The Michigan Daily - michiganclaily.com Monday, September 9, 2013 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, September 9, 2013 - 7A 'Sunny' crosses a dark line in season nine By EMILY BODDEN Daily Arts Writer "It's Always Sunny in Phila- delphia" returned on its new net- work, FXX for its ninth season, a feat that hope- fully proves B- the staying power of this It's AlWays immature and Sunny in delightfully ridiculous com- Philadelphia edy. Season nine The season premiere opened with "The Gang Wednesdays Broke Dee." atO1 p.m. As selfish and snarky as in pre- FXX vious seasons, the episode pushed the levels of comfort. By now, audiences know to expect dark humor stemming from the few redeeming qualities that each character possesses, but season nine pushes the envelope. Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson) takes center stage, but not in the way we expect. Instead of her usual sharp self, Dee has reached a mental breaking point that causes the gang to decide to rehabilitate her using their own means. While the episode pres- ents some of its usual laugh out loud, or at very least, chuckle- producing humor, more than a few suicide jokes arise. Dark humor is one thing, but suicide jokes take the show into new territory. Though com- edy pushes comfort barriers and norms, suicide seems an extreme- lyinsensitiveplacetotry and draw laughs.While "Mac & Charlie Die: Part 1 and Part 2" of season four focused on Charlie (Charles Peck- ham) and Mac (Rob McElhenney) faking their own deaths to avoid Mac's father, the implications were not as dark as the suggestion of Dee actually contemplating sui- Is this where Kara Thrace went when she vanished? Sci-fi thrills, lit tl Cruel an cide du suicide ered ve jokes s It's t faultsi But su not qu ing it< and se jokes o erronec though cerns, them a I1 t env That (Glenn tlin 0 After e sion sit cize at Theirc ties th, and ov and the makes FXX d unusual e to a mental break. When and self-involved siblings. and depression are consid- Perhaps the show's most pop- ery serious issues, making ular duo, Charlie and Mac, sur- eems in bad taste. prisingly took a back seat in the rue thathumor canexpose season opener. There needs to in society through satire. be more Charlie and Mac, two aicide prevention should idiots who seemingly cannot alify as a fault, consider- function normally, since the two concerns a very sensitive offer some relief from the show's rious subject. "Sunny" 's dark tendencies. While no more n the matter may send the caring than the others, their lik- ous message that suicidal ability surely comes from their ts are not legitimate con- stunted development, both emo- and that those who have tionally and mentally. re merely weak. Some ofthe more talked-about episodes stem from the gang's attempted, and ultimately failed, t's possible elaborate schemes. Perhaps one of the remaining episodes will o push the bring about another episode like past favorites "The Nightman elope too far. Cometh" or "Chardee MacDen- nis: The Game of Games." The gang produces the most laughs with their elaborate pranks. t being said, both Denis Nine seasons certainly vali- Howerton) and Dee (Kai- date the successful history of ison) perform perfectly. "Sunny," proving that the audi- ight seasons, these televi- ence wants to see more of the blings leave little to criti- gang's antics. And while every bout their performances. episode cannot be a standout in characters exhibit subtle- the series, they shouldn't be too at reveal themselves over painful to watch. Here's to hop- er again in each episode, ing that the writers of "Sunny" e chemistry between them return to their beloved roots for for believable, deranged the rest of the season! Vin Diesel is his typical juiced-up self in action flick By SEAN CZARNECKI Daily Film Editor There is no way more boring to describe a movie than, well, it gets the job done. When it comes to "Riddick," getting the job B done is really all this no-non- Riddick sense thrill ride needs with its At Quality6 knuckle-bear- and Rave ing violence Universal and more than a few visual flourishes. For fans of "The Chronicles of Riddick" franchise, this newest entry represents the titular anti-hero's return to form in more ways than one. He is the savage we remember from "Pitch Black," a brute who has more in common with his surrounding hellscapes than he does people, who has finally gotten back in touch with his wild roots. Riddick, played by the always guttural Vin Diesel ("Fast & Furious 6"), has just been uncer- emoniously relieved of his com- mand of the Necromongers and dropped on a nameless piece of rock. There he adopts an alien canine companion (Why is it that animals always steal the scene?) and settles back into his old ways of fighting each day for survival. It's a grim, brutal exis- tence. one day he and his "dog" spot, on the red-dusted horizon, the clouds of a storm driving to them. Its meaning is apparent: The party is over. In a clever move, he triggers an emergency signal to lure any listening mer- cenaries to join in on his dying soiree - to steal their ship. A team arrives for Riddick's head. Another possessing a dark past arrives for what's in Riddick's head. And so ensues the mad- ness and campy dialogue that we expect. Part of what makes sci-fi a dope genre is its ability to serve as a cultural space to mash genres together in unexpected ways. "Blade Runner" and "Dark City" mixed in elements of noir and for all you reading people, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," an exercise in magi- cal realism, illustrated the hard- ships of Dominican-American diaspora through sci-fi. Innova- tions here are none. "Riddick" focuses instead on that horror sci-fi niche it dug out with "Pitch Black" back in 2000. Therein lies the paradox: Where "Rid- dick" goes wrong is its deviation from that purity. Writer-director David Twohy ("A Perfect Getaway") flirts with Christian theology more than "Riddick" had to, more than it needed to - more than it should've. He puppeteers a prayer-spewing innocent to work in spiritual insight, and it's lame - lamer still when Riddick preaches back his own tough gospel, "God don't want nothing to do with this." (I paraphrase.) Anti-heroes fascinate us for their conflation and inversion of what it means to be a sinner and what it takes to be a saint. Throwing such obvious dis- course in our face comes off as sideline attempts to character- ize Riddick. There is indeed something of a character arc in this anti-hero, and this is not the ham-fisted direction I think Twohy should go. That said, the script does veer off and delve into a sidestory from "Pitch Black" that dangles in front of Riddick a form of redemption: Mere leader Boss Johns, played with surprising charisma by Matt Nable ("The Final Winter"), needs answers and he expects Riddick to give them to him. This digression was an appreciable effort and not distracting. I have to say much of the CGI worked. At times, the scenery has a painterly quality with all the desolation of a Cormac McCarthy novel and the crea- tures risen slithering from the mud are truly grotesque. Other times, however, the aliens are sucked of all flesh, bone and blood. They're dehydrated and weightless and lack danger and life. And sometimes, the scenery just screams blue screen. Memo- ries of the infamously bad sets of the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy came back to me as I watched grimacing. My grimacing would not end either with the overwritten vul- garity of the script. At one point, another merc named Santana says something to the effect of, "I don't appreciate you stepping all over my dick." I give you no context. That statement's stu- pidity speaks for itself. There is literally no situation in the uni- verse or in the history of any- thing that would warrant you saying that. But, again, for all my picki- ness, it gets the job done. Genre fans will enjoy "Riddick." They will enjoy the performance of "Battlestar Galactica" 's Katee Sackhoff as Dahl. She's tough, sexual (maybe needlessly sexu- alized) and has a helluva shot. They will also enjoy Twohy's eye for campy, effective shots. And most of all, they will reap the joys of watching intestines spill, Rambo-esque tricks and the purity of its sci-fi horror thrills. Some will say it's a boring run around the same course we've seen before. Others will say it's passable. I say, "Riddick. It's been nine years. Welcome back." NOT SURE WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE ONCE BREAKING BAD IS DONE? NEITHER ARE WE. 0 JOIN THE DAILY ARTS TV/NEW MEDIA BEAT! E-mail arts@michigandaily.com to request an application.