It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 13 Episode 2
Pretty soon the coverage surrounding It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 13 will cease to be a series of Anchorman-esque “Dennis Watch!” dispatches and instead will start to view this batch of episodes on their own merits. “The Gang Escapes” isn’t necessarily a return to form for the show because the show never really loses its “form” (save for the one baffling awful episode in its run: Season 7’s “Frank’s Brother”). But while the premiere was very funny and utilized the absence of Dennis to the best of its abilities…Dennis was still absent. What we’re beginning to find out (albeit with a very small sample size) is that you cannot make a truly great episode ofIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia without all five central characters firing on all cylinders. Make no mistake: ��The Gang Escapes” is a truly great episode of this show. It’s the kind of episode, even an astonishing 13 seasons into the show’s run, that fans could conceivably bring to the non-initiated as a launching point. As written by Megan Ganz (who is entering her third season with the show following tours of duty with Community and Modern Family), “The Gang Escapes” finds Sunny at its platonic ideal. This is like a sociological study on the concept on groups conduced on a group where every member is the stupidest person alive. It’s completely hilarious, logically satisfying, and in keeping with the show’s 13 years of established character history. From the get go it’s evident just how strong a hold Ganz and the rest of the writer’s room has on these characters as all of their respective reactions to the concept of an escape room are very on brand. “I’m highly aware of this practice. It’s a very sexual experience. You’ll get no judgement from us,” Dennis says. “What’s the prize?” Frank follows up. The men of the group decide that there is no point in doing an activity unless there are stakes. Frank naturally mishears this as “steaks” so he promises a sirloin steak to the winner. No one points out the error. The escape room props are set up in Dennis and Mac’s apartment and after they shout down game leader’s introduction. Before long Dee is locked in Dennis’ room (Lock her up! Lock her up!) and the men are left to their own devices to solve what should be a very solvable puzzle. “The Gang Escapes” has a perfect set up for Gang-related nonsense and man alive it does not waste it. Every single move Dennis, Mac, Charlie, and Frank make is in keeping with their characters’ grand histories, and weird psychoses – yet every single moment is somehow a welcome, hilarious surprise. The men talked up a big game what good problem-solvers and natural leaders men are. “I didn’t want to say it out loud but a female leader…doesn’t sit well with me,” Mac says shortly before Dee is imprisoned. “We couldn’t have been more clear about it,” Mac says. The first thing the men do when faced with a problem that needs a solution is to break into two groups because they can’t figure out who the leader is. Mac sides with leader Dennis and Charlie sides with leader Frank and the two groups move to separate rooms where they begin smashing everything in sight. Mac discovers a heart-shaped lock and Frank discovers a heart-shaped key. When Dennis is annoyed by hearing Frank chewing Big League Chew gum in the other room, he just knows that Frank is doing it as a power play. The head cow is always grazing, Dennis points out right after commanding Mac not to sit in his presence. This is, of course, ridiculous. All cows are girls even as Mac points out. “As the leader can I riff…CAN I RIFF???” DON’T SIT DOWN!” But when Mac enters Frank and Charlie’s room to parlay, Frank confirms that he’s operating under the same rules. Charlie and Mac accept this new reality immediately and become obsessed with chewing gum just like Dennis and Frank. With everyone gummed up cooler heads kind of, almost prevail and the two sides agree to a summit to discuss this lock and key situation. The summit is a prime example of what makes the episodes that feature solely the gang and their wild internal logic so great. Each actor and each character is so damn committed to the lunacy happening onscreen that each passing moment becomes funnier and funnier. Dennis, Mac, Frank, and Charlie all have their own pipe, glass of whisky, and mouthful of gum because if anyone was missing one of those items the negotiations would presumably descend into chaos. “Gentlemen, I will remind you that time is of the essence,” Charlie says as Dennis and Frank hesitate to spit out their gum before the other. Still that matter is finally, miraculously settled and the council of men is ready to finally open up their lock and win the game. Frank does the honors and to their grand surprise the heart shaped lock was merely the first clue. The men were able to work together in the end. The problem is all of their insistence on ego-accommodating and bizarre ceremony means that they couldn’t work together quickly enough. Thankfully for them, there is a deus ex bird-ina ready to rescue them in the next room. Dee, bless her, still gets her win. By utilizing the fire escape, Dee does what she believes to be impossible: escapes Dennis’ room. “I know my brother better than anyone else,” she tells the game leader. “The fact that his prisoner can’t escape is what’s really getting him off.” The Gang presents Dee with the ultimate honor (or at least what they happen to believe is the ultimate honor this week before some other donkey-brained thing replaces it): the first bite of steak. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is wisely stingy in doling out episode conclusions in which the characters are nice to one another. Dee’s first bite of steak here is earned and particularly funny because it highlights how impressed the Gang is that she triumphed in the real escape scenario of getting out of Dennis’ room.
