I love all of your episode reviews. you watch almost every single show I do and I love reading your reviews after every episode. thank you! and you're a great writer too.
@setagllib That's so kind of you to say! Thank you so much for reading my reviews, and I'm glad we're so aligned in terms of the shows we like watching!
i second everything with the guy above. Great reviews. Amazing observations of this episode, I wonder though - Mac 's speech can be out of his past but correct at the same time. I more saw it as a "lets say this speech so who would be the most appropriate character to say it" thing. If anything the joke about not understanding what satire means is because the writers probably believe a lot of what their characters are saying, just to a less exagerrated degree.
I've always seen the later seasons about ageing manchildren and this episode is a prime example of that but I think their views may be because of their age but not wrong because of it. Always Sunny has always hid behind satire to appear more centrist (even though they are also very clearly central people too judging from the podcast) but I've never actually seen them admit this until this episode . at least thats what i get from it so im surprised you think its ALL satire and is actually them providing a viewpoint but on the other side of the scale (as opposed to centirst or in line with their characters).
I also see the jumpcut ending as them getting collectively angry (rile eachother up like its a school playground) at the new safety/rules and then taking it to the extreme like they always do. its an ageing manchild joke once again rather than a 'their viewpoint is wrong and unsafe' one. Made cllear in the scene prior where they literally plan to take it to the next level.
@lucan26 Thank you very much as well! I'll admit, sometimes I feel like I'm shouting into the void with my write-ups, so it does my heart good to hear such nice things.
I think yours is a valid read of the scene and the episode. I haven't really delved into the behind-the-scenes material of the show, so it's possible that I'm layering my own perspective over the story being told here.
That said, I think there's stuff the creative team pretty clearly thinks is wrong (see: Dee stumbling over a garbled attempt to explain why the jokes from her childhood weren't racist), and the basic premise of the show tends to be, "Everything these knuckleheads say/do/believe is wrong." So my inclination more to take this as a cautionary tale than the writers having The Gang parrot their sincere views from behind a veil of irony and satire. But again, I think there's multiple ways to take it, and yours is a legitimate interpretation.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-07-07T00:33:27Z
[7.4/10] I appreciate the meta-gag of Dee admitting she doesn’t really know what a satire is, because it works on multiple levels. It works to highlight how folks with backwards material hide behind the fig leaf that something is a “satire”. It pokes fun at the squishiness of the term. And it’s especially amusing since “Risk E. Rat’s Pizza and Amusement Center” is itself a satire of out of touch people pining for “the good old days” without acknowledging that a lot of the changes they lament happened for good reason.
I’ll admit that the episode is more of a “smile at the cleverness” outing for The Gang than one full of laugh out loud gags, but I still appreciate it. Mac whinging about the lack of dangerous weapons and faux-drugs available to kids at the ticket counter is gentle but still pointed. While a little blunt, I also like his time out psychology session as a satire on guilt and shame based discipline, which comes with extra potency since Mac was a self-hating gay man for a long time.
Dee and Frank’s search for the clues that get you a meeting with Risk E. Rat himself was a nice opportunity to spoof the dated humor of Franks time and Dee’s childhood. I especially like the Dee material, because she's the only member of the group who’s kind of in the middle. She criticizes the domestic abuse humor Frank enjoyed as horrible, but still tries to defend the ethnic stereotype humor of her childhood as somehow alright. It’s a well-observed bit on how it’s easy to look back with derision on the blindspots of old while we try to excuse our own. And the most I laughed at was at their misunderstanding and attempts to dirty up the “jalapeno business” joke.
Dennis and Charlie’s story leans into a lot of the same material, but it’s good. Their steady realization that pretty much every member of the Fun Time Pizza Band knockoff was some kind of unfortunate stereotype or trope, while trying to justify their appreciation for it, is a solid bit. And across all the stories, their disregard for safety is a laugh.
My favorite part is the great jumpcut from The Gang’s quest to return things to how they were before to an utter shitshow of pain and misery. Frankly, I worry this episode will be a little too subtle for some, with folks taking Mac's speech in particular as a valid criticism rather than a sign of his own messed up upbringing. But the fact that their plan ends in total disaster is about as strong a rebuke as the writers can offer to their viewpoint without having some character be a mouthpiece, so I’m good with it.
Overall, the theme of misguided good-ol’-days-ery through the conceit of a Chuck E. Cheese equivalent is a good foundation for the episode,and a collection of good observations and strong capper makes this one a winner.