DJLinus

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - “The Gang Gets a New Member” (11/4/10)

Synopsis:

kstublen

This was actually a really good episode. And a real change of pace to boot. Could it be that they're trying to actually move our characters forward a little? It was really nice to see Dee actually taking some initiative and not have the Gang undermine what she was doing. Along the same lines, Charlie actually finding a job he was good at and after getting treated like crap by Mac and Dennis, not going back to them. It will be interesting to see where they go with these developments, if anywhere.

I got a kick out of a lot of the jokes as well. The four-leaf clover ring thing was funny. The whole lunch scene was awesome. Mac looking to Dennis to see if he could trade his prawn for salad, which he didn't even like, was well executed. I enjoyed how Schmitty shook things up a little and Mac being all excited after ordering a Ginger Ale. Dennis: "Linguine is too heavy for lunch!"

The time capsule was funny. Dee's letter killed me. Nice to see Dave Foley popping up as the Principal. Charlie's enthusiasm for janitorial work was great as was his willingness turned desire to eat the eraser.

Pregnant Dee

EDIT: Dennis losing his composure and the return of Nightcrawlers, lol.

Groucho

kstublen

lol

Fist of Doom

Dee calling that girl in the class a dickwad.

I cracked up at Mac trying to ring the bell with a roundhouse kick. It looked like a ballet move.

majorjoe23

I'm not quite sure what kind of kick Mac was doing, but it wasn't a roundhouse.

Fist of Doom

Exactly.

foofighters7

Really good episode, one of the better ones this season.

cleaver

Fist of Doom

^That's an impressive resume.

Groucho

Is this the first time The Gang actually refers to themselves as "The Gang"...?

kstublen

No.

DeputyDave

Its funny, after so many seasons you tend to actually forget how fucked up the gang really is until they introduce a semi-normal character into their world.

Jimmy James

I hope this isn't the last we see of Schmitty. Actually, now that I say that, I have been hoping they would revisit Michael Rosenbaum's character. I love that this show so often brings back the guests because it really adds to the realism and because they tend not to overdo it except when they have clearly decided to overdo it for comic effect (Rickety Cricket, the McPoyles).

Barings

You're kidding, right? Sure, they may have little things that they carry forward from episode to episode (like Charlie and Frank living in a slum), but character development?

This show follows the Seinfeld unofficial motto (No hugging, no learning) more closely than Seinfeld ever did. When Dennis and Dee got addicted to crack, there were no repercussions in later episodes. Same for the fights that took place during "100 dollar baby." They do have running gags, but every episode is pretty much encapsulated from a character development perspective.

kstublen

No, I'm not kidding. I'm not saying I expect the characters to change or learn lessons or improve as people, but there's no ignoring the fact that the way this episode ended is much different than the way other episodes have ended. Dee was teaching and the Gang didn't ruin it for her. She seems to have found some motivation to do something for a change. Charlie has found a job he's good at and that he enjoys. He had the chance to go back to the Gang, but he declined. I can't ever recall something like that happening before this episode. Maybe they'll abandon it with tonight's episode and things will be back to normal, but there's no ignoring Charlie and Dee showed some growth in this episode.