It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

In the season finale of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the back stabbing was flying furiously. I'm not even going to bother to try and recount every instance because this episode may have set a record. And for this show, that's saying something.

The episode started off with Frank demanding employee self-evaluations from the gang. He decided it was time to run the bar more like a business. This also led to him ranking everyone in the bar, which led to a lot of dissension among the competitive bunch.

But the main plot point was Charlie's illiteracy causing a near disaster. He thought he was signing the bar up to host a dance competition. What he didn't realize was it was actually a dance marathon, and the prize for the winner was the bar. As a result, the gang needed to take part if they hoped to keep the bar.

When the coffee shop waitress and Rickety Cricket appeared, for a split second I was reminded of the Seinfeld finale. I thought there might be a guest appearance by everyone who'd had his or her life ruined by the gang. And, if they were going to go the Seinfeld finale route, I began to wonder if this might be the last episode for the show.

When the competition started, so did the back stabbing and betrayal. Since there was so much going on, I boil it down to my own personal highlights:

1) Charlie wearing glitter for the competition.
2) Dennis showing the sexy fiancee the "Rococo Bang."
3) Mac giving Dee an ill-shaped pot filled-brownie, leading her to say, "What is this? It looks like a turd."
4) Charlie challenging Dennis to a dance off, featuring his 8th grade award-winning routine. Then his Take My Breath Away dance. Then the sight of Dennis wearing the loser's keg around his kneck.
5) Charlie's insane ramblings due to the cough medicine laced brownie he'd eaten.

In the end, all of their conniving and manipulating gets them nowhere and they all end up getting eliminated: Frank was the first to go, falling for their pleading that he should intentionally drop out so he could control things from outside the competition; Dennis and Mac were simultaneously knocked out after fighting while wearing kegs around their necks; Charlie eventually succumbed to the cough medicine in the brownie; and Dee was unintentionally eliminated when Rickety Cricket accidentally hit her in the knees with a stick.

Thankfully Frank had struck a deal with the homeless guy who turned out to be the winner, allowing them to keep the bar (or do they keep it? I was waiting for the homeless guy to stab them in the back).

Hopefully the show will be back for at least another season. I haven't heard any word on whether it's staying or going, but I hope it's the former. While I think this season was the weakest of the three (though still enjoyable), I still want to see it stick around. Maybe I'm prejudiced because I live in Philadelphia, but when this show is on, it's one of the best things on TV.

Take care everyone.

So, did this episode set the record for fewest words spoken in the opening scene? Unless there’s one I’m forgetting, I think it did. And really, the sight of a bum mastering his domain (the site has a block on the more straightforward term for this) says enough.

And so it’s the sight of this bum enjoying his hobby in the alley of their bar that causes the gang to come to the conclusion that something has to be done about the state of the city. As Frank says, (in my favorite line of the episode) "[Blocked word]ing bums are bad for business." Of course, they have conflicting views on the best way to fix things, leading to the usual dual storyline for the week: Mac and Dee decide the answer is to take matters into their own hands and go the vigilante route, while Frank, Charlie and Dennis believe they need protection in the form of a vicious junkyard dog. And as always, things don’t turn out the way they planned: Mac and Dee realize the neighborhood watch is a little too wimpy for their liking (No uniforms! No guns!), and Frank, Charlie and Dennis are unsuccessful in finding a junkyard dog, instead settling on a junkyard cat and an old police cruiser they can park in front of the bar to chase vagrants away.

Each group winds up taking their plans a little too far. Mac and Dee dress up like Guardian Angels and decide they’re going to get rid of that bum in the alley themselves. At first Dee is resistant (especially to the beret and suspenders: "We look like Rerun."), but once she beats the bum to a pulp (armed with a souvenir minibat), the taste of violence is enough to get her hooked. Frank and Dennis buy cop uniforms so they'd look less conspicuous driving the police car and manage to convince Charlie that he didn’t get a uniform because he can play an undercover cop.

Mac and Dee’s enthusiasm for crime fighting ends the moment they get a taste of real trouble in a bad Philly neighborhood. The enthusiasm for Frank and Dennis doesn’t end when they realize all the perks that come with being a cop. It starts with free hot dogs and leads to taking people’s wallets. Charlie, outraged and in full Serpico mode, leading to several great Charlie Freak-out scenes as he does a solid Al Pacino impersonation (even throwing in an "Hoo-wah” at one point).

I think my favorite moment of the episode was Charlie recording the supposed police corruption using a tape labeled "Spin Doctors Mix." Second favorite was his complete confusion when confronted with the state flag of Pennsylvania.

In the end, Charlie decides to bring it all to an end by destroying the source of the corruption on the fake police squad Frank and Dennis have formed: He blows up the police car. Unfortunately Charlie does not realize this will end things and decides his "Spin Doctors Mix" tape needs to get to the mayor (or "mare"). This leads to a great final shot of Charlie giving the statue of Frank Rizzo a nice ass slap and leaping into the air in victory.

Any time an episode features Charlie impersonating Al Pacino, and a cat named Special Agent Jack Bauer, the writers have done a fine job.

