First off, let me say how much I’ve enjoyed spending my Friday mornings captioning images of The Gang and discussing depraved hilarity with you guys. It’s been an honor.
Last night’s Season 8 finale, “Reynolds Vs. Reynolds: The Cereal Defense,” captured a lot of the same brilliance as last season’s “Chardee MacDennis” — minus the chaos — and clearly established that the show can go into a ninth season without missing a beat. S8 has been quite the accomplishment. A few notes from “Reynolds Vs. Reynolds: The Cereal Defense”.
- I would go out and buy a Garmin right this second if there was a Charlie Day voice option.
- For a brief moment during the first commercial break I was stricken with fear at the idea that Charlie wouldn’t be playing attorney. Of course my concern was wiped away in the very next scene and we were blessed with gems like “Persecuting” and “Common sense is on trial.” Law & Order Charlie Kelly will never ever get old.
- I’m totally with Dee in assuming the defendant is guilty. Why else would they be on trial?
- Absolutely kills me that I wasn’t cast as “random guy drinking beer at the bar during trial.”
- I’m ashamed to admit I had to look up whether or not Pennsylvania is actually a commonwealth.
- Tommy Bahama Meter – As we’ve been discussing when and where Mac now wears his Fat Mac shirts, I feel after last night’s finale it is safe to conclude that it is completely and utterly random, which makes the gag a nice metaphor for S8’s mixture of callbacks and new material. There’s no rhyme or reason to anything. Just like life.
On a final note, FX was cool enough to provide us with a Season 7 Blu-Ray to award to one extraordinary audience member. Congrats to the always active Lobster Mobster for earning the most Sunny badges throughout these recaps and therefore taking home the prize. The Sunniest moments…
How Accidents Happen
Blind Frank driving to Charlie’s tape player directions + Dennis eating cereal while listening to dumb b*tches on public radio = How you set up an episode.
Why The Gang Should Put On Their Own Trial
Dennis’s “Yeah I probably have a…” trail-off reaction was just perfect. And Frank of course doesn’t want near a courtroom due to all his unregistered guns (a joke only Sunny wouldn’t pull in the current climate). Which is of course why Reynolds vs. Reynolds requires…
A Trial Meter
Only in The Gang’s world (and religious cults) are verdicts determined solely on sentiment towards the plaintiff and defendant as opposed to actual facts. Which, if you’re the maybe-plaintiff, may cause a harsh reaction…
“It means to have the brains of a donkey or a donkey type creature.”
It’s official: Donkey Brain debates are my favorite debates. I need the entire sequence in a YouTube clip, like yesterday. Until that happens though here are some choice lines:
Sweet Dee – “That is an official document with ‘donkey brain’ written on it?”
Charlie – “Do you have any such certificate?”
Charlie – “How do we know you’re not a donkey-brained man?”
Mac – “You may have donkey brains. I don’t know.”
Mac Damages His Credibility
After thwarting Dee’s line of X-Men questioning, Mac does significant damage to his own credibility — and influence over Charlie — when Dennis gets him to reveal his thoughts on evolution, which leads us to A) pondering if Ronald McDonald is a metaphor for the hard right, and B) quite possibly the greatest Sunny GIF of all time…
Science Is A Liar Sometimes
Just when you’re halfway through an episode and think the donkey brain debate cannot be topped as the highlight, Mac gives a science lesson complete with an evolution meter, famous scientists diagram, and “b*tch” stickers.
Each and every sticker slaps did it for me, but the first one above made me laugh as hard as anything has in 2012. Charlie was swayed as well…
Frank Knows What’s Up
Always take the side of the person whose character is put on trial (and who is also not the defendant).
Forensic Analysis Saves The Day
And with all the consequences being assigned to Dee despite no wrongdoing of her own, Season 8 ends on a perfect note…
Sweet Dee’s GDs really deserve their own supercut. Someone please get on that during the offseason. Until then, drink your Fight Milk and watch your Netflix. It’s been a blast.
