#sunny meta

[charmac]

Unspoken tension ahead of Charlie Work, a wound left open in Family Fight

The Production Order (the order in which the episodes are written) always seems of some value to me in Sunny, but 10 I find especially substantial. With half of the scripts of the season written by RCG, 4 are back-to-back (with their 5th one, Psycho Pete, being 2nd in order).

The run begins after The Gang Spies like U.S. Going off that into Charlie Work, as opposed to into that off Charlie Work, paints a very different narrative for the timeline.

We leave the reveal that Mac and Dennis are jerking off together into an episode that starts with high tension between Mac and Dennis. Dennis is frustrated that Mac isn't being direct, won't look him in the eyes, he's avoidant, timid. That's interesting, because Mac isn't usually any of those things, he's direct and abrupt and loud. Off 9, fully establishing Mac is gay, juxtaposing his closeted behaviour to Country Mac's openness, 10 focuses hard on the fact that Mac's confidence is continually battered as he refuses to step out of the closet. The Gang is tired of it, but Dennis is frustrated. His words maybe cut even deeper than the scratch, "Come to me like a man. Talk about being tough all the time, can't even look me in the eyes."

We leave CW and go into Family Fight, written right after, also by RCG. This episode has big focus on Dennis' obsession with public perception of himself, and the Gang. Though he can initially handle masking his demeanor, his tone of voice, what he can't mask are his words. He's smiling, he's 'joking', but there's deep truth in what he’s saying. He's frustrated, though his frustration in the moment is intended for Frank, Mac feels it directed at him. There's a fresh wound between them, because Mac fully understands what his feelings for Dennis are now, and that’s irreparably shifted their dynamic.

Misses the Boat is the last RCG-written episode of the season. From Charlie Work, where we’re kinda first faced with the fact that Mac is now overly-concerned with how Dennis perceives him, to Family Fight, where Dennis' masks slip completely and he has a public breakdown, they both veer hard to straighten themselves. Mac, very quite literally, goes straight, and Dennis resolves that he needs to cut ties to get back to being ‘cool’, he’s going to be a cool guy who has a cool car and hangs out with a babe and is cool.

But what we learn in Misses the Boat is that how they think the world views them, or should view them based on how they believe they present, isn’t who they are. They can’t actually function well in these situations. Dennis, untethered, somehow can’t control his rage as well as he can when he *is tethered* to the Gang. Mac, well, he isn’t straight, and he realises pretending to be into women is miserable.

Dennis gives him the offer: Do you want to go back? (To not addressing it, to a standstill.) And Mac quickly, excitedly takes it. Looping back to where they are in Charlie Work, back to where they settle for too long: Mac, absorbed in himself, clawing for approval from Dennis, and Dennis lashing out, tired of telling Mac what to do.

And I think this is why I love 10 more than anything, it finally addresses the issue the audience knows. With Charlie, Dee, and Frank, too. They’re going nowhere, spiraling in circles because they refuse to address the roots of their issues, and Misses the Boat makes them, themselves, fully aware of that fact. They’re miserable together, but they’re worse off alone. And they go into 11 and beyond knowing this, and all kind of resenting each other for it, until 14. Where they acknowledge it again, and decide they’re going to keep playing the game even though it’s set.

#META UNDER THE CUT!! #this is not just mac angst people #but it can be if you dont care about meta ig #iasip #macdennis #mac mcdonald #dennis reynolds #sunny 10 #charlie work #the gang goes on family fight #the meta went way deeper than i was expecting but im happy with it #3am spiralling or something or other #waited until today to reread it cos yk #and i stand by it #sunny meta #i hate the idea of dividing sunny into 'new sunny' and 'old sunny' #i think theres a lot more to it based on all the dynamic shifts that happen #theres very clear stages that are more divided like #1-4. 5-7. 8-10. 11-14. 14-present #and you could probably label them in a fun way too

[lesbianaang]

the end of risk e rats where the gang literally tries to reanimate the ~edgy~ corpses of entertainment- gone-by only for this recreation to literally destroy the entire building and injure nearly everyone inside it…. the meta implications are delicious i am gobbling them up

#THEY are the risk e rats!!! #THEY are trying to shed their former selves/the show’s former ethos! #any attempt to ‘bring back old sunny’ will be disasterous and blow up in their faces #THEY MUST CHANGE OR DIE!!!!! #iasip #risk e rat #sunny super sweet 16 #sunny meta

