#it’s not a gay thing it’s a mac thing

[dykeofmisfortune]

daddy and the boy thing in iasip season 12 episode 7 PTSDee is actually insane. asks the pressing question of can daddy issues be worked out through a strip show. also luther dying + macdennis erotic nightmare literally back to back. like mac shouting "who do you love???" at his dad and then immediately dreams about dennis kissing him (not the other way around like dennis making the move there) and then right after dennis immediately saying the weird oedipal complex thing about banging dads and then the strip show with charlie where he pretends to be charlie's dad to apparently help him work through his daddy issues but mac is there also seeing dennis (his love interest) pretending to be a bad dad during a strip show. freaky ahh gay sitcom

[paddysbarbie]

charlie’s reaction to mac being on his gay shit is so real

[psymachine]

post-macdennis reveal episode in the same vein as "the gang spies like u.s." where mac and dennis get tired of fighting and decide to look for a third partner for casual sex so they can both bottom get what they want. except they have a hard time finding a guy they're a. both attracted to and b. neither of them are jealous of, so they keep sabotaging/scaring away each candidate.

meanwhile, charlie sees them sneaking around to screen all these guys and thinks they're trying to replace him with another gay friend since they're both gay now. a confused confrontation ensues where he essentially re-applies to be their friend by bringing up all the weird shit they've done together over the last 30 years and insisting he can fulfill all of their needs even though he's not also gay.

dennis and mac misunderstanding this and freaking out while considering whether they should/want to just fuck charlie until everything finally blows up.

[macdenism]

watching blooper reels and I just. I can’t physically handle the way glenn looks at rob when he’s laughing. everyone breaks and laughs and glenn immediately looks at rob. with his face so. I CAN’TTTT

[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).

[each-uisge-enthusiast]

the fact that we haven’t had a modern take on arthurian characters in a sitcom setting is actually really rude and disrespectful to me personally because i just have to imagine it in my brain instead, which is so much effort.

[glasshouses-and-stones]

What if Mac and Jacob gay bond???

[legendarydragonperson]

okay so maybe i just love a good ‘considerate preppy jock and a teenage dirtbag’ okay okay

[realbeefman]

here’s how charden can still win *delusional voice*

[specialtysacrifice]

starting a collection. a normal collection. because I am normal

[r0bee]

This is how that scene went right

[prolibytherium]

Sorry for this but funniest possible scenario for the Frank Vs Russia 'Johnny' situation being brought up again is like:

2-3 seasons later there is a scene where Mac is annoying the absolute shit out of Dennis in front of the group and Dennis whips out his phone and does something on it and Mac abruptly leaves (very cheerfully). And it is thus revealed to everyone that they just kind of continued with the remote controlled vibrating anal beads thing after the fact, ostensibly for the same stated purpose (getting Mac out when he's being irritating), they have been doing this ever since (it's actually helping SO much with their communication), and are both apparently under the impression that this is a completely normal thing to do

[sunnykeysmash]

Dee's the writer and director... stepping into the leader position she naturally gravitates towards... she's casting the roles. She cast wrong in dee day, but this will change.

She always wanted the lead role before, which got in-between mac and dennis, but if she steps back (behind the scenes), she won't be their buffer anymore and then...

I rewatched aluminum monster vs fatty magoo and noticed how bad mac is at being controlling and manipulative (he follows exactly what frank says, doing things that he's still trying to apply to this day, like announcing dennis' announcement), how dennis can only ever see himself as filling the role perfectly, and how dee naturally stages a strike and everyone listens to her.

I also rewatched gets held hostage and noticed how it heavily features frank's will and how his gun saves the day, both elements that are coming back in tandem in ep2 of s16... and hostage is a very interesting ep in analyzing the group dynamics and how they interact with each or betray each other. It's also like... its talk of stockholm syndrome, because due to dee's monologue I feel like "why are you doing this to me?" will be a theme, in s16. Because it's like... well ok, no only is it also in gets whacked p2, but it implies that you fell in love with the other person because they did something to you...

look, I'm being rambly (as usual), but what I'm saying is that I feel like s16 will pull a lot from s3 specifically... I guess we will see more clearly when it airs, but I wanted to put it out there. It's not just THAT season tho there's like, season 9 too. and 14.

[punkiexist]

wake up, i tried macdennis edit with paper rings and this is how it turned out

[cutemeat]

i know that they just included Mac Finds His Pride at the end of that 'episodes to watch before s16' post cuz they were going in chronological order w the eps listed and they're gonna bring up the dance this season ofc, but deep down i want it to have to do with Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day being at the end of this season and MFHP being a finale that did something unexpected and grounded in the emotional reality of a character somehow correlating to Dennis' ep....

[charmac]

While I do love that in The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis Mac and Dennis truly had no reason at all to pretend to be a gay couple, it is funny that the "heterosexual explanation" for them doing that is probably bc Dee is kinda the only woman they know