The premiere episode of the sixth season brings back my favorite recurring character, that should still have a penis: Carmen the Tranny (Brittany Daniels). While attempting to sneak into a gym using Dennis’s (Glenn Howerton) membership, Mac (Rob McElhenney) finds that Carmen has gotten married. What’s worse then putting your time in with a hot, pre-op (with penis) transvestite then finding out that she’s now a post-op (sans penis) transvestite that’s married? For Mac, the guy Carmen married is a “soft body” black guy instead of a “hard body“ like him. With no surprise to anyone, Mac flips out and attempts to fight gay marriage.
Like most Always Sunny episodes, this one tackles an issue and shows off everyone’s gross overreaction. During a hilarious sequence of Charlie (Charlie Day) and Frank (Danny Devito) continuously try to fix each other’s backs while ignorantly injuring their own, Charlie comes up with the idea of getting married so that he can mooch off Frank’s health care for free. The topic of marriage inspires Dennis to reconnect with his old love Maureen Ponderosa, affectionately known as “Dead Tooth” and eventually marry her. Dee (Kaitlin Olson) to reconnect with Dead Tooth’s brother, Bill Ponderosa, without succumbing to her anxiety induced gag reflex around him. On a side note, before Mac arrives to tell them the news, we are treated to a great scene in which the rest of the gang finds the almonds Charlie brought in tasty only to have Charlie respond: “I found them in an alley, a squirrel must’ve piled them and gotten hit by a car”. Classic Charlie.
The episode had some great moments, but patchy when it came to consistency. Moments involving Mac coming off hypocritical and overzealous over religion and gay marriage was very reminiscent of the time he went to a pro-life rally to get laid only to suggest an abortion at the slightest possibility that the girl was pregnant. His portrayal of gay marriage as being equivalent to tapping two extension cords together and his religious faith expressed in his line: “Where’s our goddamn Bible?” fall within the character of Mac. Dennis’s actions, on the other hand, seemed somewhat inconsistent with previous episodes. While one can attribute the lack of foresight and spontaneity to be like Dennis, one can’t help but wonder if this completely contradicts D.E.N.N.I.S system and all it represents. Despite his immediate excitement and hope in the very beginning, it’s no surprise that Dennis realizes his mistake during a brilliant reveal of Maureen’s dead tooth in a very loving and caring smile. Dee doesn’t get much air time in this episode, or this review, but her adulterous act with Bill Ponderosa should complement Dennis’s marriage to Maureen Ponderosa well.
With respect to Frank and Charlie, it really is hard to place their consistency in this episode when they decide to get married. At this point in the series, Frank and Charlie are so versatile of characters when it comes to stupidity and the special relationship they share, that even the most radical and foolish decisions seem to fall within their ballpark. Is gay marriage that much of a stretch when you consider they already live together, sleep in the same bed and participate in games unique to them that others would find unnerving and homoerotic?
While the episode had some great moments and did well to set up the stories, I felt like none of them were particularly strong or that any of them went anywhere with the exception of Dennis and Maureen. Although Mac was supposed to fight gay marriage, according to the title, he attempts a few times and inevitably fails and gives up. Charlie proposes they get married in the beginning of the episode, but it takes a whole episode and one conversation with the Tranny just so that Frank agrees. Dee was seen briefly in the pub and the Subway with Dennis and the Ponderosas but she soon walks out the door and doesn’t reappear until the end. Maybe I’m too used to Always Sunny showing two consecutive new episodes each Thursday and I‘m expecting some sort of finality. At any rate, the show has plenty of episodes left in the season to make up for it.
Original Author: Andrew Ebanks