[prettysymbiosis]

celebrity booze: the ultimate cash grab

“hollywood celebrities right here in philly huh?” “I don’t love it” rcg wanna be regular guys so bad but they also wanna be rich and famous 🙄

second mention of picking a lane/staying in one’s lane (also maybe the car ride in shoots is connected to this motif?)

is it just me or does glenn say fortune in such a funny way??

rcg are just straight up self-mythologizing via this show and it’s weird to think about sometimes. I’ll probably try to write a separate post about that

mac dennis and charlie however are just three guys being dudes :)

“I think I’ve pinpointed a small market trend that we could corner but that could also totally represent us” is this as self-explanatory as I feel it is?

dennis is a CLOWN man like he is so confident in this absurd name and that is such an important characterization for him

“have you ever heard of a little show called… malcolm in the middle?” the joke being that they’re literally so out of touch they’ve apparently never heard of breaking bad, which is so fitting and so funny. does this lack of awareness also serve to illustrate how the gang is stuck in the past? or how they have trouble separating persona from person, even within themselves?

the insane and abusive silencing of dee… I definitely think something is coming together with her this season (dayglomasochism was sharing some great ideas about this in this post). she doesn’t want to circle, she wants to be included, but doesn’t want to be dragged down, etc.

the dynamic between her and frank is clearly significant, I mean everyone else is exploring their parent issues and dee’s dependence on him is a major theme this season. they were laying on the parent-and-child vibes pretty thick in this episode with her asking if she could look at his phone and frank telling her what snacks she could have and where to go potty, so I do think they’re trying to evoke that deep-seated dynamic and I’m very curious how dee will level up from here.

the sheer sass in mac asking dennis if he knows who michael jordan is is so satisfying

followed by the smirk that left several dead and hundreds injured

“can we stick with the one thing, please? stick with the blend!” “well this is a blend of ideas” and mac talking with his hands <3 I’ve missed that about him

“yeah but it’s a blend of too many ideas. I don’t even know what you’re talking about half the time” what is it’s always sunny in philadelphia really about?

the blend thread was one of the main messages of this episode. it’s so important because it’s not just a character commentary (dennis struggling to finally allow conflicting aspects of himself to coexist, to blend - give me dong AND give me death as @sunnykeysmash so eloquently put it) but also a show commentary (sunny has evolved into more of a dramedy, and this whole season they’ve been reconciling the differences between the old sunny and the new sunny and trying to blend “16 years of baggage” with their new vision for their project). I do give props to rcg for committing to this and letting the show evolve with them as people, clearly from episodes like big mo they have spent a lot of time thinking about it and trying to make the right choice.

the whole conceit of bryan and aaron in this episode is so insane. why did they make these extremely famous and respected actors come on their show just to be proxies for their gaysonas’ drama?? rcg really said “these are our little guys and they’re really fucked up but they do love each other. so what if you guys came on and did a whole thing like that but as yourselves? and it’ll be an amazing performance but it was really about us the whole time” and presumably bryan and aaron were like sure okay and put their whole pussies into it!

when you think about it mac and dennis are just dos hombres

dennis “I didn’t like that :(“ reynolds (after aaron intimidates them) - can he connect the dots between this and his own behavior? will he???

charlie really said improvise adapt overcome 💪

I know someone on tumblr is keeping a piss count so what are we at as of this episode? cause we’ve had dee needing to go number one and now gritty smh 🤦

the whole gritty thing is so surreal it’s almost dreamlike to me. did mac really make a mistake or is he just fucking with dennis? is this just for laughs? because it is funny but it’s just SO strange. like I get that it’s probably meant to evoke the world series defense episode but that had context… this is just so random. I guess maybe gritty was there as like a promotional thing in conjunction with dos hombres? maybe I’m overthinking this lol does anyone have any thoughts??

dennis needed that bonk on the head SO bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!

him just touching mac’s breast…

mac and dennis come into the plane mid-bicker and frank and dee stare at them. god gay people are so annoying

“I think you’re in an abusive relationship” I enjoy this way mac has of talking in more recent seasons where he’s actually pretty good at observing certain dynamics but seems to have this clarity around it that is very selective. “he keeps making homophobic jokes” “this is so distasteful” “I can’t engage with you on this right now” 

“you really should do drama, I think you’ve got the goods” something about the seeming non-sequitur between each show (mitm and bb) and how bryan does in fact have the range, and maybe sunny has the range? something about the blend, something about dee being minimized almost completely out of existence, something about the idea that people can consciously choose to stay in a fucked up relationship because they want to, because they also get something out of it, because they hold more power than they may seem to. much to think about

#sunny #always sunny #iasip #s16 #s16e5 #celebrity booze: the ultimate cash grab #sunny meta #dee #macdennis #I always try to make these more succinct and I never succeed lol #there just really is so much to dig into in almost every episode #finally some good fucking food! #goodnight 😴

[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).

