"Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day" is the eighth and final episode in the sixteenth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the 170th episode overall.
Synopsis[]
After a physical reveals that Dennis has elevated blood pressure, he decides to take a day away from The Gang to de-stress at the beach. But life has other plans, and his day spirals into a domino-chain of tech and customer service challenges until he can no longer contain his rage
Plot Summary[]
- Note: Despite the nature of this episode's setting and circumstances, the plot is still covered in chronological order.
10:30AM on a Wednesday, Philadelphia, PA During a physical, Dennis is informed that his blood pressure is high (149/92, stage 2 hypertension), and his doctor suggests a low dose of blood pressure medication, which Dennis refuses, saying that pills are "for old men". He vows to lower his blood pressure on his own, despite being told that chronic high blood pressure doesn't work that way.
Back in Dennis' apartment, he unboxes a new watch that has the ability to monitor his blood pressure. The gang calls, and his watch begins to beep, alerting him to a rise in blood pressure and causing him to let them know that he is taking a mental health day and won't be coming in to Paddy's. Mac points out that Dennis' Range Rover is in the shop, and Dee offers to drive him to the beach, but once everyone proclaims their interest in tagging along, Dennis decides to rent a car instead.
Upon arriving at the car rental office, Dennis is informed that the car he booked is unavailable, but is offered an upgrade to the newest model Tsuma, free of charge. Dennis expresses annoyance at the fact that there is no physical key to the car (being prompted to download an app instead), but quickly warms up to it once he begins experimenting with the car's automated and voice controlled features.
Because the Tsuma drives itself, Dennis decides to drink a bottle of kratom extract, but because the taste of the kratom is "gnarly", he has the Tsuma route its way to the nearest bubble tea shop. He asks the barista for a regular herbal tea without the tapioca pearls, but she is unable to do so, citing the fact that "the system" won't let her do that. His watch begins beeping, signalling that his blood pressure is rising again, and he tries to calm his breathing. He relents, acknowledging that she is not to blame, and that they are both victims of this system (to her confusion), but faces another roadblock as a minimum purchase requirement forces him to buy two boba teas instead of downloading an app. This then causes him to leave his cellphone on the roof of his car as he tries to balance both teas while opening the door.
He drives off, not realizing that the phone is on the roof until the Tsuma begins alerting him that the "key" cannot be found. While he's looking for his phone, Dennis receives another call from the gang on his smart watch, who are calling to tell him that they've eaten a month-old French dip that was in his and Mac's fridge. The chattering causes his blood pressure to rise, and he hangs up on them only to find that the Tsuma has run through a stop sign and the police are now signalling him to pull over. He attempts to explain his situation to the cop, but the man continues to insist upon Dennis getting out of the car. Just as Dennis had predicted, this causes the Tsuma to lock itself down with no way to get back inside.
Dennis is presumably given a ride to a mobile phone store, and requests a replacement phone, but the clerk tells him that the earliest he can get a phone to him is the end of the following day. Dennis points out that there are brand new phones behind him, but is told that they are for new customers only, and this is yet another restriction of "the system". Again, Dennis insists that he is only mad at "the system" and not the employee, and instead suggests adding a brand new line to Frank's family phone plan so that he can have a new phone immediately. He tries to call Frank, but Mac cautions him against answering, saying that it must be a "mental health day test". Despite this, Dennis correctly guesses the pin as 6969 and is given a replacement.
However, upon returning to the Tsuma, Dennis discovers that the new phone will not connect to the car, and he remains locked out. He spends a lengthy amount of time getting transferred around Tsuma's customer service lines until he finally gets through to a customer care agent named Daisy, whom he frustratedly explains the entire situation to once again. He stops her from transferring him to her supervisor, and instead asks for the address to the main Tsuma office so that he can confront "the system's" creator at the source.
He walks to the address, sunburnt and soaked by rain, and discovers from talking to the receptionist that the CEO is not in the office that week. Dennis initially asks her to make absolutely certain that she passes his message on to him, but when she mentions that he is at the beach -- where Dennis has been trying to get all day -- he decides to track him down himself.
Dennis approaches the CEO on the balcony of his beach house, startling him. He grabs the man's hand and places it over his heart, and then does the same, giving him a tearful smile before shoving his hand into his chest cavity and pulling out his heart. He crushes it into a diamond and then swallows it whole.
It is revealed that Dennis has not left the examination room, experiencing the day's events in the span of a minute. The doctor stares in awe at Dennis' reduced blood pressure, calling it a medical marvel, noting that he has somehow lowered his blood pressure by 20 points. Dennis receives a call from Charlie, and tells him he'll be right in.
