#dennis reynolds analysis

[a-nice-egg-offering]

The way that Dennis and Dee are so similar and yet have nearly complete opposite personality types is so interesting and important to the fabric of the show no one else is an mbti/psychology buff like me so u probably don’t care but I’m gonna talk about it anyway. So Dennis is an ENTJ (if you break that down in the most basic of ways that’s extroverted, intuitive, thinking, judging but it’s actually a lot more complicated than that and I’m not going to go into it rn but u get the general gist) and Dee is an ESFP (Extroverted, sensing, feeling, perceiving) now in compatibility terms just with how you get along with the people in your life, the best matches are people with opposite first and last letters but the same middle two letters or opposite all letters but the same second letter so based on this Dennis and Dee couldn’t be more opposite unless one of them was an introverted type right so in theory they should clash in every way but here is when it’s nature vs nurture because they have so many of the same characteristics it seems impossible for their types to be so different and yet they are. Because your personality type is made up of your brain functions right and you can be one type while still having an overactive certain function that doesn’t technically align with your type so the way Dennis and Dee have influenced each other despite being such different types is very interesting in the whole outline of their psychology. Another interesting point is that Dennis and charlie are the only intuitive types in the group (ENTJ & ENFP) and also a pairing that seems to understand each other, charlie is certainly the person Dennis has the most compassion for and I find this super interesting because intuitive types generally don’t feel understood by sensor types and vice versa also since Dennis is an ENTJ and therefore the rarest type this also adds to the feeling of no one in the group truly understanding him and it’s bizarre bc I mean Dennis and Dee are twins they grew up together and tho Dee understands Dennis better than anyone else does there is still a rift between them where she is bad at intuitively feeling what’s going on with him at any given time possibly because she’s a sensor and that’s not naturally how she’s wired. Dennis on the other hand understands the gang intuitively to the point where it’s boring for him because they never surprise him - a reason why the RPG moment was so special and soft because he truly hadn’t been expecting it. This is what Dennis craves and values in the people around him - being able to surprise him. Being an INFJ myself (an equally intuitive type) I feel much the same way and also relate to him in the way that all my friends at school were sensors so though I enjoyed their company I never really felt like anyone truly understood me. I think that can be so frustrating for Dennis in regards to Dee sometimes too because she’s supposed to be his other half and he can read her so well yet she keeps missing the mark with his needs. It was interesting that in DTAMHD the Dee in his fantasy was on his side, knew how he’d react to something the gang did and actively tried to stop them from upsetting him because that’s what he wishes he had from her in reality. I don’t even really know what point I’m trying to make here these are just some thoughts and me finding a way to bring my two special interests together lol. Also just an extra little note Dee and macs types are very similar (ESFP & ESFJ) and yet they can’t stand each other which I find quite funny because as we know the gang is always offended by any kind of mirror so the fact Dee and Mac are so similar is also probably the reason they hate each other so much.

[charmac]

I wrote about Charlie and Dennis' paralleled childhood sexual abuse, and how their opposing trauma responses keep them from seeing themselves while they stay stuck in their own cycles of abuse.

// The content under the read more is an in-depth script analysis highlighting and discussing childhood sexual abuse and trauma response. Please read with caution or scroll past this post if these topics are known to affect and/or trigger you. //

Because Sunny walks an extremely fine line between sensitive, if not traumatic, character work and dark comedy, I've found that, in reading the scripts, the trauma being written is always much more blatant. You have to work a little harder to pick up on the underlying intent when watching the episodes (though the more and more we learn about the characters, the more the intent becomes clear), but the scripted versions of these scenes are solid evidence that the clear intent of these storylines is to reveal that these characters have extremely repressed childhood trauma, in-turn explaining to the audience why they have such fucked-up ideas of (and relationships with) love and sex. To put it more blatantly: the purpose of giving and revealing the childhood trauma these characters have is purposeful (if not needed), explaining why they are the predators that they are, and allows us to at least understand where their often psychopathic actions and rationales come from.

