‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Review: “The Gang Gets Analyzed”

Last week's episode "Charlie and Dee Find Love" was a mediocre episode of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ so we're hoping that "The Gang Gets Analyzed" is a little sharper. Such is always the hope after a lesser episode, but there's been some good moments so far in the eighth season of 'Philadelphia' and we hope for more.

The episode starts at 11:00 AM on a Thursday with Dee talking to her shrink (Kerry Kinney-Silver) about her Psoriasis. Dee mentions that the doctor's advice about confronting her friends went bad because no one would do the dishes, so she brought all her friends to her appointment. She then invites them in and Frank brought the dishes.

Frank declares that therapy is stupid, and Mac thinks that the shrink should decide who does the dishes. Mac thinks he's free from the job because he set the table, Dennis and Dee say they cooked, Frank says he doesn't clean because he bankrolled the dinner, while Charlie says he shouldn't do it because he was the one tasked with purchasing the food. Dennis offers that he should help the shrink and suggests that everyone meet with the shrink alone, which leads to Mac talking first. Well, actually it leads to him doing kung fu and complaining. He quickly breaks down on the couch like he's bipolar, though it seems to have been caused by his massive weight gain and loss. He proves a little crazy, until Dennis kicks him out and brings in Charlie, who ups the ante.

Charlie starts by hitting his head against the wall and then screaming that he'll do the dishes. The shrink calms him a little by asking him about what "Charliework" is, which tends to revolve around doing menial tasks - which he likes - but he hates being told what to do. He says he's weird, and then lists what may make him weird. And he proves too strange for the shrink by dropping a dead pigeon on her table. But who's next?

It's Frank. He eats pistachios, and spits the shells everywhere. He says he doesn't trust therapists because of a shrink in his childhood who got him in a school for the mentally and physically disabled, where his roommate was a frog kid. He then talks about his first kiss with a girl who had no lips and who died two weeks later. He then breaks down because he's remembering it all again.

Dennis is next, and he applauds the Doctor. He's happy she broke them all down, and then gives the shrink his psychological profiles of his friends. He correctly guesses everything Mac did, but the shrink balks at his files on Dee - which are written in crayon. Dennis explains his files were started when he was in second grade. He then tells the shrink how he gave Mac Ephedra to help him lose weight and shows the doctor a picture he drew of a man grabbing a woman's chest and asks if she likes it. Next!

Dee comes in, and the shrink says she has a serious issue to discuss. The doc says she can't help if Dee is lying in every session. Dee denies it, only to prove that she is a serial liar, and then she does a 'Good Will Hunting' impression, and says that she's acting - only to then say that she was acting when she was saying she was acting. So the Doc is not exactly pleased.

In the waiting room, Frank is breaking down, and says that Dennis and Dee would have been triplets if the two hadn't eaten their third in the womb. Mac refuses Dennis's pills, while Charlie tries to offer positive advise, which leads to a fight. Dennis breaks in to the doctor's office saying that the therapists has messed everyone up, only for Charlie to reveal that the dinner was not pheasant, but pigeon. But all they care about is who has to do the dishes, and the shrink says that Dee should do them, which leads Dee to break them, which she does for most of the credits.

This was a great episode of the show, it allowed everyone to act crazy and have fun. Though 'Sunny' is at its best when everyone is pinging off each other, here everyone gets a brief spotlight to show what defines their characters, but also what makes them so compelling to watch. All in all a solid episode. But what did you think? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.