"Risk E. Rat's Pizza & Amusement Center" is the sixth episode in the sixteenth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the 168th episode overall.
Synopsis[]
The Gang goes to "Risk E. Rat's", their childhood version of Chuck E. Cheese, only to find all the riskiness that made it exciting has been systematically replaced with safety and overcautiousness. Dennis and Charlie try to find the old ride with the animatronic boobs. Dee takes Frank on a scavenger to find risqué jokes hidden throughout the establishment. Mac plays Skee-Ball to win tickets for a prize.
Plot[]
The episode begins with the gang in the car singing the "Risk E. Rat's Pizza & Amusement Center" Theme song, and express joy in going back to Risk E. Rat's, Charlie than remarks that he saw his first pair of breasts on an animatronic called "Justine The Teen Dream", Charlie explains "legend" of the breasts, Mac confirms him while Dennis is skeptical, Frank then asks if the timeout room still has the paddle, Mac explains it has changed to just be for children to be placed whilst angry, the gang than sings the theme song once more before the title card plays.
The Gang arrives at the arcade, reminiscent of the old bar where parents would get "hammered" away from their children, an employee, Joey, tells the gang to sign waivers before entry, reluctant at first, Dennis and the rest agree to sign because they are initially in a good mood and want to have fun, however they give fake names, or just scribble onto the paper and walk away.
The Next scene begins with Frank drinking water from an out of order drinking fountain using a pizza box, a child asks him what he's doing before Frank shoos him away, Mac goes to redeem his old tickets from when he was younger, whilst Charlie and Dennis head to the backrooms to search for the animatronic breasts. Frank asks Dee if she remembers the joke hunt, which involves searching for jokes hidden around the arcade, and at the end the winner would meet "Risk E. Rat" himself, Frank exclaims that Risk E. would smack the kids on their head and hit his brother, Dee says they changed by the 80's, whether Frank is lying, misremembering, or exaggerating isn't entirely clear, however it is likely the latter two in the context of the episode itself. Dee's explanation is that the change involved Risk E. making fun of people for "being different", Frank calls that "being racist".
Mac heads to the toy counter to redeem his tickets, he asks the an employee, Ally, where the toy guns are, to which she responds that they [Risk E. Rat's] don't carry them anymore, Mac than asks for a Switchblade Comb, Big League Chews (He doesn't refer to it as such but he describes it), something called "Extra large atomic fireballs", and than candy cigarettes, all of which aren't carried anymore for various reasons, he than settles on the candy "Nerds".
Charlie and Dennis head to the back to look for an entrance to the backroom and discover its been covered, they remark at Risk E.'s changed persona, referring to how he now wears a hard hat, differing from how in the past he would either get hit in the head, or hit kids in the head before saying "That's what the bone is for!", likely referring to the skull, Charlie and Dennis than begin attempting to knock the wall down.
Back to Mac, he is playing Skee-ball, while doing so, he speaks to a child, named Sam, and than suggests pooling tickets up to get the biggest prize, Sam says that's not allowed, Mac than states "Yeah you can, this is America, you can do whatever the fuck you want", Sam than gets uncomfortable referring to him cursing, Mac suggest using the tickets to get candy, Sam says he would have to ask his parents to eat candy, Mac, annoyed, raises his voice stating that he can eat as much candy as he [Sam] wants, Sam says he wants his mother before a man dressed a dog approaches the two and than asks if they are fine, before taking them to the "Time out room".
Frank and Dee are still looking for jokes for the joke hunt. Frank explains how when he was a child, they would put the jokes on waitresses without looking, which he enjoyed because he could "Cop a feel" on the waitress, Dee remarks on how its "terrible". An employee, Jessie, brings Dee mozzarella sticks and as she grabs them, he says to be careful as they are hot, Dee gets offended at this remark and insults him, criticizing how redundant it is to warn someone that "molten cheese" is hot, she than tells him to "beat it", Frank finds a hidden joke hanging from a table as Dee burns herself on the mozzarella stick, another person in a mascot costume called "Dapper Duck", Dee calls him Dingbat Duck, which was his name when she was young, she than gets upset and says that he is Dingbat Duck and that Dingbat Duck stutters and drools all over the place, Frank laughs and says that Dingbat Duck was a "retard", Dee criticizes him for this and the two have an argument about calling a duck "retarded", Dee than says that his shtick wasn't that he was "retarded", and instead he drooled and stuttered, imitating it herself before Frank states "his mouth was retarded!", Dee gets annoyed at him again.