#just some musings bc I can’t stop thinking about it #dennis takes a mental health day #and it’s the season finale too #I’m going to be a puddle #Dennis reynolds #iasip #always Sunny #always sunny season 16 #Sunny sweet 16 #it’s always sunny in philadelphia #jen rambles #Dennis meta #Sunny meta #dtamhd

[shatlass]

monkey behind the kegs. hiding from and ignoring the shit you don’t want to deal with. it’s not just your problem but you’re the only one who sees it. the problem doesn’t go away and you’re not around to keep an eye on it. it festers and spreads until it infects the people around you. paddy’s (dennis) rotting from the inside out. he can’t say what he needs to say because you stopped cleaning up paddy’s messes. you stopped keeping an eye on them. dennis used to always know what to say. he used to be so good with words. paddy’s is full of mould and pests and you’re making the mess bigger. and you know what you’re doing. you’re letting paddy’s rot for your own good fortune. the monkey’s paw curls its fingers. be careful what you wish for

#maybe someone else will clean up the mess if it’s big enough #someone’s prolly already said this but. #also like ik this is barely coherent but im running on fumes lmao. maybe i’ll rewrite this at some point lol but until then ✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻 #sunny #my post #iasip spoilers #always sunny season 16 #i hope those tags r enough for u guys hiding from spoilers 🥺🥺 #sunny meta

[littletinyguy]

margaret atwood, ‘power politics’

when the 😶 when they and they 🫢 and the 🤫 when they’re both horrifically repressed middle aged men 🤭🤭 who depend on each other an insane amount but would rather die than admit it 😶😶 and theyve been living together for over a decade but drifted apart when one began to be honest about his struggles with his identity 🫢 as the other dug himself deeper into his persona of emotionlessness when in reality he really craves to be seen and understood 🤫🤫 but the idea of being honest with affection is terrifying 🤧🤧 because that means admitting you want something, admitting you feel something 😮‍💨 and the only thing that could ever lead to is disappointment and inevitable pain 🤯🤯 who would look at all of me and not flinch away ? i will only love you when you aren’t looking so as not to disturb either of us. 😮 bro let’s invest in inflatable furniture together

#this isn’t very eloquent but whatever the brain worms were demanding it #saw that quote and immediately thought of them #so that’s how normal i am about this i guess #macdennis #iasip #always sunny #sunny sweet 16 #mac #dennis #macden #sunny meta #it's always sunny in philadelphia

[kennysaysthings]

He signed it a different name.

He used a different name in Frank vs Russia to text Mac. And in the end it didn’t work did it? They attempted to put things back to the way they were- the grimy and unsafe way things were. The nostalgia of their relationship is so beautiful and it’s something that Dennis wants. But they can’t go back. And they’ve tried in every way to go back by going forward.

They just slip out of the mess they’ve made by doing this. This season is obviously centered around Dennis, but what is Dennis without his relationship to Mac? He is half of a whole.

They say it so causally here. They need each other. And I believe even if they can’t find the comfortability of their relationship it will find them. It HAS to. In all their evilness they latch onto each other in the only way they know how. It’s all they can do.

#sorry if this makes so sense #I’ve had to type this twice I’m TIRED #iasip #mac mcdonald #dennis reynolds #it's always sunny in philadelphia #macdennis #macden #they deserve each other #and they are two halves #season 16 #sorry #text post #media post #sunny meta

[firstprincebrainrot]

I CRACKED THE CODE.

S1E1, the gang gets racist.

When Charlie,Mac and Dennis are at the coffeeshop, Dennis tells charlie "Man, it's never gonna happen" when they're talking about the waitress.

IT HAPPENED YOU GUYS DIDNT IT??

Now let me remind you of what Dennis told Mac in that sexual harassment seminar :

"Man, It's never gonna happen".

IT WILL HAPPEN YOU GUYS.

The parallels are CRAZY but it's basically A PROMISE of what's about to come.

