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The Walking Dead Meets Law & Order. Review: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – “The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre”

  • By

  • October 25, 2012

  • 6 mins to read

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA: L-R: Rob McElhenney as Mac, Kaitlin Olson as Sweet Dee, Charlie Day as Charlie, Danny DeVito as Frank and Glenn Howerton as Dennis. CR: FX

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, S8 E3 – “The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre”

Air Date: Thursday, October 25, 2012, 10:00 pm ET/PT on FX

Rating: [rating: 5]

 

The guys explain themselves to Detective Marconi (unseen in this picture).

In keeping with the Halloween season, “The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre” opens on Friday the 13th at 10 pm in a scene reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, as a very scared Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Mac (Rob McElhenney), Frank (Danny DeVito), and Charlie (Charlie Day) find themselves in the woods, stumbling around like crazy. Something bad has happened, which is confirmed when they are picked up by the cops. Through flashbacks, the Gang tells Detective Marconi (Jeremy Ratchford) what happened when they crashed Dennis’ ex-wife Maureen’s (Catherine Reitman) wedding to Liam McPoyle (Jimmi Simpson) to ensure it goes off without a hitch. It’s The Walking Dead meets Law & Order, with a Jaws monologue thrown in for good measure.

Observations:

The guys find out Liam McPoyle is Maureen’s groom. Check out that tux!

The opening credits reek of Halloween, with blood dripping off the letters of everyone’s names, making you realize you’re in for one wild and crazy episode. And then, there’s the setting for the wedding: Tell me, who has a wedding in a log cabin in the woods? It looks more like a place where a hoedown might be held, not a wedding. Also, there’s a cow-drawn milk wagon on the stage inside and a life-size stuffed bear over in a corner. Maybe it’s just me, but this is not my idea of a fab wedding, although it is pretty funny.

**

Dennis, Mac and Charlie go to the wedding to prevent Frank from stopping it—meaning no more alimony payments for Dennis if it goes off without a hitch! Dennis is as crazy and frantic as he’s ever been, and Howerton does a fantastic job of getting this across. He has some pretty crazed looking eyes at times! But, Ryan (Nate Mooney), Liam’s lover or brother (maybe both; I’m not sure) doesn’t want Liam to go through with the nuptials in order to protect the family blood line. You see, they’ve been keeping it in the family for “a thousand years.” Yup, incest at its best. Why doesn’t that surprise me?

**

Dennis, Mac and Charlie discuss their next move.

Sure enough, Frank and Dee (Kaitlin Olson) show up, and Frank gets bitten on the head by a bat. The visual of Dee sucking on Frank’s forehead after he’s bitten is ridiculously funny, as is what Frank tells Dee: “Suck my head…suck it harder.” If you close your eyes during this scene, Frank’s words convey a completely different scenario. I think you know where I’m going with this.

**

While Maureen’s wedding gown is pretty, Liam is wearing a tuxedo straight out of a 1970s prom, and looks like he’s higher than a kite. For that matter, all the wedding guests look weird, dressed like hillbillies at a country hoedown. I guess that’s normal for inbred people, but what makes their dress even funnier is that they all turn into zombies! Makes perfect sense, right?

**

Dee is brought in to help clear things up.

I found myself mesmerized by Charlie’s imitation of Robert Shaw’s famous speech in Jaws. What a perfect Irish lilt he pulls off. You may be wondering why Charlie does this, and so does everyone else! You know how Charlie gets side-tracked, which is one of the things I adore about him.

Memorable lines:

Dennis finds Maureen and wants to give her some legal papers to sign before the wedding starts, but when Maureen turns around, Dennis can’t get over how she’s changed: “I’m talking about your tits—your big, giant, new titties, Maureen!”

**

After Dennis and Maureen have sex, she wants them to run away together. When Dennis realizes what he’s done, he cries: “I’ll have to pay alimony to that crazy bitch for the rest of my life!”

**

In typical police procedural fashion, Marconi questions the Gang throughout the episode but in one particular scene, what he tells Dennis reminds me of a scene straight out of Law & Order: “I’ll see what I can do with the D.A. but I need you to confess.”

**

What a fun, Halloween-themed episode this is. There are all sorts of strange occurrences, some very scary moments, frightening music, and, of course, lots of comedy. “The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre” is a perfect mash-up of two wildly popular TV shows—two of my favorites, actually—and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Tune in to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Thursdays at 10:00 pm ET/PT, only on FX.

LIKE Sunny on Facebook, and follow the show on Twitter @FXNetworks, using the hashtag #sunnyfx. You can also follow Frank @DannyDeVito, Mac @Robmcelhenney, Dee @kaitlin_olson, and Dennis @Glenn_Howerton. You can also submit questions to The Gang via the Sunny mailbag @SunnyMailbag.

All photos courtesy of Patrick McElhenney / © 2012 FX Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!