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This big sprawling epic of an episode taught us that get-rich-quick schemes always come with awful consequences. And it's really OK if that consequence only affects a homeless defrocked priest whose life you've ruined once before. So if you think you've found an easy but illegal way to make money, make sure you've got your favorite easily addicted and sexually tempted priest friend nearby.

The gang starts off with the best of intentions (isn't that always the way?): In order to pay for the electricity to be fixed in their bar, they decide to use the money they get from selling the drugs they found in the speakers they stole. It's an age-old story. The problem is that the drugs belong to the mob, and they know who took it. An additional problem is that the gang has no idea how much drugs are worth, so they sell $25,000 worth for $300, and they need to pay the mob back by the end of the week.

Since Frank refuses to use his finances to bail them out of yet another tough spot, they have to figure out how to earn the money on their own. Since hard work is out of the question, they decide to solve their problem with a combination of drug dealing and prostitution. What better place to do this than at the Frank's country club? Though he won't give them money, he will help them earn it on their own (teach a man to fish...), so he agrees to take them there.

The gang splits up (they can do more damage that way) in their attempts to earn money: Mac and Dee pose as successful businesspeople (who also sell OxyContin on the side); Frank continues to convince Dennis that prostitution is the way to go; and Charlie befriends jockeys and discovers a love of horses (possibly due to his hunch that he was a mythical centaur in a former life).

Somehow Charlie is the most successful in raising money, and even befriends the jockeys after discovering they can talk. Apparently he thought they only existed in statue form on lawns. This might be why he believes he could have been a centaur. If one mythical creature exists, why not another? In the end, Mac and Dee get thrown out due to their unsubtle drug-selling methods, and they all have to leave, but without Mac. He is left behind due to his bossiness. When Mac starts yelling after them in a very Fredo-esque way "I'm smart! I deserve respect!" I should have known that his next move would be to try to join the mob.

The gang buys more coke in an effort to continue to increase their supply, and I believe my favorite moment of the episode was Charlie trying to weigh it using a bathroom scale, leading Charlie to yell, "The coke won't register on the scale! I think it's weightless!" Charlie and Dee decide to sell it to businessmen on the street, and while there, they run into Rickety Cricket. You may remember him from a previous episode in which he left the priesthood for Dee and the gang ruined his life. Well, his life is still ruined, but that doesn't stop them from using him to sell it to drug addicts on the street. In fact, they don't even remember that they ruined his life before. Eventually they all get addicted to coke and the money made gets wasted on a drug-induced trash can purchase by Cricket.

Meanwhile Frank is now forcing Dennis to be a male prostitute. He even has to resort to smacking him. In addition to this indignity, Dennis has to continue sleeping with a parade of unattractive women. Worst of all, he has to do it to Stacy Q's "Two of Hearts." Why does Dennis always get the cheesy '80s music played during his scenes? Is it because he was on the short-lived That '80s Show?

Mac has trouble getting the mob to accept him. He tries his hardest by doing all the menial tasks they ask of him, yet no luck. This seems to be a recurring theme in Mac's life: No matter how hard he tries, he can't get "liked" by the people he wants.

They're nearly unsuccessful raising the $25,000: Charlie and Dee end up doing more coke than they actually have (in the end it's flour, actually); Mac gets fed up with the dirty jobs he's doing and takes his anger out by convincing Dennis to give up prostitution and rejecting the mob boss' wife's sexual advances by calling her "gross"; but Dennis saves the day by raising all the money through getting even (Of course, Dennis got even. That's what he does best) with pimp Frank by selling his solid-gold drinking chalice.

In the end, it's God that saves him. Well, a priest really. Actually, a former priest whom they get hooked on cocaine to the point where he is writing a (trash can) drum-based musical involving a crime-fighting archangel. Cricket gets falsely accused and ratted out by the gang, leading him to be punished for their sins. The kind of story I wouldn't have believed had I not seen it with my own eyes. This may have been the most touching episode of Sunny yet. Hope you all enjoyed it.

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Wow. This was one of Sunny's saddest, most dysfunctional episodes yet. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Dennis was being mistaken for a sex offender. That was actually the lighter part of the storyline, I thought. I know it’s being played for laughs, but it’s tough not to feel sorry for Charlie and Mac and how much they each want a father figure. But let's get on to the fun!

So it starts off with the gang having some innocent fun as Mac videotapes Charlie trying to set the world’s record for holding his breath. I thought the best part about the opening scene was seeing how much physical discomfort Charlie experiences when he has to listen to someone speak for a long period of time. As the woman explains why she’s handing out fliers about the sex offender who has moved into the neighbor (and is a chubby ringer for Dennis), Charlie is literally squirming and pleading with her to wrap it up.

Besides Dennis’ problem of looking like the sex offender, a couple of other problems arise: Charlie is losing Frank because he needs to leave to find a woman. (I won’t even use his exact term, but I’ll just say personality is not high on his list of what he wants in a woman. Even worse, the woman he’s leaving for is Charlie’s mom.) Meanwhile, Mac gets a surprise visit from his dad, who has been paroled from prison. Watching these guys try so hard to please dads who seemingly do not care at all for them is so painful, yet so funny. And I guess these kinds of painfully funny situations are what this show is all about.

