Charlie: Look at us with our new careers, huh? How about that?
Dee: Well, yours is kinda the same, you know, 'cause you've always sort of been a janitor.
Dee: Well, yours is kinda the same, you know, 'cause you've always sort of been a janitor.
Dee continues her new job as a substitute drama teacher and takes her students on a field trip to Paddy's to watch a screening of the gang's homemade Lethal Weapon sequel. Meanwhile, Charlie uses his new position as the high school janitor to take a troubled student under his wing.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: The second half of the episode is this for the Lethal Weapon series, as well as 80s action movies in general.
- Almighty Janitor: Charlie attempts to be one of these while he's working at the high school, taking it upon himself to mentor the students.
- Awesome Aussie: Riggs, but only as played by Dennis.
- Bad "Bad Acting": All of the gang in their Lethal Weapon movie, but especially Charlie, who Mac and Dennis note they should have cut completely.
- Banned Episode: It's one of five episodes of It's Always Sunny which is no longer available for online purchase or streaming due to its depiction of Blackface/Brownface.note
- Blackface:
- Mac plays Murtaugh in blackface and insists that it's not racist if it's done "tastefully".
- Dee and Charlie get fired when Richie shows up to school in blackface after seeing Lethal Weapon 5.
- Frank plays a Native American villain, which unlike Mac no one in the Gang takes issue with.
- Brick Joke: Dennis mentioned earlier in the season in what appeared to be a throwaway joke that the guys had made their own Lethal Weapon sequel. Here, we get to see the full thing.
- Car Hood Sliding: The gang's Lethal Weapon sequel contains a scene where Frank's and Dennis's characters both perform a hood slide on a car in succession.
- Comically Missing the Point: Frank comments that James Earl Jones "does a good blackface".Dennis: James Earl Jones has a black face! He's a black man!
- Continuity Nod: When Dee asks her class not to tell anyone that she took them to a bar, one of the kids responds that he's been to Paddy's before, referencing the issues the bar has had with underage drinking.
- Cool Teacher: Dee continues her attempts to be one, bringing her students to the bar and promising them a field trip to Broadway.
- Digital Piracy Is Evil: Charlie chastises Richie for filming the gang's movie on his phone.
- Double Standard: While Dennis insists blackface is racist and completely unacceptable, he then chooses to imitate Murtaugh with a stereotypical black voice that sounds absolutely nothing like Danny Glover. He insists this isn't racist when Mac questions it.
- Dennis also notably has no issue with Frank doing Brownface as Lazarus, even complimenting his performance.
- Electric Torture: Dennis-as-Riggs is chained up and tortured with a stun gun by one of Lazarus's mooks (played by Charlie).
- Entertainingly Wrong: Frank thinks James Earl Jones is white because of the scene in Return of the Jedi where Darth Vader's helmet is removed and his face is revealed.
- Erotic Massage: Frank's sex scene starts out with one of these.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Dennis and Charlie both find Mac's use of blackface regrettable, though Dennis has no problem doing a "black voice".
- Extreme Omnivore: Charlie starts eating an orange that one of the students throws in the trash, much to Dee's disgust.Dee: Don't eat trash, Charlie.
Charlie: I'll eat what I wanna eat, okay? - Fan Disservice: Frank gets a full penetrative sex scene with a prostitute in the gang's film, to the horror of the students watching.
- Fan Film: In-Universe, it's revealed that the gang have made their own Lethal Weapon sequel.
- Firing in the Air a Lot: Mac and Dennis as Riggs and Murtaugh do this while visiting their wives' graves at the end of the movie.
- Ham and Cheese: Frank is clearly having the time of his life playing the villain.
- Innocently Insensitive: Mac thinks the problem with historical instances of Blackface is that they were done to mock black people and that if it's done accurately it's okay. No one else agrees with him.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot: Dee delivers a foul-mouthed tirade over the phone to Dennis, Mac and Frank when they call to harass her at work, causing the other teachers to stare at her in shock.Dee: I am a teacher now, okay? Don't ever call me here again. I don't have time for your shit, you dumbass dickbags.
- Mood Whiplash: Dee solemnly announces to her students that Dr. Meyers has passed away before immediately switching gears and cheerily informing them that she was doing a monologue.Student: Okay, I'm confused. So Dr. Meyers isn't dead?
Dee: No, no. No, not dead. Very much alive. But that's the power of acting, do you see what I'm saying? One minute dead, the next minute alive — resurrection. It's all acting! - Multi-Part Episode: Part 2 of "The Gang Gets a New Member" in all but name, resolving the status quo changes that episode ended with.
- Murderous Thighs: Dennis-as-Riggs snaps the neck of the mook torturing him using his thighs.
- Native American Casino: Frank plays a Native American villain who owns a casino in the gang's film.
- The Other Darrin: In-Universe example, played for laughs; Mac and Dennis randomly switch parts halfway through the movie for no real reason.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Mac thinks that blackface can be done tastefully. Taken even further by Frank, who claims that it's all about "making the lips look funny". And while Dennis has a problem with blackface, he doesn't really show any opposition towards having Frank play a stereotypical Native American as a villain.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Charlie has never heard of Insane Clown Posse.Charlie: You have a posse? Well, good. Stick with your insane clown people, and you won't get jumped.
- Prank Call: Mac, Dennis and Frank call up Dee at work for the sole purpose of making pregnancy jokes since she's not around for them to harrass in person anymore.
- Retroactive Recognition: Richie the Juggalo is Paul Walter Hauser.
- So Bad, It's Good: In-Universe, this seems to be the students' response to the gang's movie, with one of them proclaiming it "the greatest movie I've ever seen".
- Special Effects Failure: In-universe, the film is full of this. In particular, the scene in the casino is obviously greenscreen, while the death of the villain's henchman is shown by tossing a ragdoll out of the window (you can clearly see the doll's face).
- Status Quo Is God: By the end of the episode, Dee and Charlie have both been fired from their jobs at the high school.
- Stylistic Suck: Lethal Weapon 5 definitely counts, with its bad special effects and worse acting.
- Unwanted Assistance: Frank tries to defend Mac's use of blackface but only ends up making him look worse, as his views are even more racist.Mac: Stop arguing for me, okay? I got it.
