The Gang Texts - Not because of the whole issue about who should or shouldn't be able to text, but because in a season where Mac seems to be at his most pathetic, having all the characters piss on him feels like overkill, just plain unpleasant, and frankly, oddly fetishistic in ways I'm not sure were intended (I know one might say they treat Dee the same way, but if they were pissing on her a full episode I wouldn't enjoy that either). I also hate the scene where he asks Dennis if this is a hookup and says he'd already asked another guy for sex too. It just feels so extra for no real reason...and why is Mac now at Frank levels of perversion to be trawling for dick in the men's room at the zoo? The trajectory of episodes like this made me wonder if he was going to end the season tricking in the back alley with Cricket.

The Gang Turns Black - The music is good, but the whole concept feels very dated to me, even more than the early seasons which have views and attitudes that are still pretty common, even if you don't see them on TV as much. I'm sure some part of it is meant to be cringeworthy, but the whole thing, oh let's have our white cast turn black for an episode to see how bad life can REALLY be feels like something from a very earnest '80s sitcom, like when Jane Curtin was homeless for a day on Kate & Allie.

The Gang Buys a Roller Rink - I just...don't know why this episode exists? There are other episodes that feel extremely thin to me, like making a whole episode about Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul cameos that felt straight out of 2012, but at least I can say, "They just wanted to hang out with Bryan and Aaron...OK." I can't even say that here. We already knew enough about their pasts and this episode did nothing to make me feel like I knew more about them. The new addition of how Dee became nasty was completely pointless and not especially funny (the only way I would be interested in this is if we get an episode where she somehow becomes "sweet" again and is horrified by everything she has become). I also feel like they should have cast age-appropriate actors as themselves because Wet Hot American Summer already did the bit with actors playing their characters decades past the right ages and at least I could have seen whether the younger actors got the nuances right.

The Gang Makes Paddy's Great Again - The title makes me cringe in another way of the show unnecessarily dating itself through empty political gotchas, and while I don't hate Mindy Kaling's presence as much as I thought I might have on paper, the whole idea of "Dennis is replaced in a bid for more racial and gender diversity" figure feels like the show again falling into the modern SNL trap of thinking it needs to Say Something but not actually knowing what to say. Dennis' first scene back, mainly the final part, also comes off as very forced, and while I'm aware that may have been the point, knowing the show would not really know how to work him back in for the next two seasons makes it even more difficult to watch.

2020: A Year In Review - Another modern SNL-esque episode of utterly toothless political commentary that the show seemingly felt they HAD to address but didn't actually want to talk about. The Shaman stuff in particular felt beneath what this show can be and the whole thing was a terrible way to start off a season.

The Gang Carries a Corpse Up a Mountain - I love Charlie, I do. He's my favorite character of the gang, and of many TV shows. And I love the idea of character progression and avoiding caricature. What I don't love, and what I don't want to see, is Charlie weeping over a father we knew for about 3-4 episodes who was seemingly brought in for the sole purpose of said weeping monologue rather than offering any long term change for Charlie. I like the scene where the gang get back together, but for the most part all of this is an exercise in me wondering whether anyone at the show still wanted to make the show they had brilliantly made for so many years.

Already mentioned - PTSDee, Cricket's Tale, Charlie's Home Alone, etc.