After a little break, I suppose we were due for a shirtless Dennis scene. It’s a shame the streak had to be broken, but you knew it couldn’t last forever. At least the scene where Dee sets him up for revenge was hilarious, as he believes she’s trying to help him dispel any notion that he could be a sex offender. Somehow the plan to run around shirtless (while wearing an awful, awful mustache) at a playground and get kids to take part in physical-fitness stretches seemed like such a good, kindhearted idea at the start. Unfortunately, the children’s parents didn’t feel the same way. Eventually they realize the only solution is to get the sex offender out of the neighborhood, and they accomplish this with a young boy they’ve trained to say completely disturbing things about him in a court of law. The offender gets the idea and agrees, and one of the creepiest moments (besides what they have the boy say) in an all-around creepy episode is the quick wink he gives the kid before shutting the door.

Then there are Mac and Charlie’s attempts to gain the affections of their respective fathers. Did I mention how uncomfortable it was? They decide to plan a dinner party for all of them, with booze being the key ingredient: It will make Charlie’s mom so belligerent that she’ll leave Frank and force him to stay with Charlie again, and it’ll make Luther, Mac’s father, so drunk that he’ll be willing to sleep with the mother again.

I’d like to stop at this point and say that Mac’s mom is one of the vilest yet most familiar characters I’ve seen. She sits there smoking cigarette after cigarette while wanting nothing more than to just be left alone to watch TV. I swear I remember my older relatives having friends like this when I was growing up. They scared me.

My favorite moment in the episode was when Charlie plans to steal wine for the party. It seems pretty straightforward to him: Empty some spaghetti-sauce jars, poke holes in the wine box (Charlie only steals the good stuff) and fill the jars, then steal the jars. When Mac points out it would have been easier to steal the box itself rather than several jars, Charlie starts to defend himself, then yells, “You know what? Where were you 10 minutes ago when I was coming up with this plan, man?”

It’s when the dinner party starts that the grayness begins. And I use this term because not only is nothing sunny in this part of Philadelphia, this is also the appropriate color of the table scene: Everyone’s plates are full of a gray, casserole-type substance, the pitcher on the table has a gray liquid in it (turkey sangria. Consider it when you’re wondering what to do with your Thanksgiving leftovers), and Mac’s mom keeps billowing her gray smoke. The plan (to break up Charlie’s mom and Frank and to bring Mac’s parents together) is only partially and unexpectedly successful. In the end, Mac and Charlie have their own separate, desperate rants about how much they want their respective dads to want them, and Luther and Charlie’s mom wind up getting together.

The final scene was probably as close as this show will ever come to having a “sweet” ending, and it was pretty heartbreaking. Even though Luther gets arrested before he can take Charlie and Mac to Cooperstown, the fact that he even wanted to is a nice moment, as you see Mac so relieved to finally get the love he’s wanted from his dad. But of course that all gets erased as Luther now wants to kill him for turning him in, and that was really the perfect ending. How weird would it have been to have an episode end happily, right?

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The ending for this week’s episode has to rank up there as one of the most memorable for the show, and that’s saying something. It was so memorable for me because it was definitely one of the most shocking.

Before we get to that, let’s start at the beginning: There’s a serial killer on the loose and Mac is acting suspicious, so, of course, the rest of the gang comes to the conclusion that he must be the serial killer. Of course, they don’t want to know because they want to stop the murders. Their reasons are entirely selfish: Dennis and Dee want a chance to use their vague psychology skills (that didn’t turn out so well in the "Charlie Gets Molested" episode), Charlie wants to play lawyer thanks to a really good Law & Order episode he recently saw, and Frank is just looking for any reason to use his chain saw. I admire the ability of the writers to find new ways for everyone’s selfishness to surface every week. It’s so predictable that this is what drives their actions, and that’s what makes it even funnier.

We find out early on that the real reason for Mac’s shady behavior is he is dating Carmen the transsexual again. If you remember the "Charlie Gets Cancer" episode from the first season, you know that Mac was punching Carmen in the face last time they were together. Kudos to them for finding a way to make it work again. Though unfortunately for Carmen, making it work means just sleeping together but never going out because Mac is too embarrassed by the fact that she still has a penis.

Charlie and Frank decide to do some investigating on what exactly is going on with Mac, and what they find isn’t promising. First they find an anatomy book with highlighted sections on removing genitalia (little did they know this was more for dating tips than a way to torture victims). Then they interview Mac’s mother and find out she thinks he would kill someone (though she didn't seem to be paying attention and was more concerned with having another cigarette). Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Charlie still wants to earn his Sam Waterston badge and help Mac. When they meet to discuss whether Mac is committing the murders, it is a miscommunication scene that would make diehard Three’s Company fans happy: While Mac is talking about seeing Carmen, Charlie thinks he’s confessing to murder.

Dennis and Dee decide to use the little bit of nondegreed psychology experience they have to catch the killer. First, they use Dee as bait, but she’s dressed so scantily that a pimp demands she start working for him. I think my favorite part of the episode was the thermos Dennis had to trade away to get her back. It’s nice to imagine a world full of Fraggle Rock-loving pimps. When the bait doesn’t work, they decide to "profile" the killer and get inside his head. This leads to stealing potential weapons from a hardware store thanks to Gary, an employee there who is so smitten with Dee (the good news for Dee is that she is the serial killer’s type!), he’ll let her take anything.

