Thankfully they decided to continue the storylines from last week's episode and the opening scene is great. Charlie has always been a sort of janitor and he seems to really like his position and gets along with the kids. I was surprised they actually showed him some respect, we are conditioned to look at high school kids in TV as nothing more than apathy ridden jerks and it’s nice to see Charlie in a new surrounding that he can thrive in. Dee, showing her baby bump proudly for the first time this season, takes over for her old drama teacher after she inadvertently broke his hip. Dee is finding being a substitute pretty difficult and her problem, along with Charlie’s desire to mentor a Juggalo (fans of the music group Insane Clown Posse) leads the duo to the principal’s office, which is by far the funniest scene in the episode. The principal is a great character and his apathy is welcome.
While two of our characters are tied up at their new jobs the other guys are finding life in the bar without Dee and Charlie pretty boring. They get into an argument about ‘blackface’ and if it can be done without being racist. Blackface for those who don’t know, is when a white actor plays a black person and paints his face black, think Tropic Thunder. These types of discussions are nothing new to Sunny, and while recently they have been done to death on the show, this one works. Mac seems to think it can be done tastefully while Dennis does not, and Frank is just focused on the lips. Yeah, the scene maybe a bit insensitive, but the show handles it with enough care for it to seem okay, and along the way raise some pretty interesting questions.
The argument stems from the gangs self made sequel to Lethal Weapon and the last half of the episode is dominated by corny acting, ridiculous plot threads, and a very uncomfortable sex scene with Frank... it’s all great stuff. I maybe alone in this, but I want to see that movie in its entirety. Frank as the Native American villain is by far the best part and the switch halfway through is also great. The movie shows of the warped Always Sunny logic that our main characters have and it is a reward for longtime fans.
Eventually the blackface argument spills over to a different venue, resulting in both Dee and Charlie losing their jobs. Once again this scene in the principal’s office is hilarious and the episode ends in the typical dry Always Sunny humor. This was a great episode and oddly enough there was a bit of character development. Since season three these characters have changed very little and seeing Charlie and Dee actually care about something is pretty cool. Sure they are horrible at it and fail pretty hard, but actual effort is something foreign to these terrible people. This season has hit a nice stride these past couple of weeks and episodes like this shows that Always Sunny still has steam left.