#macdennis #dennis reynolds #sunny meta #iasip meta #iasip16 #glenn howerton #mac mcdonald #rob mcelhenny #mac dennis is happening

[emodennis]

WAIT has anyone brought up the note on the calendar in making dennis reynolds a murderer that says "pick up meds"??

i'm assuming it's the calendar for paddy's bc of "charlie work" (obviously written by charlie) and "pay day," but why would someone write "pick up meds" on it? and do we know anyone else who has been prescribed meds besides dennis? i mean frank did in sweet dee has a heart attack for like one episode but we don't hear of him taking anti-anxiety meds again right? it's most likely dennis' handwriting anyway because we know he writes his d's with that little loop:

and that's not just him writing in cursive bc d's in cursive don't even have that loop. so is he actually taking the meds prescribed to him by that psychiatrist? regularly?? and putting it on a calendar for everyone to see?? that seems unlikely but I can't think of another explanation...

(but also what's the "key drop off" for?? maybe they're just writing generic shit on a calendar? but no I think rcg would be deliberate ab what they put on there even if it's just shown for a second) (EDIT: it says keg drop off. whoops)

if someone has noticed/thought about this pls lmk what you think the pick up meds means !!

#iasip #it's always sunny in philadelphia #dennis reynolds #sunny meta #my stuff #definitely feel like pepe silvia meme rn

[onlybuilt4expensivetaste]

Just had a dark theory/realizing about something- 🚶🏾‍♀️

#iasip #iasip theories #deedennis #sunny meta

[yokyoaaa]

So I have a vision

#ik this isn’t my first kirby x omori fanart- #BOTH OF THESE FRANCHISES JUST GO WELL TOGETHER OK #meta knight dead AU real #omori as shadow kirby #sunny as kirby #babil as bandee #kel as adeleine #aubey as ribbon #hero as ddd #something as dark matter #how can you associate mk with dark matter? idk #omori #kirby #bandana waddle dee #bandana dee #bandee #king dedede #meta knight #dedede #ribbon #ribbon kirby #adeleine #adeleine kirby #kirby fanart #my art

[charmac]

I, for one, don't want to be known as a, Silverfish Man.

#iasip #happy glenn howerton in minecraft sunday #heh #the gang gets cursed #sunny meta #im claiming it is! david hornsby knows! #oc

[maangoes]

there’s a parallel between nope and get out that i love. at the end of get out, after chris has fatally injured rose and is about to actually get out, a cop car pulls up. it turns out it’s rod, but you’re reminded that, even though rose and her family are dead, the racism they capitalized on is alive and well

similarly, at the end of nope, when jeanjacket finally dies and em gets the picture, the shot widens to show the media rushing forward - ready to make a spectacle of all that has just happened, likely to exploit em and oj’s story the same way their great great great grandfather was exploited. this is overshadowed by the reveal that OJ is alive, just like the cop car was overshadowed by rod’s presence - but these symbols remind the viewer that the social evil which created the monster/the villain is still around.

the cop car and the shot of the news media are intentionally placed after the monster/villain is defeated. the effect is that the real world systematic violence viewers have been desensitized to is made newly terrifying by jordan peele’s narrative. and that’s how you make a “spectacle” out of violence/pain that is not itself exploitative

#nope 2022 #nope spoilers #nope #imagine me as the it’s always Sunny guy w the conspiracy theory board #meta

[prettysymbiosis]

I’ve been trying to get these thoughts out for days but basically I feel like the unifying theory of s16 (as I see it) is a conscious exploration of the dichotomy between sunny as a classically bold and brash pee pee poo poo comedy and sunny as a thoughtful, nuanced and subtle show about flawed people and also about itself, at times (by that I mean the meta isn’t always about macdennis or the other characters but about sunny itself - win an award, clip show, big mo, etc). the trailer actually captures this dichotomy well through the dialogue clips and animations, as well as the pinned comment which said “get ready for a whole lot of subtlety.” it’s still so baffling to me that sunny can simultaneously read as one of the most loud, obnoxious, unsubtle shows ever on television, OR it can be so subtle and allegorical in the writing of later seasons that most viewers would think people like us are crazy for reading so much into it even though we’re really not. this kind of self-reflective flavor is another product of the rewatch/podcast project which has been almost universally agreed to have had a very positive effect on the writing.

anyway having said that, I want to just share my notes on the first two episodes without trying to edit them too much. I’m bolding the points that I personally haven’t seen anyone else mention yet and putting a 😎 next to ones that evoke a Classic Sunny VibeTM because that’s important to the experiment of this season.

the gang inflates

macden fun/domestic/DUMB again 😎

something something never committing to the couch when it was absurd not to and it ended up costing them so much macdennis blah blah

dennis hanging up on dee was so funny to me oops 😎

and the WHOLE dee (as a character and specifically the female character) thing about being minimized to an absurd degree. I like to think the bog was a turning point for dee and the show is gonna do better by her now hopefully by recognizing her plight in a more serious way, like the way the guys have been doing?

are mac and dennis…… you know…… like for real??? as many have said, it could totally be revealed kind of retroactively to undercut the shock and be like “honestly we’re surprised you didn’t notice sooner” I feel like that is something rcg would do. suggestive clues:

“I don’t wanna talk to you about–” “a TON”

or is dennis like well that’s news to me jealous vibes??