When none of their efforts work (including Dee dressing as a killer clown), they decide to join forces and lure him someplace so they can confront him directly. Unfortunately that someplace turns out to be the real serial killer’s apartment. I admit I did guess that Gary was the killer, but I was not prepared for how they revealed it. Remember the scene in Jaws where Roy Scheider is shoveling chum, cracks a joke and then the shark appears? I was reminded of that abrupt switch from humor to shock when Charlie casually opens the fridge to reveal all those severed heads. Good stuff. So is the very end of the scene as well, as Gary the serial killer returns home and finally (finally!) gives Frank the chance he’s been waiting for to use his chainsaw.

One last note: Day Man. AAAAHHHH! Fighter of the Night Man. AAAAHHHH! Champion of the sun. AAAAHHHH! You’re a master of karate and friendship for everyone.

Yes, this song is still consistently popping up in my head a full week after the episode.

See you all next week.



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Tonight’s lesson? Retarded revenge is not to be taken lightly.

Dee is dating local celebrity Lil’ Kevin. He may be the next Eminem and he may be retarded. At least that's what Dennis says. He claims they went to grade school together, and Kevin had the two key signs of being retarded: his classes were in a trailer, and he took a short bus to school. Despite this evidence, Dee is certain she could tell if her boyfriend is retarded. Since everyone hopes they have this ability, viewers could relate to her feeling this way.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang gets inspired by Lil’ Kevin’s ability to overcome his handicap and they decide to start their own band. If he can be successful and retarded, imagine how good they can be? Unfortunately for Dennis, he is not a candidate to join the band due to his love of 80s hair metal. Fortunately for Frank, he is a candidate because of his ability to pay for the instruments.

It’s at the music store where they each discover their true talents: Mac realizes how good he looks with a guitar (especially one with flames painted on it); Charlie discovers that the keyboard, unlike the alphabet, makes perfect sense to him (he hopes to be as great as Holland Oates); and Frank learns he can get attention playing the drums, even if it only comes from the cops.

Meanwhile Dennis and Dee investigate whether Lil’ Kevin is really retarded. Unfortunately for Dee, the evidence against her belief continues to mount. He doesn’t drive. He lives at home with his mother and she thinks he’s special. It’s not looking good. When she sees him laughing uncontrollably at a cartoon while having a drink box, she believes it’s time to break up.

Bored and frustrated with the part of rock and roll that involves playing instruments and writing good songs, they decide to skip to the fun part: living the lifestyle. However, they soon realize even this is too difficult now that you can’t get a hotel room to trash without a credit card like in the good old days.

Having failed at the talent and partying portions of the rock and roll lifestyle, they decide to come up with a name and a look for the band. This goes horribly, as well: Mac thinks a torn shirt and the name Chemical Toilet is the way to go; Frank wants to put the parents of their future fans at ease by choosing a Beatles look and naming them the Pecan Sandies; Charlie dresses like Bob Dylan, and tries to write songs like him, too, if Bob wrote homoerotic songs about a rapist called “Night Man.” This song makes Mac realize they are in trouble, causing him to beg Dennis to join the band. Unfortunately Dennis is only able to bring spandex and screeching to their act.

And then “Day Man” was born. Inspired by the daylight Dennis lets into his darkened apartment (along with spray paint huffed through a dirty sock), Charlie comes up with the song “Day Man.” This character is a complete departure from Night Man because he is much lighter. It is also a strangely catchy song that I know I will be humming to myself all day tomorrow. Plus the lyrics are rock solid, reminding one of a track that might have appeared on a rejected Styx concept album from the early 80s.

And so a night of music at Paddy’s is set. Charlie and Dennis, looking like Ziggy Stardust’s less macho cousins, are set to debut their band Electric Dream Machine and the song “Day Man.” Frank and Mac will do their best as Chemical Toilet, even though neither of them can play their instruments. And Dee and Lil’ Kevin are back together (thanks to Dennis lying about lying about the retardation thing), though she still has some doubts. Of course it all fails miserably for the gang, and ends with Lil’ Kevin rapping and completely trashing Dee in front of the packed bar. In the end, the gang must cope with this: it's better to be a person who seems retarded than one of them. Let’s all hope they learn from this and show that inner growth in next week’s episode. See you then.

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“The Gang Sells Out”

The gang believes in and supports the little guy. They should because they are little guys (plus little girl) themselves. They’re against big chain bars like Oldies Rock (a place very reminiscent of a Hard Rock Café) and chain coffee shops like Starbucks (a place very reminiscent of… wait a minute). That is, they’re for the little guy until they get a chance to become one of the big boys.

The episode begins with them in a meeting with an unnamed businessman (I will use Mac’s nickname of Fat Cat for him). Their morals prevent them from wanting to sell the bar until they actually see the amount of money Fat Cat is willing to offer. My favorite part of this scene (besides the debate amongst Mac, Dennis and Charlie about how the rich have access to a series of helipads and secret tunnels throughout the city) was Fat Cat explaining how he checked out the bar and found no one working there, just customers wandering around serving themselves. If any of us were wondering how they manage to run the bar and have so many adventures, we have our answer. They simply leave the bar unattended while they’re off trying out for the Eagles, or getting revenge on hippies.

