#dennis meta

[charmac]

The peak of Dennis' fantasy for obtaining control of his body, for obtaining peace of mind, being stealing a man's heart, turning it into a diamond, and consuming it. While Mac, in his fantasy, was trying to pressure cook a diamond into existence

[angrymac]

DTAMHD predictions and rambles

so the episode starts with Dennis going for a physical again (obvious parallel to Frank’s Pretty Woman) except maybe he goes without Mac this time, or if they go together, now Mac is healthier than he is. Either of this things would bother him, especially coupled with learning about his high blood pressure

Dennis is prone to building up these ideas in his head of what he thinks his life should look like, traditional milestones and experiences that he believes a normal person would have, and that he in turn should replicate.

So he comes up with the newest “scheme” to turn his attention away from the sudden reality of his own mortality and the fact that he only has so much (little) control over his own health. (Look back on his behavior in 7.01, 9.07, 15.06 for reference— Dennis sees physical illness as a personal failure, and in turn, he’s likely going to try to make up for this by forcing some semblance of a normal experience.)

but of course, unfortunately, life doesn’t and never will go according to plan, or to script. And throughout the episode, little things will pop up that gradually chip at Dennis’ resolve, bit by bit, testing his control over his anger and encouraging him to explode.

being away from The Gang may also force him to address the things (and memories) that their company, constant schemes, and involved conversations are always distracting him from.

so all of these memories are coming to the surface along with his own mortality, finally accepting that he gets sick sometimes and that he needs food and that he’s not a Golden God, just a human person in a human body.

which will be a huge body blow. because, and allow me to cross-reference Bojack Horseman for a moment if I may:

if he’s not a Golden God, and the pain that he’s endured and ignored hasn’t turned him into some all-powerful immortal being, “then all the damage [he] got isn’t good damage, it’s just damage. and all the years [Dennis] was miserable was for nothing.”

depriving himself of things that he needed— food, Mac, the ability to be vulnerable, was all for nothing. he wasted so much time for nothing.

and it won’t take much for him to break down after that. hopefully this will be something cathartic for him and will lead to a real breakthrough (his MFHP moment in the rain).

[dennisboobs]

Interviewer: "I wanted to ask about your character. He's a sociopath--" Glenn: :-)

[waywardtrek]

I’ve seen posts about how CEO/Musk guy = Mac/Fat Mac/Hawaiian Shirt Mac, but not sure if anyone’s made this comparison yet:

I interpreted CEO guy also as a “representative” of Dennis himself… Who he could have been, had he the luxury to make different choices in his life. Who he’d be if he had money and power. Sure, he might look pudgy and un-Vitruvian, but he’d be relaxing at the beach and he’d be successful—a winner. Happy. If only he could let go of control in his *actual* existence, if only he could let go of his messed up childhood and trauma etc., he could’ve been somebody… Somebody loved, somebody with someone like Mac at his core, loving him with enough heart to be as rare as a diamond—or at least trying his best to make it that way (video call, pressure cooker). Diamonds are pure, tough, precious, valuable. Diamonds are forever... But as it is, Dennis will just subsume them, take this form of love in the only way he knows how—through fantasy and violence and, uh, eroticism. It’s the only way he knows, the only way he’s worthy of receiving it. (Side note: He IS willing to receive/take it now, though - huge step!)

My other interpretation was that CEO guy is a “representative” of Dennis’ health. The guy who plays the CEO is literally the doctor who walks past Dennis in the final sequence, so this tracks. Also, the fact that Dennis presses the man’s hand to his own heart first shows that kind of intrinsic connection/understanding. And, as his health personified, the fact that the CEO is pudgy but ultimately happy and successful—while Dennis is ‘beautiful’ BUT tormented and rage-filled, no matter how hard he tries (even in a fucking delusion/fantasy of his own making)—of course the only thing Dennis can do is fucking rip his heart out and pressurise it into a diamond.

