"What is this, like some kind of socialist country or some kind of communist dictatorship? This is insane, this is un-American! You don't pay for health insurance, that's crazy!"
— Charlie
When Dee has a heart attack and discovers that Frank took her and Dennis off his health insurance, the twins hit the gym in an attempt to get themselves in better shape. Meanwhile Charlie and Mac get mailroom jobs for the health benefits package, and Frank ends up in a mental hospital after overdosing on anti-anxiety medication.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: It's revealed that Frank took the twins off his health insurance when they were nine, and never even bothered to tell them about it.
- Actor Allusion: Frank's subplot is an allusion to the fact that Danny DeVito was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Moreover, the actor who plays the Native American, Tim Sampson, was the son of Will Sampson, who played Chief in the film adaptation, and Tim played Chief himself in the play adaptation.
- All for Nothing: As Mac points out, his and Charlie's plan to get health insurance by getting office jobs became pointless with their firing.
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Mac attempts this by sitting at the desk of someone on vacation. It falls apart as soon the guy calls the office to check his voicemail.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Both Mac and Charlie take to smoking as they begin to crack under the stresses of their new jobs.
- Control Freak: Right as Dennis and Dee walk into their first class, the first thing Dennis does is turn off the music with intention of replacing it with one of his own CDs. When the teacher tells them that they can't do that, Dee accuses him of making all about himself.
- Corporate Conspiracy: Parodied; After working in the mail room for several days, Charlie believes he's uncovered one involving fake employees and a mysterious figure named Pepe Silvia, tipped off by a Man In Black-esque guy named Barney - who is actually a stress and caffeine-fueled hallucination.
- Cosmetic Horror: Dennis ends up with a swollen eye after Dee misreads the instructions, which were in Spanish, and injects him with collagen instead of botox.
- False Reassurance: After his "Pepe Silvia" rant, Charlie assuages Mac's fears that they are going to get fired... by revealing that they've already been fired. Charlie noticed their pink slips pop up in the mailroom a few days ago, so he mailed them "half way to Siberia".
- Fan Disservice: Frank takes to wearing an open hospital gown which he claims "lets his ass breathe," revealing a glimpse of his bare backside.
- Freak Out: Mac starts having a panic attack after he gets busted for impersonating a vacationing employee, and again after finding out that he and Charlie have lost their mailroom jobs.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: Averted; Dee just complains that she's not feeling too good before passing out, and nobody realizes it's a heart attack until she's admitted to hospital.
- Insane Troll Logic: Charlie's "system" for sorting the mail.Charlie: The mail goes into three sections according to how important I think the thing looks, okay? Now the least important stuff, I'm gonna burn that. If it's important they're gonna send it again, right? The middle important stuff, I put that back in the mail addressed to me, so I buy myself a couple more days. And the most important stuff, that gets delivered. Although you know something, Mac, I actually burn that too most of the time.
- Mac thinks if he just declares one of the private offices whose occupant is currently on vacation as his own, it'll make him qualified enough for a promotion to the occupant's title and by the time anyone figures out something's off, he's already figured out a way to save the company millions and they'll have no choice but to make the promotion official.
- Irony: Charlie complains about the U.S healthcare system, comparing the lack of healthcare to socialist countries. Socialist countries, of course, have universal healthcare.
- It's All About Me: The guys typically react to the news that Dee has suffered a heart attack by making it about them.Dee: I just had a heart attack, can we focus on me for two minutes, here?!
Mac: Dee, your ship has sailed, okay? It's time to move on to us, the people who are going to live on. - Mushroom Samba: Frank after overdosing on anti-anxiety medication.
- Potty Failure: The police officer who finds Frank wandering the streets informs the mental health nurse that he's "crapped his pants".
- Pyromaniac: It really says a lot that the majority of Charlie's mail system involves burning the mail.
- Ridiculous Procrastinator: When Dennis and Dee decide to join a fitness center, they continue to find excuses not to put any of the work in before eventually abandoning it all entirely and resorting to using illegal supplements.
- Room Full of Crazy: Charlie turns the mailroom into one.
- Sanity Slippage: Charlie gets increasingly unhinged while he's working in the mailroom, to the point where he's inventing corporate conspiracy theories and having hallucinations of a man in a black trench coat called "Barney".
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Charlie informs Mac at the end of the episode that they were actually fired from their mailroom jobs three days ago, rendering everything they've done since then completely pointless.
- Series Continuity Error: Dee finds out that Frank canceled her insurance at age nine in this episode, but she had previously asked to be taken to a hospital (and presumably at least went to a doctor) after breaking her foot in "The Gang Gets Invincible."
- Shout-Out:
- Charlie calls Frank Cheech when he's smoking his bong at the beginning of the episode.
- Mac references the movie The Secret of My Success while explaining his plan to impersonate one of the corporate higher-ups.
- Frank's entire subplot in the mental hospital is a reference to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - which Danny DeVito was actually in.
- Signed Up for the Dental: Mac and Charlie take a minimum wage mailroom gig and are content to split the paycheck between them as they're only interested in the healthcare benefits.
- STD Immunity: Averted once again with Mac, who says that whenever he goes to the doctor "they just give him some antibiotics and the sores clear up", while gesturing at his crotch.
- The Stoner: Frank smokes a bong at the beginning of the episode.
- Street Smart: Mac describes himself and Charlie as such.
- String Theory: Charlie does this to map out the "conspiracy theory" on the walls of the mailroom.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: When Mac starts having a panic attack, Charlie demands that another man in the room, Barney, give Mac a cigarette to help him calm down. When Mac expresses confusion about this, and Charlie points him out to Mac, it's revealed that Charlie had imagined the presence of "Barney".Mac: You've lost your mind. You've lost your goddamn mind, Charlie!
- Toilet Humor: Dennis and Dee both suffer bowel complaints from all the supplements they're taking. Dee complains that she has "explosive diarrhea", while Dennis states he "hasn't taken a shit in days" and later wishes they could trade bowel movements.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Despite Charlie's crackpot theory that "Pepe Silvia" is just one name of a whole group of people in the office that don't exist, Mac debunks his theory by point blank saying that those people are real, and they are in fact wondering where their mail is.
