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Dee: And what about Dennis and Mac finally getting together? I can't believe it's taken this long for Dennis to realise that he was in love with Mac after all.

who remembers the fake macdennis script.

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who remembers the fake macdennis script.

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who remembers this

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reblogging macdennis and destiel in the year 2025, huh.

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I think an aspect of The Gang Gets Ready for Prime Time people might be overlooking is that the viewers aren’t the only ones this play is about, it’s also very much about the writing of the characters.

And, as almost always when it comes to viewing these characters in certain environments, you cannot treat them all as equals. Neither Charlie nor Dennis are comfortable being in front of a live audience. This is shown over and over again (Sweet Dee’s Dating, Family Fight, Wolf Cola, PTSDee, etc.) and, perhaps most beautifully, in this Season’s premiere. Dee and Mac, in complete contrast, are desperate for attention and feedback, especially in the face of an audience/camera (Sweet Dee on Fire, Billboard, Goes to Hell, Wolf Cola, etc).

So whereas Dennis and Charlie are using this experience to rehearse normalcy in front of an audience/camera they don’t like to be in front of, Mac and Dee are using this experience to showcase their personalities in front of an audience/camera they thrive in front of… and that’s where the character commentary clearly diverges, obvious in the result of the scores, but perhaps less obvious as to what that means.

After Rehearsal 1, Charlie and Dennis only get “confused feedback" and comments on their appearances, because their performances were rooted in stifling their insecurities. Their attempts to look normal were a little botched, and now they only have negative feedback to try and correct. Because Mac and Dee veer the other way and play to an aspect of their personality that they like (being macho and being funny), they get enough positive feedback that allows them to try and improve.

So by Rehearsal 2, you have Dennis and Charlie even worse off, Dennis obsessing over his insecurities, tripping over his words and snapping and Charlie spiralling into a character of himself no one can recognise, to a point where they’re rejected by the audience even further for those insecurities and disregarded; meanwhile Dee and Mac much better off, leaning in to their strong suits allowed for their real personalities to shine from behind, which gave way for genuine feedback about themselves that’s revealling:

Mac, who has had his personality neutered by his obsession with having a singular identity, ends up realising from the audience feedback that people like him when he’s a mix of things, and he’s taking in this feedback and excited to build on it. He’s excited to find out an audience can view him as both badass and gay (and with Dennis)… as a vampire (s)layer, even (of course he takes it to an insane place, because that’s Mac.)

Dee, who has had her personality rejected by the Gang due to their dogpiling of her, is able to discover that she is funny, even situationally so, and her gags are not only encouraged but enjoyed as repeats, she's only dinged by a few due to the fact that she comes off as pathetically sad.

In my reading, this is indeed the writers addressing Dee and Mac criticisms of recent years (S13/14 heavily), and acknowledging their own shortcomings with characterisation there, using the repeat audience members who like their quirky personalities to highlight this in the neutering that occurs in Rehearsal #3:

"Dee never has anything to do ("How come I don't have any lines?"), they cut all her screentime and so she has no role in the Gang. ("How am I supposed to pop with this? I need to be slinging zingers.")" They are showcasing that Dee is a funny character, and having the return audience all sigh disappointingly when she sits down and they don't get the rubber chicken cry is acknowledging Dee as a central, reliant point of the comedy whose expected beats have been missing at times.

"Mac became one dimensional, all he cares about now is being gay/getting Dennis and he's lost every other aspect of his personality that fans loved." 'Badass' Mac make a fantastic showing, to the audience's delight, but the return audience witnessing him clean cut and falling in line, giving in and up to Dennis, results in vocal protest. "Let your boyfriend flip." Mac can be more than one thing at a time, people want to see every aspect of him, regardless of what his current focus is.

Charlie at the end, saying, "Forget it, can we just be us? We're trying to please everybody and that never works, man," is not him telling the Gang to accept that they're going to get a low rating from the audience no matter what, it's him telling them to forget what just happened. Forget the 3. Because the audience's rejection of Dee and Mac in the final Rehearsal wasn't about the audience at all, it was about the characters changing, for no good reason to the deterioration of themselves.

"People either get you or they don't get you, you know what I'm saying?" being met with Dee's very adamant "Yes." is clear enough to me: the audience was getting Dee until her gags were taken away from her; the audience was getting Mac until he was pushed into the role of sit down and shut up to please.

Dee and Mac being able to directly face the audience and see their enjoyment and encouragement of their over-the-top, raw personalities for themselves, has freed them of allowing themselves to be scripted into boxes based on their insecurities. They are free to re-embrace those things (as the writers are doing once more).

(This is obviously Dee/Mac focused, I would love to see someone expand on what I bounce off of with Charlie/Dennis here, if possible)

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they need to let dennis smoke a cigarette again

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The Waitress pausing counting her bills for the Macdennis moments is sending meeee

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i needed to compile it all together

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he is so me 😭😭

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the greatest will-they-won't-they in television sitcom history. i guess.

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mac and dennis break up | the always sunny podcast (x)

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giving mac advice on how to Look Straight are we

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did this post happen?