4x13 The Nightman Cometh

[9.1/10] One of the high points of the entire show. I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for both musicals and for shows depicting lousy theater, so this was right up my alley. But every part of this was so much fun, from The Gang not being able to comprehend doing something without a mark, angle, or grudge, right up to Charlie’s failed proposal to the waitress.

It’s nice to see that Charlie and Dennis’s fascination with Bowie-esque ridiculum has culminated in a musical that feels like it’s borrowing heavily from Labyrinth. Seeing Charlie turn into the high strung theater director type is an amusing bit for the character to play, and the fact that it’s all a misguided attempt to win the love of The Waitress is the kicker. Her nonplussed, perpetually annoyed reaction to all of it is perfect, as is Charlie's lemon yellow, Wonka-esque suit and inability to understand his rejection.

The rest of the group has plenty of amusing things to do too. For one thing, I love how uncomfortable Dee is with Charlie’s misguided script where she’s supposed to be sexually attracted to a young boy, and yet unwilling to lose the song because it’s her showcase. Dennis wanitng to play the lead and thinking he’s better at this than everyone is classic him. Frank playing a troll (semi-calling back to Devito’s role in Batman Returns) and inability to distinguish saying “boy’s soul” from “boy’s hole” is amusing. And Mac going for gasps in his cat-eye, karate-filled performance is a laugh and a half.

The actual musical performance is pretty damn fun too. There’s some pretty solid patter in the Dee/Dennis number as silly and gross as it is. And seeing all of them out there reprising the “Night Man” song that was the seed for all of this was great too.

Overall, definitely one of the high points of the show so far, and a great way to close out Season 4.