Nearly Everybody in This Show Is Awful. That Is Exactly Why It Works.
Nerdy Up North
The setup
Five deeply dysfunctional friends run Paddy's Pub in Philadelphia and spend most of their time manipulating each other, chasing terrible schemes and turning ordinary situations into complete disasters.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia understands something a lot of sitcoms are terrified of: the main characters do not have to become better people. In fact, the whole joke is that these people keep getting worse.
Mac, Dennis, Charlie and Dee already had a great dynamic, but bringing Danny DeVito in as Frank completely changed the show. He somehow lowers the moral standards of a group that already had almost none. The fact that an actor with DeVito's career is willing to crawl through sofas, live in filth and do basically anything for a joke is still brilliant.
Charlie is probably the easiest character to love because his stupidity feels almost innocent compared with everyone else's. Dennis becomes increasingly frightening the longer the series goes on, Mac reinvents his entire identity every few years and Dee's confidence is constantly destroyed by the rest of them.
The best episodes take a very simple setup and let the gang destroy it. A trip to a water park, a board game, buying a boat or trying to solve the gas crisis becomes complete insanity because none of these people should ever be trusted with a plan.
The show is also much smarter than its characters. It can tackle politics, class, religion or social issues while making sure the joke is normally on the gang rather than pretending they have the answer.
With this many seasons, obviously not every episode lands. There are stretches where ideas repeat and some experiments work better than others. But the fact the cast can still put these characters in a room together and immediately make it feel like Sunny is ridiculous in itself.
Most sitcoms eventually soften everybody. Always Sunny looked at that option and apparently decided absolutely not.
Positives
One of the best comedy ensembles on television, Danny DeVito is fearless, the characters are allowed to remain genuinely awful and the show can turn tiny situations into complete chaos.
Negatives
The enormous episode count means quality naturally varies, and some later stories revisit ideas the show has already explored better.
Verdict
It's Always Sunny works because nobody learns the lesson. Nearly two decades of terrible people making terrible decisions should be exhausting. Somehow it is still hilarious.
