I’ve mentioned before that I love the cold opens on this show, especially when they end with a zinger that leads into the title card. Mac screaming “Squirrel!” and the car swerving was the perfect way to lead into “The Gang gets Stranded in the Woods.”
Charlie is best when he’s optimistically joyful and that’s what he is tonight. Misunderstanding Dennis’ advice and making wild bets at the casino, winning and then donating thousands “to the rats” was fun to watch. The drunk party montage with them, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard was funny, but got a lot funnier when the athletes revealed they have been stone sober all night and the guys looked like a couple of idiots (go figure). Poor Mac, missing his opportunity to complete his creepy obsession with Utley.
Speaking of the guest stars, I enjoyed Tom Sizemore‘s turn as the sex obsessed truck driver more than I expected. After seeing him on Celebrity Rehab, I’m kind of just glad to see him get work.
It’s always interesting when getting into Frank’s head and this episode had him starting off hating animals, then bonding with a cuddly bunny rabbit only to get sick from eating a dead crow and go back to hating animals again. And poor Mr. Peter Peter Nickel Eater. Once Mac mentioned letting the bunny go back to the safe arms of Mother Nature, I knew the little guy was done for. I did expect the semi to run him over, but the hawk swooping down wasn’t too much of a surprise. He was just too adorable to live in this series.
I liked that things worked out well for Dennis and Charlie. Sometimes it seems like all the characters have to “get theirs” in the end, but it’s nice for it not to be a predictably negative outcome. And at the same time, if you really want that negative outcome, you can look at Mac. Great episode.