The third episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 sort of hits a mid-season slump.
The individual storylines in the episode are compelling on their own, but the attempt to connect them through a timeline related to highly spicy peppers.
The unexpected guest character’s appearance is also one of the best parts of the episode.
To its credit, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 Episode 3, “Mac and Dennis Become EMTs,” brings the classic chaotic energy of the series back.
It’s just a shame that the episode fails to make any sort of coherent point, other than suggesting you pay attention to your spice tolerance.
All in all, the episode was pretty enjoyable, even if some of the running jokes didn’t quite land.
The Gang Gets Put to Work
Seventeen seasons into It’s Always Sunny, and The Gang has done everything but work their actual jobs.
In this episode, the jobs that the Gang works align somewhat with their character, with some making more sense than others.
Mac and Dennis are one of my favorite pairings in the show.
Yet, with their storyline around wanting to become EMTs, I couldn’t help but feel like their usual chemistry felt off. Other than a fun moment in the ambulance together, I definitely missed their usual banter, which was put aside to focus on moving the story along.
On the other hand, Frank and Charlie fall into their usual patterns. Putting Charlie under high-pressure situations is always a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
It was also a delight to see Charlie parody another FX show, The Bear, in his arc of becoming a chef.
Compared to the previous episode, Dee’s solo storyline is much weaker. My fear that It’s Always Sunny would underutilize Kaitlin Olson proved true in this episode, as most of her scenes were largely forgettable.
This is mostly the fault of the subject matter. Out of all the topics to provide commentary on, ghost kitchens seem like an extremely random subject to cover.
Even then, the episode sort of just shoehorns the subject in without any justification. Luckily, the fun of The Gang exploring their new jobs is somewhat enough to counteract how off-putting the introduction of that storyline was.
The Return of a Legend
It’s Always Sunny finally brings back an iconic character that hasn’t made an appearance since Season 11: The Lawyer.
His thirst for revenge against The Gang is very convincing. Brian Unger does a great job, as always, with his few minutes of screen time in this episode.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for callbacks, but I thought the appearance of the Lawyer was a fun cameo.
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It’s definitely a nice reward for dedicated fans who have continued watching beyond the show’s most popular season.
The downfall of The Lawyer is not as satisfying, however. This is, again, to the fault of a random subject, specifically The Gang “microdosing” peppers.
For how much time of the episode is dedicated to this bit, I wish that it had a better payoff.
It honestly just felt like the whole storyline was just to show off the cool special effects of the ambulance blowing up at the end.
The Show Must Go On
To be fair, the episode ending did get serious for a second. For a second, I really bought that the Gang had messed up seriously this time and couldn’t recover.
But as always, they bounce back and come back as annoying as ever. The restoration of the status quo provides a somewhat satisfying ending despite the random twists and turns the episode took.
I admire that the episode took some swings, and while some worked, others didn’t.
Featuring a popular side character again was a great surprise, and I can’t wait to see what other characters It’s Always Sunny brings back later this season.
Thanks for reading this review, and come back next week for thoughts on Episode 4! What did you think about the episode? How are you enjoying It’s Always Sunny Season 17 so far?
Chime off in the comments below! It’s always exciting to hear from other fans of this show.
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