"I made my friends disappear."
—Charlie
Charlie is accidentally left behind when the rest of the gang depart for Superbowl LII, leaving him to defend the bar against would-be intruders.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Charlie wishes that the rest of the gang would disappear when Mac is nagging him at the beginning of the episode. He gets his wish, as they end up going to the Superbowl without him when an impostor steals his greenman suit.
- Bear Trap: Charlie spends about half the episode with his leg caught in one after setting it out for any would-be burglars.
- Bloody Hilarious: Charlie loses a lot of blood, and it's almost entirely played for comedy.
- Call-Back:
- Charlie is worried at the beginning of the episode because he can't find his greenman costume.
- Charlie accuses Mac of being a Dallas Cowboys fan to which Mac retorts he just respects Tony Romo.
- Milk steak is mentioned.
- During the montage of Charlie breaking into the others' apartments and going through their stuff, he rides the dildo bike while wearing the duster.
- While suffering the effects of blood loss, Charlie hallucinates sports players giving him advice.
- Chekhov's Gun: Virtually all of the traps that Charlie lays out for the burglars end up coming back to bite him in the ass.
- Continuity Nod: Charlie accuses Mac of being a Cowboys fan.
- Deconstruction: The episode is essentially a realistic depiction of what would happen if someone actually went through the traps in Home Alone without the Looney Tunes-esque physics and Bloodless Carnage keeping them from serious harm.
- Extreme Omnivore: Charlie eats a live rat and drinks his own piss in order to adhere to his "color rituals".
- Halfway Plot Switch: The first half of the episode is set up as an Affectionate Parody of Home Alone, but once Charlie gets caught in his own trap in basically turns into Saw.
- "Home Alone" Antics: Subverted; it seems as though the episode is heading in this direction, but "Harry and Marv" have no intention of robbing the bar and Charlie falls victim to his own traps. However Charlie's Made of Iron nature enables him to survive all the traps without any severe repercussions.
- Insane Troll Logic: While the idea of sports-fans having good luck charms and rituals is nothing new, Charlie seems to believe that his rituals have a full-on, tangible effect on the Eagle's outcome much to Mac's bewilderment.
- Laughing Mad: Charlie after eating a live rat.
- Made of Iron: Charlie gets his leg caught in a bear trap, has a can of paint fall on his head, steps on broken glass and has nails shot into his arm, yet hardly seems any worse for the wear by the end of the episode.
- Mundane Solution: Charlie's hallucinations of Beau Allen and Jason Kelce point out that the bear trap has a release lever, allowing him to free his leg. When Charlie asks why they didn't tell him earlier, they point out that they're just figments of his imagination; they only know about the lever because he knows about the lever.
- Out of Focus: The rest of the gang bar Charlie; Mac, Dee and Frank only appear in the cold open while Dennis is absent entirely.
- Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts: The traps that Charlie sets up could have come straight out of a Saw movie.
- Running Gag: Charlie's various handwritten signs are once again riddled with spelling errors.
- Scream Discretion Shot: Used when Charlie first steps on the trap, as the camera cuts to a shot of Paddy's exterior with his screams playing over the top.
- Shout-Out:
- The entire first half of the episode is one long shout-out to Home Alone.
- The bear trap is a pretty obvious reference to one of the most infamous traps from the Saw franchise.
- Skewed Priorities: Charlie is more concerned about the outcome of the Superbowl than he is about his potentially life-threatening injuries.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: In keeping with the Home Alone theme, the soundtrack for the first half of the episode is comprised entirely of Christmas songs, despite the fact that Superbowl LII took place in February.
- Special Guest: Philadelphia Eagles stars Beau Allen and Jason Kelce appear as themselves as part of Charlie hallucinating cardboard cutouts of their likenesses coming to life.
- Tap on the Head: Charlie is knocked out by a metal paint can landing on his head.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Said verbatim by Charlie when he realizes he needs to cauterize his leg wound.
- Back again when he discovers an alternate method of drinking some yellow.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: When Charlie eats a rat and promptly throws it back up again.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The episode takes place prior to the events of the season premiere, as evidenced by Dennis's absence and Charlie still being with the Waitress.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Home Alone
