Quick Take: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "Dennis Gets Divorced"
"I'm not drunk. I'm more sober than I've ever been in my entire life." - Dennis
Review: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "Dennis Gets Divorced"
(S0602) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a show so confident in itself that its episode titles are funny in their own right. Last week's "Mac Fights Gay Marriage" was great because even before it aired, it was easy to imagine Mac (Rob McElhenney) being against such a thing simply because it wasn't beneficial to him. Tonight's episode, meanwhile, is a great play on the abrupt ending of last week's premiere, which ended with Dennis (Glenn Howerton) actually marrying Maureen Ponderosa. While it would have been interesting to see Maureen join the cast as a supporting character the rest of the season, once Dennis saw her embroidered cat sweatshirts, we all knew the marriage wasn't meant to be. So, hell, why not be blunt about it and call the episode "Dennis Gets Divorced."
While the episode had its high points, it didn't feel as satisfying a conclusion to "Mac Fights Gay Marriage" as I had hoped. Sure, everything that needed to happen to return the Gang back to sitcom normalcy occurred (Dennis gets divorced, Frank and Charlie annul their domestic partnership, Bill Ponderosa is gone from Dee's life), but everything kind of just... happened. Sunny isn't a show where the plotting necessarily has to be amazingly clever. It's used its fair share of deus ex machina in the past (hello, "The Great Recession"), but tonight's various conclusions somehow didn't feel earned.
Dennis tries to put on a brave face with Maureen (even being gentlemanly enough to leave a cab fare on their shared nightstand every morning), but he soon realizes that enough is enough. Unfortunately, a man like Dennis (who hadn't felt feelings since he was 14, mind you) isn't one to realize the gravity of his situation and thinks completing a divorce will be simple. He hires Charlie's (Charlie Day) creepy, small-handed uncle Jack to represent him, but things take a turn for the worse when Maureen hires the Lawyer (Brian Unger). In the end, Dennis is able to keep his apartment, but Jack's shoddy lawyering abilities leave him with Maureen's $90,000 debt. But at least he gets to be on "the website."
Here's my question: what website was Uncle Jack talking about? I at first thought he meant for his law firm, but knowing Uncle Jack and his apparent knowledge of the legality behind confining children in crawlspaces, I'm suddenly not so sure.
Frank (Danny DeVito), meanwhile, doesn't see what he's getting out of his and Charlie's domestic partnership other than having Charlie get on his health insurance. Lucky for him, he tricks Charlie into signing a prenup by making him think he was just signing the phone bill (Dennis: "Why would you think you needed to sign a phone bill?"'). Things get heated and Uncle Jack is brought in to mediate. But after some discussion about the good times (mainly Charlie's elephant drawings he made for Frank) they decide to simply have the marriage annulled.
The Dee (Kaitlin Olson) storyline was by far the weakest. Bill Ponderosa becomes obsessed with her, but she ignores him until he shows up at her door one day after being kicked out by his wife. Since he bought her a car, Dee lets him stay for the night, but too many crotch shots forces her to drive Bill home so he can try and reconcile with his wife. Instead, he kidnaps his kids. Eventually the wife shows up at Paddy's, takes the kids back, and drops the bit of knowledge that Dee was the first woman Bill was able to sleep with that he didn't have to pay for.
The sixth season of Sunny has started off somewhat slow, but we have a lot of time left with the Gang so there's no need for worry yet. Plus, even in a down episode, Sunny offers great soon-to-be cultural phenomena like Mac's "Motorcycle Revving" dance. And yes, I will be performing that next time I go to the bars. Look out, Chicago.
More thoughts on "Dennis Gets Divorced":
I'm pretty sure Dee is pregnant based on the mid-waist-up shots. Who's with me?
Oh, just looked it up, confirmed. I hope they make a joke of it.
There's an upcoming episode called "Who Got Dee Pregnant?"....so problem solved.