Deli Boys, Episode 2.1: The guys are back, with more wacky drug deals, Andrew Rannells as a squeaky-clean gay DA, and Pakistani d*cks

  

Link to the n*de dudes

The second season of Deli Boys just dropped on Hulu.  I reviewed an episode of the first season, and gave it a B: not enough beefcake, but some gay characters, including Brian George, whom men of a certain age remember as Babu on Seinfeld, as the season's Big Bad.

The Premise: After their father is murdered, Pakistani-American brothers, the hardworking Mir (Asif Ali) and the screw-up Raj (Saagar Shaikh), inherit his deli and DarCo, a company that produces and sells achar (a pickle relish).   Soon they discover that they are actually transporting cocaine to drug dealers in the West Philly market.   Two of Dad's consiglieres, Aunt Lucky and Ahmad (Brian George), show them the ropes of their new business -- until Ahmad, betrays them in a ploy to gain control.  Oh, and he's the one who murdered their Dad.

Scene 1:  DarCo is now the Number #1 cocaine distributor in Philly, grossing $2 million per quarter, but with fame comes notoriety: Every criminal is trying to "jack their sh*t"  So the guys and Aunt Lucky go to Max Sugar's casino to ask for his help in laundering their drug money.

Max (Fred Armisen) resists the idea... whoops, he catches someone cheating with weighted dice, so he goes down to the floor and forces the guy to eat them.  Dude is dangerous!

Back to business: he is extremely attracted to Aunt Lucky, and agrees to discuss the matter further, over dinner tonight.

Left: Not Fred Armisen.

Scene 2: DA Andrew Chadwater (gay actor Andrew Rannells) is running for mayor on a platform of cracking down on "dealers, sickos, and crooks," with the campaign slogan "Say 'heck, no' to drugs."  Sounds like Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" campaign in the 1980s. 

At headquarters, he gets the intel on the latest fad, where you mix cocaine with ices.  His assistant points out that his ex-husband was a cocaine addict, so he has a personal stake in the issue.

"We're not talking about Craig" Chadwater exclaims.  "Did he call?"

"No."

More after the break

Sunny's Mac Finds His Pride

I first posted on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in 2013.  I was a big fan of the show, about five schemers who run Paddy's bar in Philadelphia.

1.-2. Self-absorbed Ivy League educated Dennis and his sister Dee (Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson)
3. Their wealthy con-artist father Frank (veteran actor Danny Devito)
4. The dimwitted but highly bulgeworthy Charlie (Charlie Day)
5. Conflicted muscleman Mac (Rob McElhenney)

Some of the episodes went for cringe-inducing bad taste, but there was buddy-bonding, a strong gay subtext between Charlie and Frank, and a lot of beefcake, so what's not to like?

Well, I didn't like Mac much.  He was muscular but homophobic.  He dates a transwoman and worries that it makes him gay. He goes off on a Leviticus-rant at a gay couple.

TV sitcoms become more and more extreme over time, as character traits are exaggerated. Homer Simpson becomes not just a little dim, but a complete idiot.  George Costanza moves from self-absorbed to sociopathic.  Sunny upped the cringe-inducing poor taste, and the gang began manipulating each other.  Cruelly.  So I stopped watching.

I just discovered that Mac figured out that he was gay at the end of Season 12:  he had a vision of a beautiful woman who turned out to be God, and said it was ok to be gay.  But he's still conflicted:  "I don't know where I fit in as a gay man.  I don't know who I am."

He's not ready for sex or a relationship yet.

A whole year after coming out?

In the last episode of Season 13, Frank tells him that he has to "find his pride."  He has an ulterior motive, of course: he wants Mac to dance on the pride parade float that the gang is building to draw gay customers into the bar.

The other characters are absent, or appear only briefly.  This story is about Frank and Mac.

Frank forces Mac to go to a S&M club (with a buffet) and then a drag club, on the way making stunningly

 homophobic statements like "If any of these fairies makes a pass at me...", "Are you the boy or the girl?", and "I don't get it.  I'll never get it."

Well, that last one is not homophobic, just rude.  I don't get how anyone would be interested in sex with a woman, but it's really none of my business, so if you like that sort of thing, go for it.

(Photo copyright FX).

Wait --  Frank was never homophobic before.  And if he's so homophobic, why is he on board with the plan to attract gay customers?

Mac announces that sex is not the way for him to "find his pride."  He wants to come out to his father, who is in prison. 

His first attempt to come out fails: Dad thinks he's going to become a father. 

So for Try #2, Frank arranges for him to speak to an auditorium full of inmates, including his father.

Mac rips off his shirt to reveal a crazy ripped body and performs a beautifully choreographed pas-de-deux with a woman.  They separate, long for each other, reconcile, separate again.  He rejects her.  She screams, trying to get into his life, but he rejects her.  She chases him.  Finally, exhausted, Mac falls into her lap.  She caresses him and says "It's ok."

Dad leaves in disgust, but Frank, his foster father, exclaims "I get it!", tears running down his cheeks.

So how is this coming out?


If the woman is God, it's a sort of Hound-of-Heaven thing.  Mac keeps rejecting God, or thinking that God rejects him, due to his gayness, but finally he gives up.  God tells him that it's ok to be gay.

 I had the Blessed Virgin telling me that it was ok to be gay, and I wasn't even Catholic.

He couldn't be dancing with a guy: a pas-de-deux with some muscle hunk would indicate that he was already out, and this is about his struggle to accept his gayness and God's love.  Finding his pride.

It's a stunning conclusion that almost makes Frank's out-of-character homophobia ok.


See also: Why You Should Watch "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."