In other words, in his delusion, Dennis himself is personifying his mental health issues/inner turmoil, whereas the CEO is personifying all other aspects of his health and life. There truly is greatness (diamond) within Dennis; he knows this (and this is where Mac comes in… they are inextricably linked, after all.). But the only way Dennis knows how to extract this greatness and love is through rage, fantasy and violence and, uh, eroticism again... All of which are coping strategies, bc he doesn’t actually know how to achieve the greatness he’s striving for—that level of perfection is a fallacy, and he also knows he’s fucking doomed no matter how hard he tries because the problem is in his own mind--an eternal byproduct of his trauma. (the ‘not your fault’ throughout is, again, a huge milestone for him, imo)

The main reason I thought all of this, btw, was the simple fact that CEO guy is wearing a red Hawaiian shirt, a la:

The Gang Solves the Bathroom Problem

Which, incidentally, is also the only time we ever witness Dennis outright call himself a ‘straight man’ (when he clearly, painfully isn’t), playing up to a false persona of his own creation, with his real feelings being completely irrelevant. As long as he is pretending to be the perfect person -- his trauma/shitty life experience has taught him is the only way to be -- that’s the most important thing of all. with that, he is in control. he is god.

Hmm yes. Thank you for reading my essay.

[realbeefman]

sunny should do an episode where the gang descends through the layers of dante’s hell and at first they’re all a little freaked out but it’s still got the sunny background music and they’re joking and getting into situations but as it progresses the mood gets more and more somber and the sets get more disorienting and their experiences more disturbing until eventually we end on ten minutes of dead silence while the gang silently walks down an endless and shadowed staircase that grows progressively darker and darker until the screen is fully black and all we can hear is the shuffling of their footsteps ever further down down down until even that fades into nothing but an unfathomably endless darkness

[weeddennis]

the gang + monsters

[absolutely-not-my-main-blog]

Holes. Keys. What Have You.

I have full analyses I've been wanting to actually do and gather images for over the entire past year, but in the meantime, have this <3.

[sunflowerdigs]

I think Henren would have been much better served by a plot that centered Mara and her thoughts and feelings about being returned home, rather than one that seemed predicated on a manufactured conflict between Hen and Karen that didn't really make much sense, given that Hen has been a firefighter for decades and presumably missed all of Denny's Halloweens as well. A Mara-focused plot seems like the most natural follow up to an episode that pitted Henren against a system that gave Mara's feelings no consideration when deciding her future. Mara's voice was, appropriately, barely heard in 8x04, so it should have been very loud in 8x05 to further contrast her treatment at Ortiz's hands vs at Henren's. This would have also allowed Denny to play a more complex role in the episode, since Mara tends to confide in him when she's not comfortable confiding in Henren (I really, really enjoy their sibling dynamic and think Denny is severely underused given the actor's capabilities).

Frankly, we all knew that Denny wasn't going to die and that knowledge, plus the out-of-the-blue, disconnected nature of Henren's conflict ruined a lot of the pathos of the car crash scene for me. Additionally, lbr, kids don't really care who takes them trick-or-treating, they just care about the costumes and the candy (imo, it was actually very thoughtful and touching of the high school girls to bring their candy to Denny - I had some big issues with Athena's plotline this episode as well). Had Hen missed Thanksgiving or Christmas, Karen's anger would have been a lot more understandable.

Overall, a missed opportunity to conclude the Mara plotline in a thoughtful way, I think.

[charmac]

Hey! I wanna thank you for your videos and wanted to tell u I watch them to boost my energy hehe.

2 genuine questions:

1-Do you, based on the show and Dennis' character, believe that he hates Mac or he actually Loves him? How do u see Dennis in general bc I see him as a person who doesn't see himself as a person bc he's scared and also doesn't think he'll be loved.

2- when did u start loving macdennis as a romantic pair and noticed the little things between them??

Thanks! I'm trying to dig up old stuff from the old official accounts that's no longer viewable/watchable in my free time so we can keep it alive circulating.

1. I believe Dennis hates that he loves Mac. He's always loved Mac, for some reason he just has, and slowly over time that's caused him to hate him more and more:

I see MADBU as the catalyst for Dennis' disdain toward Mac, when Dee pointed out their codependency and broke their glass closet. It wasn't that he hated Mac for who he was, not right then, but Dennis hated what their relationship meant for who he was. S6-12 is this constant battle of Dennis trying to 'find himself' in so many ways, maybe he should be married; no, he just needs a higher position in the bar, reins on everyone; yeah, it's the gang who have issues: he's perfect, he's the Golden God, a 5-star man, the Master of manipulation. Dennis built his front on being a manipulator, on wearing different faces, on controlling Mac, convincing everyone his cold, hard shell matches his interior, and Mac fell for it. Mac, who's supposed to know Dennis better than he knows himself, no longer knows who Dennis is.

