Review: 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' - 'Sweet Dee Gets Audited': Reason will prevail!
Does the gang reach a new low in helping Sweet Dee fool the IRS?
Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson) gets audited by the IRS on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
A quick review of tonight's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" coming up just as soon as I blow chilli powder in your face...
I didn't have time to write about last week's episode, which I thought featured some of the best Frank-related humor ever, as well as a welcome opportunity for the gang to sing and dance. And with the Thursday programming crunch continuing, I imagine most of my "Sunny" write-ups going forward will be brief, with the tacit acknowledgment that so far, they're having themselves a fantastic season.
Mainly what I want to bring up in terms of the sick, funny "Sweet Dee Gets Audited" is the exchange that Frank and Dennis have at the start of the fake baby funeral, where Dennis suggests this is the "darkest thing we've ever done." We're 75 episodes into the series now, so I put it to you folks: is this, in fact, the darkest (and/or worst, if you want to make that distinction) thing the gang has ever done? Or have they fallen lower in the past? (Fienberg suggested the events of "Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare" were worse.)
News From Our Partners
-
How Far Will 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Boldly Go At Box Office?
'Star Trek Into Darkness': The Secret Behind The Mystery Villain
'Pacific Rim' Trailer Surfaces: Watch Now!
-
Watch This: With Beavis And Butt-head Do America, Mike Judge skewered the idiocy of cinematic adventures
Hear This: Destroy This Place shows how press releases can get it right
Cannes Film Festival: Cannes 2013, Day Two: Iranian director Asghar Farhadi chases A Separation with another stunning drama
-
Critics Consensus: Star Trek Into Darkness is Certified Fresh
Red Carpet Roundup: Star Trek Into Darkness Edition
Video Interviews with Katie Aselton & Lake Bell of Black Rock
-
YESSSSSSS...
Who Won 'American Idol' 2013?
The Ultimate Office Blooper Reel
-
Justin Bieber vs. Austin Mahone – PopCrush Prom King of 2013, Round 3
Demi Lovato Sings Selena Gomez's Praises [Video]
Oreo 'Wonderfilled' Ad – What's the Song?
-
The Telefile - The Most Heinous Person on Reality TV This Week
The Telefile - Modern Family: The Best Lines of the Night
The Telefile - Fall TV 2013: What's On When
-
Christopher Nolan for James Bond Movie? Director Allegedly Courted to Direct
Edward Furlong, 'Terminator 2' Star, Arrested Again
Cannes 2013: $1M in Jewelry Stolen at Film Festival
-
'Frances Ha' Review
'Star Wars: Episode 7′ — The Real Reason J.J. Abrams Left 'Star Trek'
Sega Game Gear Classics Headed to Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
Get Instant Alerts on What's Alan Watching
Latest Posts
-
Dan and Alan also discuss the recent finales of 'Survivor' and 'The Amazing Race'Friday, May 17, 2013
-
Dwight gets married and the staff revisits the documentary in a lovely farewellThursday, May 16, 2013
-
Lecter becomes interested in a local killer, and Will begins hearing thingsThursday, May 16, 2013
-
A show that shouldn't have worked instead became a great, popular, influential oneThursday, May 16, 2013
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupbigperm33
October 6, 2011 at 10:39PM EST Reply to CommentI would say having a fake baby funeral is not as bad as mac and dee painting an actual baby to try to get that baby into commercials (The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby)
mojo I was going to say that dumpster baby was probably worse too.
October 6, 2011 at 10:46PM ESTCrow3711 Honestly, I felt like the overall joy and disregard with which Mac was diagnosed with diabetes and proceeded to inject himself merrily with insulin for the rest of the episode, followed by Dennis finally admitting that what he wanted more than anything else was to smoke crack again, was the darkest thing, myself. This was close. The concept of faking a baby's funeral that never existed is pretty dark.
October 7, 2011 at 2:30AM ESTalynch
October 6, 2011 at 10:48PM EST Reply to CommentI'd say "The Gang Gets Held Hostage" is worse because that episode involved the gang setting each other up to be murdered. And more generally, I'd say Dennis' rapey tendencies are darker than the fake funeral.
bigbird Dennis's "semi serious" rapey tendencies take the cake for me, especially the episode they have the boat
October 7, 2011 at 12:26AM ESTCol Bat Guano It's the implication.
October 7, 2011 at 12:32PM ESTecho ^ Exactly.
October 7, 2011 at 12:41PM ESTalynch "Bro, rape? I wasn't talking about raping your wife. I was talking about making love to her sweetly while she sleeps, and I was going to do it for you."
October 7, 2011 at 1:11PM ESTsepinwall
October 6, 2011 at 11:02PM EST Reply to CommentAlternate suggestions! Excellent! The show's been around so long, I've forgotten some of the more heinous moments.
Matt Z.
