Chelsea wants to take a trip to Illinois with Charlie so he can meet her parents. Charlie pretends that he has a colonoscopy scheduled for the day she wants to go in order to avoid the trip, but when she insists on taking him to the hospital personally, he manages to schedule a real one.
Tropes
- All for Nothing: Charlie goes through the trouble of scheduling a colonoscopy, with all the unpleasant and painful preparation such a procedure brings, just to get out of a trip to see Chelsea's parents. Chelsea has her parents flown in to Charlie's place immediately after the procedure, so he ends up having to spend time with them anyway.
- Armoured Closet Gay: Chelsea's father has derogatory things to say about homosexuals and has been happily married with a woman for 42 years. By the end of the episode, he's come out as gay and leaves his wife for a man.
- Bad Liar: Zig-zagged. Charlie's lie about having a colonoscopy scheduled for the day Chelsea wanted to fly out to Illinois with him isn't sold especially well, but at first, Chelsea seems like she buys it completely. A little later, however, she makes it clear that she knows it was a lie.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Both of Chelsea's parents have a low opinion of homosexuals, although her father is a closeted homosexual himself.
- Inappropriate Hunger: Charlie, after flushing out his system to prepare for his colonoscopy, remarks that his anus is so inflamed you could roast a marshmallow on it. Jake gets a craving for S'mores immediately after.
- Mocking Music: When Charlie is frantically trying to schedule a colonoscopy on short notice, he's put on hold by the hospital. Their hold music is 'Tunnel of Love' by Bruce Springsteen.
- Racist Grandma: Chelsea's mother apparently got upset on the flight to California because the pilot was black.
- Retcon: A season six episode established that Charlie had gotten a colonoscopy before, but this episode has him act as if this is his first one, unfamiliar with the preparation process.
