this is a completely useless post that i spent too much time on, but i made a list breaking down how mac’s sexuality is portrayed episode-by-episode while he was still being written as a straight character - although that gets increasingly ambiguous. this was purely because i was bored, but i think the results are kinda interesting. findings under the cut ⬇️
[there are stats at the bottom if you want to skip ahead]
1x01: mac makes a comment about how the reason they bought the bar was to “get laid” (by women) and says janelle may have some friends for him, but the episode does retrospectively function as a demonstration of his repression/internalized homophobia
1x02: mac’s entire plotline is pursuing and sleeping with a woman
1x03: mac is the sole member of the gang to not be asked to prom, but comments on tammy’s attractiveness, calling her “unbelievable”
1x04: mac’s plotline is dating a woman/carmen. however, mac and the gang struggle to fully acknowledge carmen’s womanhood
1x05: dennis comments that mac had sex with a woman last night, and it is established here that the women mac generally sleeps with aren’t particularly attractive
1x06: mac and dennis vie for a woman’s affection
1x07: no mention of mac being attracted to women. tries to seduce his former gym teacher for heinous motivations
2x01: mac wants to have sex with the strippers and convinces dennis to feign disability with for sympathy and female attention
2x02: no mention of mac being attracted to women
2x03: mac and charlie hire prostitutes when partying with frank’s money, but unclear whether or not they actually sleep with or just party with them
2x04: mac sleeps with barbara
2x05: no mention of mac being attracted to women
2x06: no mention of mac being attracted to women
2x07: no mention of mac being attracted to women
2x08: no mention of mac being attracted to women
2x09: mac and dennis’ “everything goes” bar involves them handing out beads to women who take their tops off for their enjoyment
2x10: charlie points out that mac also slept with barbara while they are preparing to attack bruce
3x01: no mention of mac being attracted to women
3x02: no mention of mac being attracted to women
3x03: mac mentions banging two of their former friends’ sisters, although it is stated they are unattractive/“gross”
3x04: no mention of mac being attracted to women, but we do get “dennis, i love you”!
3x05: no mention of mac being attracted to women
3x06: mac says women find the duster “irresistible” and encourages female patrons of the bar to participate in the wet t shirt contest
3x07: no mention of mac being attracted to women, but iconic dennis teaching gay slang scene that gets referenced by the gang, especially mac, various times throughout the series
3x08: no mention of mac being attracted to women
3x09: mac chooses the name and aesthetic for his band based on what he thinks women are attracted to
3x10: mac resumes his relationship with carmen, and is lured to the “interrogation” by the prospect of having sex with another woman - both carmen and “sandy” keep mac interested through flattery of his strength/body.
3x11: mac asks luther if he wants to meet some ladies online in a desperate attempt to bond
3x12: mac volunteers to be the male escort
3x13: mac semi-offers to bang the mob bosses wife when he believes that is what is being asked of him, but later tells her he’d never do it.
3x14: no mention of mac being attracted to women
3x15: no mention of mac being attracted to women, but he does his gay little dance miming a blowjob
4x01: no mention of mac being attracted to women. plot is just homoeroticism to the brim
4x02: mac asks the bank manager if she’d rather sleep with him, dennis, or charlie
4x03: the genesis of mac’s attraction to rex/beefcakes, but he spends the rest of the episode trying to find a woman to “settle down” with (albeit failing due to his misogyny and inability to form genuine connection with women)
4x04: mac plots to sleep with the waitress, but only to get back at charlie. origin of project badass, and “well, mac’s gay”
4x05: no mention of mac being attracted to women
4x06: mac calls dennis/frank/jan’s party full of half-naked women “the greatest party he’s ever seen”
4x07: no mention of mac being attracted to women
4x08: no mention of mac being attracted to women
4x09: not really a direct mention of mac’s attraction to women per se, but mac assumes the person calling him is “some chick”
4x10: no specific mention of mac being attracted to women…just mentions again he’s been treated for a plethora of STDs
4x11: 1770s mac is mentioned to yet again be sleeping with an unattractive woman
4x12: mac says he wants to impregnate danica patrick
4x13: no mention of mac being attracted to women. gets a boner when mounting dennis.
5x01: no real mention of mac being attracted to women? mac in character as vic aggressively coerces a man into buying a house while fumbling the innuendo about said man’s wife being used to “small things”…episode is notoriously gay.
