Breaking Down the Season 18 Trailer!

Despite Sunny moving to Mondays, they’re still intent on releasing new information on Wednesdays, resulting in this Season’s trailer dropping the latest it ever has (relative to its premiere, that is). But it’s finally here, and it’s packed with punches (figuratively and literally), so let’s break it down scene-by-scene! What clips belong to what episode, and what’s still almost entirely unknown? 

First things first, the episode with a lot of trailer time, and the one that starts them off: The Gang Goes to the Ren Faire. This episode stands out very easily, thanks to the magnificent costumes every character is dawned in. If you’ve been keeping up with behind the scenes, you’ve likely already seen everyone’s outfits… everyone's except Dee's, that is. Thankfully, today’s trailer finally gave us a look at her in this episode, and she didn’t disappoint! 

We also got to see Mac mixing genres by pulling a few of his signature karate moves:

and we got a sighting of our first, new guest star this season, Nick Kroll (who I have to point out addresses Dennis as "my lord"):

(Funnily, one of the writers on Ren Faire is Rob Rosell, who is also a writer on Season 2 of Nick Kroll’s FX show, Adults, which will air in the middle of Season 18's run)

And of course we got a few good looks at the McPoyles, featuring a turkey leg chow down between Pappy (Guillermo Del Toro) and Frank:

Another obvious stand-out episode of this trailer was Frank Marries a Corpse, which is revealed to be a very literal title when we see Dee Weekend-at-Bernies-ing the corpse of Frank's Golden Bachelor bride, Samantha, down the aisle to what sounds like a new Charlie Kelly original, "She's dead!" 

And it looks like Mac will be the one to officiate the wedding (because even Cricket wouldn't be willing to marry a dead person..?):

Whatever killed her will likely remain a mystery until the episode airs, but the cause is likely not absent the involvement of the Gang, who are all heavily involved in the wedding, most of all Dee who is shown leading Samantha’s bridesmaids (all of whom are former lovers of Frank’s…awkward?):

Boy are those some... interesting bridesmaid dresses!

We see Uncle Jack pay Dee and Samantha a visit, seemingly to sign some legal paperwork (perhaps a prenup... with no doubt that Dee is there hoping she can somehow financially benefit from this (or objecting to it)...)

And Mac and Dennis also seem to have something cooking with Uncle Jack in this episode, as they're shown in Ms. Kelly's house meeting him (and his puppet), a moment we saw back when the season was filming:

Though it seems Frank could be equally at fault (or infected?) by whatever took Samantha out, as he looks very pale during the wedding ceremony, and this moment of him curled up on a couch seems to belong to this same episode, in which Dennis quips that they don't want the wedding to come off like a funeral:

Whatever goes down here, it definitely seems to lead to the 2nd episode of the premiere, Dennis and Dee Don't Get Rich (a.k.a. the April Fools script episode), which we know based on the script and the episode synopsis takes us to the Mummers Day Parade, and the canon with Bonnie and Samantha's faces we saw behind the scenes footage of, both of which we caught minor glimpses of in this trailer:

Dennis and Dee are dressed in funeral black, which was previously revealed in a BTS photo, but Charlie dressed as a mummer is a real surprise!

Another obvious episode featured in this trailer is The Gang Buys a Baseball Team, which we knew from an interview with Charlie months ago would feature the Gang buying a little league/youth baseball team, and shows Mac, Charlie, and Dee in uniforms:

Dee holding a glove and baseball in this shot might confirm my theory that the guys find a loophole in the Little League rules that allows Dee, as a girl, to pitch for their team as a player... (though they could just have her pitching in practice, I suppose)

Clips from The Gang Gets Tested reaffirm what we just learned in the episode synopsis: Dennis and Dee (and Mac) go to college following ADHD diagnoses (or lack thereof):

...But Frank's involvement in this plot is new information. He looks to be intent on taking advantage of the college environment, which begs the question... what's Charlie up to?

We got a brief glimpse at The War on Alcohol, which only confirmed what we all suspected... the Gang are joining the war on the side of alcohol:

And we saw some more of 2026: a Virtual Insanity, including a snippet which confirms Cricket's involvement in this episode!

Now we move on to those clips I cannot be 100% confident in, however I can say with 99% confidence that the "boys, boys, boys," moment belongs to The Guys Have a Sleepover:

And with 98% confidence that the Waitress' underwear being torn from her body also belongs to Sleepover:

Wow... a scene in Dee's bathroom!!

And with all of those photos and gifs, there's only one moment left unaccounted for:

While it's near-impossible to know exactly what episode this belongs to, I'm putting my money on Gilligan's Island: a Conspiracy Theorist's Paradise. Frank looks incredibly paranoid, and if the episode really is away from Paddy's and vacation-themed (one of the bumpers in the trailer may have helped reinforce that idea), then the R.V. setting also adds to the potential vibe of that episode. Of course, it could also be Mac and Dennis Tear Their ACLs, as this trailer offered nothing for that episode, but unless they tear their ACLs due to someone coming to hunt them down and Frank is locked up trying to protect himself from a similar fate, that seems less likely...

So, after all that, it seems like we're missing at least one entire episode from this trailer. Could they be purposefully hiding something from us? (there's a noticeable absence of B plots present, however that's not strange for a Season trailer) or are they just not done editing? It's impossible to know, but the premiere date is creeping up on us fast! Hopefully we get another (or multiple) teasers as we move into August, because for as much as we got in this trailer, it is surprisingly little for the fact that we have ten (10) episodes this year!

Any thoughts on these new looks? I for one am living for the return of Mac with facial hair.... it's been too long...