top of page
Search

Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia , or it was? - Season 14 - A Review

Updated: Feb 15, 2020

The 14th Season of Always Sunny was something that I was completely invested in watching and could not wait to come to Netflix. My boyfriend showed this series last year and I absolutely loved it, but to much of our disappointment the new season wasn't what we were expecting.



When they released their pro wrestling poster, I was so excited for what was to come and this image alone came with a lot of weight for the new Season. It was released alongside the caption "Jumping off the top rope" Leaving room for the new Season to fall far and hard. Out of all of the Season posters this is my favourite, it features amazing colours and techniques that highlight some more depth with the characters. Including the characters persona’s as a throw back to the episodes of Season 8.


When I first started watching this I was told that the series did take a bit of a slump in the middle, but I didn't get that at all! I loved watching the series and of course there were some Season's that I liked more or less, as everyone does. I loved the most recent episodes before Season 14, specifically those of Season 11-13 so when the new episodes came out I had some high hopes.


Sadly, it was not as expected. The new Season came out around my boyfriends birthday so we decided to watch it together and after we watched, we talked and we both came to the conclusion that something was missing. For me it felt like we were missing the vital points of the episode that would make it great. It was like Dee had written these episodes and the punchline was still waiting to be finished, or simply fell on deaf ears. The episodes came across as unfinished or incorrectly set up, like they were trying to achieve something that simply wasn't there, and we missed out on something great.


Everything was a little more...Enhanced in this Season, almost forced for the hilarity and when it was put forward in that way I couldn’t decipher the jokes from the storyline. It seemed that the key points of the character roles and parts from other episodes had been taken and stressed upon.


Dennis’s character for one. Jesus H Christ. His desperation for women in Season 14 is WOW. We all know this key point of Dennis, he is shameless, over confident and constantly uses women for his own thrills, which makes him one of the most controversial characters. However this Season, did it go too far? Definitely. I always cringe at the things he says, but it has been executed in such a way its an enjoyable cringe that you expect. In this, however, the cringe is simply a cringe. Season 14 Dennis targets women specifically for how he can use them and to loosely quote "Get a performance out of them" and refers to “Trapping” women more than usual which seems a little too on the nose for the series.


Something else amplified seems to be Frank's gross generality. Specifically in the episode 'Dee Day' where he has a great encounter with some rather bad clams. Were used to Frank harbouring food in his mouth and losing most of it when talking, but in this Season we see him choke on food, inhale, eat blue, eat cat food, gag, wretch and spit constantly flies around the room. It takes a lot to make me feel sick but, Frank achieved his true warthog persona here. I also found myself confused by Mac's sudden dependence on Dennis, now at the end of Season 13 'Mac finds his pride' Which is a completely different kind of episode for the gang. Mac comes out as gay to his father which shows his total acceptance of his preferences as a gay man.


I think that Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney really wanted to show Mac's love for Dennis, this is somewhat portrayed in other episodes throughout the whole series and even mentioned in ‘The Gang Chokes’ episode. But I feel that the dependence from Mac in these new episodes comes across as something more than simple affection or love, rather an irritating attachment. I was myself, hoping that Mac would become more independent in a couple of these episodes now that he has fully accepted who he is and we would see a side to him with more confidence and a little more karate.


Now don't get me wrong I still watched every episode and even have it on now whilst writing this review. 'The Gang Gets Romantic' , 'The Gang Texts' and 'The Janitor Always Mops Twice' Are all episodes that I loved and in my opinion they saved this Season for me. 'The Janitor Always Mops Twice' introduced us to a new side of our characters and a different perspective to the series, and made me want to keep watching, as the ending was something different, showing us a new side to the location within the set. I also live for how this gave us a new perspective specifically from the character Charlie kelly and had a new colour scheme of black and white, with the vibrant reds, a draw back to a different time period and a good story line with a deep twist. 'The Gang Texts' Also gave us a new setting - The Zoo - Where we could see the characters in a different environment outside of Paddy's Pub.


My least favourite episode - 'A Woman's Right To Chop' One question. Why? In my personal opinion Pete Chatmon did not do this episode justice in directing. The three episodes directed by him in this Season were my least favourite. 'Dee Day', 'A Woman's Right To Chop' and 'Waiting For Big Mo' All left me wanting something more that I simply didn't see. Now I think about it, Dee didn't incur any danger during this Season so maybe that's what it was missing. All 3 of these episodes involved one man story line, whereas usually there is at least one or two plot lines that come together to enhance the overall story.


Something else within this new Season - Kaitlin Olsen who plays Dee - Every time the camera focused in, all I could think was what happened? Kaitlin has undergone some intensive surgery from Botox to a boob job. Or did she? I instantly went online and had to check what had happened, Kaitlin Olsen has neither confirmed nor denied any actual work she has undergone, however after researching some more I found, that she in fact has NOT had any surgery to enhance her body. She has although had Botox injections to smoothen out some wrinkles. Personally I don't feel she needed any Botox as it only ended up distracting a lot of viewers as they were worried she had conformed to pressure put on the aging actress. Also her having not mentioned having any work done left me wondering what had gone on and why it hadn’t been publicly addressed.


During 'Dee Day' We saw Dennis undergo a little transformation of his own and be stripped of that Golden God power! I myself wonder if this a little dig at Dee by the cast for having her work done, or if it was their way of supporting her change by stripping a fellow character of all his makeup. All in all a LOT of things happened in this new series and a lot of things didn't meet the expectations I was personally hoping for.


Hopefully, in the next season everything will be dialled back slightly and the gang will be the same lovable, unbelievable group they always were!


Quick disclaimer, this piece contains my thoughts and opinions, they are no one else's just my own. I mean no offence to the creators or people involved in Always Sunny, it is one of my favourite series and I highly recommend giving it a watch! I could no where near do what they do, especially for 14 Seasons.


As always, thank you for reading - I hoped you enjoyed! Feel free to leave a comment, like or reach me on social media!


I hope you all have a lovely day,

🍁 Stay smiling


Sources:


Comments

bottom of page