"This whole thing's gonna be a goddamn fiasco, and I'm gonna enjoy every second of it."
— Dennis
Charlie and his Uncle Jack defend Bill Ponderosa in court when he's sued by the McPoyles for damages done during Liam's wedding to Maureen.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Accuse the Witness: Well, the witness's pet, but it's still in the spirit of this trope.
- And Another Thing...: Charlie makes a solid case about the real perpetrator being the McPoyle family bird. When Pappy points out that he has no evidence of the bird even existing, Charlie seems to admit defeat, before invoking this trope.Charlie: Oh, just one more thing... Your Honor, didn't you request that all the men remove their hats!
- Artistic License – Law: The episode gets everything wrong in how an American court case is handled (probably intentional due to Rule of Funny). This video
by LegalEagle provides most of the examples that are shown below.- The Lawyer and Uncle Jack had never met before this day and Jack tries introducing himself. In Real Life, there is a discovery period where both parties will meet several times and exchange information before the official trial happens.
- The McPoyles are trying to sue Ponderosa for $200 for the damages. Such a small amount would be handled by small claims court and this trial is set in superior court. The Judge would have thrown the case out the moment he read the amount.
- Charlie has no law degree (bird law or otherwise), so he cannot refer to himself as a lawyer in any capacity. Not only would it have landed him in serious trouble, it would cause serious problems for his co-council Jack who actually is a lawyer.
- The Lawyer's opening statement is basically him character assassinating Bill Ponderosa and the Gang, all but admitting that much of what he says is personal. Uncle Jack's opening statement is just accusations of the Lawyer being a liar and his client being innocent with absolutely no context or substance. Both fall under the purview of Character Evidence, which would be thrown out as irrelevant, and in the Lawyer's case paints him as dangerously biased and unprofessional.
- When Dee is put to the stand, Uncle Jack is the first to ask her questions and then the Lawyer asks her. In real court, the plaintiff would be the first to speak to the witness.
- Mac tries to win Bill the case with a "bombshell" like in a lot of courtroom movies. Real court cases do not allow this to happen, the pre-trial discovery is done to ensure there are no surprises during trial. Not only that, but the evidence he acquires all falls under hearsay.
- The Lawyer tries inferring that the traumatic events of the wedding that Bill caused are what caused Maureen to transition into a cat. Since the lawsuit is not for any psychological damages (especially since Maureen isn't a plaintiff in the case), it is completely irrelevant.
- Dennis attempts to try and get the Judge to help him get out of paying alimony to Maureen. If this was real life, the Judge would have had him ejected immediately for causing a disruption while being a civilian in the gallery.
- The Lawyer asks Margaret to show a photo of Mother from the gallery. This would not be allowed, as the Lawyer would have needed to call her to the stand to show evidence, the photograph was not formally entered as evidence and even then it still would have to have been a witness testimony (which it certainly was not).
- Charlie's final argument is made of nothing but speculation, facts that aren't on the record, hearsay, irrelevant testimony, evidence out of the gallery, bringing out new evidence during the closing argument, and conductions an examination of a witness (Belka Maier) while having a different witness on the stand (Pappy McPoyle), essentially breaking every single rule in civil procedure.
- While Charlie was right in that Pappy McPoyle would have needed to remove his hat, physical and mental examinations can only be performed by suitably licensed examiners. If this was real, Charlie would have been tackled by the bailiff the moment he went up to remove the hat.
- The injury the McPoyles are suing for happened over three years earlier in real world time. Even if one assumes the episodes in-universe don't entirely line up with real world time, the statute of limitations for personal injury in Pennsylvania is only two years.
- Ax-Crazy: Pappy McPoyle is way too enthusiastic about seeing the Lawyer's eye get pecked out.
- Blatant Lies: Uncle Jack whenever he's asked if his hands are fake.
- Big Ol' Unibrow: Taken to ridiculous extremes as it's revealed that even the McPoyles' pet bird has one.
- Break the Haughty: This is the first time that the Lawyer hasn't managed to remain two steps ahead of the gang, and by the end of the episode he's lost both the case and an eye.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Charlie's obsession with "bird law" is what ultimately gets the case thrown out of court.
- Call-Back:
- Mac sleeps with Margaret McPoyle again.
- Mac compares himself to "that hero cop Mark Fuhrman".
- The Cameo: Guillermo del Toro reprises his role as Pappy McPoyle.
- Cat Folk: Maureen has gone even further with her transformation into a cat, adding ears, cat eyes and long, clawlike nails.
- The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Charlie's self-proclaimed expertise in the non-existent field of "bird law" ends up paying off, and everything he says about "Poconos swallows" is implied to be completely true in-universe.
- Comically Missing the Point: Charlie brings in an ornithologist from UPenn, seemingly out of the belief that he'll be able to converse with the bird.
- Comically Small Demand: Liam McPoyle lost an eye and is suing Bill for the sum of two hundred dollars.
