macdennisnation

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do u think dennis is terrified of becoming older than his mother ever got

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because music is important to dennis. meaningful. sacred even.

🎵 tracklist:

just a friend by biz markie

light head by helix & ad man

wind beneath my wings by bette midler

the boys are back in town by thin lizzy

c'mon n' ride it (the train) by quad city djs

let's hear it for the boy by deniece williams

dayman by charlie kelly ft. dennis reynolds

genius of love by tom tom club

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i neeeeed people to be normal about the grooming line. i need everyone to consider WHY dennis as a victim of csa would use the term grooming to refer to what mac has done in the past (hiding his intentions, trapping and coercing dennis, sexually assaulting him) and his paranoia about it happening again. please stop joking about how it's "working", or acting like this is an absurd statement because of his age; it's not about him being a literal child. he's getting triggered and recognizing it as the same type of abuse he experienced as a teen. dennis was groomed by klinsky and was made to believe he initiated things. maybe being told after the fact that he couldn't possibly have consented despite how he apparently felt about her or the situation makes it a little harder for him to trust how he feels, and know whether that has been manufactured. mac not actively pursuing dennis or having some hidden agenda is precisely why they've been Fine lately. dennis doesn't need to be ~forced out of the closet~ because it isn't about his sexuality; he needs to be allowed time to adjust to having someone pursue him again. he needs to trust mac's intentions (or lack thereof), but more importantly, he needs to trust himself.

[macdennisnation]

“the gang gets ready for prime time” 🍽️ 🐓🧛🏻✝️

[macdennisnation]

I guess my final prime time thoughts are as follows (now that I've slept on it all, this is gonna be long lol):

I don't think I (or anyone) can definitively say "this is the exact thing intended by the actors/writers" of the show. Because even if we have a pretty good idea, the fact is that we are all just here putting pieces together and guessing. But that's not the point, because nobody has to be 100% "right" to be able to post interesting analysis. An episode like this is bound to bring up discourse in some shape. It becomes easy to start taking sides and turning it into an us vs. them situation (macdennis shippers vs. others) when in reality there is SO much overlap that should be taken into account. I myself am an example of someone who loves macdennis, ships it so damn much, looks for signs of it in the show—and yet still finds it worthwhile and important to embrace Mac and Den's individual characterizations. I actually do think that's the case for most of us, and sometimes it gets a bit lost in the shuffle.

But last night's episode was a lot of things existing at once. It was about macdennis (as roommates, as friends, as potential/probable lovers), it was about Dennis and the persona he tries to portray (his quest to both be and not be labeled by the audience, himself, etc;), it was about each member of the gang slowly becoming more watered down versions of themselves to appear more palatable, it was about us, it was about them, it was about all the fans that aren't on tumblr who misinterpret Dennis as a serial killer, as old, as scary, the people who bash all the actors online and all the nasty things said, it was about all of those things and so much more. And that's how I'm personally choosing to view it all.

Now I'm not saying we can't disagree with each other. We can and should, especially if something is harmful or misinformed or if someone is dismissing the validity of or ignoring (for example) the very real callbacks and references to past episodes (both with regards to macdennis, and otherwise). But I've loved reading all the differing perspectives out there, including ones that don't quite align with my own views. We've got a lot of smart people out there who craft beautiful analysis, and really hilarious shitposts, and well researched theories, and such wonderful array of thoughts and hopes and musings. And even though sometimes I personally get nervous to share those views, I'm glad I (and all of us) do it anyway because it leads to really interesting conversations.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I loved the episode. I think it gave us so much (almost too much at once, so overwhelming but so good). And I'm gonna continue to post things about my own interpretations. And I look forward to reading more of everyone else's.

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Prime Time Dee!!

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So I watched prime time, blacked out, and two hours later I produced this

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so. MY THOUGHTS ABOUT PRIME TIME:

sorry this is gonna feel scattered and rambly because i dont feel like making a proper post having screenshots and whatever, i trust you guys remember the things i talk about anyway. feel free to disagree, I don't really care

The audience. the episode does NOT characterize them as biased in any capacity. they are a focus group, they are fully NEUTRAL and have absolutely no stakes in lying or misrepresenting things. yes, they are supposed to comment on US, the audience (duh), but the episode isn't saying they are wrong. at any point. they are strangers and outsiders to the gang, all of their comments are just them saying things HOW THEY SEE THEM. they are calling dennis' speech scary because it was scary, he made himself scary to play into his facade, that is what he does, he has always done this, that is his implication, the real breakthrough is the fact he couldn't keep it up. the audience (and us) sees it as frightening because the show is PORTRAYING it that way. and the audience keeps insisting on how the mac and dennis situation is gay and calling them boyfriends because they are commenting what is being shown to them.