The fact that Charlie and Dennis were both sexually abused as children is all but obvious to the audience (and every other member of the Gang), but the extent to which these plots are intended to act as character work as opposed cheap-shot rape jokes is often lost on the casual viewer. In my opinion, the disconnect is not for lack of clear intention in the writing, but by the nature of the show being what it is.

It’s very clearly still there, easy enough to catch if you’re standing more than ankle-deep in the waters, but because Sunny is a dark comedy, it’s unfortunately easy to uncomfortably laugh past a rape joke if you don’t care to look deeper than the surface. Taking a look at the scripts helps paint a clearer picture, making it easier to point out, walk through and explore the CSA lore developed for both Charlie and Dennis, how they parallel and oppose each other, and how this trauma relates to their own predatory behaviours. 

An obvious starting point is Charlie Got Molested, which is, on the surface, an episode in which we learn that Charlie wasn't molested. What is changed from the script to the episode is this first line from Charlie, right at the very end of the episode, on his family’s response to his alleged molestation:

(Charlie's aired line is instead "Now everybody thinks that I've been molested. So, in a way, my life is ruined.")

Whether written with a specific intent at the time or not, this episode sets the stage (literally, lol) for a later building 'reveal' that (1) Charlie was molested as a child, and (2) his Uncle Jack is very much a pedophile, not just a perv (which is hinted at in the actual episode, both in dialogue and visuals), because the next time the show features a plot with Charlie and molestation (Sweet Dee's Dating notwithstanding, though important to mention, as it’s further evidence of the idea that there was clearly a thread being woven early on), it’s via the form of a play.

Charlie wrote The Nightman Cometh as a play about love, which was turned into a 'legible' play by Artemis, in which the Gang all "misinterpreted" his original intent and believed it to be about a child being raped. Charlie gets mad, because he doesn't see it, doesn't believe it, and instead believes everyone is destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let this idea go.

The script for The Nightman Cometh (which, I’d like to point out, RCG chose to make publicly available to everyone) has an alternate ending to the rehearsal of the bed scene between The Boy and The Nightman:

(The aired version shows Charlie more-comedically angry at Mac and Dennis by raising his level of frustration, physically with his hands. The mention of the Nightman taking The Boy face-to-face is never addressed in the aired episode, yet it does take place that way in the actual play scene following the rehearsal featuring doggy-style humping.)

What's heavily implied in the episode (and basically explicitly stated in the script), is that the Gang are not misinterpreting Charlie's art; the play is quite literally built around the idea that a child is attempting to communicate his rape, and Dennis is telling him that’s what it is. Charlie can't accept that, because this is a play about his life, he believes he’s created a play about love, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

(And, following this, the audience can put the two and two together: Charlie’s clearly repressed CSA and the fact that his Uncle is a pedophile. In every.single.physical.interaction Charlie and Uncle Jack have, in every appearance he makes following Season 4, the fact that Uncle Jack is the Nightman is clear.)

Rolling back a little, it’s interesting that Dennis is the one to be audibly confused by (and frustrated with) the fact that Charlie can't understand his play is a rape play, because it's so very obvious to Dennis. Yet, 7 years later, he's in Charlie's exact shoes.

Because in Dee Makes a Smut Film, Dennis' plot almost directly parallels Charlie’s from The Nightman Cometh:

Dennis wrote his Erotic Memoirs as a tale of his sexual conquests, the first of his encounters turned into a 'film' by Dee, in which Dee "misinterpreted" what happened between Dennis and the Librarian as him being raped as a teen. Dennis gets mad, because he doesn't see how it could possibly be rape, doesn't believe a guy can be raped, and instead believes Dee and Grieco are destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let the idea go.

(In the aired episode, Dennis does not avoid using the word rape, and instead insists you cannot rape a guy, and that he was willing.)

