The Gang returns from Thanksgiving break with ‘Thunder Gun Express’, a real-time action adventure episode that delivers the always-appreciated ‘Sunny’ goods.
Brief Summary: According to the Gang, Obama is not only oppressing America, but also their ability to make it to the year’s most-hyped blockbuster action movie, ‘Thunder Gun Express’. The streets are clogged by closures and blockades due to the President visiting Philly. The fictional lead character of the film breaks all rules to come out on top, so with only 28 minutes until show time, the Gang starts “Thunder-Gunning” it across town to make it to the theater on time. A ’24’-esque timer occasionally pops up on screen to show us the countdown.
At the beginning, Frank suggests that they call in a bomb threat to the theater to delay the show time. The rest of the group decides that they’d rather prep for the film by acting like the lead character and racing to the theater. Of course, the Gang has no moral integrity and is nothing like Thunder Gun, who never leaves a man behind. They constantly ditch one another, saying, “I’ll come back for you,” with absolutely no intention of returning. In the end, everyone makes it there except for Frank, who gets arrested after commandeering a tour boat. With his one phone call, Frank calls in a bomb threat to the theater and screws the Gang over for leaving him behind.
Episode Thoughts: Aside from one lame episode and a few hiccups, Season 7 has been hilarious and fairly unpredictable. From a group of terrible people who can’t do anything right, the last thing you expect is for any of them to get to theater. When they actually get there, you expect them to get kicked out for being loud, obnoxious, smelly and/or inappropriate – but then Frank makes his phone call and ruins their day in the best way possible. Just as the 20th Century Fox logo appears on screen, the projector cuts out and a theater worker breaks the bad news. We all knew they were never going to see the movie, but I’m certain that none of us saw Frank being the guy to keep them from it.
Just a few minutes into the episode, it becomes obvious that the Gang will be picked off one by one. Watching it happen couldn’t be any funnier. First, when they get stuck in traffic, the other four jump out of the car and walk away from Dennis. Then, the “survivors” have the brilliant idea to hop on a trolley as it rolls away – but Frank’s awkward body can’t keep up with it, so he gets left behind too. When Mac, Dee and Charlie decide to scramble down a storm drain and follow the sewers, Fat Mac can’t fit, so Charlie and Dee leave him there. And when Dee’s high heel gets lodged in a grate, Charlie abandons her.
Great comedy comes from what happens to each person after getting ditched. Dennis rear-ends a hot Latina (or “brown girl,” as Mac calls her) on the way to the same showing. Frank hijacks a tour boat and tells the Asian tourists some of the Gang’s best stories. Mac tries to steal a motorcycle and crashes it no more than ten feet from where it was parked. And Dee has to strip naked when a flood of “water, piss and shit” (which Charlie insists is actually quite refreshing) rushes towards her.
As always, the best part of ‘Sunny’ is the dialog. It’s constantly hilarious how the Gang keeps turning “Thunder Gun” into a verb: “Hey, Thunder-Gun it up on the curb,” “He Thunder-Gunned the shit out of us,” “He’s Thunder-Gunning some Mexican chick in the back,” and more. But the funniest bits from ‘Thunder Gun Express’ stem from an ongoing joke about the Thunder Gun character “dropping dong” in the movie. Everyone, including a traffic cop they meet on the street, talks about Thunder Gun’s dropped dong. Of all the jokes and gags in this episode, my favorite happens after Mac, Dennis and Charlie get off the trolley. Mac says, “Thunder Gun himself would have been proud of that move… Plus, I hung dong on the trolley. You guys missed that.” Dee’s response is priceless: “I saw it. It looked like a button on a fur coat… If Thunder Gun’s dong looks like that, we should all get our money back.”
