After I spent all that time complaining about the season opener not drawing its plots together very effectively, Sunny had to go and make me eat my words by producing an extremely amusing episode with two basically separate storylines that didn't merge much at all. On the face of it, "Mac's Big Break" shouldn't have really worked — it felt like a lazy way to bring in favorite guest stars and the crowning joke was a slightly cheap dream sequence gag that ended with Mac just falling flat on his face. Then again — Mac falling flat on his face! That was pretty funny, right?
I'll start with the radio show though. Frank's sudden interest in his kids' amazing banter was somewhat incongruous with his usual feelings towards them, but who cares, it's Sunny, and Frank's character is especially malleable. "They've got great banter. They jib jab! Jib jab, jib jab!" I'm not sure what his eventual goal was in this episode if he had one, but once he got Dennis and Dee recording a podcast, he seemed far more interested in dragging in past conquests of theirs and humiliating everyone involved. Which was fine by me!
Ben the soldier was the guest I probably missed the least (although Travis Schuldt rocks that vacant, goofy smile) so his appearance relied more on Dennis' voice being funny. "We're in the midst of TWO wars? Now, the United States of America is engaged in BOTH wars?" Frank was more interested in Ben banging Dee, and if they used any "tie-ups." It's always great to see Cricket and the waitress, though — the poor waitress was treated especially cruelly. One day Sunny should do an episode about the waitress' miserable, miserable life, played totally straight, just to freak us all out. Because even though every character on Sunny is kinda sad, the waitress' situation really sucks when you think about it for five seconds.
And that's even including Cricket, who's voice has gotten all squeaky because of his infected trash-can wound. He's been abused so hard over the show's course, I don't know if the writers have any idea where to take his character but they're making the right move having him not be interested in Dee anymore. Keep it fresh! Him squeaking non sequiturs like "Does my scar look like a dog's vagina? Maybe!" and "I don't believe in God, not since that Chinaman took my kidney" worked pretty great for me this episode. The radio show plot could probably have been done well without the guest stars (Dennis and Dee's moron-talk chemistry is good all on its own) but their appearances kept things from getting too static, I guess.