S16 E08: Dennis Takes A Mental Health Day

[Galileo908]

Quote

After a physical reveals that Dennis has elevated blood pressure, he decides to take a day to de-stress at the beach; his day spirals into a domino-chain of tech and customer service challenged until he can no longer contain his rage.

Airs 7/19/23

[Galileo908]

This was like a modern Seinfeld episode, or even Curb with Dennis getting madder at every little bullcrap aspect of modern life. I felt this in my core. Yes, I hate that there's an app for everything. Yes, Not-Teslas suck. I don't care for boba. I don't like drinks to be chewy. Hell, you don't even get new phones in the store.

The beeping of the watch was just fantastic. I don't even think Glenn was acting in the freakout scene with the car. He just happened to record what happened with his own Tesla.

I loved the offscreen plot with the pressure cooker. Everything was just so on the nose, even Dennis's choice of music with "Listen to Your Heart." That last scene was incredible. He actually willed his blood pressure away by imagining ripping out a rich man's heart, turning it into a diamond, then eating it.

[Lantern7]

Should we be concerned that Dennis is able to lower his blood pressure by mentally projecting himself into increasingly stressful situations? The guy is truly built different.

Good episode. The fantasy does explain how he was able to get to the headquarters of “Suma” in his quest to rip out the CEO’s heart and squeeze it into a diamond. And the Gang fucking with a pressure cooker would be on-brand for them.

How come we only get eight episodes in a season? Well, at least FX/FXX didn’t squeeze them into four weeks this time.

[callie lee 29]

I feel like this episode was directly inspired by Glenn's real life experience with his Tesla being stuck in a parking garage about a few months ago. If you don't listen to the podcast it's the one Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack. 

[iMonrey]

Strange episode, but good. We've all been there - trying to get someone on the line who can actually assist, only to get passed around and transferred and having to give your info a dozen times in between.

So I gather the car was meant to be a Tesla? Do they really start with apps? That doesn't sound like a good idea. Surely even if that were the case there would be some kind of backup key in case your phone is lost or needs to be charged.

Having to download an app just to order tea seemed even more ludicrous, I hope that's not actually a thing anywhere or civilization is doomed.

So that's it, huh? Man this season went by fast.

[DoctorAtomic]

Yeesh. At my last doctor's visit, my blood pressure was way higher than Dennis. 

And when I went out with my friend, like the tea shop, she wanted ice cream for the dessert, but ice cream only came with other stuff. So we convinced the server to just not include the other stuff. 

I have to give Dennis credit though; he wasn't attacking the people. I know they don't want to listen to him rant, but he was saying "I'm not mad at you". People always accuse me of yelling at them, and I'm not. I have to couch my (justifiably) loud criticisms in disclaimers.

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Having to download an app just to order tea seemed even more ludicrous, I hope that's not actually a thing anywhere or civilization is doomed.

He could have used a card, but it was a $10 minimum; that's why he bought two teas. I don't really carry cash because I use my card for miles, but I haven't run into any store that just flat out doesn't take cash. 

 

[callie lee 29]

9 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

 

He could have used a card, but it was a $10 minimum; that's why he bought two teas. I don't really carry cash because I use my card for miles, but I haven't run into any store that just flat out doesn't take cash. 

 

I have, but they mostly have been smaller, local restaurants, not chains. That looked like a chain. 

 

I've also been to a couple of places that only take cash.

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, callie lee 29 said:

I've also been to a couple of places that only take cash.

But how about places that only take app payments unless you spend at least $10?

[callie lee 29]

Haven't had that I will say. 

[qtpye]

This was the most Gen X way to talk about heart health ever.

It was brilliant!!!

[Daltrey]

On 7/20/2023 at 5:54 AM, callie lee 29 said:

I feel like this episode was directly inspired by Glenn's real life experience with his Tesla being stuck in a parking garage about a few months ago. If you don't listen to the podcast it's the one Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack. 

I had no idea... I really need to start listening to that.

This was brilliant, I related to it so hard, as I'm sure many did. Ironically, my near breakdown came from a rare visit to my doctors office wherein I discovered they ONLY take cash, which I almost never carry...or rather used to. Now I make sure to always have a few bills in case of emergency...for however long that will be a viable option.🙄😡😆

Edited July 29, 2023 by Daltrey

[Amarsir]

On 7/20/2023 at 10:17 AM, iMonrey said:

So I gather the car was meant to be a Tesla? Do they really start with apps? That doesn't sound like a good idea. Surely even if that were the case there would be some kind of backup key in case your phone is lost or needs to be charged.

It gets worse. I don't know about Tesla specifically, but Toyota soured a lot of people because:

A) They added remote start through an app which requires a subscription.
B) They rerouted the key fob remote start through the same system.

So if you want to start your car in the driveway you need an active subscription instead of using 30-year-old tech. Which they may throw in for free on a new purchase, but SOL for used buyers. 

(After this hit the press Toyota went back and forth a bit, saying it wasn't supposed to restrict the key fob, then not issuing remote start fobs at all, and I don't know where they are now. But I don't trust them anymore.)

I mean I do like network-based starts because even if I don't want to open an app I'd love to warm up my car with an Alexa command. I just don't need more recurring subscriptions in my life.

---

Anyway, this was my favorite episode of the season. Very Dennis to be increasingly stressed by society and then calm himself down by visualizing murder.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Amarsir

[LindaHarris]

On 7/20/2023 at 5:34 AM, Galileo908 said:

This was like a modern Seinfeld episode, or even Curb with Dennis getting madder at every little bullcrap aspect of modern life. I felt this in my core. Yes, I hate that there's an app for everything. Yes, Not-Teslas suck. I don't care for boba. I don't like drinks to be chewy. Hell, you don't even get new phones in the store.

The beeping of the watch was just fantastic. I don't even think Glenn was acting in the freakout scene with the car. He just happened to record what happened with his own Tesla.

I loved the offscreen plot with the pressure cooker. Everything was just so on the nose, even Dennis's choice of music with "Listen to Your Heart." That last scene was incredible. He actually willed his blood pressure away by imagining ripping out a rich man's heart, turning it into a diamond, then eating it. 
I understand that it's not real life, but it's series, and I liked the episode, but still, that mental health day is pretty weird to me if I can say so.
I also have some problems from time to time and need such days, but I do other things, like something more relaxing and calm, I'd say. Now, I am working on my paper about mental health, and I've found so many exciting things online. I also found this source online: https://edubirdie.com/examples/mental-health/, which provides different samples on that topic, and that info is also pretty helpful. I found some new ideas there, which I'll for sure include in my paper

I just watched the episode, and I think it was cool. It's not the mental health day I usually have, but as long as it helps)