“I figured you were man” ??

“I’m getting a little concerned about our nut”

“you truly have no reason to be sleeping with frank”

they specifically put a lil reaction shot of dennis after mac says “that’s a lotta blowin” a la the lil grin in gets romantic and, well, I just think that’s a choice that was made

“it’s not homophobic” is that so?????

when mac is like “you think we got rid of our furniture too soon/that the business plan won’t work” it’s kinda like no it’s not the committing to what they have, it’s that mac still has big denial problems and dennis can’t work with that… maybe? but so does dennis tbh

in a show-meta sense it’s like, we should be less worried about whether the gay gay-ass love story will alienate people and more worried about how these characters are too ridiculous to even let the love story play out effectively. they need mental health days if we are ever to have nice things

it’s possible mac denying his reaction to the allergy has to do with his body dysmorphia?

also it occurred to me that maybe part of why rob is clean-shaven this season is so they could do those prosthetics more easily?

those handprints though…. I hate everything

oh also just the bed scene. its existence

the zoomed in neck touch of course

“I’m not going to do it!” “..okay” dennis keepin his cool :)

mac’s shirt! COOLER HEADS PREVAIL

just the sheer silliness of inflatable furniture - is there some metaphor here lol?

in a general sense could inflates be taken to mean flanderizes? also maybe it’s just implied but I noticed I hadn’t actually seen anyone mention inflation as a sexual kink and like, that was part of the intention right? if so, 😎

charlie “uhhhhhhhh… yep.” poor charlie :( he doesn’t want to live in a maze (like a rat)

“well then you’re just like being a predator” :( so here for charlie calling out bullshit with frank and mrs. mac and even his own mom so far in these first two eps

charlie just giving up and yelling in frustration which is kinda what bonnie does in ep2 (and ep3 based on trailer)

the gross horny male objectifying thing 😎

rob put his whole pussy into this episode

charlie saying “I don’t get why he doesn’t take me seriously” and dee saying “that’s gotta be maddening” 🙃

cats in the alley my loves 😎

gluing dee a pillow on the wall <3

“consider it an offering” “of war??” this says so much. must everything be a conflict?

charlie’s hair looks so crazy and good in the sleepover scene and also he’s so smart

charlie asks frank to “return everything to the status quo” by the end of the episode, sitcom style. full reset, no progression. except charlie is asking that frank not endlessly take advantage of the fact that mac and den can’t figure their shit out, not totally push dee out just because it’s easy, not make light of the trauma charlie has from what happened to him. all that stuff IS the status quo! so what is he really asking for? this is one of the bits of writing that I think is also about the show as a show, and how they’ve approached these dynamics forever. 

it’s funny that people are saying this season is such a return to form because it is, but it’s also so much more self-aware of what that form is/was and how deeper elements can coexist within it. they’re really walking with a foot in both worlds here and they’re doing it well. love this for them and for us, the people who know what it’s always sunny in philadelphia is REALLY about

“we’ll take you to the hospital, and they’ll have nuts. and you can– you can die there.” hahahah

#sunny #iasip #it's always sunny in philadelphia #S16 #sunny meta #s16 meta #s16 e1 #the gang inflates #macdennis #charlie #dee #I hate this show bc every time I'm like whoa this writing is so complex and then I immediately feel ridiculous for thinking that #even though I KNOW I'm right and you guys get it too..... I still feel like a tinhat :( I blame misogyny #well I'm exhausted goodnight

[tarragonthedragon]

i think if the Baudelaire children had pretended to be fooled by one of Olaf's disguises immediately he would have been so thrown he would have outed himself on the spot

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #count olaf #violet baudelaire #klaus baudelaire #sunny baudelaire #meta #queue

[gardenofhope]

⚔️!!

#kirby #meta knight #sunny’s art #no words no thoughts just look at him thank you