If the guys sell the bar, how will Dee make a living? Since she’s not financially invested in the bar, the guys have no intention of sharing any of the money with her. As a result she decides to get a job at Oldies Rock. When I saw her drinking a beer while being trained to waitress there, I kind of had an idea that this all might turn out horribly wrong.

Of course the guys end up angering Fat Cat and losing the deal when they involve Frank. Frank’s initial plan is that they should be wooed before selling the bar (Charlie confuses “wooed” with “wood,” leading him to ask, “How are you going to be wood?”), but this leads Fat Cat to rescind the deal. When they realize they have to woo him, it leads to a nice scene at the strip club where they learn Fat Cat is gay, resulting in a lengthy discussion of the various sexual categories of gay men.

As expected, everyone’s continued efforts to fix things only makes them worse: Frank and Mac try to use the aging Yellow Jackets gang to intimidate Fat Cat, but this only leads to a game of jacks, some doo-wop singing, and the death of weak-hearted Hawky. In addition to Dee, Dennis (for the hot girls) and Charlie (for the coffeeshop waitress, who is moonlighting there to make ends meet) end up working at Oldies Rock, and are all eventually fired (by Fat Cat).

Overall I thought this was a solid episode. It made me laugh and it taught me a key life lesson. For a solid seven to 10 minutes, the gang had a shot at losing their “little guy” identity. When they lost it, they spent the rest of the time trying to get a second chance. Others tried to find employment outside of Paddy’s. Due to their misguided actions, I learned this: Always stick by the little guy because he may be the only one who will hire you and tolerate your awful work habits.

“Frank Sets Sweet Dee on Fire”

Well, the gang delivered on the title. And again, they delivered on the life lessons! Striving for fame is hard work, and sometimes you have to get a little singed. Other times you have to take drugs and dance with glow sticks at a club. And once in a while kittens need to be loaded on a conveyor and chopped with a butcher knife.

It all starts with Mac and Charlie’s brush with fame, Frank’s boredom, and Dee and Dennis’ competitive streak. After Mac’s moment on the local news is brutally chopped (I think I’m in favor of his “yellow lights all the time” theory. It certainly can’t make the traffic in Philadelphia any worse), he, Charlie and Frank (out of sheer boredom) decide to find their own news to cover so they can broadcast it on public access television, where men in short shorts dance shirtless in front of a blue screen. Dee and Dennis have their own idea of how you become famous: People don’t care about real news stories, only ones about famous people like Paris Hilton to take their minds off the ugliness of the real stories.

Frank had one of my favorite lines in the episode. After the guys are shocked to discover there is no big news in a local old-age home, Frank explains that the temperature in the place is so cold in order to keep the residents alive: “Meat spoils slower in the fridge.”

Their next stop is Chinatown, and thanks to the fact that Charlie believes China and Japan are one and the same and that all movies are true, they expect to find lots of action here: Everyone is “drifting” just like in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, there will be an appearance by a villain from Mortal Kombat, and Kurt Russell will battle this villain as he did in Big Trouble in Little China. Add in the fact that all disputes in Chinatown are handled through kung fu and the guys will have to try hard to not find a news story. They think they’ve found one when they see a crowd of cheering Chinese, but it turns out to just be people at a store enjoying a Nintendo Wii. Their disappointment quickly turns to happiness (when Mac actually creates news by saving a man from choking), then back to disappointment (anger, really, since Charlie didn’t put a tape in his camera). In the spirit of this honest moment of news, they decide to create their own news and film it.

Meanwhile Dennis coaches Dee on how to find her inner Paris. This involves going to lots of clubs, having inappropriate pictures taken of her, and then posting them on the Internet. Dee is OK with Part 1 of the plan, but not so much with Parts 2 and 3, but she’s too blinded by the idea of being famous to really think too much about it. For the second week in a row we are treated to Dennis doing something cringe-inducing while a cheesy song plays. Last week he was applying lipstick while Rick Astley played, and this week he’s dancing with glow sticks to a Cher song. Besides his dancing, the highlight of this storyline is Dee’s put-down of a bouncer she’s supposed to scare in to letting her in to the bar. Just a great, great delivery.

This was a good episode for the most part, but I thought it dragged a little when they set Dee on fire the second time, and the ending, though it did a good job of bringing it all full circle, was pretty predictable for me. But even if I did see it coming, nothing could prepare me for the sight of Dee and Dennis in diapers, dancing like they weren’t related. If this public access channel does exist in Philadelphia (or one like it), I hope to not find it.

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I thought this was the gang’s strongest pairing of episodes thus far. Lots of good moments. Lots of good Charlie moments, in particular.

"The Aluminum Monster vs. Fatty McGoo"

So this week’s spiteful plan for revenge centered on Dee needing to prove that she was not the biggest loser from high school. That title belonged to her "best" friend, Ingrid. At least in Dee’s head it did, though it sounds like it may have been a tie between the two of them. In those days, Ingrid was overweight (Fatty McGoo), while Dee was in the midst of her back-brace period (The Aluminum Monster).