Dennis' front was born out of his insecurities, his trauma, his rejection of labels and his fear of being known, his constant internal battle with himself for control. (DTAMHD kind of illustrates that beautifully, look inside his mind, see what he's going through, all internally, he's trying to reason with the world being against him inside, so on the outside he can present flawlessly (ha).) His front wasn't meant for Mac, Mac was the guy who he could talk to, but Mac is a little stupid and he fell for it, an unfortunate by-product, and Dennis hates that. He hates that Mac sees who he's projecting and not who he is inside.

The sad thing is, Mac is trying. But he's always doing it wrong, proving himself in the wrong ways, trying to get through Dennis' shell not because he wants to know him, but because he wants him. Dennis left, Dennis came back, and Mac had replaced him with a sex doll. An object, Dennis is an object of his affection. An object.

Mac doesn't understand the difference, between lust and love. Mac doesn't understand love outside of neglect and manipulation. Dennis has built his front on manipulation. Would Mac still love him if he knew who Dennis was outside of that? Does Mac even want to know who Dennis is? Or does he just want sex? Does he love him or is it all manipulation at this point? If that was gone, where would they be?

Mac doesn't know that Dennis is Johnny, Mac can't wrap his head around the fact that Dennis is Johnny, he can't be. (Why can't he be?) Dennis is Johnny, he's dropping hints that he is: Johnny likes the same things that Dennis does, but Mac doesn't know that, because Johnny isn't the Dennis that Mac knows. Mac doesn't know Dennis. If Mac doesn't know who Dennis really is, he doesn't love him, he just wants him and Dennis doesn't want sex from Mac, because he loves him, and he hates him for that. (But Mac is in love with Johnny, Johnny who never showed up for sex, Johnny who liked the same things Dennis does...What does that tell Dennis?)

2. This one is really hard for me to pinpoint. Macdennis grew on me gradually, and then hit really hard. Definitely due to the Dennis Front factor. I admit constantly I was very much a dudebro on the subreddit about this show for about 2 years... Oops, lol. (I always liked this ship, um, non-romantically..) When TASP started the conversations there convinced me I wasn't insane to read deeper into this show and I began seeing Dennis meta, that's when I started seeing it romantically, I suppose. The first rewatch you do after cracking through Dennis is absolutely mindblowing, lmfao.

[dryersheetbear]

do u. understand

[dennisboobs]

I wanted to dig into the Sunny the 13th promos a little bit, because I think they're a really great subversion of expectations that a lot of people have about Always Sunny and Dennis' character in general.

Looking at the comments on various platforms from around the promos were released, a good number of people seem to have taken the promos as if Dennis has "finally snapped" and is going to kill the gang. He is, after all, wielding an axe, wearing a slasher-esque hockey mask, and appears to be threatening harm in all of the promotional images.

But in the video promos, he's more akin to a ghost than a slasher villain, trying and failing to get the gang's attention, for the seven minute Paramormal Paddy's promo. Several times over the course of the promo, he is actively scared by the things happening in the bar, wheras the rest of the gang barely even acknowledges it.

He's the one being pursued in all of the promos, not the other way around. Pursued by his friends' parents, pursued by the Waitress, pursued by Margaret McPoyle. In Dennis' Double Life, he tries to own up to his behaviour and commits to becoming a father, but in doing so, he is running away from his old life, and it all still follows him.

If listening to the conversations that the gang is having, you can also clearly hear them discussing whether or not Dennis actually killed Maureen. Dennis isn't technically there to defend himself, but the general consensus is that he did (even though Dennis originally denies any involvement, and his name was cleared).

In the production script for The Gang Gets New Wheels, they assume Dennis has killed Mandy and Brian Jr. and that is why he's come back to Philadelphia and decided to raise his son "from a distance". Given the gang's perception of him, and his apparent track record with killing Maureen, this would be a fair assumption, but not once does he raise his axe at them, or even make any move to threaten them at all.

In both the Ponderosa Wedding Massacre and Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer, Dennis' secrecy and suspicious behaviour stems from not wanting others to know that he had sex with Maureen. I don't believe he killed her, and I don't believe he killed Mandy and their son either. I also don't believe he'd kill the gang. Besides, as we know from Mac is a Serial Killer, axes are too messy.