5x02: no mention of mac being attracted to women
5x03: no mention of mac being attracted to women
5x04: mac attempts to sleep with/seduce donna to replicate his tryst with barbara
5x05: mac tells charlie to just ask the woman he’s on a date with to have sex with him, prompting dennis to question if that’s how mac “gets chicks.” charlie later says mac and dennis don’t know anything about women
5x06: no mention of mac being attracted to women. mac agrees with dee that chase utley is hot and the letter ensues
5x07: no mention of mac being attracted to women
5x08: you can see mac briefly checking out the women frank hires, but nothing super explicit. lots of gay scheming. dick towel.
5x09: a whole episode dedicated the pseudosexual nature of mac and dennis’ relationship. duh. and mac’s obsession with the male body/beefcakes is once again referenced in the “break up” scene…but in true 2009 fashion there’s the Big Breasted Woman fake date thrown in there
5x10: mac reveals he has a system for sleeping with the women dennis sleeps with after he’s done and brings caylee to the fair
5x11: no mention of mac being attracted to women; he outright admits he hates them. mac is adamant that dolph lundgren’s body is displayed in their hypothetical film
5x12: mac gleefully gets painted by and is eager to shower with the sorority girls.
6x01: mac is jealous of carmen’s marriage and clearly harbors complex feelings towards her, but his hypocritical pontificating culminates in him accepting defeat when accused of being gay and confused about his sexuality
6x02: no mention of mac being attracted to women
6x03: mac points out the boat party to dennis, and tells him they should attend because women will be there. mac then says maybe it shouldn’t be all “about meeting girls”, but does smile when the women eventually show up, and is seen walking back with a woman alongside dennis
6x04: no mention of mac being attracted to women
6x05: no mention of mac being attracted to women
6x06: no mention of mac being attracted to women
6x07: mac sleeps with margaret mcpoyle. though he is clearly ashamed of that and obviously isn’t attracted to her. last time we see or hear of mac having sex with a woman
6x08: no mention of mac being attracted to women. he is shown hysterically laughing for an extended amount of time when schmitty jokes about the gang having sex with him.
6x09: no mention of mac being attracted to women
6x10: no mention of mac being attracted to women
6x11: no mention of mac being attracted to women. mac says he’s been starving himself to appear more attractive to impress chase utley
6x12: no mention of mac being attracted to women. mac calls rex a “quality lay”.
6x13/a very sunny christmas: no mention of mac being attracted to women.
7x01: no mention of mac being attracted to women
7x02: no mention of mac being attracted to women
7x03: mac replies “awesome” when frank says girls in bikinis are going to be walk through the doors of paddy’s
7x04: no mention of mac being attracted to women
7x05: no mention of mac being attracted to women
7x06: mac is enthralled by jackie denardo’s boobs, and escapes to the bunker to eat food and gawk at the news reporter’s “3D boobies”
7x07: no mention of mac being attracted to women
7x08: mac repeatedly begs to find a woman’s nude photographs online
7x09: no mention of mac being attracted to women
7x10: no mention of mac being attracted to women. he refers to his avatar as a “gorgeous muscle monster”, and is blatantly checking him out upon their first meeting
7x11: dennis says mac barges in while he’s having sex to see the women naked
7x12: no mention of mac being attracted to women
7x13: it is revealed mac slept with dennis’ prom date, although he does say she was gross.
out of the 83 episodes where mac was not yet canonically gay:
46/83 episodes contain no overt reference to mac being attracted to women
22/83 episodes have mac or other characters refer to mac’s attraction to or past sexual experiences with women, but mac has no sexual or romantic interactions with women in the episode.
15/83 episodes include mac having sex with*, or actively engaging in/attempting to engage in romantic or sexual scenarios with a woman
*mac is only shown having sex with a woman in just 5/83 episodes -> charlie wants an abortion, mac bangs dennis’ mom, mac is a serial killer, america’s next top paddy’s billboard model contest, and who got dee pregnant?
out of the show’s 177 episodes thus far, only 37 episodes have straightforward declarations of mac being attracted to women. with various of those moments being expendable, throwaway comments. the overall saturation is incredibly low, and even in the episodes where mac was not deliberately or solidly written as a gay character, the majority of the episodes do not reference his ostensible heterosexuality. which makes the people clinging on to the idea of mac having a bisexual epiphany even funnier. anyways. gay mac rules!
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