Just as the title of this post says, I have to say that I think that this was definitely one of the episodes ever of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia ever. The plot of the episode itself was fairly simple, and yet this episode is beyond brilliant in my opinion.
The plot of this episode was basically that Dee, Charlie, Dennis, Mac, and Frank were all bored and trying to come up with something to do, and they couldn’t think of anything to do when Dennis suggested that they all play Chardee MacDennis, which was a game that they had invented years ago. They combined aspects of all of their favorite games to create a new game. Charlie and Mac were adamantly opposed to the idea of playing Chardee MacDennis because they had never been able to beat Dennis and Dee at the game. The game itself was very complicated and weird. It consisted of three levels. The first level was Mind: Trivia, Puzzles and Artistry. Dennis had designed that level. Level two was Body: Physical Challenge, Pain and Endurance. Level three was Spirit: Emotional Battery and Humiliation. At each level they drank a different kind of alcohol between each level: wine, beer, and finally hard alcohol for level three. They also had a fifteen-minute time limit, but they had a lot of reasons for stopping the clock, such as time outs, post level drinking breaks and time outs if one of them gets injured. I thought it was hilarious that they nailed the game board down to the bar countertop because Mac apparently had a history of trying to rip it off the countertop. The winner of the game got to smash the other team’s game pieces. I thought each of Dee, Dennis, Mac and Charlie’s game pieces looked hilarious, especially Dee and Dennis’, which had pictures of their faces taped to Barbie and Ken dolls.
Out of each of the rounds, I thought the part of the episode where they had the trivia round was one of the funniest parts of the episode. They didn’t even have real questions. It was basically them asking what the other person’s opinion on something was, like what was the best band in the world and was more of a memory game than it was an actual trivia game. The trivia question that was my favorite was the question Charlie had come up with, “Dennis is asshole. Why Charlie hate?” Charlie couldn’t remember what he had written for the answer, so Dennis ended up getting the chance to answer the question, which he managed to answer correctly. The answer Charlie had written when they created the game was, “Because Dennis is a bastard man.” I love that Charlie immediately remembered that that had been his answer to the question.
One thing that I’ve always loved about the show is how they are very willing to screw each other over even though they are all supposed to be friends, and this episode really showcased that when Mac tried to act like the chance card he had drawn had said that he was supposed to take all of the money from Dee, Dennis, Charlie and Frank’s wallets. They figured out that he was trying to cheat and that the card actually said that he had to swallow the card the question was on whole.
Another ongoing aspect of the show that I’ve always loved is the fact that Charlie, Mac, Dennis and Frank have always been very mean to Dee, and this episode featured that as well, because Dee apparently had frequently gotten the emotional battery card at level three when they had played the game in the past where they would insult her with extremely brutal and hurtful comments for two hours. That part kind of confused me though since they said the game had a fifteen-minute time limit. I’m that guessing that either they had to stop the clock a lot for various reasons when they were insulting Dee, or Mac was simply exaggerating when he said that.
They also said that one time when Dee had finished the emotional battery round she cried for a really long time and had apparently tried to kill herself. That’s terrible, but it’s absolutely hilarious at the same time. Like I’ve said before, I love the character Dee, but at the same time I also love how the guys are constantly being mean to her. I’ve always found it rather hilarious.
One of the highlights of the episode for me was definitely the fact that the jail that Frank had to get into at one point in the episode was a dog kennel. The rules also dictated that he had to eat the ingredients that are used to make a cake while he’s in the cage. That was beyond hilarious. I don’t know how Frank managed to fit in the dog kennel, but that really was hilarious. The fact that Frank started out loving the game when it started, but then said he hated after he broke the rule about not being able to swear once they reached level two was also pretty funny.
Glenn Howerton continues to amaze me this season with his performance in this episode, especially the part of the episode where Frank threw a dart at the dartboard where Dennis had his left hand positioned and the dart went right into his hand and he didn’t show any signs whatsoever that he was in any kind of pain. He simply gave the rest of the Gang a cold, blank stare and pulled the dart out of his hand. I really think that Glenn deserves an Emmy for his portrayal of Dennis Reynolds. He plays the role perfectly.
I loved the part where they did the grape gobble contest, which was modeled after Charlie’s favorite game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. The fact that Charlie actually ate the grapes when he was simply supposed to get them into his mouth and not swallow them reminded me of the Halloween episode from last season of The Office when they had the apple bobbing contest and Erin actually ate the episodes. I thought that was hilarious when The Office did it, but the whole thing with Charlie eating the grapes was even funnier since Mac started trying to give him the Heimlich maneuver so they could count how many grapes Charlie ate before the show went to commercial.
