[9.3/10] It’s hard to explain why this episode was so enjoyable. Usually you can point to a particular plotline or set piece or strain of humor that stands out and makes an episode great, but despite the fact that “The Gang Hits the Road” doesn’t really have much of any of those things, it’s consistently hilarious and keeps your attention from beginning to end.
My inclination is to call it a bottle episode, but that doesn’t feel quite right, both because they take their various vehicles to multiple locales and because the show doesn’t stray from using most of the same sets anyway. But it feels like a bottle episode because the humor comes from shoving the whole gang in an enclosed space and just letting them hilariously bounce off one another.
That can come from provincial Charlie having never left Philly or eaten a pair, Dee constantly having to both urinate and prevent the guys from ditching her, or Mac viewing himself as the “Sheriff of Paddys.” It’s just semi-observational, mostly absurd slice of life humor, but captures the comic spirit of just winding these idiots up and letting them go.
There’s high points to that idiocy to be sure, like Charlie and Dennis being so dumb as to try to light a fire in the back of a uhaul, or Mac haggling over a 50-cent piece of fruit, but it’s more just the back-and-forth amongst the assembled that really tickles the funny bone. Frank’s beleaguered response to his children and friends being unable to name states, or Dee singing to a hitchiker and inadvertently throwing pee on people is both weird but prosaic enough to hit that comic sweet spot.
Overall, this may be the best episode of the series so far, one that maintains the hangout vibe of the show, while mixing in plenty of that IASIP insanity in a down-to-earth guise.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-09-23T02:45:42Z
[9.3/10] It’s hard to explain why this episode was so enjoyable. Usually you can point to a particular plotline or set piece or strain of humor that stands out and makes an episode great, but despite the fact that “The Gang Hits the Road” doesn’t really have much of any of those things, it’s consistently hilarious and keeps your attention from beginning to end.
My inclination is to call it a bottle episode, but that doesn’t feel quite right, both because they take their various vehicles to multiple locales and because the show doesn’t stray from using most of the same sets anyway. But it feels like a bottle episode because the humor comes from shoving the whole gang in an enclosed space and just letting them hilariously bounce off one another.
That can come from provincial Charlie having never left Philly or eaten a pair, Dee constantly having to both urinate and prevent the guys from ditching her, or Mac viewing himself as the “Sheriff of Paddys.” It’s just semi-observational, mostly absurd slice of life humor, but captures the comic spirit of just winding these idiots up and letting them go.
There’s high points to that idiocy to be sure, like Charlie and Dennis being so dumb as to try to light a fire in the back of a uhaul, or Mac haggling over a 50-cent piece of fruit, but it’s more just the back-and-forth amongst the assembled that really tickles the funny bone. Frank’s beleaguered response to his children and friends being unable to name states, or Dee singing to a hitchiker and inadvertently throwing pee on people is both weird but prosaic enough to hit that comic sweet spot.
Overall, this may be the best episode of the series so far, one that maintains the hangout vibe of the show, while mixing in plenty of that IASIP insanity in a down-to-earth guise.