The second episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s eleventh season, much like the first episode, looks back into the past. After falling out of a window, Frank suddenly believes that it’s 2006 all over again. Once the gang realise what’s happening (after initially contemplating putting him in a home) they all begin to fall in to familiarly territory too. In typically uncaring fashion, Dennis views it as an opportunity to ‘change history’ and rather than see Frank living with Charlie in squalor again, he schemes with Dee to get Frank’s money.
After years of sociopathic in-group fighting, it’s an odd change to see any character in this show display so much warmth like the more grounded Frank on display here. It’s a brief reminder of just how corrupted people become in the company of the gang and the fact that Frank’s gaping head wound never once gets treated in the entire episode just points to the self-absorption that consumes this show.
A frank chat between Dennis and Dee (the most fun pairing in the show here given a chance to play off of each other’s craziness) deconstructs their career goals, providing another opportunity to reveal Dennis’ sociopathic tendencies in his desire to be a vet just to keep the animal’s skins. After getting blackout drunk though, things take another leap back into the past and the two find themselves addicted to crack yet again. The pair even attempt to go on welfare once more, repeating the same bit from ‘Dennis and Dee go on Welfare’, a great early episode in its own right however the reliance on getting exactly the same laughs from an episode nine seasons ago raises some questions of staleness in the show's formula.
Eventually things become more and more familiar; Biz Markie is heard again, Mac and Charlie look for a roommate and Frank returns to the strip club as the episode essentially re-treads old ground beat for beat. In this sense it’s incredibly similar to the season eight episode; ‘The Gang Recycles Their Trash’ in its unabashed meta-commentary. When this show gets referential, it goes all-in and as a result this certainly isn’t the most accessible episode to new viewers.
Always Sunny is at heart though, a continuation of Seinfeld’s ‘no hugging, no learning’ philosophy and by the end of the episode rum ham triggers Frank's memory and everything is back to normal. The pessimistic view on show seems to suggest that we’re bound to repeat our mistakes and considering we get a look at Charlie, Dee, Dennis and even the Waitress all displaying various forms of regret, it results in a rather melancholy episode thematically.
7/10 – Although it’s clearly by design, this episode feels a little too familiar to truly stand out in terms of story. As a general look at the show’s philosophy though, it’s a spot on deconstruction of how far the characters have regressed during the run of the series.
