Summary
Dory’s friends tour the Stickys factory in an attempt to find their missing friend.
This recap of Search Party season 4, episode 6, “The Thoughtless Woman”, contains spoilers.
Chip’s full name is Charles “Chip” Wreck. I know that’s not the major revelation of this episode but it the one that’s stuck with me the most, purely because it’s a fun joke that the writers have been building up to. Of course, we also find out that Chip is heir to a cinnamon bun fortune (also implied to be a product of incest?).
The ‘Stickys’ revelation comes after Elliott, Drew, and Portia are invited to the factory. Deciding their best course of action is at the company whose logo clearly shows Chip, Elliott (who has the most followers) tweets, “With all due respect, we suspect that the boy on your packaging kidnapped our friend, please advise.” Imagine the intern getting paid to respond to that.
Sticky’s responds with “Kidnapping is a big mood” (because companies love to seem hip) and offer them a tour of their factory. Buying them off with a chauffeur, the Stickys owners convince the gang that they’re totally mistaken. On a factory tour (where they all link hands), they explain the saga of the wrong twink (as the wife explains to her husband what a twink is).
At the end of the tour in Search Party season 4, episode 6, they bring out the supposed face of Stickies — a comically old man who was apparently known for a famous image of “young man smiling at the Hindenburg Blimp as it burst into flames.” The man recounts tales of singing to “Doris Monkey” on the“Lenny Danny Radio Hour,” a total Roy Donk of a show that nevertheless Portia, always wanting to seem cultured, falls for. “I can’t even walk, how can I collect and transport a whole army of rats,” he says, and the gang realize their mistake, and are made to pose for a photo in return.
Of course, as soon as they leave Chip’s parents drop their charade and his father makes some calls to figure out where their son could be. It doesn’t take long for the gang to find out that the whole ‘Lenny Danny Radio Hour’ bit was just a ruse (although Portia has a hilarious moment where she goes on about her affection for Doris Monkey). And then another clue falls right into their laps.
While the gang has been touring a cinnamon bun factory, Dory has been having dreams about being a butterfly (Chip counters with his own dream about being on the cover of “Pathetic Magazine”). The hypnosis apparently worked, and she is finally at peace with herself — or at least the version of herself that only exists at the moment. Her guilt is gone, but so is her will to live, especially as Dory.
As a treat to his newly “reformed” guest/prisoner, Chip offers her a wig and they go into town in search of ice cream. Chip is overjoyed to have a friend he can brag about, but his mood changes when he discovers the ice cream place has closed. They go to another store, where they run into Mark, Dory’s ex, who is surprised and delighted to see Dory. She doesn’t return the favor, and he mistakes her iciness for a sense of kinship to Elliott. Nevertheless, he can’t leave without a selfie…which might be the very thing that will lead the gang to Dory.
As they look at Mark’s selfie, Portia congratulates themselves: “We put our minds to something…and we did it. We found Dory.” But Dory, by her own words, is dead.
Search Party season 4, episode 6, “The Thoughtless Woman” Notes:
- A Caramel Balsamic swirl does sound pretty cool.
- “We’re going to this queer tennis tournament,” Elliott says in a lie to escape the factory.
- Babyfoot is the “only town that will let you bypass federal laws and let you cut them down from the protected forest nearby,” according to Mark.