But when Dee unexpectedly runs into Ingrid, she discovers something extremely depressing: Ingrid is now Skinny McGoo, and she’s way more successful than Dee. The best part of the scene is seeing Dee return to Charlie, who has decided he’s going to shoplift multiple shirts, a hoodie, two hats and a belt by wearing all of them at once.

It was also good to see Judy Greer pop up as Ingrid. I am currently doing my best to plow through my Arrested Development DVDs, so it’s good to see Kitty pop up here.

Dee runs into a slight obstacle in her plan to be a better designer than Ingrid: She’s a terrible artist. As Charlie asks, "Have your hands been smashed with hammers?" But it’s her desire to be a designer that causes Dennis to conduct an experiment in human nature. Dennis believes winners and losers are born that way. To prove this, Dennis (born winner) will design a dress and sell it to Ingrid (born loser), and she’ll be unable to turn him down. Unfortunately for Dennis, Ingrid doesn’t cooperate, but he refuses to accept it. She hates the dress, but he blames the model. Eventually he realizes he is the only person beautiful enough to model his dress. This leads to the most frightening scene involving a man in front of a mirror since Silence of the Lambs when Buffalo Bill does his tuck dance.

Mac and Frank start their own experiment when they start up a sweatshop to make the dresses. Frank has promised to teach Mac how to manipulate people. I’m still not sure if Frank’s instruction that a partition should be built between a boss and his workers was a slight reference to Danny DeVito's role on Taxi as Louie De Palma. I’m going to pretend it was.

Meanwhile Charlie, after shoplifting, is just kind of hanging out in this episode doing the usual stuff: sewing in the sweatshop and getting disturbingly attached to the girl in Dennis’ drawings.

In addition to the funny storyline, they also had a nice final scene where it all came together, which this show often has. As expected, Dennis makes a frightening woman, and he appeared to be smuggling two regulation NBA basketballs in his dress. On top of that, Rick Astley is probably the perfect music to play for a scene involving a man in drag.


"The Gang Solves the North Korea Situation"

I thought this episode had a really nice Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story feel to it: Despite the fighting between the gang and the North Koreans, Charlie and Sun-Li were able to ignore their differences and find love. Throw away Frank wanting to serve moonshine and antifreeze to the customers, Dee having sex with a toothless old man for the rival bar’s microbrew recipe, and a 12-year-old girl nearly involved in a wet T-shirt contest and these stories are exactly the same.

It makes sense that the perfect girl for Charlie would be a 12-year-old. However, she would probably know the difference between the words "pirate" and "private," which Charlie did not. The two best Charlie moments were him thinking his apartment keys might work on the locked door ("How many lock combinations can there be?"), and when Dennis was using him as a battering ram to try to break open the door.

Dee may have had the best line in this episode. She walks in on an argument between Mac and Frank about which color should be considered more dangerous as a threat level and says, "Wow. Color fight."

Does anyone know what song that woman was singing when she auditioned for the talent show? I looked online and came up empty.

Frank’s best line of the night came near the end when he’s trying to shut the Korean bar down so they aren’t competition for the pub crawl. Mr. Kim tells him his daughter is missing, and Frank replies, "Korean broad?"

I loved the fact that when Charlie announced he was engaged to Sun-Li, a girl he had just met, the gang’s only reaction is that she would be a good candidate for the wet T-shirt contest.

Dennis is two-for-two in the "shirtless in an episode" department tonight. This is a disturbing trend.

Once again, I thought they wrapped the episode up nicely. It featured the most uncomfortable moment of the episode: when you realize they are about to have a wet T-shirt contest with a girl who is 12 years old. It also featured the second-most uncomfortable moment of the show: when Frank ends up the wet T-shirt participant after he dives to block the water.

I was a little worried after last week’s second episode, but after this week, I feel a little more confident that this season will be a solid one.


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"Dennis and Dee’s Mom Is Dead"

This week’s first episode was a nice return to form after the slight letdown I felt from last week’s Invincible tribute. The somber theme of Dee and Dennis’ mom dying was met with the expected appropriate reaction from the gang: Frank was full of glee, Dee wanted revenge, Dennis needed to find friends to get extremely drunk with, Mac needed to encourage and join in on Dennis’ drunkenness, and Charlie needed to read Dee’s middle-school diary. In the end, the gang managed to enrage Bruce, one of the kindest and most giving people around. This episode was proof that grief does come in many forms. Many completely inappropriate forms.

I don’t think they could have set the tone for the episode any better than having Frank walk into the bar and yell, with a full smile on his face, that Dee and Dennis’ mother was dead. This came complete with the opening of a bottle of champagne. Great touch.

The scene in the lawyer’s office was easily the best of the season so far. It’s early, I know. Watching the lawyer try to explain to Dee and Frank over and over how wills work was fantastic. They got screwed out of an inheritance and could not understand how they could be wronged without an opportunity for revenge. Their favorite thing is revenge! It’s what they’re good at! My favorite line among many good ones was Dee’s: “Tell her I will be in touch with her. Somehow.”

