4 out of 5

Created by: Rob McElhenny

Season 9 hits enough key moments that perfectly capture the core of the show or some of these characters to carry us through a couple of episodes that feel a bit like coasting on fan-service.  Overall, the season lacks some of the creative zing that was triggered by fat Mac and post-fat Mac (a simple and yet inspired idea from Rob McElhenny), and occasionally feels very much like a show written by writers instead of the brain-child of our leads, but by the same token there’s not really a bad episode, and there’s one truly great one that ranks with the best – opener ‘The Gang Broke Dee,’ as it so wonderfully and snarkily summarizes the ass-backwards bonding mentality that fueled the first few seasons and that bubbles up during the show’s (in my opinion) better moments.

‘The Gang Saves the Day’ – the 100th episode – is cute but was required to be kitschy callbacks by default, I suppose, which is the fan-service aspect mentioned that also creeps up in similar ‘composite’ episodes that focus on the past, like the Thanksgiving closer ‘The Gang Squashes Their Beefs’ and, though perhaps only a call-back in title alone, ‘Gun Fever Too’ comes across a bit too derivative as well.  Elsewhere, though, the show still manages to break new ground by pushing its characters to exciting fringes, such as ‘Mac Day,’ and the Charlie-loving Game-of-Thrones-directors directed episode, ‘Flowers for Charlie.’  And of course Lethal Weapon 6, which, sure, is a call-back as well, but belongs in that grand pile of viewer-friendly overkill that’s produced such notable events as Nightman Cometh…

Season 9 won’t win any new converts, probably, but its nice that the show has veered back toward some of the more traditional personality traits that defined the show, such as Frank’s business acumen and the general gist that these are friends who want to be alcoholics together and sing Boyz II Men.  These seasons are painfully short now at ten episodes, so when all of them are good and more than half are great, you feel it.

DVD release notes:  …The fact that it’s DVD.  On Amazon there are some comments about how 20th Century Fox (or whoever) made the call to no longer put their TV shows on blu-ray, so if you’re like me and had been buying the HD versions (who cares how it’s shot; if it’s still being upconverted at this point, I dunno, but we like our fancy blu-rays) – your shelf will now be uneven with, what, 4 seasons on DVD and 4 seasons on blu-ray and now season 9 on DVD.  Pfft.  The audio commentary is thin, as it has been for seasons, on just three eps, and – as it has been for seasons – is sort of disconcertingly dry on the first disc, but the commentary on ‘The Gang Saves the Day’ – misleadingly said to include Rob – reaffirms that these guys get along.  The ‘full’ takes of Dee’s comedy reel and Charlie’s song and LW6 and the Invigaron presentation are interesting but not required viewing as they don’t add too much (although its interesting that they just let Charlie riff on song variations for ten minutes), and the gag reel is, again, as it has been – just a couple ‘we can’t stop laughing’ takes.  The best bit, although short, is the behind the scenes on the 100 episodes, just because it’s nice to see people getting along.  (Seemingly.)  The liner notes lists ‘transition promo’ and ‘the movement promo;’ no idea what those are, as I didn’t see them in the extras menus, but the menus are amusingly animated if you sit around, so that’s something.