#topfive - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (season 8)

A year ago, I began watching this show. I had heard of the show before that, but had never watched it. Honestly, Charlie Day had interested me so much after seeing his performance in "Horrible Bosses", and the people I know who watch this show love it, so I began recording this show on my DVR.

Well, recording turns into me buying all six seasons (the seventh hadn't come out on blu-ray/DVD by that point) over the course of six weeks. (I would have watched it on Netflix, but they just added the show to their listings a couple of months ago.) While it can be hard at times for me to watch shows back-to-back, I watched this show repeatedly last summer. I was obsessed. This has become one of my "pick-me-up" shows. This is one of the few shows that, if I'm upset or mad, I can just put on an episode and instantly feel better.

I don't remember which episode I watched first, but I'm sure it wasn't an episode from the first season. I'm not sure I would be writing this all week today if I had started from the beginning. (No, I watched seasons one and two after the rest of the seasons.) What fascinates me, probably the most, is the unapologetic nature of these characters. (Some are more unapologetic than others.) They know what they think, they have their own opinions, all of which are true and right. They will let you know how they think, and more often than not they will loudly let you know. (Yelling is just how they roll.)

I know season 9 won't begin for another three months, but I want to go ahead and discuss my five favorite episodes from season 8.



Honorable Mentions:

Episode 4 "Charlie and Dee Find Love"

Episode 10 "Reynolds vs Reynolds: The Cereal Defense"

#5

Episode 9

"The Gang Dines Out"

(Caps from Dryed Mangoez)

We start this episode off with Dennis and Mac's monthly dinner, but then Charlie and Frank also show up, and later we see Dee having dinner by herself. Of course this group of people would end up, separately, at the same restaurant, roughly around the same time. While they're all friends and family, there's always competition and that need to be better than each other, and we see that between Charlie and Frank, and Mac and Dennis.

#4

Episode 2

"The Gang Recyles Their Trash"

(Cap from We Got It Covered)

This episode was inspired by a garbage strike that really happened in Philadelphia in 1986, and also served as a "thank you" to the fans, the shows version of a "flashback episode", due to jokes from previous episodes being thrown in and shown. The gang, always finding ways to try and make a few extra dollars, decides to take advantage of the trash crisis, and while it works out at first, of course it goes horribly wrong.

#3

Episode

"The Gang Gets Analyzed"

(Cap from GeekBinge)

We usually see the gang with... well, the gang. It's always a treat to see them interacting with other people, especially the seemingly "normal" people of the world. Dee's therapist - she sees a therapist for her ever-growing psoriasis - suggested Dee have a "cooperative dinner" with her friends, but because no one is assigned the dishes, they all go to Dee's therapist to figure out who gets assigned "dish duty". Based on Dennis' suggestion - he decides to help out the therapist with the therapy sessions with the gang - the therapist has individual sessions with each person. We certainly get to know more about each of these people, but of course their crazy stories and antics drive the therapist mad.

#2

Episode 3

"Maureen Ponderosa's Wedding Massacre"

(Cap from AVClub)

Definitely one of most creative episodes in the series, we see the gang experiencing what looks like a zombie apocolypse. Anything that has to do with the McPoyle's ends up turning out a bit weird, and things were already weird enough when we see that Dennis' ex-wife, Maureen, was to marry Liam on Friday the 13th.

#1

Episode 8

"Charlie Rules the World"

(Cap from ShareTV)

That's right, the guy who can neither read nor write, rules the world. Charlie begins playing an online game, "TechPocalypse", after seeing Dee play it. As a couple - within the game, though Charlie probably never fully understood that - they become the richest and most powerful people in the game, and of course the power and entitlement affects them in the real-world, too.