“I’m fat.” – Mac’s confession
Grab your pizza boxes filled with miscellaneous munchies, it’s the story we’ve all been waiting for! Framing his narration around the Catholic tradition of confession, Mac finally reveals the story of his stomach, the gospel of the gut, the chronicle of his chronic obesity. And he says it’s not his fault.
“My friends made me fat.”
Six weeks ago, for whatever reason, Paddy’s Pub reached its tipping point. Experiencing a steady stream of success quickly goes to everyone’s heads, however, which Mac identifies with his own tipping point. Short of actually being force-fed, Mac holds the entire Gang responsible for his becoming overweight – which is markedly ironic. Not only because Mac’s character is fatally oblivious to his own fault in the matter, but because actor Rob McElhenney allegedly gained the weight without the knowledge or consent of the rest of the cast and crew.
Superman and chemical peels
To borrow from an earlier season, Dennis believes that his physical appearance has “peaked,” and struggles to maintain the standard of perfection that no one is holding him to. A single grey hair shatters his self-confidence, and so he dyes his hair pitch black. He follows up with a chemical peel, which leaves his face shiny and raw. Insecure Dennis is definitely my favorite Dennis.
Turpentine excellence
Frank and Charlie are making plans of their own to follow up on their success, but Charlie doesn’t cope well with stress, and Frank is notoriously terrible at planning. If last week’s break-in blunder was any indication of Frank’s ineptitude, let his plans for a meat-bomb, hitting Charlie with a stick, and making a safe four-way stop serve as a reminder. When Charlie is left in charge of the bar, it doesn’t take long for him to give up, go to the back, and huff turpentine with Dennis.
Dee is guilty of sloth. And she’s pro-abortion
Dee’s plan is the ultimate catalyst for Mac’s massive downfall. In order to get out of the extra work that comes with being busy at the bar, she convinces him that they need to hire replacements that look like them in order to keep the bar from tipping past its present success. Mac finds a “gorgeous muscle monster” to be his avatar, even though he’s never been nearly as fit – even with a full pump on. He dedicates the next six weeks to reaching two-hundred pounds, even though the Gang has entirely abandoned that cause, and have been actively putting other plans into motion – which Mac has been a part of.
The invisible ghost man in the sky
Mac’s confession is actually more of an indictment of everyone except himself. Aside from praying for God to smite the Gang, Mac asks the priest to cast a spell on him that will restore him to his flashback weight. As amoral and apathetic as the Gang can be, they are definitely not responsible for Fat Mac. If anything, their laughing at the chocolate bars coming out of his pockets should push him back to being the karate master with catlike reflexes that has next to vanished this season.
Some stats and info about It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “How Mac Got Fat”
TV SHOW – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 7, Episode 10
AIRED ON – November 17th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FX, FXX, Hulu
GENRE – Comedy, Office Culture
CREATED BY – Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton
CAST – Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, Danny DeVito
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.