Just like Charlie, Dennis refuses to accept that the people who are acting out his writing at face-value are telling him straight up that it looks like, and most-likey is, rape. Dennis can't accept that, because this is a film about his life, it's about his first sexual conquest, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

This goes one-step further when Dee airs the 'film' for the rest of the Gang:

(The aired version of the video does not show anything from filming, and only shows a slideshow of photos from when Dennis was a teen, overlay text claiming he was raped, and a photo of Klinsky repeating 'hoser' over and over.)

Dennis goes on a spiel and reiterates that he was not raped. The rest of the Gang are not convinced.

And at this point, Charlie and Dennis probably should relate to each other, or at the very least intentionally give each other a pass/miss whenever the topic of childhood sexual abuse emerges, but instead they continue to have no issue believing and pointing out that the other was raped while continuing to deny their own trauma. 

In PTSDee, this paralleled-refusal is made clear. Very clear. In the script, it's even clearer:

(In the aired scene, Dennis' line is clearly cut after he mentions Charlie's mom, and it picks up with Charlie's line at "the father thing")

They see it so clearly in each other, but don't see themselves mirrored—and there's no doubt that's intentional. Because while they were both sexually abused as children, their current relationships with love and sex (as portrayed from basically episode one) are opposing, and the circumstances of their individual rape and immediate repression are extremely illustrative as to why they behave the way they do:

Charlie's trauma response is typical of pre-pubescent, forced rape. Not mature enough to even recognise what happened to him (as Uncle Jack's abuse was likely his first exposure to sexual acts), he regresses and represses, subsequently developing a repulsion toward sex into his adult life (in Season 5, Mac and Charlie Write a Movie, there's a deleted scene that makes it evident that he's disgusted by and avoidant of sex decades later), and, clearly by the depictions in The Nightman Cometh play and the lyrics of Nightman in Sweet Dee’s Dating, believing that the harassment he faced was love. 

For the run of the show, Charlie’s interest in love and sex is almost exclusively highlighted by his relentless pursuit of the Waitress. In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Charlie is depicted as a sexual harasser, unable to recognize that disinterest, avoidance, the word "no," and stalking that leads to legal action to restrain him from the person he's pursuing is inappropriate and predatory.

While his CSA results in a repulsion toward sex (in most instances), Charlie clearly associates the concept of love with the early harassment he faced, brought on him in his own home by a "loved one," he truly believes that his own relentless pursuit will end up buying him love. Charlie is stuck in an abstinent cycle (at least, until Dennis’ Double Life) of his own abuse.

Dennis' trauma response is typical of coercive rape and grooming. He was old enough to believe that sex is something that should be seen as cool, and therefore obsesses and brags about his experience(s), resulting in his hypersexuality. In Season 5, The D.E.N.N.I.S. System, it's firmly established that Dennis' pursuit of women is something outside of genuine attraction; in fact, it's almost devoid of it. Clearly by the plot of PTSDee, he sees a woman’s sexuality as a weapon he needs to fight against. 

For the run of the show, Dennis' interest in sex is deeply entwined with the fact that he gets off on having power over his "sexual conquests". In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Dennis is depicted as a date rapist, having an aversion to recognising (if not an inability to understand) consent, he pursues sex exclusively for his own physical pleasure, with little care for the other party, getting off on the knowledge that he’s orchestrated the situation he’s in.

While his CSA results in an obsession with sex, Dennis clearly does not associate the concept of love with the act, truly believing that sex is used to overpower someone, most enjoyable when obtained via coercion, exactly as his virginity was taken from him. Dennis is stuck in a loveless cycle of his own abuse.

Charlie and Dennis meet after their own traumas; their clearly disordered relationships with love and sex is how they've always known the other to be. When there are hints of the other's abuse, they're able to easy recognise what it is, for they sense the paralleled familiarity of their own CSA—yet their polar opposite trauma responses result in an inability to reflect:

To Dennis, Charlie was clearly raped, and Charlie fears sex and Dennis loves sex, so he can't have been raped; To Charlie, Dennis was clearly raped, and Dennis doesn't pursue love and Charlie loves the Waitress, so he can't have been raped.

