‘Anger Management’ Review: “Charlie Tries Sleep Deprivation”

Make way for Charlie Sheen! ‘Anger Management’ season 1 is up all night for its third episode, as Charlie Goodson finds himself intrigued by the idea of sleep deprivation as a therapy tool, and resolves to conduct a study with his own group.

Last week's second half of the premiere  “Charlie and the Slumpbuster” saw the therapist confronted by an unattractive woman he’d slept with years ago as a “slumpbuster,” only to keep the charade of a relationship going to impress his ex-wife and daughter, so what will the most recent outing bring?  Are there more laughs to be had in the third half-hour, or is it a real snooze?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘Anger Management’ episode 3, “Charlie Tries Sleep Deprivation!”

After a long weekend at Charlie’s parents, Jennifer and Sam return to Charlie’s home, Sam dead asleep and Jennifer having been deprived for a number of hours.  Charlie notices in her sleep deprivation how absurdly truthful she’s become, freely admitting to a number of past transgressions.  The next day, Charlie takes the idea to his group, wanting to advance modern psychology by subjecting them all to sleep deprivation and capturing them at their most honest.

Later, Sam helps Charlie set up his study, helping her through some of her own recent embarrassment, when Kate arrives.  Kate postulates that Charlie is only doing the study to achieve the same recognition he once had in baseball, given that sleep deprivation isn’t seen as a recognized medical technique.  Undefeated in his resolve, Charlie leaves while Jennifer and Kate make smalltalk, Jennifer not realizing that there’s anything going on between Kate and Charlie.

Patrick is the first to arrive for the “No Sleepover,” followed shortly by the others, all having arrived early to try and vie for a spot on the couch.  Later, Patrick tries to share an emotional breakdown with the camera over his mother’s passing, though it’s quickly seen to be an act.  Meanwhile, Ed starts showing symptoms of sleep deprivation, while Nolan attempts to flirt with Lacey.  Patrick doesn’t think he has a shot, and Charlie grows excited over Ed’s progress, when Kate shows up.  Kate confesses that because of a patient emergency, she can’t take over for Charlie long enough for him to rest up before the study, but she seems to think he’ll be fine.

Later, Lacey starts showing signs of losing her inhibitions, to the point of almost getting along with Nolan, but the moment he leaves she starts throwing herself at Charlie.  Charlie insists that her forwardness must mean its time for everyone to begin the session, but no one seems to be having any real breakthroughs.  Lacey only continues to flirt and make lewd suggestions about herself in group, before she runs off crying that she knows sex more than love.  Patrick too gets angry that he doesn’t have any real emotions, and when Ed chastises Charlie for losing control of the experiment, Charlie snaps at him and calls him “dad!”

Kate arrives just in time to hear the exchange, and in the end they realize that everyone did have breakthroughs after all, Charlie’s being that he started the study looking mostly for recognition and acceptance from his own father.  The next morning, Charlie apologizes to Ed for his behavior, and Lacey too admits to Charlie that she might have anger issues stemming from her father leaving during childhood.  To comfort her, Charlie shows her his personal good luck charm, a flattened penny from of of the few good memories of his own father at Carlsbad Caverns, which she mistakes as being offered to her to keep.

Dejected at the loss of his 35-year memento, Charlie agrees to revisit a much more euphemistic Carlsbad Caverns with Kate.  If you catch our drift.

Not being the type to get much out of three-camera sitcoms, or Charlie Sheen himself, we're still not finding all that much to laugh at with 'Anger Management.'  It's nice to see that Charlie Goodson is definitely distinct from 'Two and a Half Men's Charlie Harper as far as morality, but the sitcom isn't really taking advantage of the cable boundaries just yet.  'Anger Management' is going to need more than a well-rounded protagonist to keep itself afloat, but given the ratings response to last week's premiere  it may not even matter.

Did you like the latest episode of ‘Anger Management,’ or did it make you seethe with rage?  What did you think about the episode?  Join us  next week for another all-new ‘Anger Management’ episode recap of “Charlie and Katie Battle Over a Patient” on FX!