"Mac, you have gained fifty pounds of fat... Frank, you're talking about marrying hookers. This is ridiculous, what is going on with our group?! We're becoming the gross crew!"
— Dennis
Frank announces his intent to turn his favorite hooker, Roxy, into an honorable woman by marrying her, but Charlie is worried that Roxy only cares about his money. Meanwhile, Dennis becomes concerned that Mac's dramatic weight gain will offset the gang's balance, but a trip to the hospital reveals that they're both in terrible health.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: Of Pretty Woman, naturally. Although it could also be seen as a Deconstruction.
- As Himself: Possibly hinted at with the Tiger Woods impersonator. Dee seems to recognize him as the Donovan McNab impersonator from a previous episode, but it might be that she also realizes that he's Geoffrey Owens, best known for playing Sondra's husband Elvin on The Cosby Show.
- Angry Guard Dog: Discussed at the beginning of the episode, when Dee and Charlie want to get one for the bar.
- Be Yourself: Part of the reason Frank likes Roxy so much is because she accepts him as he is. Mostly because he's paying her, but still.Frank: I love eggs, Charlie. And I love crabs. And I love boiling denim and banging whores, and I don't care if anybody doesn't like that about me, they don't have to stick around... I miss Roxy.
- Big Eater: Mac is almost constantly eating throughout the episode, carrying a literal trash bag full of chimichangas around with him.
- Blood from the Mouth: Charlie ends up projectile vomiting fake blood all over the woman he tries to set Frank up with after swallowing "like, a million" blood capsules.
- Call-Back: Charlie pretends to be a southern gentleman again.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Charlie and Frank boil boxes of denim that they find under the bridge to wear.
- Competition Freak: Mac immediately tries to turn his and Dennis's test results at the hospital into a competition, despite the fact that they're both revealed to be in terrible shape.
- Continuity Nod
- Charlie comments that the last time the gang tried to get a junkyard dog to guard the bar, Dennis got them a cat instead.
- Dennis and Dee's past addiction to crack is referenced when they're both triggered by Roxy smoking crack in front of them. At one point Dennis claims that it's what he wants most in the world.
- Dee recognizes Roxy's client, "Tiger Woods" as the same actor who pretended to be Donovan McNab when she tried out for the Philadelphia Eagles.
- Disposable Sex Worker: Played for dark laughs at the end of the episode when Roxy abruptly keels over from a drug overdose; the gang don't want to deal with the repercussions of a dead hooker being found in Charlie's apartment (with Charlie adding him being covered in (fake) blood would make it look worse), so they drag her out into the hallway and phone in an anonymous tip to 911.
- Due to the Dead: Frank insists on saying a few words about Roxy before the gang dump her body in the hallway.Frank: Roxy, God bless you. You were a good whore. You serviced me like no other whore ever did. Not only my crank, but my heart. And I'm gonna miss ya.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Mac may be delusional about his weight gain, but he's correct when he tells Dennis that aging is inevitable and they won't look like 20 year-olds forever.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The gang find Roxy to be unspeakably crass, and at one point Dee chastises her for calling a male shop assistant "gay boy".
- Fetish: Roxy's client, "Tiger Woods", likes "foot shit". Dee is also convinced to become a "foot girl" after learning how much money she can make just by letting a guy rub her feet.
- Gold Digger: Charlie is concerned that Roxy is only interested in Frank's money and insists that he can do better.
- Hollywood Beauty Standards: Mac's weight gain is contrasted with Dennis' obsession with staying thin. While Mac is diagnosed with diabetes and needs insulin shots now, Dennis' is shown to be highly malnourished and ready to pass out from light activity.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Completely and utterly averted with Roxy; despite Frank's attempts to make an honest woman out of her, she really is every bit as crass and trashy as she first appears.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot: Roxy, to such an extent that she makes Dee look polite and cultured.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Mac, Dennis and Dee have an extended conversation about how they're "getting into their second act" and don't want things to change. They're talking about hitting middle age, but they could easily be talking about the show itself, given that this is the seventh season.
- Lyrical Dissonance: The gang dragging a dead prostitute out of Charlie's apartment to the tune of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman".
- Not So Above It All: Dee is initially quite dismissive of Roxy's lifestyle, but learning she is actually quite loaded from having so many clients gives Dee pause. Then after learning some clients are just looking for a fetish and it isn't all intercourse Dee is more than happy to let a guy massage her feet for a few hundred dollars.
- Off the Wagon: Dee admits that she smoked some crack with Roxy in the car on the way to the apartment. Dennis wonders if there's any left.
- Overly Long Gag: Charlie vomits on his date not once, not twice, but three times. And then, once you think it's finally over, he does it again, this time on Frank.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Charlie apparently wasn't aware that Pretty Woman is a film and is understandably somewhat confused when Dee suggests they "throw a pretty woman" at Roxy.
- Rewatch Bonus: In the scene where Charlie and Frank prepare for their blind date, Charlie can be seen eating what appears to be some kind of candy the whole time; it's actually the blood capsules he'll later projectile vomit all over the unfortunate woman they take out for the evening. Also a subversion of typical foreshadowing, since Charlie never says what they are or why he's eating them until after he's thrown them back up.
- Squick: Dennis, Dee and Charlie have this reaction In-Universe when they hear Frank having loud, enthusiastic sex with Roxy in the back office.
- Stout Strength: Mac claims that he now has this after gaining fifty pounds. Dennis does struggle to move him, but given that Dennis also almost faints from malnutrition a few minutes later that's not really saying a lot.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- In previous episodes, Dennis's diet habits were Played for Laughs. Here, the doctor reveals Dennis's habits have left him with numerous vitamin deficiencies, dehydration, anemia, and low blood pressure.
- Mac's weight gain was also Played for Laughs but then it is revealed that he now has adult onset type 2 diabetes as the result of his massive weight gain and unhealthy eating habits.
- Roxy, who seemingly consumes drugs and alcohol non-stop during all her waking hours, dies when her heart gives out during Frank's proposal.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Happens multiple times when Charlie projectile vomits all over his date.
- Weight Woe: Played with; Mac doesn't really seem to care about his dramatic weight gain - mostly because he's deluded enough to believe that it's muscle - but it has an incredibly negative effect on Dennis, to the point where he almost passes out at the hospital from starving himself.Mac: This is ridiculous, dude, okay? We're getting older, we're not gonna look twenty forever.
Dennis: No, I am gonna look twenty forever, Mac, because the older I get, the more vigilant I become. I don't eat lunch anymore, for instance. And on odd days, I don't eat breakfast. - You Are Fat: Dennis to Mac whenever he insists that he's "cultivating mass".