At the very end of the promo, Dennis walks toward the gang with his axe lowered, and Dee turns around to look at him, implying that they knew he was there the entire time. This aligns with their lack of interest in his absence in The Gang Gets New Wheels.

Throughout the promo, he's seen sitting at the bar alone, in one of the booths, rolling across the floor in the chair from the back office, watching them from afar, staring into the camera. He's bored. He's lonely. He's being left out of the gang's conversations. This can easily be seen as a representation of how he felt in North Dakota.

So of course he's wearing a mask, leaning into their perception of him as a psychotic killer, it's easier than being honest and vulnerable. Better than telling them that he came back because he missed them.

[waywardtrek]

Honestly, for me, it’s all of the above (except for the approval bit, as I personally think Dennis doesn’t give a flying fuck what Frank thinks of him at this stage in his life)! And that’s kind of the point: You have this dysfunctional, barely-there father/son relationship and it’s so awkward and heartbreaking that you just have to laugh at this grown-ass man of 40+ showing vulerability by being unsure of whether or not it’s “normal” to show affection to his “dad”.

On the other hand, I think the “the sickness and anger in you is diabolical” line is important. To me, it represents Frank (possibly for the first time ever?) acknowledging that the neglect/insane antics he has embroiled Dennis in have had an enormous impact on him pyschologically. He doesn’t sound impressed; he sounds kind of horrified, if anything. Which is growth... and so Dennis thanks him in the best way he knows how.

I also think that it perfectly shows how we can have very complicated relationships with key people--especially from our childhood years--that are layered and difficult to parse. I can definitely relate to that, and I think iasip does a great job of turning that kind of pain into comedy and, at times, brutal realism combined with shock factor (which I don’t think is happening here, but has happened in s16e02).

I dont even know WHAT to think about the scene where Dennis gives Frank a kiss in Dee Sinks Into A Bog.

Like on the one hand, it does feel very real, and extremely depressing, to have this grown adult man still crave his abusive fathers approval after over 40 years of being hurt by him.

But i dont feel like thats what we are SUPPOSED to be feeling during the scene!!!!

I feel like its SUPPOSED to be an extremely rare sweet bonding moment!!! And the way Glenn acts as Dennis IS sweet in a way (honestly i think its one of his best moments as Dennis). How he sounds so unsure about giving affection is endearing and it reminds you that he still just feels like a scared little kid but....

I feel like it is an extremely depressing emotional moment for Dennis that SHOULD serve as a way of showing that he cant move on from needing franks approval, but the tone of the scene is TRYING to make us think its a sweet one.

I DONT KNOW. It makes me so uncomfortable.

Dennis girlies please fix this or help me understand

[soranatus]

Transformers: Earthspark, 1x18: Home (2023) Detective Comics, Vol. 1 #457: There is No Hope in Crime Alley! (1976)

Bonus:

[weeddennis]

idk if it's intentional but it's fun how in risk e rat's charlie, mac and dee all interact with mascots that match (one of, in charlie's case) their respective animal motifs

[madcapberry]

One sec I need to talk about Shiva.

Lady Shiva was introduced in Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter in the 70s. She was a traveling martial artist hellbent on getting revenge for her sister, who she believed had been killed by Richard Dragon. She lured Dragon into a trap, revealed herself as Carolyn's sister, and tried to fight him to the death. Once she realized that Dragon had nothing to do with it, that Cravat and The Swiss (unimportant villain characters, they killed Carolyn) had been the ones to kill her sister, she helped Dragon defeat the villain (by giving him her shiny belt so he could redirect the beam of a deadly laser that was being pointed at them while they were fighting, don’t even ask) and Richard Dragon and Lady Shiva became allies, friends even. Dragon convinced her it would be a waste to kill Cravat and told her that he had killed the Swiss himself. She accepted this. They shook hands. This all took place over the course of one issue of Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter. It took ONE issue for Shiva to go from antagonist to ally. She then tagged along with Richard because she liked the adventures he got up to, the danger, the challenge, and the thrill of it. Richard even called her later on when he needed help on a different adventure. What I’m saying is she didn’t start out as evil.

