Summary
DTF St. Louis doesn’t reveal a great amount of information in “The Denny’s Plan”, but it does bring us right up to Floyd’s death, leaving things perfectly positioned for the finale.
In many ways, “The Denny’s Plan” is the weakest episode of DTF St. Louis thus far. That sounds like more of a criticism than it’s intended to be, though. Episode 6 might not have a standout moment of exemplary weirdness — unless you count Clark trying to recruit a gay man to become aroused for Floyd in the most obtuse manner possible — but it does reveal a lot about Floyd’s headspace before he met his untimely demise, filling in some important blanks and, perhaps most vitally of all, getting all of the pieces in position for next week’s finale.
The primary pull here is seeing the impressively unflappable Floyd reach his lowest ebb. And it’s pretty crushing, truth be told. Remember the idea he floated to Clark about reversing the dynamic with Carol so he could get “full on” and feel better about himself? Well, we see that effort in “The Denny’s Plan”, and it backfires so considerably that it sends Floyd into a psychological tailspin. With Clark watching from the closet, Floyd tries to awkwardly mount his wife, and she describes the experience of being underneath him as something she feels a strong compulsion to “squirm” free from. Squirm!
We probably shouldn’t entirely discount Carol as the prime suspect in Floyd’s death. I still suspect that the obviousness with which she stood to benefit suggests she’s a red herring, but she’s also visibly unmoved by how much obvious upset her comments cause Floyd, and even with the extra clarity this episode provides, it doesn’t bring us any closer to figuring out who’s guilty. Her general disinterest leaves Clark to pick up the pieces, trying to make Floyd feel better about the terribly embarrassing incident, which is what led to the creation of the Tiger Tiger DTF profile.
Floyd was spiralling, Clark eventually explains to Plumb and Homer, despite having officially told his attorney that he would say no more about the subject. It’s Plumb pushing him about Floyd being an active participant in the affair that loosens his lips. The use of the word “squirm” in a sexual context was impossible for him to reconcile, though granted his most devastating behaviours are missing a day using the skate park’s hostile architecture for a gymnastics routine, and dumping his PB Chocolate Love in the trash — before quickly fishing it out and shifting it over to the recycling bin.
Clark’s reticence to speak stems from Floyd’s desire to ensure Richard never found out about the throuple thing. But he decides to open up anyway. He relays how his own desire for an affair came from experiencing a minor panic attack during a weather broadcast that compelled him to randomly shout the word “Beware!” and then break out into a minor karate routine. It’s very funny — it’s also the credits sequence, which is a nifty bit of recontextualising — but for Clark it was alarming. He happened to meet Carol right after. The pieces fell together.
DTF St. Louis also reveals some minor details in Episode 6, such as Floyd’s weird-sounding “what you’re doing with Carol isn’t right, bro” text really being criticism of Clark’s sexual performance. But the big reveal is the whole deal with Tiger Tiger. Clark set up the fake account and matched with Floyd on the app to give him a bit of a boost, not expecting him to want to meet up since the account was clearly a man. But Floyd was so rattled by his recent experiences that he genuinely considered it. He started rationalising the honesty of boners and considering that this might be a salve for his sexual invisibility. Clark was stuck. He had to somehow make Tiger Tiger real.
That’s what the titular Denny’s Plan is. While on a business trip in Chicago, Clark found a Denny’s in an area with a high concentration of gay men and planned to eat there for two days until he met someone he could pay to get aroused for Floyd. His halting conversation with the server is a thing of comedic beauty, but it’s a random guy sitting on a nearby table who ultimately takes the offer. However, in a crushing moment, he happens to see Floyd falling over while running topless and immediately decides against it. Floyd witnesses the exchange, and Clark has to come clean about the whole thing being a setup of his design, only crushing poor Floyd even further. At least Tiger Tiger’s trip wasn’t wasted, since he managed to make time for a sensory play rendezvous at a roller rink (with Modern Love, obviously).
So, as we head into the finale, here are the main things we need to consider:
- Plumb is still waiting for Carol’s sealed conviction to be uncovered.
- Floyd knew that Tiger Tiger wasn’t real, so it doesn’t make sense that he’d have been at the pool to meet with him.
- Carol still stood to benefit immensely from Floyd’s death.
Should be fun.
