'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' Gang Does Super Bowl LII

Last night It’s Always Sunny ran the second half of the two-parter that began last week with the Gang headed off to the Eagles-Patriots Super Bowl while Charlie got left behind at Paddy’s in a Home Alone scenario. I thought that one started off alright, a typically on-point IASIP send up of idiotic fan superstitions, before kind of falling flat as Charlie just gets caught in the booby traps he set, which felt sort of lazy.

So I was looking forward to seeing how they were going to do Super Bowl LII. Some of the best moments in the series have been when the Gang has taken their specific brand of assholery and applied it to Philly sports, like Charlie’s iconic Green Man and the top-5 all time classic “World Series Defense” episode.

I was especially hoping for greatness given what that Super Bowl meant not just to Philadelphia, but to me personally. And I think I can unequivocally and with total certainty report that it was … pretty good? Sort of OK? I guess?

I promise this will be spoiler free to the extent I can make it so. I thought the treatment of the Gang, along with Waitress, Cricket, Ben the Soldier, Bill Ponderosa, Rex, and creepshow Uncle Jack, watching the game unfold like (Mac’s words) “the worst pieces of shit in the city” that they are, was great. Them doing gross-out IASIP stuff interspersed with actual game footage while the events unfold was inspired.

The reason it was just OK was the deplorable lack of Dennis. Glenn Howerton had to be talked into coming back for a 13th season so he could go star in A.P. Bio. And as part of the deal he gets to take episodes off. This was one, and you felt it. Without Dennis, Mac was the one left to fill the role of Semi-Rational Guy Trying to Keep Order While Losing His Shit and it just didn’t work. The single best part of the show’s run has been that for all these years, the Gang doesn’t change, grow, mature or learn a goddamned thing. That group dynamic has been a constant. And watching them skate shorthanded, it’s impossible not to feel like the show is nearing its end and going through the motions a little bit.

That said, and I’ll spoil nothing, but they did pay off the initial premise about fan behavior. About how we think we have an effect on the games we watch, including a Seinfeldian plot point where Dee actually does help the Eagles. But they also made a statement about why we get emotionally involved in a team in the first place that is practically … poignant? … if I can use that word? Mac is frustrated that the Eagles are behind and says of the crew they brought to the game are “We’re losers. All of Philadelphia. We’re angry, and we’re mean, and we’re cruel, and we act like jerks.” Frank, who’s been trying to pass a kidney stone, says,

No, Mac, you got it all wrong. Those guys are Philadelphia. They bust their ass just to get through, and then, on a Sunday, they put all their hopes into the Eagles. And year after year after year, their team lets ’em down, and they get angry. And that anger builds into a stone of fury, and if it could just be released, then we could feel something different, could feel like champions.

That’s actually brilliant. Not just about Philly, but it could apply to any city. For sure it sums up my city and why we are the way we are after going so many years of losing. The 1990s were like passing a kidney stone of fury and once it was released, we feel like champions. This is the kind of speech they should put in granite next to the entrance of stadiums. Weirdly poetic and 100 percent true.

And still, not even my favorite line of the episode. Instead I’ll end with this one. From Mac, as he’s trying to get the rageaholic lowlifes he’s running with to stop being so negative toward the Eagles and each other:

“Save your boos for who deserves it—and that’s the most successful franchise in organized sports.”