Their reflections being mirrored causes them to harp on the other's trauma and keeps them from being able to truly recognise their own abuse. Call the other out and deny what’s shot back, stuff it down and continue spiralling in their own cycle of abuse.

[macdenlover]

we don’t acknowledge enough how dee used to be a pageant winner when she was a kid and how much damage it did to her. she worked her ass off and got recognition for being pretty and talented at a young age and it was the only source of self esteem she could garner in a family that constantly berated and talked down to her. she sought after that external approval because it was the only way she could prove everyone around her wrong. her dream of being a performer didn’t come from a self-aggrandizing delusion— she genuinely showed a lot of potential when she was younger. but she went through an unflattering puberty and her spinal condition got worse and that natural talent she had as a kid plateaued way too early. the “former gifted kid” dilemma. she slowly lost the thing that promised her that she was good, but she was so desperate to keep holding onto it that she tried anyway. again and again and again no matter how much people made fun of her because it was always about proving them wrong. but after a while she couldn’t jump anymore without anticipating the way it feels when she hits the ground face first. self-sabotage became her way out, choosing to rather live in the fantasy of her own unrealized potential and blaming those around her for her lack of success, than having tried and crashed again. she’d rather buy lottery tickets over and over and never scratch off the numbers than to see that she lost. that self-sabotaging behavior bled into other aspects of her life too, from friendships to relationships to therapy. her own short lived success is what made her grow into embodying the cycle of failure.

[aanalytic]

sunny s17 wishlist:

- dee takes a goddamn W for once

- dee and the waitress hang out. or kiss

- charlie covered in dirt (or blood. or both)

- emotionally charged dennis moment please megan ganz i know you’re out there

- charlie and mac best pals/partners in crime type episode

[voncel]

Mac is literally the cleanest of the gang, I don’t care that they dropped his bossiness a bit in later seasons but he was still the one cleaning Charlie and Frank’s apartment in “Mac and Dennis break up”, so I’ll just take that scene as representative of his entire character from now on, thank you very much

But seriously, it makes sense. We’ve seen his mom, how she’s a mess alone (and his father wouldn’t make much of a difference if he was present). Lots of people that grow up in an uncaring and messy environment tend to grow up and take cleaningness very seriously. I speak from personal experience when I say I get anxious when I see a messy bedroom precisely because it brings me back to my early childhood. Mac took the role of “man of the house” very seriously after his father went to jail, it’s very evident his bossiness and need to take care of people came from that. He NEEDS Dennis to need him, because if he doesn’t, what’s preventing him from just leaving?

Speaking of Dennis, I wouldn’t describe him as clean like other people have. He’s not messy, he likes to have things organized, but only to the extent of his own willingness to clean. I actually think Dennis would be very laidback in general, he grew up with maids and butlers and never actually lived on his own. His college dorm must’ve been a hellsite, though the majority of dorms usually are. Mac cleans after Dennis, metaphorically and literally.

This then leads me to think a bit more about their living dynamics (though I dwelve into more headcanon-y territory) like how Dennis probably takes care of the money aspects (tbf Frank’s credit card takes care of it), Mac does grocery shopping because I think if Dennis did it, he’d come back with like 4 protein bars and some apples to last them the whole month. Mac totally cleans Dennis’ room, atleast in minor ways like dusting and taking out the trash, wile Dennis keeps their apartment tidy by decorating shelves or keeping things in their places. It’s a silent part of their living arrangement and the kind of thing they’d never trade off.

