#MFHP

[absolutely-not-my-main-blog]

Glenn Howerton: [...] and we talk about that all the time when we're writing Sunny, it's like this moment is like 'it's not funny enough,' and I'm like yes, but is it *entertaining,* is it interesting to watch? [...]

Sure, "it's funnier" if they don't, but...

[absolutely-not-my-main-blog]

If you like Piña Coladas...

And at last, my third, main, final and favourite piece for the beautiful The Gang Finds Their Pride Zine over @its-always-ziney-in-philadelphia. Everyone go check the full thing, it is jam packed with so many incredibly skilled and talented people, and it was an honour to be part of it.

[flying-ham]

mac finds his pride (2018)

[angrymac]

season 16 macdennis

I can’t stop thinking about Dennis and Frank’s conversation in “Dee Sinks in a Bog”, where Dennis credits Frank for making him the way he is in regards to his coldness, repressed emotions, and everything with the murder hole.

Based on the particular arc that seems to have been set up for Dennis since Season 12 (with Tends Bar and Dennis’ Double Life), it feels like they are building towards something huge. It has been established that Dennis does in fact feel “big feelings”, and while he could’ve been acting, I don’t think he was, especially considering the RPG scene that directly followed.

Dennis has been repressing his emotions for an extremely long time. We see how his denial affects his physical health too, from his issues with food to his experience with covid. And then we get this moment between him and Frank that feels very intentional.

Mac and Charlie’s big cathartic moments (MFHP and The Gang Carries a Corpse Up a Mountain, respectively), both had to do with their fathers, and them finally letting go of their fathers. Dennis’ Double Life was a big episode, but I don’t think it was THE Dennis episode.

I believe that Dennis’ big episode (his MFHP equivalent, if you will) will be the Season 16 finale, in which he will finally confront Frank in some big way and let go of Frank’s expectations / judgments / worldview that Dennis confirmed in S15 that he still upholds to some degree.

Upon letting go of Frank’s (and Barbara’s) expectations, Dennis will finally be able to address the things that he’s been avoiding, such as his relationship with food, his own mortality and ability to get sick, and of course:

his complicated feelings

for 1 (one) Ronald MacDonald.

I truly believe that RCG are setting up an arc with Mac and Dennis, and my main evidence is this:

Despite 15 seasons of subtext, and 4 seasons of Mac being out and canonically in love with Dennis, nothing has ever happened between them. Charlie and the waitress have hooked up and gotten together multiple times. Dennis and Charlie even kissed onstage once.

It would be such an easy plot point to utilize. There are hundreds of ways in which they could’ve played MacDennis for laughs and had them kiss already by now. And if they weren’t planning on making MacDennis canon, I believe that they would have.

So why haven’t they done anything with Mac and Dennis yet?

Because they’re building up to it. And with Mac having gone on his identity arc in Season 15, put some distance between him and Dennis all season, and gotten a comment from Dee about getting a boyfriend, his arc for Season 16 seems clear as well.

Mac will move on and date someone else, and Dennis will repress his jealousy until he is able to let go of Frank’s parenting and finally accept his feelings for Mac.

And it’s going to be a love story for the ages.

[angrymac]

sometimes I get a little dizzy thinking about how if The Gang Does a Clip Show takes place entirely in Dennis’ mind, then Dennis is the one who imagined Mac choosing to leave for North Dakota with him (holding hands no less) and Charlie interrogating him about why he would choose to still be roommates with Mac.

[flying-ham]

hd danny devito in mfhp is my uncanny valley

[macselbowdance]

also here’s the tattoo that i have for sunny, my artwork based on mfhp cause that was so special for me personally

[angrymac]

I think about this edit every single day of my life.

[jedislut]

I watched Mac Finds His Pride again,thinking about the fact that Mac's dad is the first to stand up (and walk away) while Mac is performing, but at the end Frank is the very last person to stand up in the whole room

[flying-ham]

oh my fucking god the bdsm dude barking in mac finds his pride just made my dog sit up and look at the tv

[angrymac]

“just between us, did the love affair maim you all too well?”