October 6, 2011 at 11:26PM EST Reply to CommentI'd say the complete destruction of Rickety Cricket's life over the years is the worst thing they've ever done.
mwilhe01 Has to be near the top :-) Hopefully they can bring him back for one more go around even though he's on his own show now.
October 7, 2011 at 3:23PM ESTDezbot He won't be busy long. That show is awful! Dave Foley should have stayed with HIMYM.
October 10, 2011 at 2:23AM ESTCJ
October 7, 2011 at 12:18AM EST Reply to CommentThe "worst" is most likely when they invaded that poor faimily's home, kidnapped them, and then destroyed their home. Great show!
WaltEagle This would get my vote, too.
October 7, 2011 at 1:46AM ESTOtto Man That was bad.
October 7, 2011 at 9:17AM ESTAlso, when they burned down the Israeli's business next door.
October 7, 2011 at 11:28AM ESTmarc but they got them the taco bed, after all!
October 8, 2011 at 1:15PM ESTlztouchthedream
October 7, 2011 at 12:22AM EST Reply to CommentSorry to go a little off topic, but whenever I see the words 'be' and 'brief' next to eachother, I'm immediately reminded of the classic, succinct, purely Milchian exchange in Deadwood between EB Farnum and Calamity Jane.
Murph
October 7, 2011 at 12:35AM EST Reply to CommentCharlie saying he has cancer so he can sleep with The Waitress, who ends up feeling sorry for Dennis and sleeps with him instead.
Jeremy420lowe
October 7, 2011 at 1:46AM EST Reply to CommentShoo, snail. Shoo! Hyah! Hyah! Drinking wine out of pop cans in and how they treated the interventionist was pretty dark, too.
Oh, and Frank and Artemis having dumpster sex during the brown out Halloween episode!
Crow3711
October 7, 2011 at 2:32AM EST Reply to CommentPretending to know an old guy who died at the bar so that Dennis can bang his hot daughter.
esorale
October 7, 2011 at 8:53AM EST Reply to CommentThe D.E.N.N.I.S. system was way darker. Still, this was an awesome episode.
ChampSkins
October 7, 2011 at 9:03AM EST Reply to CommentWell, just two episodes ago Dee and Dennis helped rob a liqour store, kill a doctor and try to bury him. So, I guess that would be considered pretty dark... yet so so hilarious.
Anon
October 7, 2011 at 9:05AM EST Reply to CommentDee getting waterboarded in a urinal was pretty bad.
Charlie
October 7, 2011 at 10:18AM EST Reply to CommentThe D.E.N.N.I.S. System or the time Dennis wanted to get back at the environmentalist for calling him out so he infiltrated the group, faked everything, slept with his girlfriend AND tied the environmentalist to a tree...terrible, but brilliant.
Matt
October 7, 2011 at 10:37AM EST Reply to CommentI think it's a testament to the show's consistent level of depravity that Dee and Charlie bringing a hot plate into a morgue to confirm whether or not they'd actually tasted human flesh hasn't been mentioned.
Jake AMEN!!
October 7, 2011 at 2:02PM ESTtag8833
October 7, 2011 at 11:28AM EST Reply to CommentBuying slaves was dark. Kidnapping the family and screwing up their house. Getting addicted to Crack so that they can go on welfare.
But I think the darkest thing was Dee and Charlie sneaking into the morgue with a George Forman grill intent on eating a corpse. Possibly exacerbated by the fact that they decided the white corpse looked tastier than the black corpse.
October 7, 2011 at 11:30AM EST(That made less sense than what I was trying to write, but man that was a great line)
Amy
October 7, 2011 at 12:24PM EST Reply to CommentI am still haunted by the image of Dee having sex with one of the cooks from the Korean restaurant in the alley
Col Bat Guano
October 7, 2011 at 12:34PM EST Reply to CommentI don't think the fake baby funeral even hit the top ten darkest moments. Reading all these others is cracking me up at work.
chris
October 7, 2011 at 12:37PM EST Reply to Commentwhat about ruining cricket's life by turning him from a priest to a homeless crack addict with a hideous throat scar?
mpp ...and then turning him into the ultimate prey in "Mac and Dennis: Manhunters"
October 7, 2011 at 1:52PM ESTSteven Payne Sadly, poor Rickety Cricket has now hit rock bottom as the lead on one of the worst sitcoms ever on CBS...
October 8, 2011 at 12:28AM ESTAshyLarry81 Manhunters was a great episode!
October 10, 2011 at 2:34PM ESTColin
October 7, 2011 at 1:34PM EST Reply to CommentThis was pretty bad. Of course, the first episode of season 2 where they are pretending to be handicapped so they can pick up girls was pretty bad as well.