[prolibytherium]

Beautiful friendship

[ch4rliew0rk]

Dennis Reynolds is not a serial killer. in fact, he has never killed a single person. all of his fantasies of kiling are his way of mentally reclaiming power from someone who he feels has taken it from him, and he says incriminating things to make people think that he is unfeeling and dangerous and convince them not to cross him. (edit: or help him.)

as he says, Maureen is the only woman who can break his "shell", his protection. he feels like he was weak around her, so he needs to make everyone think he killed her as a way to reestablish his power over her in their minds, and to override their memory of him when he was in a relationship with her.

ha fantasizes about killing the news reporter because she is the only woman who makes him nervous (powerless), and once her boobs are ruined (the part that had value to him) he realizes what she's 'done' to him and needs to take his power back.

he wants people to think that he's capable of murder, just to scare them into submission. he acts like he wanted to actually kill the waitress in Mac is a serial killer because he needs Dee to keep following his orders. he says he likes being considered a serial killer when he asks charlie if he's "methodical" because he's trying to get charlie to follow his obviously flawed 'say yes' advice. he tells Dee to 'think of the smell' because he is in an argument with her where he needs to feel superior. love is a head in a freezer because then they can't leave, they cant hurt him, he is in control.

but in the end, he doesn't have the strength to kill pop pop.

I know that it sounds like I'm overlooking hard evidence of things that the character himself has said, but Dennis is a liar. he hates himself, so he starves himself and hurts people to prove that he's a golden god. all he wants is a loving relationship, which he has, so he acts like he doesn't need Mac (or anyone else for that matter). he tells mac that he has no feelings, only to reveal seasons later that he has big feelings, but he can't be seen as loving, caring, (weak). so he presents the anthrax, when it was always just sugar.

[powerbottomdennis]

Mac using god and people (Luther and then den ) to fill his god hole but also just refusing to understand them at all. Being so close to finally having a relationship but being held back because being understood is the only thing Dennis wants from him. Them developing(?) in the opposite directions with Dennis thinking he knew Mac and reciprocating feelings until season 9 or so, having that facade fall once and for all and now hating Mac (altho it's more complicated than that). Mac now thinking he knows Dennis and idolizing him, possibly having the same results when he finds out that Dennis is infact, not God. Them spiralling around each other forever ough I'm going insane.

[dumpster-dory]

Dennis is such an interesting type of loser. He thinks he's good at manipulation, but he only successfully manipulates people who he sees as intellectually inferior (Mac&Charlie) or who have zero info about him and only fall for the manipulation for a short period of time.

And yet he's ALSO arguably the most PRONE to manipulation out of the gang. While Charlie and Mac are "dumber", Mac has a set of values and stands within them pretty firmly (relatively), and Charlie, despite being gullible, can be pretty assertive and cautious bc.. childhood trauma

And Dennis basically only needs an ego boost and he's fucking lost. He became a prostitute in like, what, two days?

[deeism]

the thing i've learned from extensively lurking on sunnyblr is that so many sunny fans are shockingly analytical and articulate and incredibly good at dissecting the material of the show—to the point where if you had never seen it before and you read a meta analysis from a fan you would be like wow. this show must be incredibly poignant and tragic. only to turn on an episode and be greeted immediately with a scene like this

[a-nice-egg-offering]

Still so funny that the fandom somehow interpreted “Johnny doesn’t love you Johnny doesn’t even like you” as “I made up a persona to flirt with you because I’m in love with you” yall cray cray I love ya

