10x06 The Gang Misses the Boat

[7.5/10] Late era IASIP continues its trend toward the meta, but this was a particularly good outing for the show’s self-reflective side. Splitting The Gang up and making them realize that they’re all so deranged and molded to one another that none can really survive on their own outside their co-dependency is a nice tack that paid dividends all over.

My favorite of the various story thread was the Charlie/Dee pairing, one that’s all too rare on the show. I like how the two comisserated about how they’re the two butt monkeys of the group, and often unwittingly pitted against each other to avoid being the lowest man on the totem pole. The way each encouraged the other to avoid giving into those Dennis-imposed strictures was funny and even a little sweet, and their embrace of slam poetry was an appropriately ridiculous refuge. The fact that the pairing then turned romantic, in a way that made the duo immediately rethink the whole thing, was the perfect ending to the story.

I also enjoyed Frank’s story. His was the most meta, with him explicitly trying out schemes from before he joined the show and commenting on it. I appreciated his lunacy aligned with a trio of seemingly normal bar owners, which just served to accentuate how loony The Gang’s normal rhythms are.

Dennis’s story about trying not to rage out over selling his car had some nice individual moments for Glenn Howerton, but it’s a lot of notes we’ve seen the character hit before. And I have to admit, I’m pretty tired of all the gay humor with Mac, which again feels like Smithers-esque jokes at least a decade beyond when they started to feel lazy.

Still, the overall thesis of the episode, that these people are so messed up that they can’t function apart from one another, is a good one, that allowed the show to have some fun with its own setup and characters after ten years of episodes.