How exactly did the plot progress by having the main character meet Vinny?
Nothing happened there. Nobody got hurt, nobody called the cops, nobody did a damn thing that would force the plot to move forward at all. If anything, the plot regressed because now you have Tommy and Quinn working together again. It's like DPC is trying to stuff the shit back in the goose here instead of letting it hit the fan.
Then the chapter ends with Derek discovering a device planted in his smoke detector. And you know what that's going to lead to? NOTHING! It'll be another load of fuck all, just like the last cliffhanger where the MC was in a big panic over learning that Jade was Sage's mother. I even had the MC tell Jade that he fucked her daughter, and the only drama there was a single slap. Then the two fucked in the kitchen as if nothing had changed between them.
And the other big cliffhanger moment from last chapter was the old ex showing up. And what happened there? NOTHING! She goes to the party after reassuring us that even though she didn't even try to contact us at all in the past eight months, she really missed us. What a catch she is. Really glad we had the whole fucking Interlude about her getting some ugly tattoos and failing at surfing. Great use of development time.
The only notable progression I saw during the endless stream of Where's Waldo free roaming horseshit gameplay that made up this episode, was that Sally hates us a bit less. Which is great and all, but I have no faith that it will lead anywhere. Cathy was a day one fantasy option, and we never got her. So for all we know, Sally could get axed the same way.
So anyways, the Halloween episode sucked. It sucked harder than Quinn kneeling in front of Stephen. You're giving it too much credit with what you said, which is funny because you were trying to be critical of it.