3x09 Sweet Dee's Dating a Retarded Person

[6.9/10] Ehhh, there was some good stuff in this episode, but it was pretty aimless relative to some other episodes of IASIP. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little uncomfortable in how the show was joking about developmentally disabled people, but crossing lines in the show’s M.O., and L’il Kevin gets the last laugh in the end, so there’s that. There is something to be said for the idea that the standard issue white rapper persona could be indistinguishable, but again, it’s pretty dicey territory.

The same thing goes for the “let’s form a band” part of the story. Charlie’s hieroglyphic song lyrics are worth a laugh, and I got a kick out of the fact that Frank wants to be a clean rock and roller from his day, Mac wants to be a hair metal guy, Charlie wants to be Bob Dylan, and Dennis wants to be David Bowie. But the show doesn’t really go anywhere with it. (Though I’ll admit to having Charlie and Dennis’s rendition of “Day Man” getting stuck in my head”).

Overall, there’s some laughs here, but the humor isn’t as finely-tuned as it normally is (save for the gang’s debate about why Kevin is called “L’il”) and the episode’s a mixed bag because of it.