Mac: A great injustice has occurred, okay? Frank committed a hate crime!
Frank: I saved your life!
Frank: I saved your life!
After Frank saves Mac's life by yelling a homophobic slur at him, the gang enlists the help of a professional arbiter in order to decide which of them is the rightful owner of the scratchcard that Mac had in his possession at the time.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Artistic License – History: Mac incorrectly claims that the word "faggot" refers to the historical burning of gay men. The use of the word to refer to gay men can only be traced to the early 20th century, and burning at the stake was not a traditional punishment for homosexuality in England or its colonies. Although its exact etymological origins remain unclear, it's probably derived from its use as an insult for an old woman, thus comparing a gay man to an old woman. Knowing Mac, this is likely intentional.
- Artistic License – Law: As pointed out
by LegalEagle, whether or not Frank committed a hate crime or used hate speech is irrelevant as far as who has legal ownership of ticket. He admits the case is complicated but suggests Dee would actually have the right to sue Mac for the value of the ticket. Dennis could sue Dee to recoup his money she spent on the ticket. Nevertheless, he noted that the episode is generally more accurate to the arbitration process than previous depictions of the legal system on the show. - Blatant Lies: Charlie claims he accidentally stepped in dog poop despite previously pointing out the feces to Mac. He later admits to the arbitrator that he stepped in it intentionally after being called out on the lie.
- Dee gets caught reading books by Dennis and denies it.
- Bittersweet Ending: The gang end up spending the money to pay their bill ending up with only $14 but Mac is finally out of the closet for good.
- Bottle Episode: Aside from the opening scene and a few flashbacks, the entire episode takes place inside the arbiter's office.
- Call-Back: When Mac claims that he was about to backflip to safety when Charlie kicked him out from under the piano, Charlie yells in exasperation that "he's never once flipped!"
- Chekhov's Gun: At the very beginning of the episode, Mac makes an offhanded remark about how he's been using a new exercise bike that's making his ass sore. Later on, Dennis brings the offending bike into the arbiter's office and we see that there's a dildo mounted onto the seat.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Dee has taken to smoking, which she claims is a preventative measure after finding out that she has a 46% chance of developing Parkinson's disease. After spending enough time exposed to the gang's insanity, the arbiter starts smoking with them.
- Cluster F-Bomb: This episode contains some of the foulest language ever used on the show, with the gang dropping uncensored C-bombs, F-bombs and N-bombs while debating whether there are any words that are never appropriate to use.
- Coming-Out Story: Mac comes out at the end of the episode after the arbiter tells him that he's entitled to one hundred percent of the scratchcard winnings if he admits he's gay (since Frank calling him a "faggot" isn't technically a hate crime if he's straight). Unlike last time, he doesn't take it back and instead decides to stay out for good.
- Continuity Nod: Dennis notes that Dee makes less than minimum wage.
- Country Matters: The guys are all rather fond of using the word to "make a woman feel small".
- Dirty Old Man: Frank has mirrors glued to his crocs in order to look up women's skirts in the street.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Mac, Dennis and Dee are all appalled by Frank's use of a homophobic slur, and everybody calls out Charlie when he drops the N-bomb.
- When Mac elaborates on the history of the F-word and points out that it originates from burning gay people alive at the stake, everyone (including Frank) is stunned to the point of silence.
- At the end of the episode, the rest of the gang clarify that while they all hate Mac, it isn't because he's gay.
- Foreshadowing: When talking to Charlie at the start of the episode about his new exercise bike, Mac mentions his ass being sore. Charlie also noticed that he's limping.
- The Friend Nobody Likes:
- The rest of the gang are quick to maintain that they still hate Mac, even though they're happy for him coming out.
Dennis: He's in the closet, he's out of the closet... we don't like you either way!- Nobody cares that Dee has started smoking or has a 46% chance of having Parkinson's disease.
- From the Latin "Intro Ducere": Mac claims the F-slur comes from gay people being burned at the stake. While the word did originally refer to kindling, its use as a slur most likely came from other slang meanings of the term.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: When Mac starts peddling his exercise bike, he states that it's like any other exercise bike... only to step to the side to show a dildo pumping out of the seat.
- Insane Troll Logic: Charlie's absurd explanation as to why he deliberately stepped in dog shit: to cover up the smell of a skunk that he let spray him, which was itself intended to cover up the smell of the cologne he'd used to disguise the fact that he's been smoking with Dee.
