‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Review: “The Gang Save the Day”

Tonight's 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' is spin on the old arthouse hit 'Run Lola Run' as it shows what goes inside the gang's head as they confront a robbery. With this ninth season proving very strong, tonight's episode "The Gang Save the Day" continues this streak with smart laughs throughout.

The episode opens at "12:15 PM On a Wednesday" with Frank dragging the gang to a convenience store for their hotdogs when a robber shows up. The gang don't know what to do, but the push-in zooms on the cast suggest they all have their own thoughts on the matter.

First we see Mac's fantasy. Mac acts like Steven Seagal and disarms the guy with a spoonful of hot nacho cheese. The gang is impressed, but not with his action guy line "Say cheese." It turns out the robber is yakuza, which leads to Mac confronting an unending stream of ninjas that he takes out with great skill (though one seems to kills Dee), when an old man compliments his skills. Mac then kicks the old guy into a cooler and this time tells him to "cool off." The gang like his pun usage, but Mac doesn't understand what a pun is. It turns out the old man he kicked was just the store's owner, and then one of the ninjas throws a throwing star into Mac's neck which leads the gang to say they can't live without him as he dies. Mac then becomes a ghost and goes to heaven as the rest of the gang are overcome with grief. In heaven, Mac is surrounded by buff guys and then meets a very hunky god who compliments his "pretty sweet" fight moves. He is then seated next to God and the two plan to ignore everyone's prayers.

Back in the store it flashes to Dee's thoughts. Everyone blames Dee, and they sacrifice her to the criminal, only for the robber to reveal herself to be a hot woman. She wants to kill the men, but Dee is able to disarm the thief, and then kills the gang and the cashier, saying to her new partner "no witnesses." But when the cops show up she blames the robber and is put in witness protection. She then becomes Mister Covington, the British butler for a rich widower, which is revealed to be a sitcom, and a show that's made her famous. She's interviewed about her upcoming movie 'Mother Earth' where she plays a warrior princess who saves the world, and not only is it already the most successful film ever, she's engaged to Josh Groban, who then shows up in the interview and the sings to her. They get married for seventeen minutes until Dee meets Brad Pitt. But that's how her dream ends.

Dennis then gets his chance to have a vision. He confronts the criminal and is shot in the head. He has a dream that he's god, only to wake up in the hospital and is told his penis doesn't work. He wants to die until he meets his nurse Jackie Denardo, the hot blonde weather girl. She plans to bring him back and so that means montage! Dennis trains to walk and move again all the while the weather girl's big boobs bounce. But when he tells her he's in love with her he accidentally pushes her into traffic. Back at the hospital, she's just as bad off as he was, and when he finds out her breasts have been obliterated, Dennis euthanizes her.

Now it's Frank's turn. He sneaks up on the criminal, only to just get a hot dog while the cops shoot it out with the robber. Dogs are sent in, and it leads to Dee's death, but all Frank cares about are his hot dogs, and he eats about a dozen in his dream until he snaps out of it.

Now it's Charlie's turn. He dreams a cartoon where the waitress shows up and so he pushes Dee in front of the way (Dee's killed again), which makes the waitress fall in love with him. The waitress moves in and all the rats in Charlie's apartment make her a bridal gown. They get married at the marriage store and then the rats make them a house and dinner. One of the rats dies, but then they go to the baby store and gets about ten kids who they then raise (as the rats keep dying), and we see the two grow into old age until the Waitress dies. Charlie's dreams are very Pixar, no? Well, yeah, because after her death Charlie's house flies away on balloons.In reality, Frank asks if they're thinking what he's thinking, and they just decide to steal stuff and leave.

Tonight's 'Philly' delivered and then some. Each dream sequence offers its own pleasures, and though the idea of Dee's bad sitcom is funnier in theory than in practice, it still has enough laughs for something so obvious. With a great use of the Katrina and the Waves song "Walking on Sunshine," and the elaborate animated sequence, this is a deft episode that reveals what we probably already knew about the characters, but in a way that's hilarious. Like Mac's vision of god as a hunk. Well played, 'Sunny,' well played.