Mac, Charlie and Frank spent most of the game being stuck on level two, but were able to advance to level three after they discovered that Dee and Dennis hadn’t actually been drinking alcohol like they were supposed to. They had been drinking water instead. I’m not sure what to make of that because toward the end of the game Dee was acting pretty drunk, but after they were busted for cheating she acted completely sober for the rest of the episode. I’m wondering if Dee was simply pretending to be drunk to fool the rest of The Gang. I’m guessing they had only been drinking water for part of the game because they showed Dee and Dennis drinking wine earlier in the game and that they started drinking water once they got to the part of the game where they were supposed to drink beer. It was also implied that they had been cheating for years by not actually drinking beer like they were supposed to, but Mac and Charlie had never caught them. They didn’t really explain why Dee and Dennis had been cheating by not drinking alcohol after a certain point in the game, but if I had to guess, they probably did it so they wouldn’t get as drunk as Charlie and Mac, which would probably make it would be easier for them to win if they were at least somewhat sober toward the end of the game.
Mac, Charlie and Frank got so caught up in celebrating the fact that they had made it to level three for the first time ever that the timer for the game went off. The rules dictated that in the event of a tie, the winner must be chosen by flipping a coin, which made Mac and Charlie optimistic that they might finally win the game for the first time ever, but Dee and Dennis ended up winning the coin toss, and therefore won the game. I have to say that I love how ridiculous the rules for the game are and just how ridiculous the game itself is. It definitely created some pretty funny moments in the episode.
The episode ended with Dee and Dennis smashing Mac and Charlie’s game pieces as Mac, Charlie, and Frank watched sadly. I have to say that I think Mac and Charlie must be cursed or something since they’ve never won Chardee MacDennis. I think Dee was right when she said it’s pretty much statistically impossible for them to have never won the game, and yet they keep losing.
One thing that surprised me about this episode was how much I liked it considering the fact that it was a bottle episode. For people who might not know what the term “bottle episode” means, it’s an episode that’s designed to spend as little money as possible during the production process in order to recoup any financial losses accrued making a previous episode that went over budget or to save money for a future episode that will require a larger budget to make it than an episode for the show usually requires. One of the easiest ways for a show to do this is to only have the series regulars without any guest stars or just have some of the series regulars in the episode. Shows will also often only use the main standing set for an episode and not use any other locations in the episode.
In the past, I’ve never been a huge fan of bottle episodes when TV shows do them, because I think having a show be limited to only being able to use sets that have been built for the show and no location shoots or not have any guest stars or not some of the cast members in the episode can limit what the writers for a show can do for the plot of the episode.
I think this episode is the perfect example of how a bottle episode for a TV show should be done though. I didn’t even realize that it was a bottle episode until I finished watching the episode and got on the IMDB board for the show and read a thread where a person pointed out that it was a bottle episode. It was a fairly simple, yet hilarious plot, The Gang was just hanging out at the bar playing a homemade game. This episode reminded me a lot of why I think describing It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia as being Seinfeld on crack is the perfect way to describe the show given the how simple the plot of the episode was and how Seinfeld is described as being a show about nothing.
All in all, I absolutely loved this episode. Often times I’ll find myself thinking that episodes of a comedy TV series aren’t as funny as I thought it was when I watched it for the first time the more I watch it, but episodes of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia have a great replay ability factor that most shows don’t have. This episode just keeps getting funnier and funnier every time I watch it. I absolutely love the show Modern Family, but It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia definitely edges it out slightly as my favorite comedy series on TV right now.
Glenn Howerton was once again the stand out star of the episode for me. The way he played the scene where Frank threw the dart into his hand is definitely on my list now of what I think the most iconic moments of the history of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia are. I honestly could never imagine any other actor being able to play the role of Dennis Reynolds as perfectly as Glenn does. The whole cast was great in this episode though. Charlie Day’s acting during the part of the episode where they were doing the grape gobble had me practically dying of laughter. The rules of the game were rather absurd, but that’s a big part of what made this episode so funny. I also think that the script that Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney wrote for this episode was absolutely perfect. I would love to see the writers do a sequel/follow-up episode to this one in a future season, because this episode really is one of my all-time favorite episodes of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia now.
All things considered, I give this episode a rating of an A+.
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