Always Sunny - The McPoyles

‘Sunny’ 6.05 – 6.07 Recaps: A Sunny Threefer

We’ve got a few episodes of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ to catch up on. They’re big episodes where we’ll explore the struggles between the classes; challenges of elderly housing; and problems of drinking and unplanned pregnancy. ‘Sunny’ tackles all these challenges of the human condition and much, much more. So get yourself a beer and join me for the recaps.

Mac and Charlie: White Trash

There’s a heat wave going on. Mac and Charlie try to get into a swim club, but membership is “at capacity.” They debate going to the public pool, but instead go to an old abandoned diving pool and set about on a mission to clean it up. The thing about the empty diving pool is that it’s all deep end, which means of course that Mac and Charlie get themselves stuck in it. In their time alone together at the bottom of the pool, they’re forced to confront their low classness – Mac with his gold chain and poor martial arts skills, Charlie with his cutoffs and burner phone.

Meanwhile, Dee and Dennis, who think they’re high class, have a go at the swim club. But the pool club is still “at capacity.” In classy fashion, Dee hocks a snot on the pool attendant’s table, and Dennis says to him, “Having class means being able to mix with people beneath you.” They head to the public pool where there are no adults, everyone is wearing sneakers, the kids throw rocks and steal for fun, and there’s broken glass in the pool (hence the shoes). Frank is having a grand time living on the fringe at the public pool, sharing towels and greasing watermelons.

Dee, Dennis and Frank eventually head over to the diving pool and come upon Mac and Charlie. After a brief discussion of class and Jamie Nelson (who had died in the pool), they give up on pools altogether and tap a fire hydrant. It’s a very entertaining episode with the gang just being the gang, and wonderfully ridiculous repartee from Mac/Charlie and Dee/Dennis.

Mac’s Mom Burns Her House Down

Mac’s mom fell asleep with a lit cigarette in her mouth and burned down her house. Charlie’s mom keeps making him come over to do chores like vacuuming the ceiling. So Charlie and Mac decide that their moms should be roommates – like the Golden Girls. It’s entertainingly awkward at first, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to pan out. Charlie’s mom is neurotic and terrified of animals eating her face off, and Mac’s mom smells bad, smokes, and has a dog named Poppins. However, they start getting along better after Mac’s mom, who has years of mechanical experience working at Jiffy Lube, fixes the ceiling fan.

Dee’s got a tickle in her throat but refuses to get sick because she and Artemis have backstage passes to see Josh Grobin. Frank determines that he needs someone to take care of him when he’s old, so he decides to help Dee cure her cold now in hopes she’ll return the favor later. Dennis and Frank give her some Nyquil, then take her to Frank’s to convalesce. That just makes her even sicker, but that’s all part of the plan to convince Dee how much she needs Frank. Dee, a dedicated Grobinite, is determined to get to concert no matter what, so they go so far as to tie her down to Frank’s bedbug-infested bed. She breaks free and takes off in a haze. That’s followed by a great scene of Dee meandering around and wandering down the hall.

This is another half hour of quality entertainment. Mac and Charlies’ moms seem more like John Waters’ Baltimore dwellers to me, but they add great entertainment. As for Kaitlin Olson, she once again proves her physical comedy chops. I can’t think of a better physical comedienne, perhaps only Amy Sedaris with the perpetual facial contortions she made in ‘Strangers with Candy’.

Who Got Dee Pregnant?

Dee’s pregnant, and she tells the guys that one of them is the father. The deed allegedly happened at the Halloween Party they had at the bar. So begins another mystery for the gang to solve. They try to reconstruct the events of the evening, but of them had “browned out” and only remember bits and pieces.

Dennis offers a few details of the evening. However, that night he was mostly self-involved stalking a woman dressed as a peacock, whom he eventually banged after switching costumes with Charlie. Dennis thinks Charlie had sex with Dee. Charlie remembers talking to the McPoyles when the waitress came in with a new boyfriend. He punched out the boyfriend, Dee got milk spilled all over her, and the waitress – in awe of Charlie’s manliness – kissed him.

Meanwhile, Frank was dressed as a man-spider and was arguing with Artemis, who was trying to drag him off to the dumpster for some sex. As Frank recalls, it was Mac who pushed Charlie into the waitress’s boyfriend, then Dee got milk spilled all over her, and Artemis jumped on Charlie to make Frank jealous. Artemis claims she saw Dee go into the men’s room to get the milk off her dress, and that Mac and Dee had sex in the bathroom. Mac confesses that it was not Dee he had sex with in the bathroom; it was Margaret McPoyle.

Finally, the guys are forced to visit the McPoyles to get their version, as they were sober and are now the only source of truth. The McPoyle brothers reveal that the woman they accosted was not the waitress but some stranger. Artemis had jumped Charlie. Mac did indeed have sex with their sister Margaret, and she’s still waiting for his call. Dee harassed the peacock woman into switching costumes with her, and then dragged Charlie off to the back room. Hence, Dennis (who’d switched costumes with Charlie) and Dee had sex. The McPoyles are delighted. Dennis is sick.

The guys head over to Dee’s to tell her the news. Dee confesses that she just made up the story about one of them being the father because they’d been jerks to her. None of them is the father, and she didn’t have sex with Dennis. Having solved the mystery, they ditch Dee and go to spend a night at the museum.

The highlight of this episode is the Dee bird sidebar, where the guys keep telling her that she looks like a bird in her angel costume. As each one recounts his version of the story, the costume becomes more and more bird-like. Mac’s recollection of talking to Dee in the bathroom is especially good. All he saw and heard was an ostrich.

Yes, the show has used this mystery plot device before when the cast tried to determine who was pooping in Charlie and Franks’ bed, but it works again anyway. This is a good time of an episode.

All in all, the season is running full steam ahead. Next week, the gang gets a new member.

2 comments

  1. The storyline about Dee being pregnant really seemed to come from out of nowhere. Google tells me that Kaitlin Olson just had a baby in real life, so I assume they felt that they needed to write that into the show rather than try to hide her bump. But geez, we just saw her in a bikini two episodes ago!

    Funny as hell, though. This is one show I just can’t predict how introducing a baby will affect things.

    • I’m really super glad it wasn’t Dennis. I mean, I absolutely laughed my ass off at the possibility, but I just can’t imagine that staying funny for long. Seems likely to cross over into creepy.

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