Frank and Dee pretending to be a couple was genuinely creepy. I think I was right on the edge of a dry heave when Frank told her, “You’ve got to stop thinking of me as your dad and start thinking of me as your fiancé, Shamus.” Oof. Almost happened again just typing that. And I really wasn’t sure where things were going to go when Bruce had them both on the bed in robes. I should say I was afraid of where things were going because for a split second I thought, “They’re going to have sex to get the inheritance.” But they didn’t, thankfully. They only wound up getting married. Whew.

If you’re trying to make a flier to attract friends, I implore you to use clip art. Maybe a stencil of some sort. Dennis, Mac and Charlie proved that drawing it free hand is dangerous and will lead to multiple awkward situations. During that scene where they all realized they have no other friends, I had to feel for them because it is tough to make friends once you get out of college. For most people, work is where you meet people after college, but these guys work together so they’ve got an even tougher time. Seeing them compose that flier was great. Despite two assurances that they weren’t looking for sex from whoever came over to the party house, you knew they were going to run into trouble when they were trying to figure out what kinds of friends to make.

Mac: “Dudes in good shape!”
Dennis: “I like dudes in good shape.”

Um. Yeah. That’s probably not a good way to convince men you’re looking for a platonic friendship.

And then at the end it all fell apart for the gang. Dennis and Mac lost the two friends they did make, mainly because they were tied up and held hostage. Charlie learned compassion from his friend Ernesto, but unfortunately he turned out to be a thief who robbed the mom’s house. And Frank and Dee ended up married, but without any inheritance from Bruce because he’s been on to their lie the whole time. Even Dennis lost the house he inherited. A lot happened and they pissed off many people, but in the end they were, thankfully, right back where they started, with no money and just each other. A solid episode.


"The Gang Gets Held Hostage"

All right, folks. I’m pretty torn on this one. Overall I didn’t like it, but it nearly saved itself at the end, hence the mixed feelings.

Why didn’t I like it? I just thought it was too much. Too over-the-top. I realize that sounds ridiculous for me to say about a show that consistently goes over-the-top (and is part of what’s to love about it), but this episode seemed different to me. Usually there’s some slightly more low-key element to balance it out, but not this time: hostages, Dee getting Stockholm syndrome, trashing the bar, everyone plotting to kill each other. Bear with me as I try to put a finger on it.

The show you keep hearing this compared to is Seinfeld, and you can understand why: both center on despicable people whose flaws get them into all kinds of trouble. I think it worked on Seinfeld because you knew, no matter what awful things they did to each other, they were friends and cared about each other. I usually get that feeling from this gang, but not in this episode. All the plotting and backstabbing to avoid being the first hostage shot wiped that feeling away and made all the other messes (Dee siding with the McPoyles, trashing the bar, Charlie wanting to kill Frank, lip-licking mute seduction) tougher to play along with. It kind of reminded me of the recent bad years of the Simpsons where big, ridiculous events happen every week, only to have everything back to normal the next, which kind of makes it tough to care about the characters anymore (which is exactly what I don’t want to have happen to Mac and the gang). Not sure how much water that theory holds, but it’s very possible I’ve put entirely too much thought into this, so I’m going to move this thing along.

As soon as they showed Frank with the gun taped to his back, I had a Chazz Palminteri in the Usual Suspects moment, and all these scenes flashed back into my head: “He’s wearing a tank top! And he was climbing through ductwork! And talking on a walkie-talkie! And he walked on broken glass! Oh crap, it's Die Hard!” I didn’t pick up the signs at first, but once I saw that gun, it all clicked into place. The fact that that was executed so well almost salvaged the episode for me. Along with those clues, the whole scene on the roof paid a nice tribute as well: Ryan McPoyle falling like Hans Gruber. Frank yelling “Yippee ki yay, Mr. Falcon!” (if you’ve ever had the misfortune of watching Die Hard 2 on broadcast TV, you’ll know what this means. It’s one of the most puzzling dubbed curse-word substitutions of all time). A great job of tying it all together.

But happily for the gang it was just the McPoyles getting revenge (though it’s never made clear for what — Doyle getting shot in the leg?) and no one was killed. I’ll be interested to see what you thought about the episode, and if my theory only made you suspect that I have a crack addiction. If you were similarly unimpressed by the episode, please come up with a better theory than mine, which won't be difficult. I’d love to hear it. Then I'll use it and claim it's my own.

Take care and hope to see you next week.

For more Sunny clips, visit our Online Video Guide.

The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby

It’s good to have Sunny back for a third season and in fine form with the premiere episode. To help you get further in the mood for the new season, check out Anthony Layser’s interview with Rob McElhenney. Thanks to Dennis (Glenn Howerton) being inspired by An Inconvenient Truth, the whole gang tries to do good in their own way, yet somehow no good comes of it: a revenge plan (involving sex, drugs and a bulldozed tree), a kidnapping and baby painting. This wasn't what Al Gore intended.

