Dennis and Dee Do Crack Again
IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY Review: 11.02 "Frank Falls Out The Window"
The gang recycles their trash again.
Last week, It's Always Sunny kicked off their eleventh season with a direct sequel to an earlier episode. This week, they're doing a conceptual sequel to a season eight episode called "The Gang Recycles Their Trash." Everything is sequels and remakes these days!
For those that don't remember, "The Gang Recycles Their Trash" basically served as a redo of the door-to-door gas salesmen scheme from the popular episode "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis" except instead of selling gas, the gang takes everyone's trash to the dump. While the details might be different, the episode redid old scenes but with added self-awareness.
And that's exactly what we get with "Frank Falls Out the Window," which recreates memorable moments from Frank's introductory episode, season two's "Charlie Gets Crippled", followed out of nowhere by a redo of another season two episode, "Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare." While I thought "The Gang Recycles their Trash" was a clever and fun trip down memory lane, this one lacks a lot of the magic that makes It's Always Sunny special.
The opening scene is really the best part of the episode. We find Frank sitting with his ass hanging out Charlie's window because he keeps farting too much, something I'm surprised even bothers Charlie. The sight of Danny DeVito sadly sticking his butt out a window because his farts are bad is basically why I come to this show in the first place, so we definitely get off on the right foot. But we have a story to get to, and sure enough, Frank falls out and hits his head so hard that he thinks it's 2006, which happens to be when Frank joined up with the gang.
So there's your situational comedy plot. Everyone decides to use this weird memory loss as an opportunity to start over with Frank. Dee and Dennis want to foster a nice relationship with him, so he'll give them all his money. Charlie and Mac want to make sure that all their history with Frank doesn't repeat itself. This leads to the episode's two main jokes. One, no matter what Mac and Charlie do, events play out exactly as they did upon meeting Frank in "Charlie Gets Crippled". And two, Dennis and Dee find themselves once again addicted to crack and trying to get welfare. Somehow.
The best thing this episode has going for it is a return of the nice, relatively normal Frank from season two, a lonely businessman looking to party a little with a younger crew. While still incredibly crass by any normal person's standards (he does tell a lady she wouldn't know a good idea if it smacked her in the tit), pre-gang Frank feels like a fluffy bunny rabbit compared to the slobbering troll he'd become years later. Watching him beam with pride over his children (and the smartphones they say they invented) is a joy. Points should also go out for the gigantic gash he wears on the back of his head all episode, which earns its biggest laugh for sure.
And there are other great details. We get a good Dennis freak-out and also learn that the only reason he ever considered becoming a veterinarian was to collect animal skins. I'm always happy whenever Toe-Knife makes an appearance. And the idea that Charlie almost throws the waitress out his window so that she, too, will return to 2006, is pretty funny.
But overall, the episode coasts along on nostalgia and recreated scenes, which can be funny but doesn't hit any high enough marks this time. I hope next week's episode keeps its eyes firmly on the present tense.
Evan Saathoff Editor-in-Chief
mcardlecastocired.blogspot.com
Source: https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/01/14/its-always-sunny-review-11.02-frank-falls-out-the-window
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