Club. Comedy on Its Alway Sunny In Philadelphia is filtered through so many layers that adding one more for an episode is exponentially more challenging, for the creators and for us viewers. A hangout comedy where the people hanging out are collectively and individually the worst people in the world makes for humor that, from the outside, can seem like an endorsement of the very thing its satirizing. For one thing, the cast and writers of this seriesnow beginning their 1. The Gang, as ever comprised of Sweet Dee, Dennis, Mac, Charlie, and Frank, and played by Kaitlin Olson, Glenn Howerton, Rob Mc. Elhenney, Charlie Day, and Danny De. Vito, have a Globetrotters level of mastery of shenanigans, crudity, comic violence, and all around awfulness. Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Rob Mc. Elhenney, Kaitlin Olson, Danny De. Vito Photo Patrick Mc. ElhenneyFXXBut theres a reason why Sunnys stuck around so long, and at such a high level. Season finales have never really been Its Always Sunny In Philadelphias strongest outings. The perceived need for a big finish tends to elevate plot over. Season 5 Episode 9 It S Always Sunny In Philadelphia' title='Season 5 Episode 9 It S Always Sunny In Philadelphia' />Firmly rooted in character, the shows lowbrow antics simultaneously are and are more than the sum of each profanity, egregious personal insult, act of dangerous lunacy, or poorly intentioned scheme. The series, at its best, looks deep into the heart of the worst of us and findsus. And The Gang Turns Black is Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia coming out swinging for the fences, an almost profligate high concept fantasy about race in America, the Gangs variable degrees of racism, and their seemingly boundless capacity for self obsessed self delusion thats as funny as it is ambitious. Oh, and its also a musical. My Own Private Idaho Full Movie Part 1. The setup sees the Gang gathered for a movie night viewing of The Wiz alongside the Old Black Man. Thats how they refer to the wizened, mostly silent homeless guy Wil Garret who sleeps in Dees bed every night because she lost a bet to Frank last season. That nicknames a problematic bit of offhand racism once a lightning storm and some malfunctioning electric blankets turn every member of the Gang black. Watch Mac and Dennis Break up online. Stream Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 5, episode 9 instantly. Seeing that their houseguest has disappeared, Dennis says, Go find Old Black Man. I mean Old Man. As everyone suddenly breaks into expository musical style song, Dennis reasonably asks, What are the rules when youve just turned black and you cant switch back. If the fact that the Gang can only see African American versions of themselves played by A. J. Hudson, Farley Jackson, Leslie Miller, and Anthony Hill in mirrors isnt clue enough that season 1. Charlie Days slyly catchy musical numbers seal the case. Watch Ninja Apocalypse Online Fandango. Although here, freed from the shows reality, the songs are less about plumbing the depths of poor Charlies tortured psyche not a troll rape in sight and more about episode writers Day, Howerton, and Mc. Elhenney examining how the Gangs racial attitudes are a product of their inherent, but slightly different, prejudices. Danny De. Vito, Kaitlin Olson Photo Patrick Mc. ElhenneyFXXAs usual, Charlie is what passes for the Gangs heart its both appropriate and sort of heartbreaking that his reflection is of a little boy, especially considering the shows payoff. As Dennis and Macpre electrocutionairily debate whether black Americans really have it so bad Mac concedes, We did have a black president before the orange one., its Charlie who pipes up with a defense of them having their own version of The Wizard Of Oz, stating, I mean, its very difficult being a black man in America. Dennis, as ever, frames himself as the Gangs moral center, but that just means mansplaining Black Lives Matter I dont know why it took them so long to realize that their lives matterbut, then again, dont all lives matter before pronouncing, Its kind of tough out there right now for everybody. ThenZAP. Sunny has done blackfacebefore, and I think just about as well as such a thing can be done, so I was glad to see they werent just going to the same provocation well here. The alternate Gang only shows up intermittently, in reflections or when we see them through the eyes of other people. After a genuinely hilarious introductory musical number where everyone attempts to suss out whether theyre in a body swap or Quantum Leap situation Frank, not clear on the concept, thinks FaceOff, the gang splits up. On the Quantum Leap team, Dee and Frank set out in search of Old Black Man under the bridge where Frank found him and where he and Charlie hang out, thinking that a good deed will allow them to leap back into their own bodies. Meanwhile, Mac, Dennis, and Charlie, on team body swap, start hunting for clues as to just which black people they need to swap back with, before being immediately arrested for trying to break into Dennis car. Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob Mc. Elhenny Photo Patrick Mc. ElhenneyFXXEach teams quest provides plenty of opportunities for Day, Howerton, and Mc. Elhenney to both raise questions about the state of race relations, and to use each characters blind spots, biases, and, in Franks case, just old fashioned racism Frank is just really excited to use the n word to illuminate the various ways white Americans contort themselves to deny that racism actually exists. When the cops show up just because three guys are desperately clawing their way into Dennis Land Rover, Dennis assurance that We get out of this stuff all the time cuts to the three of them in the back of the squad car. Finding Old Black Man who finally reveals that his name is Carl, they bring him to an old age home Frank reassures Dee hell stop paying once they get their old bodies back, where hes unexpectedly reunited with his long lost wife. Spotting Bakula who initially and ineffectually claims to be researching a role and not working there as an orderly, theyre pissed when he cant get them to quantum leap and storm out, leaving Bakula who did not get a piece of Quantum Leap, as it turns out to wistfully sing about when he used to be a star with a Camaro who hung out with Nash Bridges and The Fall Guy. Bakula has pipes, and the whole thing just works itself up to a state of loopy bliss. Its when the Gangall falling into The Wiz esque choreographymeet back up that the episode pulls off its most audacious, and shocking, twist. Singing and dancing their way to an electronics store called The Wiz because Mac thinks that getting Dees shorted out VCR fixed there will fix them as well, the Gang make a heartfelt, impassioned plea to the white owner to help them out. I mean, its as heartfelt as the Gang gets, Macs song ending with the epically tone deaf, If you look look inside our souls sir, youll see that were white men. When the owner calls the cops, Charlie sings his assurance thatthanks to his recent experience talking to child welfare services at the police stationtheyre my friends. And then the policemen mistake the toy train Charlie got earlier for a gun, and shoot him. Rob Mc. Elhenney, Danny De. Vito, Kaitlin Olson, Glenn Howerton Photo Patrick Mc. ElhenneyFXXIts shocking for a lot of reasons. While the episode walked the signature Sunny line of offensive and meta offensive, the sunny if you will musical conceittunefully continuing while Charlie writhes bleeding out on the grounddoesnt prepare us for it. But its the one, brief flash from the cops point of view right before they pull the triggers that really does it. Were used to seeing Charlie and the rest of the Gang take often bloody comic abuse and laughing at both the moral comeuppance and the exquisite execution of the gag. Here, we get just a glimpse of young Charlie AJ Hudson looks about 1. Charlie on the sidewalk, still keeping up the harmony in his screams as the rest of the Gang sing, desperately, Weve learned our lesson and we want to go home. Our white home Just say home People who look to Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia to reinforce their point of view on social issues are doing it wrong.