Okay, so what do we know about Shiva so far? She’s a thrill-seeking peripatetic martial artist of great capacity and skill. She cared about her sister. She’s willing to kill. She’s an adventurer and a valuable ally. Great. Moving on.

The Question 1987 features THE Lady Shiva. A character capable of both ruthlessness and mercy, cruelty and tenderness. A curious, thrill-seeking, teasing character. She was vicious and nonpartisan and she was working as a mercenary for hire. But she was an ally, even when she was beating the shit out of Vic. She loved the O Sensei. You can tell she even cared about Vic in her way. I’m not saying she had a heart of gold, or that there weren’t tropes she fell into. She wasn’t and there were. But she was a fairly well-rounded, morally gray character that played a key role wherever she showed up. She was closer to a non-traditional anti-hero than anything else. Idfk, just go read The Question.

I read a tvtropes article describing Lady Shiva as “an archetypical Dragon Lady, complete with sinister motivations and exotic sex appeal,” which… she isn’t. She subverted this trope in several ways actually. She never had “sinister motivations” until Chuck Dixon got his grubby little hands on her. Her motivations were pretty neutral. She had her own set of principles, she was very morally gray. She wanted to travel and fight worthy opponents on her adventures for the thrill of it. She seemed to operate mostly on personal whims, and on the basis of building worthy rivals, out of love for the art of combat. And she didn’t use her sex appeal for shit (until the Richard Dragon reboot comic kms), she didn’t tolerate sexual advances or objectification. She just WAS NOT a conniving temptress, I don't understand where this misperception came from (but I do blame Dixon, I’ll get to that in a sec).

This same article states that she began as the arch-nemesis of Richard Dragon? Unless you’re accepting the version of the two of them from the very short lived Richard Dragon 2004 series as their canonical relationship then NO she didn’t. But I digress.

There was a marked change in the way Lady Shiva was written by the time Robin (1991) came out, this is where her character starts to lean towards the Dragon Lady trope imo. She also weirdly, and maybe arguably, leans more into traditional femininity while at the same time being written as more wild and uncontrollable. Chuck Dixon seemed to fundamentally misunderstand Lady Shiva as a character. He turned her (sometimes ironic) disdain for brutes who wouldn’t last a second in a fight with her into stereotypical womanly haughtiness. He turned her capacity for ruthlessness into bloodlust. And he made her into a conniving, somewhat deranged, villainous woman, tempting our young hero towards evil (oh my!). Again, I’m not saying she ever had a heart of gold, but Dixon changed core character traits (namely her respect for other people's personal code) to turn her into a villain.

“Kill him, little bird. Kill him and become a predator…Aren’t you my weapon? My instrument of death? Say you are mine.” Like?? She would not fucking say that, respectfully.

That isn’t even to mention Richard Dragon (2004) where Dixon turned Shiva’s relationship with Dragon into a resentful, sexually charged dick-measuring contest.

Even so, I don’t entirely hate Shiva as a villain, especially in Batgirl (2000). Pucketts Shiva is a bit less egregious imo. So she’s a passively suicidal evil mentor-figure who wants Cass to be a killer like her. Whatever, I can get on board with that I guess. I can enjoy it because I love Cass and this is a great comic run. But the retcon that–Listen, THE RETCON THAT IS SHIVA’S SISTER BEING KILLED BY DAVID CAIN, SHIVA DESCRIBING THIS AS FREEING, SAYING SHE’S GRATEFUL, THEN AGREEING TO GET PREGNANT WITH HIS CHILD IN RETURN?? This boils my blood. Shiva, who was introduced as somebody who cared about getting revenge for her dead sister. Shiva, for whom freedom and autonomy were core character traits. That Shiva?? That Shiva is relieved her sister is dead and is willing to carry her sister's killer's child to term?? What the fuck?

I hate it. I don’t understand it. Why would you take a complex character who makes it difficult to tell who she really cares about, and flatten them into somebody incapable of love?

Okay I’m done, this is getting too long and I don’t even want to get started on New 52 era Shiva. I don’t have a conclusion, I’m just annoyed. Thanks for reading. The Question (1987) is NOT a perfect comic but if you’re interested in Shiva please please please check it out, it’s very moody and philosophical, noir-esque. Also Chuck Dixon suck my dick.

[sunnykeysmash]