Catching Up With The Gang: An “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” Recap

Two episodes into its current run, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia faced the daunting task of topping what is destined to be the funniest moment of the season: Charlie tripping on acid and dancing incognito among the McPoyles as Green Man in last week’s “The Gang Gets Invincible.” The quest began last night with a pair of new episodes, “Dennis and Dee’s Mom Is Dead” and “The Gang Gets Held Hostage.” Since the titles pretty much tell you what happened, we could probably just skip the recap … but we won’t.

“Dennis and Dee’s Mom is Dead” begins with Frank gleefully informing Dennis and Dee that their mother — and his ex-wife — is dead. Since this is It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, neither is more concerned about losing their mother than they are about what they’ll gain in inheritance. In Dee’s case, it’s nothing because, in her mother’s words, she was a disappointment and — despite being Dennis’ twin — a mistake. Dennis, on the other hand, gets the family mansion, which is soon to become the “party mansion,” assuming Dennis, Charlie and Mac can round up a new gang of guys to hang out with. It seems they’ve lost touch with the old crew of Dooley (died), Stash (Charlie set him on fire), Z-Man (Mac slept with his sister) and Sulley (he has a restraining order against Charlie, and Mac slept with his sister). They design some sexually ambiguous party fliers that are supposed to resemble manly biceps but end up looking like penises — something that doesn’t bother Charlie, who simply says, “I thought we changed it.” As a result, their recruitment is essentially limited to a melodramatic and possibly psychotic crossbow buyer named Ernesto.

Meanwhile Frank, who was also left nothing in the will, teams up with Dee to swindle the inheritance money out of Dee’s real dad Bruce (played once again by Stephen Collins) by posing as Dee’s fiance with whom she plans to adopt “a ton of kids.” The whole creepy, incestuous scheme ends up with Dee and Frank getting nothing and Dennis losing the house. And, in keeping with tradition, nobody learned anything.

In “The Gang Gets Held Hostage,” Frank’s very recent past comes back to haunt the gang as The McPoyles take out their revenge for him shooting their brother Doyle in the leg at the Philadelphia Eagles open tryouts. After calling in some demands — which include a reversible leather Planet Hollywood jacket — the McPoyles threaten to shoot one of the hostages and violate them physically in one hour if they are not met.

Predictably, the gang turns on one another in an attempt to save their own asses. Dee develops Stockholm syndrome, Dennis tries to seduce deaf-mute Margaret McPoyle, and Charlie and Mac decide they must kill Frank, who has climbed into the heating ducts to find his will, which Charlie had previously hidden for him. It all leads to a standoff on the roof of Paddy’s, during which it’s revealed that the McPoyles’ guns are rubber and that the cops had never been called. Revenge has been had and, as usual, everything goes back to normal.