"You guys are back on crack, Frank brought strippers back to my place, we're all bumping into each other at the welfare store, and yet I'm the only person who thinks it's 2006!"
— Charlie
After falling out the apartment window, Frank suffers a head injury that causes him to forget the events of the last ten years and believe it's 2006 — the year he came back to Philadelphia. Dennis and Dee decide to use the situation to their advantage by trying to convince Frank to give them his money but end up getting addicted to crack again, while Mac and Charlie attempt to prevent Frank from becoming Charlie's roommate.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Bloody Hilarious: Frank spends almost the entire episode wandering round with a gaping bloody wound in the back of his head. Dee claims that she can see his skull.
- Brutal Honesty: The twins' attempts at "getting real" with each other.
- Butt-Monkey: The Waitress admits that she's had a rough couple of years and is now living in a women's shelter. Things are apparently so bad that she's even willing to live in Charlie's shithole of an apartment, though not with Charlie as her roommate.
- Call-Back:
- From "Charlie Gets Crippled":
- Frank tells Dennis and Dee that their mother is dead before claiming that he was lying and they're actually getting a divorce.
- Charlie, Mac and Frank once again visit the strip club, where two of the strippers take pity on Frank after seeing his injury and accompany them back to the apartment.
- Frank locks Mac and Charlie out of Charlie's apartment.
- Frank repeats his speech about wanting to live like Charlie in "filth and squalor".
- From "Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare":
- Dennis once again brings up his amibtions to become a veterinarian.
- The twins end up getting hooked on crack again.
- The same bald woman is on the desk when Dennis and Dee try to get on welfare by claiming to be a recovering crackhead and a mentally disabled person. Charlie also makes a comment about the gang all running into each other at the "welfare store".
- Frank is eating rum ham at the beginning of the episode. Eating it again at the end is what allows him to recover his memories.
- Frank has a series of flashbacks to previous times the gang has dined at Guigino's, including "The Gang Spies Like U.S.", "The Gang Dines Out" and "Dennis and Dee Get a New Dad".
- Frank finding his toe knife triggers more flashbacks from "The Gang Goes on Family Fight" and "Mac and Dennis Break Up".
- Dennis refers to Dee as his "donkey-brained sister", and they produce Frank's certificate as "proof".
- From ''Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life'':
- The first question Charlie asks while interviewing his potential new roommates is about cat food. Frank claims he would eat it if he was hungry or sleepy.
- A scene is shot of the alley outside Charlie's apartment, and it has multiple cats wandering around in it.
- The first scene at Paddy's after the cold open features Dennis, Dee, and Mac arguing about who came up with the original idea to scam a meat company using chickens.
- From "Charlie Gets Crippled":
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Dennis and Dee succeed in getting Frank to write them a check for eight million to dollars... only to find out that they can't actually cash it, as it's dated 2006.
- Cerebus Retcon: Dennis' desire to be a vet is given a much darker interpretation here in light of his development into The Sociopath.
- Characterization Marches On: Lampshaded when Charlie asks Mac why he'd be interested in banging the strippers.Charlie: Oh! 'Cause it's 2006 and you're still into women. Huh, crazy.Mac: Huh?Charlie: You're not... You haven't become...Mac: Just drop it.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Charlie genuinely believes that the only possible explanation for Frank's sudden memory loss is that the window is a portal to the year 2006, despite the rest of the gang pointing out that he has a concussion.
- Continuity Nod:
- Dennis, Mac and Dee argue over who was responsible for the chickens-steaks-and-airmiles scheme.
- Mac reminds Charlie that if Frank continues repeating past events, he'll eventually end up banging the Waitress.
- Frank's company, which is listed on his check, is called "Warthog Industries."
- Fake Charity: Dennis and Dee attempt to do a "Wyclef Jean thing" and set up a fake charity for the Haiti disaster in order to get Frank to give them his money.
- Freudian Slip:Dennis: We'll pull ourselves together and, you know, we'll get back on crack. I mean, on track.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Frank's check has two references to previous episodes: his business is named "Warthog Industries," and the street name of the bank's address translates to "donkey mind."
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Dennis, Mac and Dee immediately start planning to pack Frank off to the nursing home once they realize he's forgotten the last ten years.
- Gasshole: Charlie makes Frank sit with his ass hanging out the apartment window due to his constant farting.
- Global Ignorance: The gang can't decide whether the capital of Pennsylvania is Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. note
- Impairment Shot: From Frank's perspective after he falls out the window.
- Innocently Insensitive: Frank telling the twins that they don't want to be almost forty and still working in a bar, thinking that they're ten years younger than they actually are.
- He's Back!: Charlie realizes that Frank has his memories back after he finds Charlie, Mac and the Waitress arguing in his apartment and immediately asks if they having a gangbang.
- Hypocritical Humor: Dennis claims that he feels as though he's always coddling Dee.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Frank forgets everything from the last ten years after suffering a nasty blow to the head.
- Made of Iron: Frank falls out of an upper-storey window, lands on his head and walks away more or less unharmed.
- Never Recycle Your Schemes: Averted; since Frank thinks it's 2006, the gang consciously attempt to reproduce plots from early season two, most notably "Charlie Gets Crippled" and "Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare", attempting to avoid the mistakes they made last time around in order to get the results they want.
- Off the Wagon: Dennis and Dee once again become addicted to crack.
- Oh, Crap!: Dennis and Dee when they wake up on Dee's living room floor and see the crack pipe.
- Only Sane Man: Mac is the only member of the gang who manages not to get sucked into all the craziness, likely since he has less at stake personally than the others.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Frank doesn't believe that his accountant could be a woman, thinking she's the secretary instead.
- Rage Breaking Point: Dennis does not take kindly to Dee insinuating that he's going bald.
- The Sociopath: Dee suggests that the only reason Dennis wanted to become a veterinarian was so that he could "keep the skins". He doesn't do a particularly good job of denying it.Dennis: There's no denying the skins are... fascinating. It's the most fascinating part of the animal, the skin of any animal is the most fascinating part, but that's not why I wanted to become...
- Swiss Bank Account: Frank's bank is located in Switzerland.
- Take That!: There are numerous jabs at Wyclef Jean for allegedly using his charity as his own personal ATM.
- Technology Marches On: In-universe example; Frank is amazed by Dennis and Dee's smartphones, given that such technology still seemed a long way off in 2006.
- Would Hit a Girl: Charlie attempts to throw the Waitress out of his apartment window, as he believes it'll send her back to 2006 so they can start over.