- Innocently Insensitive: Charlie drops the N-bomb when Mac asks Frank what word Frank would use to describe the (black) arbitrator if she was the one about to get hit by a piano. However, it's clear that Charlie was answering Mac's question rather than doing it out of actual malice.
- Jailbait Taboo: Dennis boasts about his buying champagne to toast about his being able to finally sleep with a cashier who turned 21.
- N-Word Privileges: The episode examines the question of whether it's ever okay to use a slur after Mac is offended by Frank calling him a faggot even though it saves his life. Additionally, the others are all horrified when Charlie actually does drop the N-word, and Dee is offended by the guys' casual usage of "cunt" to demean women.
- Not so Dire: Dee announces that she has Parkinson's. ...or at least, she's 46% likely to have it, due to her genetic makeup. She claims smoking lowers the risk.
- Not What It Looks Like: Mac insists this of his exercise bike — he claims that it has an arm pop out of the seat to punch you in the butt to keep you from getting tired. (The fist on the arm is very tiny, and none of it explains why he also mentions cycling in shorts with a hole cut in the back.)Dee: Yeah, what it looks like is that you are fucking yourself with a dildo bike.
- After getting the initial setup from the Gang, the first arbiter assumes they are meeting with him because of a hate crime (Frank calling Mac a "faggot"). The Gang make it pointedly clear that they don't care about that: they really care about deciding who owns the scratchcard.
- Pet the Dog: Sort of; the gang agrees to let Mac have his moment of victory and not tell him that they plan to use his lottery winnings to pay for the arbitration fees until the next day.
- Piano Drop: Mac almost gets crushed by a falling piano at the beginning of the episode.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Frank calls Mac a homophobic slur in the act of saving his life, leading the rest of the gang to debate whether he's a hero or if he just committed a hate crime.
- Running Gag: Dennis is up to his old tricks of seducing barely-legal young girls again, this time roping Dee into his scheme.
- Serious Business: The gang hires a professional arbiter to decide which of them is legally entitled to a two dollar scratchcard that they haven't even scratched yet.
- Every member of the gang runs to see if Mac is okay when a piano is dropped over him. Frank warns him and Charlie even risks his own life to kick Mac out of the way.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Mac wins ten thousand dollars after the scratchcard turns out to be a winner, only for it to turn out that the arbitration fees total $9,986 that the gang intends to make him pay, leaving him with just fourteen dollars after all is said and done.
- Sherlock Scan: Played for laughs when Dennis is able to deduce from the contents of Dee's bag that she's been spending the money he's been giving her to tip the young shopgirl he's trying to woo on cigarettes, scratchcards and sour gummy worms.
- Shout-Out: The Ass Pounder 4000 and its reveal are highly reminiscent of Harry Pfarrer's dildo chair in Burn After Reading.
- Skewed Priorities: The Gang doesn't really care about what Frank said or if the lottery ticket actually has a winning combination of numbers on it. The point is that they don't know who currently owns the ticket, making it up for grabs, and thus it is inherently valuable because of this.
- Status Quo Is God: Discussed: after Mac comes out in order to get whole ownership of the scratchcard's winnings (revealed to be $10,000), Dennis and the others tell Mac to just get it over with and go back in the closet, since he will anyway. ...but then...
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The gang goes through three different arbitrators and the entire process is stated to have taken 17 hours and as a result, the bill ends up costing most of the lottery ticket's worth.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: The third arbiter concludes that Mac and Frank should split the scratchcard... but if Mac considered Frank calling him a "faggot" to be a hate crime (meaning admitting he was gay), he'd get all the winnings. Mac immediately jumps at that, and comes out.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Charlie jump kicks Mac in the chest with enough force to knock him out of the way of the falling piano, but no one is impressed.
- Wham Episode: After this episode, Mac is out of the closet for good.
- Wham Line:Frank: Yeah, yeah, sign the paper so you can go back in the closet.
Dee: Yeah.
Frank: Go ahead.
Dennis: You can go back in. Go ahead.
Mac: (smiling) Huh?
Dennis: Well, you signed the thing. You got your money. Just go back in the closet. Just get it over with.
Charlie: We know you're gonna do it, so you might as well just do it.
Mac: Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Maybe...maybe I'll stay out. Yeah. No, I think I'm out now. I'm...I'm gay. - Weight Woe: The gang comments on Dee being too boney while she's developing a pudgy belly.
