Always Sunny – Yes, Mac is really that fat

When I started seeing commercials for season 7 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the thing that stood out most was the fat suit Rob McElhenney wore for the first episode. Tonight, as I was searching through the season 7 preview videos on FX’s website, I noticed something interesting … Rob seems to be wearing the fat suit a lot this season … and the fat suit is seamless when he’s shirtless in a few scenes …

Surprise! That’s not a fat suit!

McElhenney actually gained a whopping 50 lbs. between season 6 and 7. The kicker is, he did it on purpose — he thought it would be funny for the show. That’s right, you guys … Rob McElhenney is a method actor. Like Daniel Day-Lewis, Christian Bale and Marlon Brando, lover of Mallomars. When researching before the episode started, I actually found a picture of Rob in a particularly loud Hawaiian shirt and, honest to God, he looks just like Dom Deluise. He just needs the flat cap and the illusion will be complete!

So, does the change work? Actually, the whole season premiere was about change: Mac gaining weight, Frank getting remarried, Dee trying to move into the 2nd (arguably 3rd) act of her life. It’s also a look at the show itself. It can either do something different and get diabetes like Mac or play it safe and slowly kill itself like Dennis … look, it’s not a perfect metaphor.

I really like how Mac doesn’t see his weight gain as a failure. He’s just gaining mass! To be fair, a lot of linebackers have that general build, but they do actually exercise in some shape or form. It is nice to see them do something different with the character, and I’m interested in seeing where else they take Mac with this development.

Since Frank called Dee and Dennis’ mom his “whore wife,” it seems appropriate that he is now going to have an actual whore as a wife. She really likes to talk about dicks, and Alanna Urbach made her kind of likable in a “would give you Gonorrhea just by breathing on you” sort of way. Her death was fitting, as was the callbacks to Dee and Dennis’ crack addictions. I’m pretty sure Charlie was wearing the dollar bin version of Joel McHale‘s outfit from the 2nd paintball episode of Community. The puking blood scene was both surprising and not surprising at all. Put Charlie in a cowboy costume, and he’s guaranteed to do something to scare the crap out of a woman. That’s just science.

Probably the biggest surprise is the return of The Cosby Show‘s Geoffrey Owens as the skeevier version of himself. First he impersonated Donovan McNabb, now he’s Tiger Woods. And a foot fetishist. As always, Always Sunny stays classy.

There were lots of storylines in this episode, but the mile-a-minute dialogue actually pulled it together. It was hard to write down my favorite quotes because they were all so snappy. The ending was utterly dark, but in a rather sweet way. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.

All the best quotes:

“We’re going to rehabilitate the dog, OK? We don’t want it to attack other dogs. Now we would like for it to attack other people!” — Dee about getting a guard dog

“Charlie, stop wearing clothes you find washing up under bridges!” — Dee

“Mac, you look bad.” — Dee
“Really, really bad.” — Charlie

“Mac, you have gained … I mean, 50 lbs. of fat.” — Dennis
“Mass.” — Mac
“Fat.” — Dennis
“Muscles.” — Mac
“Let’s be clear, FAT.” — Dennis

“But I’m healthy besides the diabetes?” — Mac

“I’m into foot shit.” — Geoffrey

“Do you want some of this insulin?” — Mac
“No, I just want crack!” — Dennis

Clacked by Katie Schenkel
on Sep 16, 2011 @ 07:51 EST5EDT