IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADEPHIA: “Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack”

Another week, another half hour of the ridiculous antics of the “It’s Always Sunny” gang. Last week, Dennis wrote an erotic memoir (some of the chapters can be found on Paddy’s Pub, if you’d like to take a gander) and Charlie and Dee walked a mile in each other’s shoes. It was also the gallant return of dear Frank! Oh, how we missed thee. Also, one of “It’s Always Sunny’s” writers Patrick Walsh, who you will read hear more from in the next few days, made his acting debut, playing the fabulous MC of the comedy club Dee frequents on a daily basis.

This week, Sweet Dee has a minor heart attack, Dee and Dennis discover that Frank canceled their health insurance when they were young, Frank experienced the “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” world and both Mac and Charlie took a crappy, entry-level job as mailroom assistants. Like in every episode, a lot of stuff happened but those were the important nuggets you should take away should you become inundated with useless information and factoids.

The most obvious pop culture reference in last night’s episode was undoubtedly Frank in his patient get-up and breaking free (via the water fountain and with some help from the helpful Native American guy he called “Tonto”) from the weirdly sedated mental hospital a la Jack Nicholson and “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” See, after Dee had her minor heart attack and learned that you actually had to pay to stay in a hospital and receive treatment, Frank downed so many bottles of meds (sorta like if Dr. House ever decided to kill two birds with one stone and pop a week’s worth of pills in two minutes) he was found wandering the streets of Philadelphia in one of those open-back patient gowns. Patrick Walsh and writing partner Sonny Lee indicated to me a few weeks back that Frank was subtly going in a downward spiral. After a couple weeks of “normalcy,” we finally got the hint. But, does this mean Frank will be going down a worse path post-mental hospital? One wonders. I sure do.

While Frank was busy stoned, Mac and Charlie interview for a job because they need health insurance after learning through Dee’s heart attack that without insurance, life basically sucks and they can’t get any type of treatment. They share a resume, which is handwritten on a sheet of yellow legal pad paper, and offer to split their wage down the middle. Win-win situation right? That’s probably what Charlie and Mac thought, but really they’re just complete idiots for even offering to work for less than what the job probably originally paid had an intelligible person applied. The hiring manager decides to give them the position, a mailroom assistant, and pay them the absolute minimum – after all, the two dudes are just in it for the insurance. Charlie, after becoming the sane one of the two, starts envisioning a guy named Barney (maybe a “How I Met Your Mother” or that big, purple dinosaur reference?) and going crazy over how Carol from HR and Pepe Silva don’t exist! Just watching his three-minute rant made me want to go punch the guy who lives downstairs in my building and can’t play the guitar if his life depended on it.

Siblings Dennis and Dee decide to go to the gym to get healthier literally a day after Dee has her mini-heart attack. Isn’t that unhealthy? May someone please clear that up, because my roommate and I were discussing that during one of the commercial break. If you thought they’d actually sweat out some of their bodies’ toxins, you were wildly overestimating their ability to do anything remotely productive; instead, they walked up the treadmill and decided to prep for their gym regiment. Along with that, the twosome purchased some illegal Mexican botox to correct some minor facial deficiencies they felt they had. After all, the face is the most powerful muscle of them all, according to Dennis. Dennis gets collagen injected into his eye area and well, things go downhill from there.

Memorable Quotes

* Frank: “I let my ass breathe.”
* Dennis: “Jesus had like the best abs.”
* Dee: “Don’t dress like a bumblebee, bitch.”
* Mac: “Who the hell is Barney?”

Did this episode satisfy your hunger for comedy or did it disgust you? If you’re in the latter, why? Were you excited to see Frank taking a page out of Dr. House’s medical book? What did you think of the homage to “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”? What did you think of Mac and Charlie’s job performance? If you were a hiring manager, wh out of the five would you most like to hire and why (note what type of position they’d fill too)? Do you think Frank has hit the bottom or is he just scratching the surface?

— posted by Philiana

Philiana Ng was born and raised in San Francisco, CA but currently lives in Los Angeles while she attends USC. She hopes to work in television development or production in the future, but wouldn’t mind going back to Australia for a few years. Favorite shows include “Privileged,” “HIMYM,” “The Office,” “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl” and of course, “It’s Always Sunny.”