S10.E10: Ass Kickers United: Mac and Charlie Join a Cult

[Galileo908]

In an effort to get in shape, Charlie and Mac join a fitness group that turns out to be a new way of life.

 

Season finale time!

[Galileo908]

Of COURSE Dennis would be the one to start a cult, albeit accidentally. Just to get Charlie to stop eating his Thin Mints. I've said it before that this has been an MVP season for Dennis, and it's so great that the finale focused on him. He's finally The Master.

 

"You can't fix up apartments or get new age tail that fast. It takes YEARS of brainwashing." Of course since this is Mac and Charlie, it works.

 

So Fight Milk can burn holes in couches. Again, not surprised.

 

I loved that whole scene with Dennis and Mac. Dennis, in a robe and towel, with Mac, eating thin mints while watching men work out, just telling him he's fat. It was so wonderful.

 

RIP Jo-Jo, the only person dumber than Charlie. And RIP to Dennis & Mac's apartment. Again.

[Ubiquitous]

Frank getting that guy to eat a shit sandwich was funny, because poop is funny!

I recognised the ending...

[Galileo908]

I knew that ending was referencing SOMETHING, then I was pointed out that it's a callback to Frank's theory that reality was just "a turtle's dream in outer space." Now I feel both stupid and amazed at that.

[Lantern7]

Good episode. I would've expected Dennis to start a cult on purpose, but the long con of him getting Mac to stop eating his Thin Mints works. Had to laugh at him battling Dee and Frank over who the best "Master" was. And, of course, people had to suffer because of the Gang's brand of idiocy.

[VanillaBear85]

Dennis starting Ass Kickers United because he wanted Mac to stop eating Thin Mints. Dennis has become my favorite this season. I don’t want to know what that says about me. “Not about fun! It is about thin mints!” Don’t blow the thin mint thing.

 

I have enjoyed Mac and Charlie’s moms. Charlie’s mom has had some pretty great lines.

 

Rex is The Master! Always good to see him.. and shirtless.

 

Drunk Charlie waking up and peeing the bed made me laugh too much.

 

I had no idea that this was the season finale until the voiceover stated that before the episode. This is the show that I look forward to most all week and I am sad that the season has ended.

Edited March 19, 2015 by VanillaBear85

[Amarsir]

This Dennis and the con with "Frankito" the week before - that's the Dennis I love. He's at his best as a scheming sociopath.  Earlier in the season when he was just raging at one person after another - that got old fast.

 

They also got the balance just right with Mac. He's not gay, he just likes being around a bunch of shirtless buff dudes and no women. That's all.

[Baltron9000]

"Oh, Dee, this is Jojo, Tiny, Charlie you know..." 

Really tight episode, so many good lines. I like how the show can be big and goofy but still have loads of little gems tucked in as well.  I also love it when a topic is brought up and everybody gets involved in different ways. 
Dennis just wanted to manipulate Mac into not eating his god-damn thin-mints. 
Mac just wanted to hang out with some dudes and get ripped, NO LADIES.
Charlie wanted a mission in life. 
Dee wanted to nose in and take over the cult, 

and Frank just wanted to indulge in humiliation and general pervyness. To each their own. 

"Your place looks like shit, what happened?"
"Yeah, it does, I'll tell ya what happened, Mac and his god-damn Assblasters Incorporated where in here jerkin around all day."
"Mac and Charlie and a bunch of goons started a queer club!" 

"But mostly it was about the dangers of eating too many Thin-Mints." 
 

[hincandenza]

This felt very symbolism heavy. I did notice nice touches like Mac doing an effeminate limp-wristed wave to Charlie when talking about the "no gays" subtext behind AKU, or Dennis making an almost Hitlerean mustache symbol with his fingers while talking about his control and manipulation. Then there's the furnace like room of the rebuilt apartment- which was Dennis' old bedroom no less, where Dax Shepherd was burned alive while the gang and Dennis stare on unfeeling (not to mention the last two seasons have ended with the gang in Dennis/Mac's apartment as it catches fire).

