It’s rare, but every now and then Mac, Frank, Dee, Dennis, and Charlie actually manage to treat one another like human beings in It’s Always Sunny.
Charlie Kelly, Ronald “Mac” McDonald, Dennis, Dee, and Frank Reynolds will never change at the core. If they did, the entire point of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia would be annihilated. But that doesn’t mean they’re incapable of showing affection, even if it is only in spurts.
From road trips and getting held hostage to establishing their dynamic and celebrating Mac day, the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia gang have had their moments of camaraderie.
In one of the most rewatchable Always Sunny episodes, the McPoyles come into Paddy’s with a shotgun, bathrobes, and a list of demands.
Dennis, Dee, Mac, Charlie, and Frank will never stick together as a cohesive unit. They’re incapable of it despite being a gang of supposed friends. But in “The Gang Gets Held Hostage,” they’re forced to be in close quarters under intense duress, and the viewer can pick up on some true bonding between Mac and Frank, even if they are just scheming for cash.
It’s Always Sunny has changed over the years, but the gang’s dynamic hasn’t. Dennis is the looks, Mac is the brains, and Charlie’s the wild card. With the late addition of Frank as the muscle, to complete the dynamic.
Perhaps Mac and Frank haven’t fully stuck to those roles, but Dennis is still the looks and Charlie is nothing if not a wild card. Their dynamic is explored further in “The Gang Gets Trapped,” but “The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis” is the best example of them interacting with one another under the guise of a predetermined role. That, in and of itself, is finding one’s place within a group dynamic, which is the first step towards bonding.
They may not travel far, but the gang does some good old-fashioned bonding on their road trip. From Charlie trying basically every piece of fruit for somehow the first time to Dee throwing a jar full of urine out the window and right into Mac’s face, “The Gang Hits The Road” is a 101 episode for beginners looking to learn how the gang dysfunctions.
In the end, they stick to their favorite dimly lit locale, and the only thing that’s changed is that Dee has lost another car.
“Chardee MacDennis: The Game of Games” shows Frank ingratiating himself even further into the game. He’d later try to rename it to “Chardee MacDennis 2: Electric Boogaloo,” but here he’s just learning the ropes.
Dennis, Dee, Mac, and Charlie yell at him more than they make active attempts to help him learn the bizarre rules, but there’s still some good gelling amongst the members of the gang. Furthermore, Dennis and Dee seem to be having the time of their lives smashing Charlie and Mac’s game pieces…again.
Charlie and Frank have one of the best relationships on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but “The Gang Dines Out” was just as much about Dennis and Mac’s night. Dee was also there.
While the four men aren’t aware of her presence at Guigino’s Italian Restaurant, she ends up making her presence known in a laugh-out-loud way. Charlie and Frank are slowly walking across the restaurant to Dennis and Mac, and the poor waiter asks what they’re doing and starts to head over in a rush. Unfortunately, he immediately trips, and it’s revealed that Dee tied his shoelaces together. With this, the members of the gang finally show Dee some respect, for once laughing at something she’s done in a genuine way.
“Mac Day” and Season 14’s “Dee Day” are great opportunities for fans to learn more about two of their favorite characters. The bonding in “Mac Day,” in particular, is of the tough-love variety.
In the end, the gang has signed Mac up for a karate tournament so he can finally get beaten up and stop pretending he’s tough. He gets beaten up but doesn’t stop pretending he’s tough. The gang calls him out on it to no avail, then decides to choose the visiting Country Mac. Unfortunately, he immediately falls off a motorcycle and dies, leaving Dennis, Dee, Charlie, and Frank to mutually come to an acceptance that Mac is forever theirs.
“The Gang Gets Quarantined” is a quotable classic with a particularly important moment. It’s obvious that the five members of the gang are alcoholics, that’s a given. But it’s somehow not until the ninth season that they openly acknowledge that fact, or even come to the realization that they have a long-running chemical dependency issue.
In that recognition, there’s mutual growth. The gang’s all in the same boat, and apparently, they’re just going to keep drinking their way through their problems.
Season 10 has the gang failing to come to terms with reality. For instance, in “The Gang Group Dates, Dennis feels screaming that he’s a “Five-star man” can make him one, even though he has a one-star rating on Raters.
But it’s in “The Gang Misses the Boat” that they come close to actually changing. Dennis essentially attempts to move on from being a Range Rover man while Mac misguidedly tries to force his own sexuality in a direction that’s not natural to him. There’s also Frank, who attempts to leech onto a new gang. However, Dee and Charlie have never gotten closer than they do in “Misses the Boat,” working together on a Def Jam routine until they reach the point of intimacy.
The Gang Goes to Hell had some iconic moments for It’s Always Sunny‘s bickering group of loud alcoholics, but it also had some introspective ones as well.
The gang faces their destiny in the two-parter, with Dee being labeled Wrath while Dennis is labeled Lust and so and so forth. They analyze their identities in The Gang Goes to Hell and they realize that, while they can’t stand one another, they also can’t live without one another.
Dennis, Frank, Mac, and Dee manage to be somewhat supportive throughout the 15th season’s finale, “The Gang Carries a Corpse Up a Mountain,” but the real moment of unity comes after they’ve abandoned him.
Charlie has screamed at them to leave him alone and allow him to carry his deceased father up the mountain himself, thereby carrying his father in a way his father never carried him. The rest of the gang bails initially, but they have a heartfelt moment together and realize that a gang of four is not the same as a gang of five. Season 15 is a mixed bag, but the finale displays poignancy in a way few other Sunny episodes ever have.
Ben Hathaway is a novelist, copywriter, and film buff located in Richmond, VA. While he loves cinema as a whole, his favored genre is horror.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: 10 Episodes Where The Gang Actually Bonded – Screen Rant
