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It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - Season 10 |OT| Wednesdays on FXX
- Thread starter Dereck
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Subpar Spatula
Banned
The guy was never a subtle sociopath.
I'm not seeing as much of a change in the characters as others are seeing. They've always fit into their little bubbles. If anything, maybe they're turning into caricatures of themselves to an extent. It's season 10, though. What are they supposed to do?
The implication...
Subpar Spatula
Banned
The crack...
The system... An episode in which he was actually called a sociopath.
His entire demeanor has completely changed, do you disagree with that?
Trundle. His name is Trundle.
Yes, he's definitely more unhinged but he's pretty much the same person. He's changed for sure but so has Charlie for example. Charlie now is very different from early Charlie.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
He's always been unhinged like this. I think you're just starting to realize and understand what this show is about.
It's like whatever IQ points Mac lost, Charlie gained.
Freewheelin'
Member
What did he do in that episode that could be classed at all dumb?
Subpar Spatula
Banned
Charlie has always been stupid smart, Mac is just the cooler stupid smart because he does karate and talks about banging girls. Mac has always had this follower but in my head I'm a leader intelligence. His plans rarely, rarely, rarely go according to plan because he's horrible at the execution (which is something shown in the latest episode).
There's more focus on Dennis' now but that doesn't mean he wasn't a shitty unhinged person before, it just wasn't shown as much. He even has tapes that shows his character off screen does shitty things to women.
nah I've known that this show has been about, it's just clear that they're writing him completely different than the early seasons and I think it's lame because he used to be hilarious.
I just caught up to the game show episode.
Oh I agree that Charlie has always been stupid smart but he seems to be showing it off more this season.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
How is it clear? Ever since the beginning Dennis hasn't cared. I think the only time he's shown genuine empathy is when Charlie was diagnosed with cancer and the mother's corpse. He's had the Dennis' system for ages, he has been siphoning money from his own father for ages, he has shown to care more about sex than his own friends, he's usually the first person to dismiss and interject in conversations, etc. It's just more pronounced now because there's more focus on him. From the way his character has been since the beginning it's pretty hard to argue he wasn't a scummy, unhinged sociopath off screen. Heck! He even has a murder kit hidden in his car. It's also known that he has illusions of grandeur that his high school life was him mostly alone proclaiming he was their Golden God.
Gotta stick with the entertaining bits of a character I suppose.
I'm not saying he wasn't a scummy unhinged sociopath, I completely understand that he has been like that all this time. He has just gone downhill into a cartoonish over the top asshole who can't even act normal in public. You listed a few things (bolded) that I found to be more subtle and funny than the stuff like his tools, driving a car into the bay because of reasons(?) and completely breaking down and crying in the fetal position on a game show.
I thought there was a great balance with the facade he put on like he was the normal one in the group.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
Earlier season he tried getting on welfare saying he was addicted to crack. He literally goes up to the teller and says they're on crack and would like some welfare please.
He's always been cartoonish, you're just starting to realize it now.
It's the same thing, in the very same crack episode stupid Mac and Charlie get Frank's money and get limos and women. There has always been these traits within these characters and they've done them plenty of times before. They've been anything but subtle in their actions.
mechashiva
Member
He seems like he did in season 1 when he faked cancer to get with the waitress. I always thought his intelligence dropped when he sniffed glue and wrote Day Man. Now maybe he's off the glue.
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
Mac chocking himself out seems absolutely plausible. He's dumb, wannabe jock enough to do that. Loved that Charlie no-sold that.
Yes, here is an example, this is from season 3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebGFXr2QpoA
I also don't get how Mac or Charlie is smarter or dumber, I always thought that the two were both usually imbeciles, just in different ways. Mac and Charlie know certain things, and are brain dead when it comes to other things.
That's my favorite episode of the show, I don't see how a short clip from it proves that he hasn't become a cartoonish psychopath in the past few seasons.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
They took a police car and drove around harassing people for hand outs.
How is that NOT cartoonish?
That's comparable to him driving a car into the ocean, calling himself a golden god, or crying in the fetal position on a game show when they used a buzzer? We'll have to agree to disagree.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
He took a viscious junk yard cat, carried it around like the Bond villain and harassed people for hand outs. That's insanely more cartoonish because he was acting like a cartoon.
Eventually you realize each episode is satire or parody of something. We go from gun control, to rape, to disasters, to faith, to wrestling, to horror, to inequality in awards, to underage drinking so some scenarios will have characters either shine or be more deplorable on screen. These characters have to fit in these scenarios so by default they will almost entirely be cartoonish.
It's not an agree to disagree moment when you can't even see how cartoonish they all were in earlier seasons. Frank comes out of the couch like Jim Carry from Ace Ventura.