I thought Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Mac’s part of the story was the best and funniest. As much as they wanted to take care of DB, that desire pretty much ended as soon as he (was it a "he"? Dumpster Baby is one of those gender-neutral names that are all the rage) let out his first cry, turning Mac into a stereotypical nightmare dad. He just wants beer in the fridge and for Dee to keep the kid quiet. But just when it looked bleakest for DB as they eyed a trash can with intentions of returning him where they found him, some strangers remark how cute he is and give Dee and Mac the proper motivation to help the baby: He could be a star! One of my favorite moments of the episode was Dee and Mac trying to convince the agent that DB could in fact pass for Mexican, especially if he wore a hat full of nachos and cheese dip (I swear I came up with that nacho hat invention with my buddy Mark! Not for kids, though. We also came up with a nacho bandolier to go with it. I believe our brief nacho-inspired invention spurt was helped along by beer consumption.) But the best part came with their attempts to figure out how to make DB’s skin darker since Latino babies are hot: tanning (with Dee’s great line to the pumpkin-colored salon worker: "The road to stardom is paved with hard knocks and orange a--holes"), painting and shoe polish. In their defense, the shoe polish did work for Gene Wilder in Silver Streak.

Charlie (Charlie Day) and Frank (Danny DeVito) had a solid storyline with their addiction to "sweet, sweet trash." Though I thought it got a little weird at times with how obsessed they became. I thought Charlie gave us the best moment — seeing him find that huge "Ali Baba" sword and come running down that hill of trash was well done. And though we didn’t learn if Frank is really Charlie’s father (not sure who’s lying, Frank or Charlie’s mom), we did learn some helpful hints about trash:

• A broken boom box: "Put this thing in a plastic bag and boom, shower radio, buddy."
• A strip of paper: "You could wrap stuff with it!"
• Another coat: "To protect your other coat!"

And with that last one, Charlie unlocks the mystery of why many people living on the street wear multiple coats — a constant desire to protect their outer coat. Thanks, Charlie!

I think I liked Dennis’ storyline the least because it was the most predictable. You knew as soon as Sage the Hippie trashed him that Dennis would have his revenge. It was still fun to watch, for the most part. Though I don’t think I will ever erase the image of Dennis’ "O" face when he’s with Sage’s girl Ariel.

And it all gets wrapped up with that great last scene that looks like some sort of strange ritualistic sacrifice to the child-services people, but it’s really just a couple of friends getting together to paint a baby while the others wrestle over an Ali Baba sword above them. Good, clean fun.

The Gang Gets Invincible

For the second of the back-to-back new episodes, the gang is once again inspired by a movie. This time it’s Invincible. When they learn the Philadelphia Eagles are having open tryouts, just like the movie, Mac and Dennis realize it’s something they have to do, and Dee gets involved, too (in hopes of proving to the guys that women can play other sports besides "cooking" and "complaining to their friends about their boyfriends").

I have to say I wasn’t a huge fan of this episode. It had its moments, but it wasn’t up to their usual quality, and I hope this doesn’t hurt the show in the long run. It looks like it’s finally getting the big push in the media that it deserves (I’ve seen more articles and interviews with the cast than I ever remember seeing before). With the added attention, they’re going to have more people tuning in to check it out, and if they hope to keep them tuning in, they’ll need to hit them with their best stuff.

It started off promisingly enough with a Charlie freak-out. I am a sucker for every time he gets so frustrated that he just starts yelling incoherently. Always cracks me up. This time he’s frustrated by the gang having an in-depth discussion about a mouse fighting a scorpion. When he convinces them to leave the bar booth and get some fresh air outside, the next shot of them, at a similar table, with another line of beers in front of them is fantastic. But their enjoyment of the outdoors and the people around them doesn’t last long. Soon enough they’re clamoring for the isolation of the bar, with my favorite line coming from Mac: "It’s like there’s no room to drink!"

I liked the scenes with Mac, Dennis and Dee trying out for the Eagles, with these being the highlights for me: The visit from Donovan McNabb, who turned out to be an imposter and spokesman from McDonald’s; Mac’s tackle dance; and Dennis’ hatred of tackling ("Hittin’s not really my thing, coach"), and love of thinking about how well he runs out for a catch (resulting in him not paying attention and getting knocked out by the ball). I also thought Faizon Love did a great job as the coach who oviously was assigned to these tryouts against his will ("We’re doing these tryouts for you because of your harassment and your love for the New Kids on the Block movie!").

It was the Frank and Charlie scenes that dragged the episode down for me. They take too much acid and start freaking out — I mean, haven’t we seen this before on other shows and movies? Weird camera effects and everything? Fred Savage directed this one and maybe he needed to add "Skilled with all acid-trip-simulating camera lenses" to his résumé. I will say this for Fred: that scene where the McPoyle family pours out of the RV would make David Lynch proud. It was like the end of the State Room scene in A Night at the Opera mixed with Freaks (Silver Streak and now this. Who says I can’t make timely references?).

I’m sure the next episode will rebound so they can keep building on their growing popularity. If you’re one of the people tuning in for the first time and had a similar reaction, hang in there. Also, do yourself a favor and pick up the recently released first two seasons on DVD. You’ll enjoy them, and I promise I am not a paid spokesperson like Donovan McNabb is for McDonald’s.

Take care and hope to see you next week.


For more Sunny clips, visit our Online Video Guide.