"Blackout" is the second episode of Welcome to Flatch's second season.
A blackout in Flatch causes most of the town to gather in the church, which has a generator. Unable to keep their gender-reveal ice cream cake frozen, Nadine and Dylan decide to hold their reveal party on the spot. Father Joe and Cheryl get drunk on Joe's home-brewed beer, which he decided has to be consumed before it gets warm. Shrub agonizes over his dead pet lizard, which he had frozen in hopes that a cure for its disease would some day be found. Meanwhile, Barb Flatch restarts the real estate business that she used to run with her ex-husband.
This episode contains examples of:
- Big Damn Kiss: Cheryl and Father Joe start making out while drunk.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Kelly can't tell Shrub she doesn't want him there.
- Played with, as it turns out Shrub was trying to get Kelly to kick him out, while Kelly was trying to get him to leave.
- Crazy-Prepared: As usual, Big Mandy is this. When she started working at the church, the first thing she did was make sure the generator was functional in case of a blackout. She also made sure that they had a power strip for important electronics, and created a "take a number" system for it.
- Didn't Think This Through: Dylan and Nadine get an ice cream cake, but it quickly starts to melt in a heatwave, with no means of cooling it due to the blackout.
- Determinator: Nadine is determined not to find out the sex of their baby before they have the reveal party.
- Gargle Blaster: Father Joe's beer is likened to "lighter fluid" by Big Mandy. Cheryl and Father Joe get absurdly drunk, and Father Joe says he doesn't even know what the alcohol content is. If it's left in the heat too long, it explodes like a grenade.
- Henpecked Husband: As usual, Dylan is very subservient to Nadine, although he has noticeably become a little more assertive since Season 1.
- Hypocrite Dylan spends the episode insisting he doesn't want to know the gender of their baby, as long as it's happy and healthy, but as soon as it's revealed to be a boy, he lets out a huge cheer.Dylan: "Yes! Yes, thank God!"Nadine: "Dylan!"
- Intergenerational Friendship: Barb and Kelly seem to start one by the end of the episode.
- Intoxication Ensues: Father Joe's beer gets him and Cheryl absurdly drunk.
- Odd Friendship: Barb and Kelly. Barb is a real estate agent who lives a fancy, expensive, "west-coast" lifestyle, while Kelly is jobless and still acts like a teenager in her 20's.
- Pet the Dog: Barb does this for Kelly.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The freezer doesn't have any room for Nadine's cake or Shrub's dead lizard, because the town has more important things to keep in there, such as their seniors' medication.
- Too Dumb to Live: Subverted; many of the town's residents seem to prioritize actual essentials during a blackout.
- Wife Husbandry: Nadine does this to Dylan.