Yet oddly, the most disturbing thing for me- and untouched on- was what exactly Frank was trying to do to that poor woman. First, he explicitly said he was trying to "hurt her", and while I'm not a doctor, his insistence on her lunging upward with heavy weights while whipping her head back seemed unmistakably like he was trying to literally get her to snap her own neck.

I dunno... I find the gang funny when they're comicly narcissistic, but I don't see any humor in outright homicide like that. It works when they're a few cringing unhealthy degrees from normal, a la Arrested Development but even worse. Going too far- like if we had proof Dennis has actually murdered women instead of being just a terrible human being, or Frank killing innocent people for sport- makes it too much of a horror show.

Edited March 22, 2015 by hincandenza

[Princess Sparkle]

This felt very symbolism heavy. I did notice nice touches like Mac doing an effeminate limp-wristed wave to Charlie when talking about the "no gays" subtext behind AKU, or Dennis making an almost Hitlerean mustache symbol with his fingers while talking about his control and manipulation. Then there's the furnace like room of the rebuilt apartment- which was Dennis' old bedroom no less, where Dax Shepherd was burned alive while the gang and Dennis stare on unfeeling (not to mention the last two seasons have ended with the gang in Dennis/Mac's apartment as it catches fire).

Yet oddly, the most disturbing thing for me- and untouched on- was what exactly Frank was trying to do to that poor woman. First, he explicitly said he was trying to "hurt her", and while I'm not a doctor, his insistence on her lunging upward with heavy weights while whipping her head back seemed unmistakably like he was trying to literally get her to snap her own neck.

I dunno... I find the gang funny when they're comicly narcissistic, but I don't see any humor in outright homicide like that. It works when they're a few cringing unhealthy degrees from normal, a la Arrested Development but even worse. Going too far- like if we had proof Dennis has actually murdered women instead of being just a terrible human being, or Frank killing innocent people for sport- makes it too much of a horror show.

He wasn't trying to get her to snap her neck to kill her  -  he wanted her to tweak or twist her neck with bad technique so he could take her to that "massage" room (which was really just the bathroom).  That's why he was so mad when he finally got her to go to the room, and Charlie and Mac's moms were already in the tub.

 

So, Frank is a perv, but he's not trying to kill anyone.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Princess Sparkle

[hincandenza]

Phew... well, he did make that guy eat a shit sandwich, so he's no saint. But glad to hear I misunderstood that minor subplot. The only Reynolds I want to see killing anyone around here is Dennis! :)

[Ubiquitous]

He wasn't trying to get her to snap her neck to kill her  -  he wanted her to tweak or twist her neck with bad technique so he could take her to that "massage" room (which was really just the bathroom).  That's why he was so mad when he finally got her to go to the room, and Charlie and Mac's moms were already in the tub.

 

So, Frank is a perv, but he's not trying to kill anyone.

That did not occur to me! I thought he just liked to watch her breasts heaving as she arched her back...

[JayKay]

I knew I missed some plot with that woman Frank was slobbering over. I thought he was trying to pull this classic move from the DENNIS system:

 

Dennis: You were supposed to let her get stabbed, hope that it hits a major artery, and then as she's dying you nurse her back to health, thereby making her totally dependent on you.

Frank's a creeper, but Dennis is still the one to watch out for. It's the emotional component.

 

Still bummed that there's no new Sunny for months and months. I miss these lunatics.

[Ubiquitous]

Did anyone transcribe the "workout routine"? I want to see my personal trainer cringe.

[jcin617]

Frank's a creeper, but Dennis is still the one to watch out for. It's the emotional component.

 

Which is why I still say that for all his flaws, Charlie is the most well-adjusted of all of them. 

[Sweet Dee]

This is one of my top three favorites in season 10. Mac is my favorite, he's just one of those people who doesn't realize how dumb he is. In real life, that would be terribly annoying but on TV, I find him loveable and I feel like out of all of them he's the sweetest, like a teddy bear, or maybe a burrito. I loved how into things he gets, without thinking about why/how they don't make sense, because he's just not smart enough to think that way.

 

Dennis is magic. Mrs. Mac and Charlie's mom in the hot tub was perfect. I love that unlikely pair.