It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Mac and Charlie Die

Ready for some Philly fun? Thought so – but before we get into the crazy happenings of our five favorite Pennsylvania do-gooders, if you haven’t been visiting “Sunny’s” supplemental blog, Paddy’s Pub, please drop everything you’re doing right this second and head on over for a gander!  (You must be 21 to enter…or you can lie – a fake ID really holds up well online). It’s constantly updated with chapters from Dennis’ erotic memoir, mailbags with the cast and behind-the-scenes production notes.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s a rundown of what went down in tonight’s hour long where Mac and Charlie both die … sort of.

So we know from the second season that Mac’s dad is in jail and that he’s a big, scary guy with tattoos and the whole shebang. Well, after Charlie – as he usually does – is caught saying some not so nice things about Mac and Charlie’s butts in Mr. Mac, Mac’s dad is granted parole and released from jail. In an effort to be free and safe of the threat of Mr. Mac (I’ll just refer to him as such as we never find out his name), Mac and Charlie get the incredible idea to somehow fake kill themselves, only it takes Charlie a little longer to figure that out – as always. At one point, he has the idea – among many others – to kill Mac via a knife jab in the neck. Effective? Not so much.

After some hard thinking, Mac and Charlie settle on the ultimate fake death plan: Leave Charlie’s teeth all around Dee’s ’97 Dodge Neon. Throw videotape out of car window of last words. Drive car towards brick wall. Jump out of car three feet before car hits said wall. Have car blow up in a blaze of glory. Did that happen? Not so much. After Charlie decides to be the loyal watcher from afar, Mac drives straight into the wall and dings himself quite a bit, after which the “dead” duo saunters over to a local Philly pawn shop to find something to blow up the car and Mac, spotting a gangly white wedding dress, is determined to get his hands on it. Charlie, now the sane one (now isn’t that a scary thought), tries to get Mac to part with the wedding dress, but at least now we know Mac is a closet bride, or bridesmaid at the very least.

One “old” grenade later, the car blows up slightly, much to the disappointment of the two. In a fit of confusion or insanity, asks, “Where’s the bride?” while donning his new purchase. Back at Paddy’s, Dee and Frank discover a very large hole between two bathroom stalls in the men’s bathroom to which Dennis explains is a Glory Hole (for people to do their personal business … ahem, with another person). Let’s just say Frank and Dennis make a small visit over to an elite anonymous sex party (where everyone wears masks and ends up being middle-aged, overweight men) and see that that’s not quite what they bargained for post-Glory Hole discovery. Dennis says it best when he made the observation that it was more a “half-naked buffet party.”

After Dee finds Mac and Charlie’s videotape, it begins to set in that they might really be gone and because they’re so incredibly selfless, Mac and Charlie crawl through the vents above the bar to see how their friends and families cope. It takes only a couple of hours for Dennis to get over Mac and Charlie’s faux deaths, and he takes out a personal ad looking for new roommates to try that “Three’s Company” thing. A shady-looking European guy answers the call, and at first Dennis thinks he’s found the one after two hot women grace their presence, but once he finds out that the weird European guy sets up a makeshift sex date in the bathroom for Dennis and Frank, things go a bit haywire. Oh and Dee (after she tries to get in on the whole faking your own death thing), Mac and Charlie reveal that they aren’t really dead – but everyone already knew that, so much for a shocking surprise dudes and dudette.

While I became a huge fan after listening in on Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney talk about “It’s Always Sunny” at this year’s Comic-Con, this two-parter cemented my love for their absolutely wrong moral compass and illogical resolutions to outrageous problems to begin with. Only on this show is it acceptable and funny for something like the shadow of a penis encroaching towards someone’s head (you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen the episode) or have people attending their own funerals through vents.

What were your favorite parts of the episodes? If you had to fake your own deaths, what would the circumstances have to be?

Memorable Lines…

Mac: “We’re going to have enough to buy that (pointing to a gun) and the wedding dress right?”

Frank: “Do you want to bang on an empty stomach?”

Dennis: “Good point.”

Charlie (to Mac): “This would be better with beans.”

Charlie (to Dee): “What’s your bean situation? Got some beans on you?”

Quick Takes…

• Dennis and Frank go to the elite sex society party wearing black capes and ridiculous Halloween masks, to which Frank says the password to get in, which turns out to be ORGY. Obvious much?

• While Dee tries the public transportation in Philly, she gets puked on by a guy who breathes right into her face. I have to say that moment was completely unexpected for me as a viewer, and because of that, I commend the writers/cast/crew/whoever thought that one up. It was completely disgusting, but so funny at the same time.

• Who knew Charlie wanted to be cremated and then put into everyone’s tea so they’d be drinking him?

• The funeral at the Pub with Mac and Charlie’s mothers as the only other visitors besides Dennis, Dee and Frank – and Mac’s mom was falling asleep with a cig in her mouth. Priceless!

• Dennis and Frank almost do it in the bathroom (via the Glory Hole)!

• Who’s been keeping count of how many teeth Charlie has lost this episode? I think he’s lost at least eight or nine. Anyone want to give a definitive count?

• Was I the only one sort of creeped out by what Frank could’ve been doing to that Charlie mannequin? I shudder at the possibilities.

— posted by Philiama
Philiana Ng is from San Francisco, CA but currently lives in Los Angeles. She is currently a television reporter and columnist for the Daily Trojan at USC. Her favorite TV shows are “Pushing Daisies,” “The Office” and “Alias,” among many others. Her word of the day is “maverick.”