Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 3 of Animal Control.After wrangling up a record streaming audience in delayed viewing with 4.3 million total multi-platform viewers following its series premiere, Animal Control is fast becoming 2023’s wildcard, and it’s just getting started! Three episodes in and the Joel McHale-led workplace comedy is proving there are layers behind the new sitcom — though, some of those have now been shed after two very unlikely characters hooked up in a moment that brought shock and hilarity.

As the Thursday night comedy follows the shenanigans of a local animal control group from the Northwest Seattle Division, the season’s third episode titled “Cougars and Kangaroos” found Frank (McHale) at the center of a prank from his co-worker, Victoria (Grace Palmer). But while she might have seemingly won this round, Frank now has a deep dark secret he will be keeping from his team as he hooked up with the precinct’s receptionist and office killjoy, Dolores Stubb (Kelli Ogmundson). But how did it happen, and could we see the two paired up again?

Related: 'Animal Control' Review: Joel McHale Shakes Things Up in Fox’s Wildly Playful Workplace Comedy

Why Did Victoria Prank Frank?

Joel McHale's Frank and Michael Rowland's Shred prank precinct rival Templeton (Gerry Dee) in a scene from Animal Control
Image via Fox

In Thursday night’s episode, “Cougars and Kangaroos,” Shred (Michael Rowland) and Frank respond to a local call after concerns from neighborhood residents that a cougar is hiding out in a home’s front yard bushes. However, when the pair arrive to tranquilize the animal, they realize it isn’t real and just a stuffed toy. Taking the opportunity to prank their precinct rival, Templeton (Gerry Dee), the co-workers “humiliate” him by asking for his help. Once he arrives and takes it upon himself to apprehend the cougar while pretentiously boasting about his abilities, Shred and Frank say the animal is not going down even with the tranquilizers, and with the school nearby, they might need to shoot it. Not hesitating to take it down, Templeton shoots at the head of the “cougar,” which explodes into a pillowy cotton cloud.

When word gets back to the precinct about Frank and Shred embarrassing Templeton, Emily (Vella Lovell) informs the pair that their rival has filed a formal complaint against them with HR. Victoria (Grace Palmer) hears about it and tells Frank he’s gone too far and needs to temper his childish antics. Frank disagrees and calls the power struggle between their department and Templeton’s one of the more “necessary forms of workplace justice” because when people like him go unchecked, “they become Vladimir Putin.” Frank adds his stunts are anything but immature and “sometimes the children of light, have to employ the methods of the children of darkness.”

Peeved about his attitude, Victoria asks Amit (Ravi Patel) for help in Frank getting “karmic payback,” to which he suggests she catfish him and play to his weakness — pretending to be the “hot vet” also known as Collette the Vet (Alvina August). With the timing just right and fresh off the heels of her asking the team if they would take part in her vaccination clinic, Victoria pretends to be Collette, sending him texts and asking him if he’d want to get together. Frank, nervous and excited about the prospect of hooking up with Collette even if just for a night, falls into the trap unknowingly.

While the two are texting back and forth amid Shred’s plan to make things right for the child who will be missing the stuffed animal Templeton blew up, Frank gets a message from Collette wanting to meet up for a drink that very evening. Excited and dressed to the absolute nines, Frank arrives at the residence of the “hot vet” only to find Dolores answering the door. Confused, he confides in the receptionist that Collette didn’t seem like the type to prank him to which he then decides to call her, only to discover Victoria answers the phone.

How Did Frank and Dolores Hook Up?

Ravi Patel, Grace Palmer and Joel McHale in a scene from Fox's Animal Control
Image via Fox

While fans might have hoped for Shred and Emily to hook up after he most sweetly got her a high-fiber muffin to aid in anything she might experience like constipation, the two have yet to admit their affection for each other. After all, Shred being kind and simple, is not the type to stray from his girlfriend, who has yet to be seen in the series. But Emily is all in on Shred, even taking her obsession with him so far as to search on Google about his “broken penis” after the former Olympic athlete’s half-pike accident. But as the two figure out their feelings for each other — or at least, Emily — the situation for Frank and Dolores has gotten all the more complicated.

After Victoria confesses she was behind the prank and took his advice about the “children of the light,” Frank is impressed and though he learned nothing except how he can dish it but can’t take it, he will retaliate one of these days. It’s at that moment Frank apologizes to Dolores for being a pawn in Victoria’s “sick games,” but the receptionist is unfazed and asks him to leave the bottle behind, so they can call it even. However, Frank is unwilling to do that because he splurged on the event, so she asks for at least one glass.

While the two begin to talk about things, including Shred’s broken appendage, which Frank has seen many times in the locker room and calls the “pristine” work of a Renaissance artist who killed himself shortly after because nothing could top it, Dolores sighs and says it’s unfair how the guy just “glides through life.” Agreeing with her, Frank states the “universe is truly garbage” and the two share a moment of silence with questionable gazes. Frank then asks if he could share a glass with her, to which she agrees it would not be “unpleasant.” Cut to moments before the credits roll, Frank and Dolores are seen in bed together with the two trying to catch their breath. Frank exclaims how “no one can know about this,” to which she replies, “obviously,” adding it’s a “one — one-and-a-half-time thing.” Frank scrunches his face up, responding, “Obviously!”

Why the Hookup Works

Joel McHale and Kelli Ogmundson in scenes from Animal Control
Image via Fox

Considering their attitudes toward each other and Frank continuously annoying Dolores with his cynicism and sarcasm, the hook-up is one that audiences would have never guessed. But it works most effectively because they are complete opposites, and it brings a lot more hilarity to their dynamic — one only known to the audience. Considering Dolores is very by the book and even forewarns Emily about dating someone like Shred who works for her and the potential HR nightmare it could be, her hooking up with Frank plays to an interesting relationship going forward. Whereas Frank is someone who hides behind his snarkiness to guard himself, there are real layers behind his false bravado that unfold most gently in that quiet moment with Dolores. It might just be a few seconds, but the performance between the two comedians is one that feels perfect amidst their surface awkwardness.

With Frank questioning his night with Dolores in the next episode, the interest remains in what will transpire between the two. It might not be a relationship that persists, but it will be fun to see how the two play with each other in the office. Because their personalities are kaleidoscopically different, it’s the behavioral contrast that allows them to actually complement each other.

Animal Control airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST on Fox.