"It's actually really sad, but once your brain's a piece of shit it's always a piece of shit."
— Dee
The gang is divided when their old friend "Psycho" Pete is released from his stay in a mental institution: Mac and Charlie enlist Cricket's help to relieve Pete of his guilt and return him to the "fun psycho" they remember, while Dennis and Dee worry that he's a threat to their safety and attempt to get him re-institutionalized. Meanwhile, Frank tries to track down the "frog kid" he befriended during his own stay at the asylum but ends up discovering a disturbing truth.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ambiguously Bi: Cricket notes he's "open to it" in a suggestive way when he informs Pete that he'll exchange sex for beer.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Played for laughs; Mac spins a theory that Pete is possessed by the devil but chastises Charlie conflating belief in demons with goblins and ghouls. Lampshaded by Cricket - an ex-priest - who says that they're all made up. Cue Mac threatening Cricket’s eye.
- Armored Closet Gay: Mac says that he feels guilty all the time for his "thoughts and urges".
- Berserk Button: Mac and Charlie thinks that creatures like demons, ghouls, and goblins are real and take offense when Cricket points out that they're all fake.Cricket: Well, they're all made up.
Mac: THAT'S WHY HE BURNED YOUR FACE YOU SON OF A BITCH!!! - Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Mac and Charlie describing Pete's crimes to Cricket:Mac: He used to, um, scream in babies' faces.
Cricket: Well, that's just funny.
Charlie: Okay, you know what he used to do, he used to gather like cats and dogs, and then like put them into like a little room and have them battle it out.
Cricket: That's just cats' and dogs' nature to fight, so I don't see a problem with that.
Mac: Oh, also, he murdered and ate his family. - But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Cricket tells the gang that his face was burned at their Thanksgiving party, they can't even remember him being there.
- Call-Back: Dee says that Frank has "unzipped" when he starts ranting about the frog kid.
- Canis Latinicus: Referenced; Cricket says that he doesn't actually know any Latin for the exorcism, but he can just make some up.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Frank mentions that kids who escaped from his "nitwit school" were chased by guards carrying dog nets, which Dennis and Dee find ridiculous. Frank later meets his childhood psychiatrist, who actually still has one of the dog nets.
- Confessional: Mac and Charlie use the men's bathroom in Paddy's as a makeshift one in an attempt to relieve Pete's guilt and get their "fun psycho" back.
- Continuity Nod:
- Psycho Pete was first mentioned back in "The High School Reunion" as the ringleader of Mac and Charlie's old gang who was institutionalized for killing and eating his family.
- Frank realizes that the mental institution where Pete was released from was also the "nitwit school" he got sent to as a kid. Dee asks if it was the same school that gave him a certificate to prove he doesn't have "donkey brains".
- Half of Cricket's face is now horrifically burned, an injury he claims to have gotten at the gang's Thanksgiving party.
- Pete asks about the glory hole in the bathroom stall, and Cricket uses the viewing slot during his "confession".
- Dee mentions that she burned her college roommate.
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: What Dennis threatens to do Dee when he's enraged by her terrible acting.Dennis: You say another word and I swear to God, I will dice you into a million little pieces. And put those pieces in a box. A glass box, that I will display on my mantel.
- Demonic Possession: Mac decides that Pete is possessed by the devil and the only way to get the old Pete back is to exorcise him.
- Every Man Has His Price: Cricket agrees to help Mac and Charlie after they bribe him with beer.
- Everyone Has Standards: Cricket laughs when told that the man he is absolving used to scream at babies but is utterly appalled when he realizes the man is Psycho Pete and refuses to absolve someone he believes murdered his family.
- First-Name Basis: Pete addresses Mac by his given first name, Ronald.
- Gentle Giant: What Pete is ultimately revealed to be; despite his fearsome reputation and somewhat intimidating build, he's actually just a soft-spoken, rather timid man struggling with anxiety and depression.