Yeah of course it was weird and sexual bc everything with Dennis is weird and sexual he doesn’t know how to do things without making them weird and sexual but he’s literally like that with every single thing he does in every area of his life wbk that Dennis wants to fuck or has fucked Mac for years so idk why people randomly interpreted that one thing he did to Mac as him being in love with him when it was literally just another cruel manipulation game. And the saddest part is he was willing to let it go on for God knows how long he was willing to let this man that he supposedly “loves” according to yall stay being obsessed and in love with a man who he could never actually be with bc he doesn’t exist just in order to get mac out the apartment sometimes (literally so many easier and kinder ways of achieving that but that’s what Dennis is like he doesn’t get how to do things without making them a cruel game) and the only reason he revealed the truth was bc mac made the comment suggesting Johnny loves him and Dennis pride and ego couldn’t even let him have that. Why? He’s told Dee he loves her to manipulate her before why couldn’t he just let mac believe “Johnny” loves him just to keep the facade going longer? It was literally like in murder cases when the detectives get a detail wrong which leads to the murderer confessing to what actually happened simply bc they’re such narcissists and need to be acknowledged for what they actually did rather than a lie even if it means giving themselves away. So he was cruel enough to let mac fall for this false romance and then cruel enough to rip it away without warning just bc he couldn’t stand the thought of mac thinking he was in love with him even if it was just through a persona. I wish I could see what u guys see u know I love gay sex in the butt but every Johnny post I see I’m just like mmm that’s rly not what happened there. I’m not saying Dennis doesn’t have complicated feelings towards Mac I thought it was interesting that the CEO of tsuma looked like an older version of him (same hairstyle and Hawaiian shirt) and Dennis then literally ate his heart out. But the Johnny situation was imo weird and unnecessarily sexually charged but not at all indicative of anything romantic on Dennis’ end, he’s seduced plenty of people for his own gain, you gonna tell me he’s in love with Margaret mcpoyle now?

[charmac]

[godduh]

IASIP Character Analysis & Kohut's Narcissism

DISCLAIMER: I am not a practising psychologist. Kohut’s narcissistic personalities are not currently used in 2024 as a diagnostic tool. The use of Kohut’s research is simply being utilised here as a character analysis tool. This is not meant to be a commentary on anyone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, nor do I wish to perpetuate stereotypes or cause offence. Please don’t take this seriously or as gospel; I just like analysing my faves. Thank you!

Heinz Kohut's main focus of research was on psychology of the self, which included research into narcissistic personality disorders. He described a concept called "selfobject"; how we experience people (or 'objects') as part of ourselves, particularly when they affirm the self's narcissistic behaviour. He went on to describe how failed interactions between children and their “selfobjects” (which is often their parents) can cause a damaged self and lead to a disordered & narcissistic self. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's ragtag gang are shown consistently displaying behaviours and actions that could be seen as narcissistic, often seen with grandiose fantasies, lacking empathy, and a need for admiration. Kohut describes four types of narcissistic self; in this character analysis I will examine the elements of each narcissistic identity and correlate it with each member of the gang (except for Frank; sorry buddy). All links and read times below!

Kohut's paper used for this analysis

Charlie - The Understimulated Self (3 minutes) Dennis - The Fragmenting Self (5 minutes) Mac - The Overstimulated Self (5-6 minutes) Dee - The Overburdened Self (6 minutes)

Full read time: ∼20 minutes

[jordblod]

[vicvinegarandhughhoney]

TW SA

When I was writing my latest fic, I started thinking about Dee's bony hands.

It sounds ridiculous to say because in many ways, it is, but suddenly when I was writing about what happened with Ms Klinsky, an absolutely heartbreaking headcanon popped into my head.

What if the reason Dennis in particular is so repulsed by Dee's bony hands, and her 'boniness' in general, is because it reminds him too much of her? Of the librarian's hands all those years ago, the ones he's been desperately trying to forget but that reappear sometimes when his sister touches him?

The others don't know he feels like this, though. They assume he's just poking fun at his sister again, and it's easier for him to go along with it and pretend that's the reason, so he does.

He swallows down the memories and weaponises his trauma against the one person who could have helped him through it.

[williambeckettfan36]

not a day goes by where I don’t think about the difference between s5e9 (mac and dennis break up) and s14e4/5 (the gang chokes/the gang texts) (or just s14+)

cause in s5e9, the whole episode is obviously centered around how dennis and mac fundamentally need and depend on one another, and that they’re complete and utter best friends. even when they argue, they make up properly, and it gets all wholesome at the end - but then in the later two, dennis is constantly snapping at mac, is irritated by him, and to put it really really harshly, seems like he hates him at points. and then on the other hand mac is unhealthily devoted to dennis. i know the change is really obvious and it’s literally a plot point, but thinking about that specifically makes me sad