When it comes to Ron and Mike's quest to unravel the Tecca conspiracy, their journey is akin to navigating a labyrinth, with every step forward met by two backward, and perhaps even an unexpected leap into another dimension. As The Chair Company nears its midpoint, the depths of the mystery remain shrouded in uncertainty, but the ride is thrilling nonetheless.
This episode finds Fisher Robay largely absent, with Ron's presence limited to a brief glimpse overseeing the mall development. Douglas, fresh from his days trapped under a refrigerator, returns to work in a wheelchair he's supposed to use for two to eight months. Yet, he seems to relish using his new disability as a means to assert authority on ADA compliance and the perils of leaving bags on the office floor. His tearful speech about surviving on frozen food is difficult to decipher, perhaps because he also uses it as a way to evade the mistakes that offended everyone.
Ron's mind is elsewhere, preoccupied with the looming meeting Brenda suggests they have. While he's free now, he's clearly stressed about what it could mean, but prefers to put it off until Jeff is around. (This is one of my pet peeves.) We'll have to wait with Ron to unravel the mystery.
The episode's focal point, of course, is the follow-up on Ken Tucker's lead from Steven Droyco. It turns out that Droyco didn't actually find the real man; he merely spotted him as a model playing Humpty Dumpty in a "spot the difference" game at a bar. This confirms our suspicion that Red Ball Global Media is a shell company with models and fake bios on their website. The meeting with Droyco also explains an earlier eerie occurrence: He was the one at the abandoned Tecca building who screamed when Ron was there a few weeks ago. It turns out Droyco got his hand caught in a pipe while testing a revenge plan: snatching his boss's turds from the pipes and returning them to his desk. He sought justice for being forced to work naked—a claim that clearly wasn't true.
Droyco's experiences should serve as the most concrete eyewitness proof of Tecca's corruption and evil, but it's hard to know how seriously to take his insane stories, even as Ron seems skeptical. Everything that comes out of Droyco's mouth sounds fake and nonsensical, like the detail that "it turned out [he] was supposed to be the boss." Thankfully, Mike's erotic obsession with the "gorgeous women" in the game allows him to figure out the real name for the model who played Humpty Dumpty and Ken Tucker: Oliver Probblo. And he manages to find the guy too, in a sketchy town outside Dayton where Mike seemingly used to live.
Thus begins a night of harrowing encounters and trauma both physical and mental, starting with Ron and Mike's trip to meet Oliver at a bar after one of his shows. He plays Scrooge in a yearly production of A Christmas Carol, but likes to stay sharp in the off-season by performing in places like jails.
It transpires that the man in question is as bizarre as one might expect—for instance, his drama coach has locked herself in his bedroom and is squatting there. Oliver provides just enough information to keep Ron on this delusional quest, explaining that the Red Ball Global photos were taken during an exercise for "life of the party" classes. He offers another name for Ron and Mike to track down: "Maggie S.," who had the photos taken and assigned everyone their staff roles. He even offers to get her full name from the emails on his iPad—but alas, due to a confluence of unfortunate events unrelated to the actual task at hand, this does not happen.
Event one sees Ron attempting to be helpful by pointing out to a man (credited as Dale) that his sleeve is "almost going in soup." This completely sets the guy off, presumably due to his coke-fueled state. Relatedly, event two finds Oliver buying some coke in the restroom but using Scrooge money, which the dealer notices a minute later. These two conflicts heat up quickly, with Dale plunging his elbow into the soup and then getting in Ron's face, telling him to kiss it. Pushed to his limit, Ron's violent side emerges—if you can call bopping a man on his dented head "violent." Then Oliver splashes his blameless girlfriend in the face, and the three men flee, chased by a group of enraged barflies.
Again, none of this has anything to do with Tecca or shell companies or drug trafficking. It's just a crazy, surreal, stupid situation that Ron gets into by seeking out the shadiest people possible in pursuit of something that might not really exist. And it continues at Oliver's apartment, where their attackers find them and the chaos ratchets up to intense levels. Oliver eliminates one pole-climbing threat by plopping a hat on his head, leading to a big fall—then takes this as an opportunity to evict his squatter. A good Samaritan neighbor steps in to pull men off men. The drug dealer steals Oliver's iPad, stopping the search for Maggie S.'s name. (As if he can't access his emails any other way.) Chasing after the guy only gets Ron into another weird situation: He catches the building super in a back room cheating on his wife and gets pressured into kissing the girlfriend on camera as leverage. To cap it off, the drug dealer knocks him out.
This is hands down the craziest thing Ron has gone through yet on this show, and it's even crazier that he thinks he can keep it all a secret from his family. Barb, Seth, and Natalie aren't in the episode all that much, but there are seeds planted for future weeks: Seth, for example, seems to be seeking Tara's counsel about breaking something to his parents. And Natalie is still justifiably concerned about her dad, calling him up during his night from hell and getting no information from him. He even requests that Mike move his phone because he doesn't want Natalie to know he's in the hospital. So much for transparency with her about what he's up to.
Titled "I Won. Zoom In," the episode derives its moniker from Mike's text messages, marking a pivotal moment in the series as it peels back the layers to unveil the true nature of this character. Notably, Ron refers to Mike as his brother in the hospital room, highlighting a growing bond of trust and reliance, even if he knows better than to indulge in the spicy chicken that Mike has stashed in his fridge. Mike, on the other hand, seems to crave a brotherly connection with Ron, perhaps because he has so few people to share his daily life with. The scene where he reaches for the steering wheel is absurd and misguided, but it underscores a yearning for playfulness and camaraderie that he lacks with his estranged daughter, Lynette.
As they make their way home from the hospital, Mike shares with Ron that he no longer desires payment for his services. He yearns to be a good, selfless person now, unlike Ebenezer Scrooge, who looks back on a life of misery and unkindness. Later that evening, as they exchange grateful texts and ponder their next move, John Solomon's script takes a final dip into the realm of humor and indelible imagery. Continuing Mike's penchant for sad-and-horny storytelling, the adaptation of A Christmas Carol he's watching turns out to be a pornographic version. The episode ends with the startling image of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come putting Scrooge's enormous dick in her mouth. Surely, why not?
