Dennis: Trust me, if you're feeling any smarter, it's just a classic case of the —
Charlie: Placebo effect. I considered that, but I don't think that's it, Dennis.
Charlie is selected as a test subject in an intelligence study and given a pill which appears to make him smarter and more aware of just how messed up his life is. Meanwhile, Mac, Dennis and Dee attempt to catch a giant rat that's terrorizing the bar, and Frank tries to restore Charlie back to his regular self.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Charlie becomes increasingly arrogant as a result of his perceived increase in intelligence, to the point where he considers himself too good for the rest of the gang and even the Waitress.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Subverted; it's revealed at the end of the episode that the "Mandarin" Charlie has been speaking is actually complete gibberish.
- Book Dumb: While most of Charlie's changes are in arrogance, not intelligence, there are hints (such as him learning about the placebo effect) that if he actually took the time to study, he'd do quite well.
- Call-Back:
- Charlie tries to bash the lab rat at the beginning of the episode. Later, Mac uses Charlie's rat-bashing stick.
- Frank refers to himself and Charlie as the "gruesome twosome".
- Mac once again tries to kiss Dennis, only for Dennis to pull away.
- Casting Couch: Dee offers to sleep with one or both of the scientists if they use her in the experiment due to the 1000 dollar reward for participating in it.
- Clutching Hand Trap: After trying and failing to get Dee's arm out of the wall, the gang realizes that it's only stuck because Dee hasn't let go of the trap (much like in the episode of The Simpsons when Homer gets his arm caught in a vending machine).
- Comically Missing the Point: This exchange:Mac: I'm afraid my friend Dennis confuses book learning with brainpower, but you and me, we know different, huh?Dennis: Uh, you and I.Mac: No, not you and I, him and I. Idiot.
- Continuity Nod: Mac states that Charlie stashes booze in gasoline containers.
- Department of Redundancy Department:Mac: You stupid science bitches couldn't even make my friend more smarter!
- Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Charlie has one in the restaurant where he meets the Waitress.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Although it's revealed that the pills aren't actually making Charlie any more intelligent, he still makes a good point when he claims that the rest of the gang have been exploiting him for years.
- Epic Fail: Dee gets her hand stuck in the wall when she accidentally grabs the gluetrap left out to catch the rat. She, Mac and Dennis spend the rest of the episode puzzling over how to get her free until Frank strolls in and points out that she can just let go of the trap.
- Every Man Has His Price: The Waitress is willing to have dinner with Charlie since Frank paid her five hundred dollars.
- Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Charlie does this with Dennis and Frank after he first starts taking the pills, much to their annoyance.Dennis: Dude, just because you're finishing our sentences doesn't make you s...Dennis and Charlie: ...Intelligent!Dennis: Dammit.
- "Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome: As the title of the episode implies. Subverted at the end, however, when it's revealed that the pills were placebos and weren't actually making Charlie any smarter; just extremely arrogant.
- Foreshadowing: Dennis smugly tells Charlie at the beginning of the episode that any change he's feeling is probably just due to the placebo effect. The ending proves him right.
- When Tang-See says that Charlie's observation that The Gang has been exploting his labor "Completely conforms with Marxist theories about the exploitation of the proletariat", Charlie says nothing for a few seconds, not having any clue what Tang-See is talking about, before simply saying that it completely conforms with it. This is the first hint that Charlie hasn't truly gained any intellect.
- If you actually know Mandarin, then you will tell right away Charlie's speaking gibberish.
- Even some of Charlie's English words are still being used incorrectly or nonsensically if one pays close attention to his "smart" dialogue.
- Friendship Moment: Mac, Dennis, and Dee abandoning their rat-catching duties to relax on the floor and get high on gasoline together, especially given that Dennis and Mac opt to sit on either side of Dee where she has become stuck. By the time Frank finds them they haven't moved, but have begun watching cat and mouse cartoons "to try and find out how kitty cats deal with their rat issues".
- The Heart: Rather cynically lampshaded by Frank, who points out that Charlie is the group's "foundation" and that foundations belong "on the bottom".
- Idiot Ball: Mac, Dee, and Dennis, for contrast with Charlie's supposed Super-Intelligence. Justified, as they had spent the episode huffing gasoline.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Played with. Charlie isn't actually becoming smarter, but the mere belief that he is causes him to push his friends away and lose interest in his old pursuits.
- Intoxication Ensues: Mac, Dennis and Dee all get high on gasoline after Mac suggests that they use it to dissolve the glue and free Dee's hand. The next time we see them, they're sat on the floor in the bar watching cat and mouse cartoons.
- Kiss Diss: Dennis turns away just when Mac is about to move in for the kiss after they spend several seconds swaying together to the "seductive" music that Dennis puts on to try and entice the rat.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Charlie throughout the episode. He claimed to be able to speak Mandarin after listening to a few books on tape, and attempted to build a machine that allowed spiders to talk to cats. Unfortunately, the gang is so stupid that Charlie acting smart is still more than they can handle.
- Magic Feather: Played with; the pills are placebos, but they don't actually do anything to make Charlie more intelligent, just more arrogant.
- Never Learned to Read: Lampshaded when Dennis points out that Charlie is only listening to books on tape because he can't read them.
- Only in It for the Money: Dennis, Mac and Dee don't even attempt to hide the fact that the only reason they want to participate in the study is for the thousand dollar compensation.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Charlie loses interest in the Waitress, the woman he's been obsessed with for years, because of her perceived lack of intelligence relative to his own.
- Pet the Dog: Frank does seem to be genuinely concerned for Charlie, especially when he appears to start having "side effects".
- Even after Charlie is a massive jerk to the Gang, they forgive him without a moment's hesitation once the experiment's true purpose is revealed, and they all happily go off to watch Police Academy together.
- During the presentation about the placebo effect, Dennis, Mac, and Frank sincerely laugh at one of Dee's puns ("Placebo Domingo").
- Shout-Out:
- Mac compares himself to John McClane.
- Frank and Charlie plan to watch Police Academy together.
- Street Smart: Mac insists that it doesn't matter that he never went to college because he has "street smarts".
- Trademark Favorite Food: Charlie attempts to grab the cheese from the lab rat maze at the beginning of the episode. Unlike the rat, he fails to learn that one of the cheeses is booby-trapped after getting shocked three times.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: An In-Universe example. When Charlie comes out to do his presentation at the end of the episode, he adopts a vaguely-British "old man" sound ("I've grown quite weah-ry"). As the Gang puts it: "Is he doing a voice?"
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Flowers for Algernon.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: The episode alludes to the nocebo effect, where people who think their medication has negative symptoms tend to suffer those symptoms even if it doesn't (i.e. going bald while taking cancer treatments, even if they don't cause hair loss). Charlie ends up suffering things like headaches and physical weakness, because he thinks those are the things that would result from his condition.
