I will admit that I've developed an Always Sunny hyperfixation over the last few years. One of the things that keeps bringing me back to the show is its use of dysfunctional relationships to slowly break down each and every character.
However, the scene between Dennis and Frank in "Dee Sinks in a Bog" got me thinking, and I came to the conclusion that that Dennis' behavior and the way he has manipulated the gang IS a result of his parenting, but not by Frank. This is all just theory off the dome that I doubt was intentional on the writers' part so if I get something wrong please refrain from blasting me in the ass.
If you look at Dennis' relationships with the gang, you can see some clear patterns:
Dennis and Mac: This one is probably the most openly explored. Mac grew up neglected and is desperate to be loved. Dennis is a narcissist who is desperate for confirmation of his own warped self-image. The fact is that Mac could have gotten what he needed from someone who genuinely appreciated him, but Dennis specifically needs someone like Mac who has been groomed to worship him. Dennis' cycle of leading Mac on then rejecting him has broken Mac's self esteem down so completely that he's lost all sense of identity outside of how other people see him.
Dennis and Charlie: Charlie being manipulated into doing all the dirty work in the bar has been a thing since the gang bought Paddy's. What "Charlie Work" does is establish a mini class hierarchy within the bar. Mac & Dee see how bad it is to be at the bottom of the hierarchy and are terrified of becoming a Charlie, so they come together to categorize him as far more worthless than he actually is. Because everyone in his life is telling him he's "the village idiot", Charlie comes to believe it, and lives up to their expectations, becoming stuck in the caricature and unable to grow beyond it. Even though at the end of the day he's mostly just misunderstood.
Dennis and Dee: Dee presents a real threat to Dennis. She's just as conniving and just as ruthless. The first few seasons show how much their relationship started off as a pure sibling rivalry. Dennis' only leg up is his level of influence on Mac and Charlie. The only actual reasons those two have to bully Dee as hard as they do are (1) Mac's obsessive loyalty to Dennis and (2) Charlie's fear of what will happen if he's the one in the hot seat. After being constantly beaten down over a decade-and-a-half, Dee's only sense of self worth co
... keep reading on reddit ➡I've been rewatching all the episodes of the show that I don't remember as well, and this one is just so uninteresting. It's like the Fly of Breaking Bad or the Fish Out of Water of Bojack.
I understand a lot of people really like those two episodes. And it seems this one is also relatively well liked. Is that still true?
Just finished rewatching always sunny again, Dennis is very much my favourite character so i was wondering what peoples favourite quote by him.
Personalky i love "look at me when your talking to me"
So I just started watching the show a couple of weeks ago and I'm on the beginning of season 8. And I would like to talk about the absolute decline of Dennis Reynolds. Not the decline in quality but the decline in mental stability.
I'm beginning to think Dennis Reynolds is losing his mind, and is quite possibly a serial killer.
Thoughts?
During lockdown I did what any sane person would do- binge watched loads of comedies on Netflix. Two of these shows were It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and How I Met Your another. The first show I started to watch in March of 2020, while the latter I only started watching a few months ago. And I enjoyed both shows (IASIP considerably more but HIMYM is by no means a terrible show), but as I started to think I realised that they have way more similarities than I first realised.
Dennis Reynolds and Barney Stinson are so alike it’s crazy. Yet the shows couldn’t be further regarding how it portrays them.
The player trope is very common in sitcoms like these and I’m sure Barney wasn’t the first to do this, but whenever I think of a character like that my mind goes to Neil Patrick Harris’ fantastic portrayal of the trope. Barney is incredibly likeable and charismatic, and though the show doesn’t consider acting the best way to live your life, it’s generally seen as harmless until he grows as a person. But as many people have pointed out in recent years, he is in fact a terrible person who treats women appallingly. Some of the stuff he does is harassment and borderline sexual assault. I don’t expect episodes from 2005 to age perfectly in the modern culture, but it is interesting to think about when comparing to another show that came out in the same year.
Dennis and Barney are quite similar at first. Dennis is a bad person in season one but sleeping with someone who recently lost her father is something Barney would do. But as the show progresses, he becomes much more callous and we as the audience see him as he would if Barney was a real person. The way he treats women is terrible but the casual jokes that Barney might do becomes much more sinister when Dennis does something similar. With the hints that he might be a serial killer as well as just being a massive creep, he becomes an incredibly interesting commentary on how terrible people in sitcoms are. Despite being similar characters, the show treats them completely differently. What Barney might do as a joke, for Dennis it’s a sign of insanity.
There are definitely other commentaries on other classic American sitcoms (Mac getting fat is parodying how sitcom characters generally look better as the show’s budget grows) but I think the comparison of Barney and Dennis is probably the most insightful in the entire show.
What does everyone else think?
Idk if this line has been discussed here so apologies if this is repetitive but I'm rewatching season 12 and I never noticed how funny Mac's line in episode 5 is when he says 'Two characters in the same movie what is he a wizard?' because they had made the Lethal Weapon movies and changed characters at this point. I just love rewatching the show and noticing new things like that.
Hannibal Lector put his knife swiftly through the taut flesh. He licked his lips as he looked into the eyes of his accomplice. Dennis Reynolds, on the other side of the table, clenched his jaw in pleasure as he watched the tender white juicy meat tear apart. Lector’s surgical precision only made the cuts cleaner, and the thrill more intense for Dennis. He thought of his bird sister Dee and saw her nagging head, superimposed onto the desecrated chicken corpse.
“Can… Can I have the knife, Mr. Lector?”
“Yes, My child.”
Dennis sliced down deep into the dumb bird. Long and twisted lilac veins began to spiral across Dennis’s temples.
Dennis had peaked.
https://i.redd.it/hise8loih8581.gif
Goldberg moves to Philadelphia and goes for a drink in Paddy’s Pub.
R1: Joe falls in love with Dee
R2: Joe falls in love with the waitress
A recent observation from rewatching season 7. In episode 8 ' The ANTI-Social Network' The scene where Dennis and Charlie go back to the gin bar to find the shusher.
Charlie speaking hypothetically. Saying he could be a psychopath with a trunk full of chainsaws and chop the shusher into little pieces.
Dennis agrees saying " I could be a man with a fist full of hammers and a trunk full of duct tape and zip ties "
Fast forward to episode 13 'The Highschool Reunion Part 2 - The gang's revenge.
Dennis storming out to his car in a fit of rage to pull out his TOOLS! a trunk full of duct tape and zip ties.
