S16 E04: Frank vs. Russia

[Galileo908]

Quote

Charlie cheers on Frank at a local chess tournament against a Russian grand master; Dennis helps Mac and Dee find boyfriends.

Airs 6/21/23

[Galileo908]

Of course with the DENNIS system, Dennis also created a system to attracting men. Men like Dennis. The SINNED system. Dennis is totally bi, and his mom issues surfaced again. Love it. And loved how shocked Dee and Mac were at the reveal that it was just DENNIS backwards.

I LOVED Uncle Jack driving an ice cream truck "as a side hustle." Which, of course, had no ice cream.

Loved everything about Danny Devito's acting tonight. I was dying at him suffering from "full blast." I could honestly believe that he went method and had the vibrating beads up his butt the whole time.

Poor Mac. Even when Dennis tells him to his face that he's Johnny, he's still so unaware that he's not real that he accuses Dennis of stealing his phone.

EDIT: Was this the most times Charlie's mom has been in a season? She's been in every episode except for the first one, it's gotta be some kind of record. I also learned today that she played Miss Yvonne on Pee-Wee's Playhouse and it's blowing my mind.

Edited June 22, 2023 by Galileo908

[VanillaBear85]

I am kind of mad at myself for never making the Dennis/Sinned connection before. 

[Galileo908]

I really wish I hadn't been spoiled on that before I saw the episode.

[iMonrey]

18 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

I also learned today that she played Miss Yvonne on Pee-Wee's Playhouse and it's blowing my mind.

OMG. What? Headrush.

I knew where this episode was going as soon as Mac started talking about the vibrating anal beads. I remember the story in the news about the chess champion who tried to cheat that way. So yes, for those of you who missed it, this was actually based on a true story. Or at least inspired by one.

They seem to be doubling down on Uncle Jack being a pedophile. Did you catch when he was on the phone saying "All those charges were dropped"? And now an ice cream truck. With no ice cream. Criminy.

[callie lee 29]

Please tell me I'm not the only person who has a brief moment where I thought that they were going to just repurpose Mac's anal beads to Frank???

[Galileo908]

13 minutes ago, callie lee 29 said:

Please tell me I'm not the only person who has a brief moment where I thought that they were going to just repurpose Mac's anal beads to Frank???

I thought that's what they did?

[callie lee 29]

1 hour ago, Galileo908 said:

I thought that's what they did?

Did they? I may have missed that. 

[iMonrey]

12 hours ago, callie lee 29 said:

Did they? I may have missed that. 

Yup. They roofied both Frank and Mac and did the transfer. When Mac woke up they were gone. He told Dennis and Dee that's why he thought Johnny must have broken up with him. (And I'm not even going to think about how they got them out of there!)

[DoctorAtomic]

The question is why Dennis was 'Johnny to Mac in the first place. 

The entire plot was a butt plug transfer. 

[iMonrey]

On 6/23/2023 at 10:27 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

The question is why Dennis was 'Johnny to Mac in the first place. 

He said he made up the profile to get Mac out of the house whenever he got sick of him. He'd press the button and it was a signal to Mac to go to the hotel room and wait for "Johnny."

[Gharlane]

On 6/21/2023 at 9:47 PM, Galileo908 said:

"Frank vs. Russia". Charlie cheers on Frank at a local chess tournament against a Russian grand master; Dennis helps Mac and Dee find boyfriends.

For some odd reason, Comcast's streaming service listed this as the 2nd episode of the season and "Franks Shoots Everyone" as the last one. 🤔

This one was pretty funny but there seemed to be a lot of recycled jokes. I saw the D.E.N.N.I.S. joke coming (but not that his new system was his name/other system backwards). We've already seen Dennis coaching the others during their dates. I wondered at the beginning why Frank was acting like he was about to shit his pants instead of his normal composed self. 

 

On 6/22/2023 at 5:22 PM, iMonrey said:

I knew where this episode was going as soon as Mac started talking about the vibrating anal beads. I remember the story in the news about the chess champion who tried to cheat that way. So yes, for those of you who missed it, this was actually based on a true story. Or at least inspired by one.

Hokey smokes! 😲

Edited June 26, 2023 by Gharlane

[King of TV]

My least favorite episode of the season, they should've done more with Frank playing Chess. The reverse Dennis system also took up too much of the episode, the delivery wasn't as good as the original bit done in season 5.

[Lantern7]

I finally got around to watching this episode. I figured out the climax early . . .Charlie and Frank needed to cheat in chess, Mac had the anal beads, and there was a story where those were allegedly used during a chess match. It was still funny, though.

I think the SINNED System works better than DENNIS, but Mac and Dee needed in-story excuses to blow it off. At lest we didn't have something like Mac using a CAM System. In other news, Dennis is still evil. He probably didn't care about Frank's thing, but he loved a chance to manipulate someone other than dumbass Mac

The title felt misleading, but "Frank vs. Russia" seems better than "The SINNED System" or, say, "Anal Beads Figure Largely In This Episode." The story was so breezy, of course Frank would win in the end . . . even as he was losing it in the end.

Dunno why we've been getting Charlie's family (and Mrs. Mac) so much this season. How fucked up is it that I'm happy they're not using Jack's hand obsession, and that the other thing being prominent works out great to watch?

[DoctorAtomic]

I like getting Charlie's family because he's the most well adjusted. 

[qtpye]

On 6/21/2023 at 10:31 PM, Galileo908 said:

Loved everything about Danny Devito's acting tonight. I was dying at him suffering from "full blast." I could honestly believe that he went method and had the vibrating beads up his butt the whole time.

Danny Devito is a national treasure.

Seriously, I love the guy.

I loved the Sinned system and the Rocky shoutouts and the reference to the latest chess scandal.

This show is still making me laugh after all these years. That is more than I can say for the Simpsons.

[callie lee 29]

So this is a huge reach but there's something about the scene where Mac talks about having to go meet Johnny when he "buzzes" (and the whole Johnny thing in general) that reminds me of a very early (and awesome) cheesy 80's movie Eddie and The Cruisers.