Dennis is not being genuine for the majority of the episode. he is trying to steer the gang to be less like themselves, he is trying to do a thing "without comedy". he is trying to paint himself as things that HE IS NOT. youthful, for one. he is implied to be wearing a wig. he insists that he is classy (when he is not, and this has been a throughline for the whole season). his life experience is anything but classy, AND THIS APPLIES TO SUNNY. this is about sunny. sunny is not classy.

when dennis is having his speech, he is not asking the audience to see the real him, it is literally the opposite. he is BEGGING them to see him for what HE wants to be perceived as. classy, young, straight. all things he is not.

you are not supposed to take his speech at face value, I really do not think RCG is trying to say something so insanely deep here (shocker coming from me, I know), or they would not have mentioned the macdennis situation upwards of 10 times in the episode. what I mean by this is, what he is insisting to be perceived as is all a big fat LIE!

it's not that dennis doesn't want to be labeled, he clearly does. he said so: im straight, im classy, im young.

he is arguing the same thing he was during the sandwich speech in season 15 to mac (and PLEASE go rewatch that if you haven't in a while), which is that your ACTIONS do not define your identity.

and I'm sorry, but that's just not how things work. dennis is not Right in that speech, and he isn't supposed to be read as right either, as EVIDENCED by what dee tells them immediately after

when dennis says "Identity doesn't have to factor into absolutely every decision you make." at face value it is a true statement, like sure, don't act like a stereotype (something mac is known to do), but dennis is using this logic to justify the EXTREME OPPOSITE. ignoring absolutely everything about his life that doesn't align with how he sees himself.

which is... literally what mac did prior to coming out?

he has obviously been heavily traumatized by being perceived in a way that he feels is humiliating (it is), but that doesn't mean it didn't happen or "doesn't represent him". you are represented by the entirety of your life experiences and choices, you cannot pick and choose? either way, dennis only wanted so bad to be perceived in that (INACCURATE) way because of the fear of appearing on tv once again and reliving that painful experience, and so, he tries to hold control of the situation. obviously, one single humiliating incident ISN'T DEFINING to your entire person... but dennis feels that it is, so he is fighting tooth and nail against it at every turn.

anyway, to bring the thoughts back to were I wanted them to go, I don't see why any of this should negate what the episode is obviously saying about macdennis.

"maybe america is ready for us" is an actual callback to the gang gets romantic. and its meta cannot be misconstrued in a way that fits with dennis' character in any capacity. it is a line meant for us to dissect and consider. just as the final dialogue about how frank "went woke and didn't go broke".

I really, really, really, REALLY do not think dennis is denying the macdennis situation because it's not true. if that was the case, the entire episode just wouldn't have been written.

the macdennis situation is included as the FIRST part of the speech (arguably the most relevant, I don't know why we are trying to remove it from the overall context) and is followed by all the other things dennis wants to be perceived as, BUT ISN'T. HE ISN'T CLASSY, YOUTHFUL ETC, and in the same vein, the entire first part is a lie as well, that he is desperately trying to tell the audience by also doubling down with his scary facade, hoping it will be convincing. he can't even get through his entire speech without crying. THAT'S the real dennis behind the mask of needing to seem perfect.

I mean, for fucks sake, this is the same series where one season ago dennis used anal beads on mac. he has a system for men.

dennis doesn't feel understood or listened to by the gang and especially by mac (shown yes in tends bar but also very much in inflates) but him trying to appeal to middle america in this episode was not him trying to be genuine. that was him doubling down on the facade.

which crumbled in the end, and at the end the gang finally knows how Dennis felt during the family fight moment (and they actually see that he has feelings! wow! I don't know if this will stick but that's huge to me!). dennis isn't this emotionless scary villain (he isn't a good person either), but he also isn't normal, and definitely not more normal than the rest of the gang. makes me think of misses the boat. he Likes to think he's the only normal one and they're a bunch of freaks dragging him down. this new ep showed clear as day that the audience actually really LIKED what the gang had going on before he tried to micromanage them.

which btw is the same throughline as big mo. it follows almost the same emotional structure for dennis (only instead of giving up, he crumbles). he wants to rise in the leaderboard and he is getting everyone else down by doing this. because he is not having fun.

so... ok, I don't know if I have more to say, or if the thoughts made sense, but that's how I feel. I do not like how much I've seen the obvious macdennis commentary be dismissed as being "in the way" of dennis' character. I'm sorry, to me, it is an INEXTRICABLE part of dennis' character. in fact, if you try to look at the areas in which he is in denial about, his living situation with mac is THE first thing that becomes apparent. and he is very much in denial of that, as he tried to argue in this same episode that they might not live together forever and he's gonna look for another apartment and "find the one" (also goes to hell, "our house? why is it our house?" gee, I don't know). he has tried many times, and it has always failed. because the reality of the situation is that he lives with mac, and he's always going to.

also... "palling around platonically in the bedroom"... how much more obvious can it be? just because dennis doesn't like to acknowledge parts of his life (and not just about the nature of his relationship with mac. but like, everything else too. PTSDee...) doesn't mean they didn't happen. doesn't mean he can just choose to define them incorrectly and then move past them.

the audience is going to see through that.

