Clancy finds himself unexpectedly meeting his mother within the simulator - all while Magistrate Hoops closes in on his home back in the real world...
Episode's guest: Deneen Fendig
Tropes:
- Afterlife Express: Assuming that he's actually dead and not just stranded in another simulated reality, the bus that arrives to pick up Clancy could be construed as this - especially since it's carrying a whole host of characters who died in previous episodes.
- And the Adventure Continues: Having either escaped into simulated reality full-time or died, Clancy is last seen boarding a bus that carries him off towards a vast nexus of eldritch pathways.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When the cops list Clancy's crimes, the last of them is simply "being stupid!"
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: In their final scenes together, Clancy and his mother dissolve into pure spiritual essence, float out into space and become planets; his mother's planet form even supports a population!
- Back for the Finale: The bus that picks up Clancy at the end of the episode is also carrying Chuck Charles, President Glasses Man, the President's Aide, Peggy and her baby, the Zombie Giant, Annie, Rhagu, the little girl with the antlers, Darryl the fish (plus one cat), Trudi the Love Barbarian, Bob and Jason, David, Death, and the Boatman. It's even being driven by the spoon-playing man from "Annihilation of Hope!"
- Back to the Womb: The ongoing conversation between Clancy and his mother takes an odd turn when the latter abruptly dies of old age... only for a mushroom to sprout from her body, releasing spores that impregnate Clancy. Seconds later, he reaches a full-term pregnancy and gives birth to his now infant-aged mother - and she's clearly maintained her intellect throughout the whole process, for as soon as the umbilical cord's been cut, she immediately continues the conversation they were just having.
- Cool Spaceship: Clancy's mother owns a vast spaceship shaped like a teddy bear, complete with an idyllic (borderline cutesy) internal environment).
- Oh, Crap!:
- Clancy's neighbour when he realizes that the Feds have turned up a little too close for comfort.
- Also, the cops when they find themselves on the receiving end of Clancy's Wobbling simulator. One of them has just enough time to mutter, "aw, dang" before being mangled beyond recognition.
- Face Death with Dignity: Having made peace with her imminent death, Clancy's mother ultimately allows her planet form to fall into the black hole, choosing to meet her end without a hint of fear.
- Fountain of Youth: Upon entering his mother's simulated spaceship, Clancy immediately regresses into a baby and grows up again over the course of the episode.
- Fungus Humongous: Following her initial "death" of old age, Clancy's mother vanishes beneath a massive growth of fungus big enough to take up the entire room.
- Go Out with a Smile: Clancy's mother, current in planet form, falling to pieces and being dragged into the depths of the black hole, bids farewell to Clancy, smiles serenely and then allows herself to disappear beyond the event horizon.
- Kick the Dog: Magistrate Hoops forces Daniel to watch as he murders the Pegasus that escaped from the simulator back in "Hunters Without A Home."
- Literal Transformative Experience: Over the course of the episode, Clancy's self-defensive emotional immaturity is remedied through a combination of his mom's advice and his many transformations - from being regressed to childhood to becoming a planet - allowing him to move beyond his grief and begin his next adventure as a new man.
- Magic Carpet: Variant - the police are riding magic mattresses.
- Mister Seahorse: After Clancy's mom dies of old age towards the middle of the episode, her body erupts into mushrooms and spores - one of which impregnates Clancy, allowing him to rebirth his mother so that they can continue their conversation.
- Moving Beyond Bereavement: Clancy meets his mother in the universe simulator, where it's revealed that she's dying of cancer - finally explaining why he's spent the show so far avoiding reality and panicking whenever the rest of his family reach out to him. Over the course of their time together, Clancy is forced to confront all the issues he didn't want to face as he and his mother discuss life and spirituality, undergoing physical regression, Rapid Aging, death and even rebirth, until the two of them Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence and become planets. In the finale, Clancy's mother is drawn into a black hole, facing death serenely as she bids Clancy farewell; Clancy is emotionally overwhelmed, but he is ultimately able to continue his adventures with a clear heart.
- Police Brutality: Along with allowing Magistrate Hoops to gun down the ice-cream-puking Pegasus in cold blood, the police have no problem with trashing Clancy's trailer, either smashing the contents to pieces or trying to set them on fire... and when they realized that Clancy is actually still in the building, they're fully prepared to shoot him simply for not getting his head out of the simulator in time.
- Rapid Aging: Throughout much of the episode, both Clancy and his mother are aging very swiftly as they continue their interview; having already regressed to infancy at the start, Clancy matures into childhood, adolescence and adulthood, while his mother progresses through middle age, senescence, before finally dying of old age... only to be reborn as a baby and age back to adulthood. By the time they transcend their human bodies, Clancy has aged so much that he has to be helped down the corridor.
- Reality Is Out to Lunch: A combination of the latest simulated adventure, being attacked by cops and used as an emergency exit proves too much for the simulator - resulting in a Wobble that consumes most of the surrounding area, leaving the cops in much the same state as Captain Bryce.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- Clancy becoming a baby at the start of the episode and aging as he learns more from his mom, symbolic of his gradual journey towards emotional maturity.
- The huge mushroom sprouting from the body of Clancy's mother and producing spores that allow her to be reborn through Clancy, symbolizing the continuation of life through death.
- The black hole in the finale is bordered with an ouroboros, indicating that it's not a literal black hole, but a symbolic representation of death and rebirth.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Clancy's neighbour grabs his children and dives into the nearest simulator as soon as the Wobble commences.
- The Topic of Cancer: Clancy's mother is dying of cancer - finally explaining why Clancy has been so determined to avoid discussions of family and escape into simulated adventures.
- Uncertain Doom: Though we clearly see the police getting annihilated by the Wobble, we don't see what becomes of Daniel Hoops and his father, though they were probably still within the blast radius at the time.
- Unrealistic Black Hole: In the finale, the star that Clancy and his mother were headed towards suddenly explodes into a supernova before collapsing into a black hole that begins draining in everything in range, including Clancy and Deneen's planet bodies. Of course, this is clearly meant to be a symbolic example of a blackhole representing the inevitability of death, given that the event horizon of said black hole is bordered by an ouroboros.
