"How can you all be so gullible?"
— Frank
Dee and Charlie get roped into a pyramid scheme, while Mac and Dennis end up buying a timeshare. Both parties turn to Frank — who, for unexplained reasons, is stuck inside a coil-shaped playground structure — for business advice, and attempt to get out of their respective predicaments by scamming others.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Innuendo:Dennis: Mac, I think this guy just bent himself over a barrel a little bit.Mac: He did?Dennis: Yeah, for our pleasure.
- Appeal to Flattery: Harris is able to easily manipulate Mac and Dennis into buying a timeshare by appealing to their egos.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Frank gives one to Mac and Dennis that makes the two realize they were scammed.Mac: This asshole tried to sell us one week. We took the prick for three!
Frank: You did?! You took him for three weeks?!
Mac: Dennis thought of it.
Frank: You think he didn't want to sell you as many weeks as possible? - Brief Accent Imitation: Charlie puts on a quick impression of Frank when Dee asks as to his whereabouts:Charlie: He said he had some dream or something. Like, he woke up and he was like "Agh! Chollie, I gotta get to tha playground!" and then he shot out of here.
- Bystander Syndrome: None of the kids at the playground (or their parents) thinks to help Frank out of the coil, and barely seem to acknowledge that he's there.
- Call-Back: Mac and Dennis once again dress up as "Arab" terrorists, this time in an attempt to trigger Ben's PTSD.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': It's revealed at the end of the episode that Da'Maniac is a star seller. Since he's in Dee's downline, she would have been entitled to a huge windfall of cash if not for the fact that she bought her way out of the scheme just moments before.
- The Chessmaster: The gang suspects Frank of pretending to be stuck in the coil while secretly being at the top of the pyramid the entire time. The final scene reveals that this isn't the case, however.
- Comically Missing the Point: For some reason Da'Maniac seems to think that Mac and Dennis's apartment is the timeshare and that he's moving in with them.
- Continuity Nod: Da'Maniac returns and gets involved in the gang's pyramid scheme.
- Could Say It, But...: Harris states that he's glad Mac and Dennis didn't notice the opt-out clause in their contract while very obviously pointing at it. Of course, they're just dumb enough to fall for it and end up paying the two thousand dollar fee to get out of the timeshare.
- Distinction Without a Difference: Dee and Charlie try to point out to Frank that Invigaron is not a pyramid scheme, but instead uses a "reverse-funnel" model where the seller at the bottom makes money off the other sellers on top. Both only realize what they've gotten into after Frank simply tells them to turn the brochure upside down.
- The Ditz:
- The gang all decide to target Ben the soldier as he's even more of an idiot than they are.
- Charlie's helpful edits to Dee's video show how little he understands the situation. In them, he claims to be a person named Andy who owns "Andy's Mountain"
, and then flat-out admits they're participating in a pyramid scheme.
- Gilligan Cut: Used at the very end of the episode.Charlie: Wherever [Frank] is, he's having a real good time.(Cut to Frank still stuck in the coil, now with children climbing all over him.)
- One at the beginning as well.Mac: You won't see us gettin' scammed!
Dennis: No way! [laughs]
Title card
- One at the beginning as well.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Frank spends the entire episode stuck in a playground coil for unknown reasons. The rest of the gang decide to leave him there for leverage purposes so that he'll have no choice but to help them with their business decisions.
- Insistent Terminology: It's not a pyramid scheme, it's a "reverse funnel system".Frank: Turn it upside down.Dee: Goddammit!
- Night-Vision Goggles: Dee and Charlie's plan to trigger Ben's PTSD involves dressing up as black ops and bursting into his apartment wearing these. Their POV is the usual night-vision green, which doesn't change when they enter his fully lit bedroom (real ones would bleach out and turn everything bright white).
- Noodle Incident: It's never actually explained just how Frank came to be stuck in a playground coil in his underwear, and he refuses to explain it:Dennis: "So, how... did this happen, Frank?"Frank: "How does anything happen? Just get past it, would ya?!"
- Not Me This Time: The gang suspects Frank is secretly at the top of the pyramid and has been pretending to be stuck in the coil to manipulate them so he can profit. The ending shows he really wasn't involved and is truly stuck in there.
- Not So Above It All: Mac and Dennis initially mock Dee and Charlie for being gullible enough to get involved with the pyramid scheme and state that they're only going to the presentation in the hopes of scoring some free golf clubs, but they're quickly suckered into signing up for a timeshare.
- Only Sane Man: Frank is the only member of the gang who immediately realizes the others are being scammed, and asks how they can all be so gullible.
- Phrase Catcher: The two halves of the gang independently come to refer to Frank as "naked and stuck in a coil."
- Riddle for the Ages: Just how did Frank end up stuck in a children's playground wearing nothing but his underwear and a pair of crocs?
- Running Gag: A tape made by the gang once again shows footage from previous tapes that have been edited over, including Dee's attempt at a viral video using her "Crazy Paddy" character, Mac's "Project Badass" stunts and Dennis's bid to become a comptroller.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Averted with Ben; the gang attempt to trigger his PTSD, but it turns out that he's a computer programmer for the military and he actually had quite a nice time while he was on tour.
- Shout-Out: Charlie asks why Ben is dressed like Ebenezer Scrooge.
- Snake Oil Salesman: Charlie and Dee end up peddling mysterious stress-reducing berries after getting roped into a pyramid scheme.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Both Charlie and Ben ask where they're supposed to put their feet when Dee measures their "stress levels".Dee: The feet go wherever. What is it with the feet?
- Stylistic Suck: Dee and Charlie's Invigaron presentation, which is just badly-edited footage of them standing in front of green screen backgrounds.
- Trauma Button: The Gang tries to push Ben's. Unfortunately for them, Ben had a fun time in the military and doesn't experience PTSD.
- Da'Maniac, however, does have his mental problems triggered by their efforts, leading to him trashing Mac and Dennis' apartment.
- We Should Get Another Tape: Oddly enough, the resulting high-speed Clip Show almost makes a better sales pitch than Dee and Charlie's.Dee (as an Irish clown): You won't need a pot of gold—Mac (helmeted, on a bike): —but still amazingly badass—Dennis (reading a Word Salad political speech): —so do.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Dennis makes a comment to this effect after Dee gives a whole spiel about how the berries enable alpacas to survive the winter.Dennis: So is that the only superpower you get? Surviving winters? Because I've survived many winters without these berries.