As Dennis walks out of the examination room, all of the people from his fantasy are shown around the hallway, either in-person, on posters, or (in Daisy's case) as a pot of flowers. He drinks a bottle of kratom extract and tosses it into the recycling as he leaves.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
- Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
- Rob McElhenney as Mac McDonald
- Kaitlin Olson as Dee Reynolds
- Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds
Co-Starring[]
- Phil Abrams as Doctor
- Timothy David-Reed as Brandon
- Anthea Neri Nest as Tsuma Receptionist
- Jeremy Denzlinger as Police Officer
- Iris Liu as Susan
- Alice Kors as Cashier
- Michael James Johnson as Phone Store Clerk
Trivia[]
- The incident of Dennis being locked out of his car because he cannot use its phone app to unlock it is based on an actual event that happened to Glenn Howerton, in which he was locked out of his Tesla Model X for 2 days. The key fob that he should have been able to start the car was broken, and he was parked in an underground garage with no wifi or phone service and so could not use the Tesla app to start it either. Howerton originally discussed his experience in episode 53 of The Always Sunny Podcast.[1]
- During the podcast episode, several ideas were thrown around by Charlie Day which eventually made it into the episode. "Fucking keys, man, like- What was wrong with keys? It was a great system, you put it in the thing and you turned it, and then the car went." He later goes on to say that, "There's certain things we just don't need to improve upon. Light switches, keys..." In the episode, Dennis expresses his dislike of the keyless system found on the "Tsuma" he rents, stating, "Keys are sort of a system that have existed for millennia. I don't know why we're trying to fix that, but now we got apps. We got apps for everything, right? Even for things we already had things for."
- RCG also stated during the podcast episode that they would be writing an episode based on Howerton's experience with his Tesla.
- Charlie: Rob, if we were writing that, if we were writing this for Dennis, the rants would be really great. It would be-- probably insufferable...
- Glenn: Let's do that, let's not even talk about it. Let's do an episode where Dennis gets a new car; an electric car-- we're doing this, okay? Let's do a whole episode with just [Dennis] stuck in a parking garage.
- In episode 73 of The Always Sunny Podcast, the drink "Feel Free" is discussed, McElhenney mentioning Howerton introducing him to an "over-the-counter supplement" that "gets you high".[2] The drink contains mitragyna speciosa, commonly known as kratom, which also happens to be the opioid-like substance which Dennis consumes in the episode.
- The kratom that Dennis drinks appears to be a 2oz bottle of red kratom extract, which, among other claims, boasts the ability to lower blood pressure.
- It is unclear whether or not Dennis' comment about letting off a little steam "all naturally" hints at this. Upon its introduction in the episode, Dennis refers to it as "feel-good plant tonic", and he is later seen drinking it in reality, implying that he may have consumed some prior to his appointment. As it is concentrated extract, this is an exceptionally high dosage and may explain how Dennis was able to temporarily lower his noted chronic high blood pressure.
- It is also possible that Dennis' high blood pressure was a side effect of the kratom itself, as in Season 7's premiere episode, Frank's Pretty Woman, the doctor informs Dennis that he has low blood pressure. While red-vein kratom is allegedly the least stimulating strain compared to white and green-vein varieties (and is stated to behave closer to a sedative), a common side effect of all three varieties is rapid heart rate and increased blood pressure.
- Mac and Dennis' original furniture appears to have returned, previously replaced with inflatable couches and chairs.[16x1] However, as this scene takes place in Dennis' mind, it is unclear if this applies to the real-life apartment as well.
- "Tsuma" (妻) translates to "wife" in Japanese.
- Several scenes were cut for time, including the results of the gang's pressure cooker experiment,[3] and a scene where Dennis is prompted to tip an outrageous amount for his boba.[4]
- The former can be seen in the first trailer released for season 16, with the gang huddled around the pool table in Paddy's. Presumably, the pressure cooker exploded.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 53. Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack | The Always Sunny Podcast - YouTube
- ↑ 73. Paddy's Pub: Home of the Original Kitten Mittens | The Always Sunny Podcast
- ↑ “Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day” - OFFICIAL Discussion Thread - Reddit HeathCullensTho: "There was a final pressure cooker scene in the bar that was cut for time, but it didn’t really resolve the pressure cooker thing. The joke was that the pressure cooker diamond thing didn’t work. So even with the included scene the pressure cooker thing kinda just ended. Or fizzled out. Cause you can’t make diamonds out of coal in a pressure cooker."
- ↑ S16E08 “Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day” - OFFICIAL Discussion Thread - Reddit Character-Office-227: "The only thing this episode was missing was the increase in tip culture. They should’ve had the bubble tea place with tip suggestions starting at 25%." HeathCullensTho: "We had that exact thing in the tea scene but had to cut it for time." - Reddit
| < Season 15 |
Season 16 | Season > 17 |
|
1. "The Gang Inflates" |