Jake
October 7, 2011 at 2:07PM EST Reply to CommentIs it just me, or was last night's episode the funniest they've done in a LONG time (and I'm a huge fan of every season so far, so that's not a shot at the past few seasons)? I don't think it's a coincidence that the ep was written by Rob, Glen and Charlie...I wish they'd go back to writing all, or at least most, of the episodes. Obviously no one out there can write those characters better than the 3 guys who created them!
Nick
October 7, 2011 at 8:06PM EST Reply to CommentKidnapping the journalist in 'worst bar in philadelphia' was dark and great too.
MJ
October 8, 2011 at 12:34AM EST Reply to CommentI think the guys having to talk themselves OUT of raping and murdering a family is near the top of the list:
Dennis: Yes, we could stave the husbands skull in. We could take the wife down to the basement and have a frenzied free for all. We could tie the little kids up in their rooms...
Mac: Oh no, we'd have to kill the kids cause they've seen our faces.
Dennis: Right, we could smear the walls with their blood. There's any number of scenarios we could engage in. But let's just go get the deed.
Col Bat Guano I probably shouldn't laugh at that like I'm in sixth grade should I?
October 8, 2011 at 2:31AM ESTSome Guy
October 8, 2011 at 10:29AM EST Reply to CommentOff the darkness topic here for a minute but oh man did I laugh at Dee's speech in this episode. Such a great comedic performance there. All round this episode was pretty damn great. Wasn't a huge fan of last weeks pageant episode (although Frank trying to convince everyone he wasn't a child molester was funny) but overall I'm really enjoying this season.
Jimmy
October 18, 2011 at 9:22AM EST Reply to CommentI think that "...can't see the forest for the trees..." has never been as relevant as here, heh. It breaks down like this: Frank is the "system." He symbolizes our corrupt, banker-manipulated government that is "cooking the books" and lying to everyone about how things are run (hiding money offshore, etc. like the private Federal Reserve bank, for an example). Dennis comes on as his "puppet," which symbolizes Obama; serving as the poster-boy frontman (with the line that he has "the illusion of power," he is alluding to how the president is perceived as the most powerfull entity in the world, while the puppetmaster banking cartels have the true power over him). Mac and Charlie represent the "left/right paradigm," as well as the Tea Party and branch-offshoots in politics. Their constant bickering shows how the chatter of something that seems important keeps the masses occupied with unimportant issues, while the real culprits "cook the books" behind closed doors and let the others rattle on about useless hyperbole. When the ridiculous idea of the baby wake at the bar comes into play (which is a metaphor for the ridiculous theatrics about bin Laden being killed and "buried at sea" without there ever even being a real body or proof for the people), there is an "awakening" by Mac and Charlie (stating that "something stinks" and "pushed into talking about other things," as well as "a lot of backroom dealings going on" and "conspiring against us"), who now represent the masses (we the people) who have gotten wise to the sham and realize that they need to "expose" it all (something that is on the brink of happening, but hasn't happened yet). This isn't the first time that the writers have thrown us a social-commentary bone like this, but it's definitely one of the best one's so far. Surprised that no one has commented on that, really.
John WHOAH! WOW! didnt even see that
October 18, 2011 at 9:36AM ESTJimmy
October 18, 2011 at 9:29AM EST Reply to CommentI think that "...can't see the forest for the trees..." has never been as relevant as here, heh. It breaks down like this: Frank is the "system." He symbolizes our corrupt, banker-manipulated government that is "cooking the books" and lying to everyone about how things are run (hiding money offshore, etc. like the private Federal Reserve bank, for an example). Dennis comes on as his "puppet," which symbolizes Obama; serving as the poster-boy frontman (with the line that he has "the illusion of power," he is alluding to how the president is perceived as the most powerfull entity in the world, while the puppetmaster banking cartels have the true power over him). Mac and Charlie represent the "left/right paradigm," as well as the Tea Party and branch-offshoots in politics. Their constant bickering shows how the chatter of something that seems important keeps the masses occupied with unimportant issues, while the real culprits "cook the books" behind closed doors and let the others rattle on about useless hyperbole. When the ridiculous idea of the baby wake at the bar comes into play (which is a metaphor for the ridiculous theatrics about bin Laden being killed and "buried at sea" without there ever even being a real body or proof for the people), there is an "awakening" by Mac and Charlie (stating that "something stinks" and "pushed into talking about other things," as well as "a lot of backroom dealings going on" and "conspiring against us"), who now represent the masses (we the people) who have gotten wise to the sham and realize that they need to "expose" it all (something that is on the brink of happening, but hasn't happened yet). This isn't the first time that the writers have thrown us a social-commentary bone like this, but it's definitely one of the best one's so far. Surprised that no one has commented on that, really. What do you think?
blockparty
October 21, 2011 at 1:25PM EST Reply to CommentAlan, I cannot believe you didnt talk about cedric daniels' performance in 'Frank's Brother'!!
we need MORE WIRE!