I'm so baffled by all the 10 star ratings. I'm hoping that it's just because it's a recent episode so all the people who don't think just come along to rate it 10 because it's a show they like. Hopefully over time sane people who understand how a rating system works will arrive.
This is not the best episode of It's Always Sunny. Currently at 9.2, making it the best episode of season 16 and better than almost every episode of the previous 16 seasons. Definitely not!
This is a Dennis episode, not just in the sense of him being dominant, but he's literally the only character. The other members of the gang appear very briefly via a phone call.
Episodes focused on a single character can succeed, but it's very difficult to pull off. It has to be something really special. It's particularly baffling considering the recent improvement in quality this season. The golden years of the show were season 1 to 11 (and maybe 12). All seasons after this have been mediocre, but season 16 was a bit of a return to form. It's like they remembered what made the show was funny.
Indeed, that is probably the reason season 16 has been better: because of the podcast. So it's confusing how they could come up with this episode. The best thing about this show is the five main cast members and how they interact with each other - the dialogue, the facial expressions, the banter, the absurd ways they deal with the situations they find themselves in.
In "Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day", we watch Dennis - all episode - interacting with customer service for long periods. All of the humour in this episode could have been performed in a three minute stand up routine, and it wouldn't have been particularly funny. These are boomer-tier observations. It's not wrong, these aspects of modern life and technology ARE annoying, and we all know that. Pointing it out might get a mild chuckle - "yeah, that's annoying for me too". That's the extent of the humour.
To spin this into an entire 30 minute episode focused on one character is spreading the comedy very thin (and I love Dennis). This just wasn't like an episode of It's Always Sunny. This could have been any sitcom, or a brief stand up routine.
And then we have the ending. I was just confused. Dennis magically appears at a beach house, without transport, and then reaches inside another man's chest (who just stands there accepting it). Dennis pulls his heart out, and then removes a diamond from the heart and eats it. I don't know what this means. What was that?
This is shortly followed by the old it was "all just a dream" trope. Dennis was day dreaming the entire episode! And he is awesome and can throw something away without looking. The End.
I'm sorry... WHAT? This is a 10/10 for people? This wasn't an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It's my favourite show, and I will continue to rewatch seasons 1-12, and then perhaps 1 episode per season after that and most of season 16. But this episode I will never watch again.
If the podcast somehow improves this episode for you because Glenn Howerton previously mentioned some of the topics, then there might be something wrong with you. That doesn't make it funny. Previously hearing something doesn't make you part of an "in group" or make a reference to something funny. You are not Glenn Howerton's friend, he doesn't hang out with you.
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