Cut to Charlie and Dennis, who had either knocked down the wall to the backroom, finding nothing in it, or have chose to look somewhere else. They manage to find the storage room full of old animatronics, "Spaz The Drummer", "Chef Greaseball Linguini", "Dr. Slice", "Funky Funkosapien", and "Justine The Teen Dream", Dennis exclaims that its good that they retired "Funky Funkosapien", as he had a "black voice", and was voiced by a "white person", Charlie agrees but than says that Funky is purple, than states that all monsters are colorful and they should be voiced by monsters, the two express both confusion and disregard for the subject matter, stating that "tough to navigate". The two locate the animatronic Justine, Charlie than lifts up a cloth revealing her torso, the two than remark on her supposedly being underage, justifying it with "science" before Dennis than pulls down the torso's shirt revealing bubble wrap, and the marks where the animatronic's breasts where removed, the two where disappointed and than blame first liberals, but than say that removing the breasts can also have been due to religious conservatives, the two leave the room.
Mac and the child he was arguing with are in the "timeout room", the man in the dog costume asks them how they feel, Mac says he is "Angry and Misunderstood", Sam says he feels stupid, prompting Mac to call him stupid, the dog calls them both sassy, Sam says he feels stupid talking about his feelings, Mac agrees with him, this prompts the man in the dog costume to end the session, Mac than says that he doesn't feel punished, the man in the dog suit explains he's a licensed therapist before Mac gets up, insults Sam and than says that modern culture is "grooming" Sam to have no freedom and have no punishment.
Dee and Frank find the last joke hidden in the arcade, the joke is "What does a nosy pepper do? It gets jalapeño business", a play on "all up in your business", Dee and Frank don't get it, so Dee deduces the joke must be said with an accent, doing a pseudo-gangster accent, which is "sassy" or "mexican", Frank still doesn't get the joke because it isn't about anybody, Dee says that the victim in the jokes is "Whites" [White People], because white people don't have accents to pull the joke off, the two than state they are confused, going back through the jokes to better understand them.
The gang meets back up to the final show from "Risk E. Rat", Charlie doesn't understand why a bunch of adults are with children before Mac tells Charlie that the establishment got rid of the bar, and the adults are parents, as the show begins an employee hands the gang earbuds, to which they throw them back at her because they want to hear the show, as the mascots perform, it is revealed the "Risk E. Rat" has rebranded to "RobbiePizza.com", the gang, fed up with the modernity of the establishment, decide to recreate the old Risk E.'s for the kids.
Following that is a montage of the gang performing various acts to recreate the old Risk E.'s, Charlie and Dennis take the old animatronics out of storage, Frank rallies the parents up for a "bar" in the back, locking the parents inside and away from their children, Dee knocks out a man in a "Robbie" costume, and then rallies the children around the building, the gang organizes a room for the children to have the old animatronic band play, as the gang counts down to let the children in, Frank activates a switch, prompting an electrical fire due to the haphazard setup and the fact that the electronics where in storage for ~Forty years without any maintenance. The next immediate scene is full of people screaming and children crying, a man with burnt and/or bloodied hands is being lifted via gurney into an ambulance, firefighters walk out of the building, the camera pans to a pile of the old animatronics, burnt and in a pile as the firemen carry the rest to it. Two women being held back by an employee and a cop, trying to tell the police that the gang is responsible for the scenario. The gang watches the events unfold outside, and unscathed, remarking on what had happened, justifying themselves in causing the fire, before making a joke about signing a waiver and giving fake/no names, they then flee the scene.
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
Guest Starring[]
- Ian Sharkey as Sam
- H Michael Corner as Dog
Co-Starring[]
- Jee Kang as Ally
- Curry Barker as Joey
- Leo McElhenney as Water Fountain Kid
Trivia[]
- On Hulu, the image used for the episode thumbnail actually comes from the prior episode.
- Risk E. Rat's Pizza & Amusement Center itself parodies many elements of family entertainment venues such as Chuck E. Cheese and Showbiz Pizza.
- Risk E. Rat in particular is a parody of Chuck E. Cheese himself.
- Chef Greaseball Linguini is a parody of Pasqually P. Pieplate.
- Dr. Slice the Funky Funkosapien is a parody of Mr. Munch.
- Justine the Teen-Dream is a parody of Mitzi Mozzarella.
- The removal of the animatronic band is commentary on how many Chuck E. Cheese locations have removed their animatronic bands in favor of light-up dance floors.
- The kid watching Frank using a paper tray to drink water out of the fountain was played by Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson's son Leo.
- The stutter of Dapper Duck's dated "Dingbat Duck" incarnation spoofs that of Looney Tunes character Porky Pig.
- One of the animal costumes worn by the band is the costume of the old 'Rockin' Robin' mascot for Wrexham AFC (the Welsh football club Rob McElhenney co-owns with Ryan Reynolds) which was used until 2001 when it was replaced by Wrex the Dragon.
- Some have theorized the episode is regarding "modernizing old media", as the gang continuously encounters that the "offensive" and "outdated" aspects from their childhood have been removed, Mac states as much when he tells Sam that he is being groomed to be a "pussy" by society and he "has no balls", whether this is a reflection of the writer's personal desires for the show, or if its them critiquing other shows is unclear.
Gallery[]
References[]
| < Season 15 |
Season 16 | Season > 17 |
|
1. "The Gang Inflates" |