“Well. I’m gay.”
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
First off, this was probably the funniest religious Mac story in a long while. His piety has never been my favorite trait among the myriad Gang-related hangups, but this episode utilized it very well. Of course, his realization, right at the end, that he was gay was amazing.
Sure, I fully expect him to change his mind by the end of next week’s season finale – Part 2 of the tale – since his affirmation of homosexuality also came with a “there is no God” clause. Once he believes in God again, he’ll be back to denying his true self in no time.
But this was a very a big deal. After years of the (somewhat tired) joke being that everyone knows he’s gay except him, he was now all in. And I imagine it didn’t take much at all to “convert” him. And it was a masterful cutaway. In fact, “The Gang Goes to Hell” had some fine cutaways in general. From the cut to the “Gang Goes to Hell” title card to Mac swearing he’ll hate singing show tunes and then him instantly giving a hundred and ten percent to “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat,” the little ironic edits were a lot of fun.
The Gang being totally insane, whether as a collective or individually, is nothing new. It’s the show, in a nutshell. But this one really honed in on their separate creepy quirks. Even splitting them into sins. Dee’s wrath, Dennis’ lust, Frank’s gluttony. And it worked well.
In fact, this may have been the most off-putting that Dennis has been in a few seasons. Thanks to Dee (oh, yes, this is her tactic too), he tried to subtlety threaten an underage-looking girl into having sex with him. Basically, with the specter of rape and sexual assault hanging over his every word. It was pretty dark, actually. He’ll swear it was the thunder making his message seem ominous though.
Charlie and Frank’s drunken buffoonery was probably the weakest part of this one, though I did like them only identifying orange juice and soda as “mixers” and not something anyone would ever drink on their own. The best parts though were Mac’s instance that religion was all about morbid punishment, Dennis’ super unsettling psychosis, and Dee – not wanting to be called bird, or s*** on – getting s*** on by a bird. Oh, and her punching that woman out during the magic show.
I’m assuming we’ll get into the actual celestial story of The Gang taking to God – and how that’ll be treated (for real? shared delusion?) – next week, but the premise, as little as it was featured here, was appropriately big and “out there.” A perfect well to dive into this late in the life of the show.
And what was here was great too. Tying everyone’s specific insanity into deadly sins was a funny idea.