[pollencoveredwoman]

For anyone concerned that next week’s finale seems worrisome, underwhelming, boring, or disappointing…I’d like you to cast your mind back to the trailer for Season 13 where in no way could we have predicted the ending we got.

I’m not making any predictions, but I think we’ll be just fine. (but also really not okay rn 🤧)

[kennysaysthings]

My Father is a Sunny dude bro and has been since the show was in the early seasons so just think about that compared to what I’m posting and that pretty much explains it all

[fatmacisbestmac]

I can't believe mfhp came in 2018. 5 years ago. That finale literally devastated me and I haven't watched a single episode since. Little gay 18 yr old me watched that alone in my room at night after achool and I'm not even joking when I say it permanently altered my brain chemistry.

[charmac]

is there any season that you'd say does the best (or worst) at character development for the gang? personally, i've always thought that season 1 did wonders in helping the audience understand the gang's individual characters (minus frank) right away, but i'm interested in your opinion on the topic

Season 10 absolutely, 100%. It’s my favourite season of Sunny (and one of my favourite seasons of television ever), especially for the fact that it does so much insane character work in its span of ten episodes.

I don’t want to discount seasons before it, there’s an insane amount of foundational work that should be mentioned, but Season 10 being a milestone they never thought they would reach really sticks out as a major turn in the idea that the Gang don’t “develop” as characters by making the Gang face their own devolution. I've written about how Misses the Boat touches on this on the Paddy's Pub Blog, but Season 10 really as a whole just turns a lot more inward to the characters.

Charlie Work rotates around one of the Gang's schemes while having quite literally nothing to do with the scheme at all and everything to do with Charlie's character. This is the perfect example as to how the whole season operates, pushing the characters ahead of the plots, the schemes are just background work to revolve around. (Really, this is how the show operates a chunk of the time, but Season 10 is really really telling you that.)

It's hard to talk about each individual character without spiralling and trying to hit every S10 episode for everyone, but in brief summary: Frank unearths his own childhood trauma and starts to understand he's running out of time here; Dennis is diagnosed and his mask starts slipping more and more as he's forced to face (and attempt to disregard) how he is seen by outsiders; Mac is no longer able to front to himself that he's into women and he destroys his relationship with his father one step further; Charlie really sees he's viewed as less-than by Mac and Dennis and grows much more persistent to (dis)prove Frank is his father; Dee is shown as an even more 'successful' predator than Dennis, though just as pathetic at each turn.

All of this is not only built off what their characters were, but really are the very central parts of their characters that they clearly keep in mind as we push into the later seasons. (Arguably every character is still grappling with these core issues except Mac.)

(Briefly on worst season for character development, I think 13 is kind of the obvious choice. While there are some things I think they did well and are built on later (i.e. Bathroom Problem), episodes like The Gang Wins the Big Game are a prime example of how Sunny does not work well when the whole basis of an episode has nothing to do with the characters and everything to do with the plot. There was really negative character work done there, imo.)

I think it's funny you mention Season 1 for character development, because while I think it’s so so insanely essential to watch (and understand) as a foundation for the show and who the characters become, those versions of the characters are pretty distant from the Gang to me. Season 1 reads very much as Rob’s original idea: these are the worst versions of themselves; characters, but still a little too clearly RCG. Season 2 took those guys and built on them to create actual characters outside of themselves as terrible people, but I don't see the Gang as fully formed individuals until ~S4 (which I think RCG have mostly (?) admitted as much on TASP, lol)

Obviously every season contributes a lot to the characters as we know them, and some do a lot more for certain characters than others, so these are just my personal opinions... But I will argue for the rest of time that Season 10 is that bitch (and the best example of who the characters are).

[gregsnero]

never-ending loop of thinking i am insane for thinking of macdennis this often and then proceeding to watch lana del rey macdennis comps on tiktok. meds vs unmedicated