Also, don't they purposely poison Dee and frat members because they knew she was going to mess up? They even went to The Waitress's new restaurant and messed up the place. Dennis also chases after the "shusher".
You come off as kind of a dick when you say stuff like "eventually you realize its a parody". I know what this show is doing, buddy. I've been watching since the season 2 premiere.
All I'm saying is that I found Dennis to be a much funnier character in the early seasons, and I think that's because he went from a guy who was able to act (key word: act) normal in public to someone who couldn't talk to someone for a minute without yelling at them to leave like an insane person. Obviously the whole gang is full of scum bags, and they always have been scumbags. That wasn't my point.
All I'm saying is that I found Dennis to be a much funnier character in the early seasons, and I think that's because he went from a guy who was able to act (key word: act) normal in public to someone who couldn't talk to someone for a minute without yelling at them to leave like an insane person. Obviously the whole gang is full of scum bags, and they always have been scumbags. That wasn't my point.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
I would advise re-watching the earlier seasons as they aren't what you remember.
You can make the point that their personalities are more front and center but that just isn't true. Their antics always existed. Rewatch the episodes and see for yourself.
styl3s
Member
Dennis in the early seasons compared to now is like a parody of himself. He was never this full on psycho in every episode from start to finish.
Yes, he has always said and done some sociopathic shit but it's ridiculous now and Charlie? Charlie is NOTHING like his character in the earlier seasons he comes off way more educated then he did even in the first like 8 seasons.
mechashiva
Member
Season 3 when they got into the serial killer character he was ready to lieder the waitress and was fully distraught that they weren't going to.
I like to see it as a kind of negative feedback loop where they each drag each other down in an endless cycle. They could all be semi-functional members of society if you could break them up for long enough but its never going to happen.
I think the newer episodes do a better job of spelling their personalities out, if anything.
That was the whole point of "The Gang Misses the Boat". Charlie and Dee could easily be normal people. Charlie is only really fucked up due to his upbringing. He's clearly just as smart as Dennis but lacks a proper education.
Before getting a screamy scary psycho Dennis moment was a big deal and a special thing. (I'm thinking TOOOLS in particular)
This season alone we've already gotten three or four of those moments. All in one season. Damn maybe more than we've gotten throughout the rest of the show.
I think that's telling enough. Fuck I still love the show, but some things definitely aren't as subtle as they used to be. Which is understandable after ten years I guess.
This season alone we've already gotten three or four of those moments. All in one season. Damn maybe more than we've gotten throughout the rest of the show.
I think that's telling enough. Fuck I still love the show, but some things definitely aren't as subtle as they used to be. Which is understandable after ten years I guess.
RobotNinjaHornets
Banned
I'm just gonna throw it out there that in the first series, Dennis went to the pro-abortion side of an abortion rally, didn't like it when he got shut down for being a creep and decided to climb over the fence to go to the anti-abortion side
E the Shaggy
Junior Member
How would you end the show? Clearly, the gang has to die at the end at their own hands in some way, shape, or form.
What's telling about it? That a person could get more unstable after 8-10 years?
If anything Dennis has been showing character progression. We're agreeing here that the psychotic moments of Dennis have been sprinkled here and there throughout the seasons, now we're getting huge doses of it left and right nearly every episode, in season 10. It makes sense to me that he would get even more out of his mind as the show went on, like he is already.
I haven't watched any seasons other than 5, or 6 recently, so I am open to any corrections about what I said.
Joe Prodigy
Member
Holy crap. I almost died laughing at the scene where Mac tried to move Charlie and eventually choked himself out.
I've always taken it as their personality behaviors have escalated in every succeeding season, and I look forward to where they go next. I mean, all they do is hang out and do schemes with each other everyday since 2005. Dennis even says in The Gang Misses the Boat that Frank is the reason why they've changed so much because of having access to unlimited amounts of money.
Ever since The Gang Wrestles For The Troops I've been feeling like they're taking Cricket too far, but every season since has been worse than the last. Anyone think he'll die by series' end?
A-Dark-Injection
Member
I was also thinking that. Frank looked like a white walker at the end.
Mediocre episode comparing with the others this season, but I still enjoyed.
That all makes sense and is how I rationalize it as well.
What's telling about it is that they're taking easy jokes by having Dennis be the big shouty kooky man way more than they ever have before.
We don't need three episodes this season dedicated to showcasing how crazy he's become. Putting that off to the side/background and letting other plots take center stage would be a much better way of handling what you've explained.
I'd say the Family Fight episode would be a good example of how to do it, but still it seems like they're focusing on his issues way too much.
This is true
The overuse of it takes away from the surprise or "oh shit" factor that was present in previous seasons, regardless of whether or not the frequency of it increasing makes sense or not.
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