"Something stinks here, Charlie, and it ain't just the fish."
— Frank
When Mac and Dennis enlist Dee's help to spy on the Chinese cannery across the street from Paddy's, Frank and Charlie become suspicious and decide to do a little spying of their own.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Bloody Hilarious: Dee ends up covered in fish guts after getting her hair caught in a piece of machinery.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: The gang claim to have no recollection of the time they tied a waiter's shoelaces together and caused him to spill spaghetti all over himself.Dennis: I'm to remember every man I've seen fall into a plate of spaghetti?
- Call-Back: Charlie calls Dee "gangly and uncoordinated".
- Cannot Spit It Out: Charlie's attempt at "apologizing" to Mac and Dennis.Charlie: I wanted to apologize about, um... snapping earlier today, with words at you guys, and then I came here to make an apology — apology words.
- Comically Missing the Point: Frank jumps to the rather absurd conclusion that Mac and Dennis having "Asian" and "creampie" in their search history means that both are planning to open a pastry factory with the Chinese.
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Frank and Charlie both wear one during their "secret" meetings at Guigino's
- Continuity Nod:
- It's revealed that Mac and Dennis have been living with Dee since their apartment burned down at the end of the previous season.
- The waiter at Guigino's repeatedly reminds the gang of their previous meeting.
- Frank mentions that he has plenty of experience doing business in Asian countries.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The panic about the Chinese fish factory is a deliberate stand-in for America's panic about China. They worry that it's gotten too rich and powerful, claim that it's spying on them, and create a program to spy on them in retaliation (and Frank secretly starts spying on the group, more concerned about the internal threat). In the end, they all acknowledge that they're dependent on the Chinese factory and trying to shut them down would hurt the bar more than help it.
- Earpiece Conversation: Played for laughs; Charlie is wearing an earpiece allowing him to receive instructions from Frank when he goes to plant the hidden camera at Dee's apartment, but he keeps responding out loud. When Mac and Dennis question him about, he claims he has a spider living in his ear and sending its thoughts to him.Mac: Is it telling you to leave?!Charlie: ...Spider, can I leave?
- Entertainingly Wrong: Frank checks the factory's search history, and discovers a lot of pornography. Even though this is clearly because Mac and Dennis have been stealing the factory's wi-fi, the gang concludes that everyone is just "masturbating constantly".
- Erotic Eating: Frank's video features an attractive model seductively eating a creampie.
- Extreme Omnivore: Charlie claims to eat scales of both the fishy and reptilian varieties.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Charlie and Frank are jealous of what they perceive to be Mac and Dennis's newfound closeness with Dee now that they're all living together.
- Humiliation Conga: Dee suffers one during her stint at the fish factory. First of all she gets her hair caught in a piece of machinery and ends up covered in fish guts, then she inadvertently causes one of the forklifts to crash, and finally she takes a nasty fall from a ladder while trying to spy on Frank's meeting with the manager.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Dee is so desperate to be accepted by Mac and Dennis that she's thrilled to be included in their scheme even though it involves her working in a fish factory.
- Innocent Innuendo: Frank and Charlie have no idea what "creampie" means in a pornographic context and inadvertently say sexually suggestive things as a result.
- I Take Offence to That Last One:Dennis: Flirt with the manager, he'll love how "pretty" and "blonde" you are.Dee: Don't do that! I'm blonde!
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Charlie, when he talks about selling "cream pies" to children.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The rest of the gang berate Dee for getting the factory closed down, driving up the price of fish and cutting off their access to stolen WiFi in the process.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: The entire "creampie" discussion at Guigino's; Charlie is talking about the pastry, while Mac and Dennis are talking about the porn variety.Charlie: Everyone is gonna buy them. Everyone loves them, especially kids!Dennis: Dude, you are gonna get in a lot of trouble.Charlie: Hell no, dude. It's not like I'm gonna do it without the parents' permission.Dennis: No parent would let you...Charlie: Parents are gonna watch! They're gonna be so psyched to see it.
- Parental Incest: Mac and Dennis both comment that they were under the impression Frank and Charlie, who the gang think may be father and son, already masturbated together.
- Show Some Leg: Dennis advises Dee to flirt with the manager at the factory in order to get some info out of him.
- Spy Cam: Charlie and Frank attempt to plant one hidden in a vase of flowers at Dee's apartment so that they can spy on Mac and Dennis.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Mac and Dennis lead Dee to believe that they actually want her help with a scheme for once, when in reality they just want to get her out of her own apartment.
