the scene with the boys trapped in by the fence is something so stupid yet so funny to me, as they just scream at each other and charlie's "HAPPY PLACE" is just so ridiculous. i love it
Holy shit this episode aged well. It's very obviously commenting on Israel & Palestine and when it all reaches the moment when the building explodes and it goes silent...it felt all too real for today's standards where we see so much destruction in Gaza. Even the little sprinkles of how acknowledging he's Jewish is seen as antisemitic by some and the moments where the Israeli teams up with Barbara all felt like it was released in 2023. I even think the gated scene was very boldly pointing out the hypocricy of Jews now keeping others imprisoned because of their World War II past by literally doing a parody of Holocaust camps although of course now the cast would never admit that's what they were going for.
Always Sunny's social commentary episodes are what make this show above and beyond. Just wow.
Forgot how great this episode was! Dennis speaking Arabic jibberish and Charlie’s ohhhhhhhhhh……shiiiiiit delivery at the end. I got teary eyed laughing. Thank you
“what are we gonna do?”
title card plays; “The Gang Goes Jihad”
:skull::skull:
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-04-01T20:27:05Z
[8.1/10] As a Jew, I probably should have hated this, but I couldn’t help but laugh at it. Charlie, Mac, and Dennis’s utter incompetence at scaring away their new Jewish neighbor who’s threatening to evict them was just hilarious. Their attempts to send a message by playing childish pranks, and getting retaliation like building a big fence was pretty great.
Really, the dynamic between the three of them was just a lot of fun. When they were winking at their lawyer of their being no “legal” means to do anything, or debating the proper use of the term “Jew,” or trying to explain what’s going on with Israel, it was all hilarious. Throw in their poorly-done “Jihad tape” replete with directorial issues, and you have a recipe for boundary-pushing but very funny comedy.
I was less on board with Frank’s wife coming around. She seems like a watered down version of Lucille Bluth, and the performer went a little too broad with it for my tastes. Still, Frank and Dee make for an unexpectedly good pairing (particularly with Dee getting frustrated at Frank’s confusing hand signals), and the dog theft had a nice payoff.
That’s the other thing that makes this episode a cut above – it has some nice storytelling. Sure, it meanders a bit, but the way that it ties together the story of the neighbor also being Frank’s wife new suitor, and also Frank wanting to be a part of the gang and using his buying the bar as a means to achieve it, is fairly clever. The dropped detail of a gas leak in the neighboring building, paired with the idiot brigade trying to do the flaming dog poo trick again and making it look like they intentionally blew the place up was a canny way to escalate things as well.
Overall, the bits with Frank’s wife were a little weak, but otherwise, this was a very funny and clever episode, despite the cultural toes it surely stepped on.