...for the most part.

his facade isn't working anymore, but when dennis talks to US directly, he is begging for it to work. he is doing all he can. the show is making it look scary. so the audience takes the bait. this always happens. this has happened so many times I've lost count.

in this one instance, we need to see through the cracks, through the "scary" and through what he is saying, into WHY he is saying it and what that means. he is not saying true things, but he is speaking in an increasingly emotionally honest way. and then eventually he just says it. "there is this other show". he actually explains his motivation.

and even if the audience doesn't get it and gets fooled by it as it ALWAYS DOES, the gang seems to have been receptive to it...

and in the end it didn't even matter, because there was never any camera, there was never any episode, there was no frank, they have all been replaced and it doesn't matter. dennis was bending himself over backwards to appeal to the focus group for an episode that never ended up existing for him. and this is what he has been doing on sunny for years. this is the Thundergun 4 of it. the FEAR OF THE AUDIENCE, the trying to change the media to appeal to a broader audience, the flyover states. the "bad reviews" from gets romantic. the jumper. woman's right to chop (and all of Season 14, actually). the expectations not being met.

that's why the emphasis on "pulling this off".

please, I am begging, do not leave out this part of the episode commentary. don't try to dismiss the actual meta they're trying to do about macdennis here.

the episode ends with "he went woke and didn't go broke". it is the heart shaped lock being opened. this is the game. the show has been playing this game for years. "let's keep this between us" is dead. the audience sees through it.

That's all I had to say, I think.

Edit:

thanks to oomf for the screenshots (idk if they want a credit so i am keeping them anon for now)

I think this dialogue explains my points perfectly, he could not say it more plainly.

[macdennisnation]

i said i’m sure

[macdennisnation]

which isn’t to say that there isn’t macdennis running though this entire episode. which there is. I think people are reading this wrong so I want to clarify. I’m not suggesting we take macdennis out of our analysis. I think it’s very clearly there (I mean they brought it up over and over again, stabbing over and over again and made so many callbacks to other episodes) so it’s very much part of the takeaway of the episode. but it’s not everything. and I do think dennis is centered for a reason. but there’s so much more that he’s trying to convey with his speech. And a huge part of that is him trying to take back control over how he is perceived (scary, old, out of style, etc;) and spin it all in a way where he comes out on top and proves the audience wrong, convincing them of his “class” and “youth” etc;

Once again I remind y’all to please look at my handle. I love macdennis. I wrote an entire fic about them and their relationship throughout canon. Trust me I’m looking for it. But I just think that there can be multiple interpretations that can coexist in the fandom. There doesn’t have to be One overarching Truth that negates everyone else’s perceptions. That’s part of what makes it all so interesting. And this episode is a perfect example of that.

and have y’all thought about the fact that this is dennis coming through our screens to plead with us to not throw away his own identity, his own individual characterization, in favor of shoving him and mac together at all times at all costs?! it’s not about never associating them together, but in this case it’s not about mac at all and it doesn’t always have to be. it’s about dennis. who he is, what he wants, how he sees himself, how he sees other people see who he is and see it wrong. it’s all about him.

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giving mac advice on how to Look Straight are we

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Charlie Day & Charlie Kelly, on Mac and Dennis

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i forgot i drew these improv moments on set tht killed evry1 im rly glad they both got incoorperated

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MANY

SUCH

CASES

!!!!!!!!!!!

[macdennisnation]

and have y’all thought about the fact that this is dennis coming through our screens to plead with us to not throw away his own identity, his own individual characterization, in favor of shoving him and mac together at all times at all costs?! it’s not about never associating them together, but in this case it’s not about mac at all and it doesn’t always have to be. it’s about dennis. who he is, what he wants, how he sees himself, how he sees other people see who he is and see it wrong. it’s all about him.

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no and you know why this is so important? dennis is at his absolute most fragile. his most vulnerable. he’s already being perceived completely incorrectly according to his sense of self. and charlie is equally uncomfortable so he starts fidgeting with the glass, but it makes too much noise. and dennis doesn’t like a persistent noise in the best of times but certainly not in that moment. and yet he knows why charlie is doing it so he doesn’t reprimand him. he stops him in the gentlest way he knows how to in that moment. and the glass falls. and so too does all of dennis’ resolve. and he looks to charlie to say something even though he doesn’t “have a line” but it doesn’t quite work and then mac tries to do a flip and then everyone is yelling and it’s just so much noise and that’s the last straw. he can’t hold back anymore. and he gets up to deliver his speech, and the room goes dark. and silent. only his voice rings out.

CHARDEN HOLDING HANDS ok cool I can die happily now

[macdennisnation]

CHARDEN HOLDING HANDS ok cool I can die happily now