- Continuity Nod:
- Dennis takes advantage of the situation by trying to get out of having to pay alimony to Maureen.
- The Lawyer asks Dee if she's ever had sex with Bill and accuses her of being one of his prostitutes.
- It's mentioned that Ryan has stabbed Liam before.
- At the end of the episode, the judge announces his next case: Morgan's Steak Delivery vs. Paddy's Pub.
- Bill Ponderosa's son despises him.
- Courtroom Episode: The entire episode takes place in the courtroom.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Maureen talking about her "transition" into becoming a cat and insistence on being referred to in the correct way is reminiscent of the discourse surrounding transgender rights.
- Don't Look At Me: Uncle Jack repeatedly screams "nobody look!" after accidentally flinging one of his fake giant hands across the courtroom.
- Foreshadowing: Charlie mentions a bird theory that he thinks will win the case in one of his first lines, but Bill Ponderosa says he doesn't want to go with that strategy. Charlie ends up winning with his theory.
- Eye Scream: The Lawyer gets one of his eyes pecked out by the McPoyle family bird.
- Here We Go Again!: After getting fed up with everyone's antics, the judge tosses the case out and orders everyone to leave. Unfortunately for him, his next case in the docket is Morgan's Steak Delivery vs. Paddy's Pub and the Gang comes right back inside, to his anger.
- It's All About Me: While Charlie, Frank, and Mac are legitimately trying to get Bill off the hook, Dennis only shows up to try to convince the judge to rule he doesn't have to pay Maureen alimony anymore and Dee testifies on behalf of Bill because he bribed her with a mink coat (and quickly turns on him once it's revealed the coat is actually made of muskrat).
- Jury and Witness Tampering: Bill bribes Dee into retracting her initial statement to the police blaming him for spiking the milk at the wedding by buying her a mink coat. When the Lawyer reveals that the coat was actually made of muskrat, she changes her testimony again, prompting the judge to ask her if she knows what perjury is.
- Large Ham: Guillermo del Toro has only a handful of lines as Pappy McPoyle, but he makes the most of them.Pappy: (to his bird) FLY, MY PET! FLY! (the bird attacks the Lawyer) BRING ME THEIR EYES! (mad laughter) BRING THEM TO ME!
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Invoked by the Lawyer with regard to the McPoyles.The Lawyer: Now, my client is odd. You might even refer to his family as "very creepy". But they are saints compared to Bill Ponderosa and the sordid lot of degenerates he associates with.
- Make the Dog Testify: Charlie tries to do this, but he didn't know ornithologists only understand birds figuratively.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Charlie accuses Pappy McPoyle of doing this.
- Overly Long Gag: Charlie's bird defense argument ends up naming most of the McPoyle family, while there isn't an express Theme Naming to the family when all are said in quick succession it turns into a Tongue Twister: Liam, Ryan, Lion, Margaret, Keith, Doyle, Pappy and Royal McPoyle.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Charlie claims to be "the best goddamn bird lawyer in the world".
- The Perry Mason Method: Downplayed. The witness is incapable of speaking coherently, so the logical contradiction is just "he is wearing a hat, even though the bailiff said that everyone should take them off". The witness still "confesses", though, by attacking someone else—in full view of the court—in the same manner.
- Precision F-Strike: Bill's son tells him to "fuck off".
- Revenge Before Reason: The Lawyer's animosity towards the gang has evolved to a point where he blames them for everything that's wrong with his life, openly accusing them of ruining his first marriage and causing trouble for his second marriage. Not only has the gang never interacted with either of his spouses, but the Lawyer was already in the process of divorcing his first wife well before the gang was even aware of his marital situation.
- Running Gag:
- Bird law.
- Uncle Jack's weird obsession with the size of his hands.
- Maureen's ongoing transformation into a literal cat lady.
- Frank and Dee thinking the Lawyer is Jewish.
- Sanity Ball: Charlie is the only one who has a solid strategy to get Bill off the hook and gets annoyed with his uncle and the Gang's antics.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Once again, Pappy McPoyle shows that he might not be all there in the head.Pappy: I have seen raccoons and oysters dancing in the head of a pin with the angels… they are laughing.
- Sequel Episode: To "The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre".
- Sidetracked by the Analogy: Uncle Jack keeps getting sidetracked and going off on tangents about his hands, which are most definitely real.
- That Came Out Wrong: Dee does this when she bursts into the courtroom and announces that the Lawyer is Jewish (as in, his Great-Grandmother was), only to realize how that sounds.Dee: That makes you a dirty liar, because you are Jewish! ...Okay, that came out kinda bad. I'm not disgusted by Jewish part, it's the lying part that I was talking about! This dirty liar is a Jew ...ish man.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After many losses against the Lawyer, the Gang finally manage to get one over him in this episode.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Subverted via Separated-at-Birth Casting; Lion is mistaken for Ryan by most present, but despite the similarity is *not* played by Nate Mooney, but by Sean Whalen.