- Herr Doktor: The psychiatrist who treated Frank as a child has a vaguely German accent.
- Hollywood Psych: In-universe example; Dee fakes having multiple personalities and then claims to be schizophrenic. Even more egregious since she was a psych major in college, though she admittedly failed all her classes.
- Hypocritical Humor: Dennis describing Pete as a "very dangerous, very unstable man", moments after threatening to kill Dee and turn her skin into luggage.
- I Have to Go Iron My Dog: Dennis, Dee and Frank's hilariously transparent excuses for leaving the bar after they're left alone with Pete.Dennis: You know, we had the, uh... Oh, jeez, and that's right now!
Dee: Shoot, I wish I could stay... - Kick the Dog: According to Mac and Charlie, Pete used to scream in babies faces and make stray dogs and cats fight.
- Mercy Kill: Frank states that he's going to put Pete out of his misery while brandishing his gun, thinking that it's only a matter of time before seemingly cured psychopaths revert back to their earlier behaviour and now that he's found out that he was Froggy, states that all he'll do when he reverts is just eat a couple of flies but when Pete reverts, they'll have another massacre on their hands.
- Opinion Flip Flop: Dennis does this multiple times in the space of a single conversation.Dee: What, so they just cut all the loonies loose?
Dennis: What?! How could they do that? That's insane!
Dee: I guess it was either that or raise our taxes.
Dennis: What?! Raise my taxes? Come on, how much do these vultures need? I already pay a ton in taxes.
Dee: Well, then I guess they're gonna have to shut down more of these places.
Dennis: What?! Shut down more of these — we gotta have somewhere to send our lunatics!
Dee: ...Well, then we're going to have to pay more in taxes.
Dennis: What?! I'm not paying more in taxes, Dee! I won't do it! Don't speak of it again! - Put on a Bus: The gang's "solution" to their Pete problem at the end of the episode is to put him on a one-way train to LA.
- Right Behind Me: The gang spent several minutes discussing the fact that they don't want a dangerous psychopath like Pete hanging around before they realize that the large, awkward man hovering behind them is none other than Pete himself.
- Sex for Services: Cricket offers to let people "inside of me" in exchange for a six pack of beer.
- Shout-Out:
- Charlie asks Cricket if he's doing a Phantom of the Opera thing when he sees the latter's hooded robe.
- Dennis asks Dee if she's trying to do A Streetcar Named Desire when she starts her "acting" in the psychiatrist's office.
- The Sociopath: Dennis calmly threatens to skin Dee and turn her skin into luggage, which certain catches the psychiatrist's attention. This is ultimately subverted, however, as he's diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, not antisocial personality disorder.Dee: ...Are you saying you have a collection of skin luggage?
Dennis: Of course I'm not, Dee, don't be ridiculous. Think of the smell! You haven't thought of the smell, you bitch! Now, you say another word and I swear to God I will dice you into a million little pieces... and put those pieces in a box. A glass box... that I will display on my mantel. - Throw the Dog a Bone: The Gang getting rid of Pete by sending him off to Los Angeles would be a standard Kick the Dog moment for them...except Pete is actually grateful for the chance at a fresh start.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Played for laughs in Frank's subplot, when he's eventually made to realize that he was the frog kid all along. Frank...takes it rather well, actually.Frank: Oh, yeah. I see that. I remember that now.
- Too Much Information: Mac and Charlie's reactions to Cricket constantly telling them about his exploits as a homeless prostitute.Charlie: Is there anything we can do to have you not talk about, like, sucking penises or getting raped in the butt?
Cricket: It just keeps popping up. - Two-Faced: Cricket's face looks mostly normal from one side, but the other side is horribly scarred and disfigured.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: Mac and Charlie are rather disappointed to discover that Pete is now mild-mannered and docile, and seek to bring the "fun psycho" back.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Dee puts on a terrible Southern accent, that slips into a terrible British accent, while she's acting "crazy".
