, Dee and Mac's avatars in the game; Dee initially marries Charlie after finding out how good he is at playing the game, but she later sleeps with Mac in revenge when she thinks that Charlie has betrayed her to the Queen of Thrones.
- Mundane Solution: Dennis cures the rest of the gang of their addiction by deleting all their characters from the game.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Mac makes his game avatar a massive, hulked-out beast... and gets his ass kicked so many times he's reduced to the rank of "soiled fool".
- Near-Villain Victory: After kicking out Frank's party guests, Charlie attempts a power grab: demanding Frank and Mac's shares of the bar and Dee to do Charlie Work from now on in exchange for letting their game characters live. Then, Dennis bursts into the apartment and (after attempting to speak with an accent) reveals he deleted their accounts.
- Noodle Incident: Mac apparently got so mad at the game that he smashed up his computer and somehow gave himself a black eye in an offscreen incident.
- Only Sane Man: Dennis is this with regards to the fact that he's the only member of the gang not completely obsessed with the game, though calling him "sane" is still a bit of a stretch considering that he decides he's God.
- Questionable Consent: Dennis states that he "entered" the girl in his sex tape with "almost no resistance".
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Dennis is able to hack the rest of the gang's accounts on the game and delete their characters because they all use the same password: "Paddy's Pub".
- Pretty in Mink: Charlie procures a mink coat for Dee by trading with a guy in the game who owns a clothing store.
- RPG Episode: Charlie, Dee, Mac and Frank become obsessed with an RPG called Techpocalypse for the duration of the episode.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Charlie to Dee at the end of the episode.Charlie: You didn't think! Because you don't think!! You're just a stupid kept housewife, okay?!
- Screw Yourself: Dennis meets a British version of himself while in a sensory deprivation chamber. After the two of them have a discussion about the nature of reality, British Dennis forces the Original Dennis down on his knees and makes him give him a blowjob.
- Ship Tease: Charlie seems very interested in having sex with Dee... in the game.Charlie: So push "enter" hard, or one, like, slow push and you do your thing, or a little circular enter...
Dee: Just push the button, Charlie. - Shout-Out: "Queen of Thrones" is a pretty obvious reference to Game of Thrones.
- Take That!: When Mac and Frank are watching The Real Housewives at the beginning of the episode, Dennis comments that it's about as far from "real" as you can get.
- This Is Reality: At the end Dennis manages to access and delete everyone's character profiles to show how meaningless the video game world was. He says sometimes things just end without any consolation... and the episode just ends.
- Unkempt Beauty: When discussing how fake The Real Housewives actually is Dennis comments that real woman don't look like that, and as Dee walks in he points her out as what a normal woman looks like.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: While he's in the sensory deprivation tank, Dennis hallucinates a version of himself with a pretty convincing British accent. When he tries to replicate it in real life, however, it's somewhat less accurate.Dennis: Storp, Chorley! Dis gayme hash gone on longe enouf! (realizes how ridiculous he sounds) ...Shit.
Mac: ...Are you doing an accent?
Dennis: Yeah, it was a British accent.
Mac: That was British?!
