Reviews are IN for Season 18!

 Reviews of Season 18 dropped today, and while I don't trust the opinions of any journalism site (which get press access to the episodes, I suppose I should clarify), they are a great way to get a good idea as to the vibe of the Season, as well as hints (and minor spoilers) about episode plots we're missing!

The following sites have released reviews as of the publishing of this post:

Screen Rant, Cracked, CBR, Next Best Picture, and Comic Book Club. Below is a highlight of the information from each of these reviews! (Since the publishing of this post, two additional reviews from JoBlo and Roger Ebert have been published)

NOTE: it seems press did not get to (re)view the two October episodes, The Guys Have a Sleepover and The Gang Buys a Baseball Team.

I'll touch on Screen Rant first, as their reviews are typically the least emphatical about [modern] Sunny, either not caring for or not aware of the depth and complexity of the character exploration and dynamics in Sunny. So, brushing past the claims that the Season is "less organic" and "uninspired" (which are not backed up by any other review), the straight facts Screen Rant gives us are interesting: 

• The Gang Gets Tested features many references to Back to School (1986), the episode seemingly more Frank-focused than we may have thought. 
• Gilligan's Island: a Conspiracy Theorists Paradise is this year's experimental episode and puts the characters into the actual series, following Mac and Charlie as they "unpack their own conspiracy theories" about the show (interestingly, Dee and Dennis are not mentioned here).

Comic Book Club also mentioned that Gilligan's Island is complete with a "laugh track and reproduced set," solidly confirming that the episode is actually a genre shift for the show (however CBC was not a fan of this episode, while ScreenRant was).

CBC also claims The War on Alcohol is a miss, with not enough commentary and too much focus on gay!Mac jokes... I'm finding that claim hard to fathom, given what little we know about the episode (and no other review touches on this episode either), but that turn sounds great to me!  

CBC highlights Charlie Day as the standout of the Season, stating he does a "speed-run on Charlie'isms" in The Gang Gets Tested, which (as we somewhat suspected) reveals whatever disorder Charlie has is something unique. This is an exciting comment, and the first and only bit of information we've got about Charlie's plot in this episode. They also point out Glenn and Kaitlin's performances, claiming the twins are a great duo in multiple episodes, pushing each other to get worse. 

CBR's review also highlights Glenn and Kaitlin this season, claiming they fall into familiar (enjoyed) patterns while also managing to find "creative ways to reveal new facets of their personalities."

And Rob is not without praise either, Next Best Picture claims Mac is the highlight of this season, with many plots harping on his insecurities and resulting in big laughs (and, as part of this, NBP points out that Mac deals with unresolved conflicts between his mother, father, and being gay this season!).  

So all in all, it looks like a great season for character dynamics, paired and individually. 

Finally, I come to Cracked's review, which claims the Gang "sink to new lows in the darkest season to date," and while they do name every character, outside of the Premiere episodes their comment might be particularly aimed at Dennis, as they give us a line from Charlie, "I don't even know if we can be, like, friends anymore, man," following something Dennis does in front of him at the Ren Faire. While we don't know much about Dennis' plot in that episode, we do seem him attempting to follow a woman into a tent, which always spells trouble...

Cracked is also the only source that gives us a better idea as to what Mac and Dennis Tear Their ACLs is about... trying to snap the perfect Christmas Card!? This makes sense, given the Christmas sweaters Mac and Dennis are wearing in the behind the scenes videos we obtained, but it is definitely a welcoming surprise of a plot!

They claim that Season 18 "continues to intensify the Gang's irredeemable nature, but, pivotally, it maintains the morbidly codependent chemistry that made us fall in love with these felons in the first place," which is all that needs to be said, really. The Gang continue to be horribly tied together, which is all we really hope for in a season, right?

I'll end this write up by saying: it is funny to me that most of these reviews harp on the fact that this Season contains "too many callbacks," as that's only something I'd hope for 18 seasons into this show. While it may seem like they're trying to capitalize on their older, more popular episodes from a general audience point of view, if Sunny hasn't proved time-and-time again that their references are purposeful to the development of their characters, The Gang Gets Ready for Prime Time should have properly solidified that idea. Many callbacks to prior season's plots can only mean one thing — this Season was written to have continuity, and once again looks to purposefully further the character's dynamics and lore, for better or worse. 

Looking forward to Season 18 more than anything...

-Seth