It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Review: Mac’s Big Break

It’s 9:30 a.m., on a Thursday, in Philadelphia, and three of our five favorite dysfunctional, delusional, narcissistic bar owners are listening to the radio at Paddy’s while preparing for the day ahead. Dee, Dennis and Frank’s ears perk up as the deejay announces a live trivia contest in which the winner will receive the opportunity to spend a weekend at the radio station’s beach house if they make a slap shot from center ice at a Flyers game. As Dee wonders aloud who on Earth would clamor the phone lines just for an opportunity to vacation with the “idiots” at a radio station, the answer to her question is shown in the form of Mac and Charlie in the nearby office, clamoring away.

With both buffoons using multiple cell phones in order to increase their chances, Mac beats the miserable odds and actually gets through. “Holy shit, he got on!” Dee exclaims. “Holy shit, I got on!” Mac exclaims – on-air, to the deejay’s chagrin. The trivia question is, “What Flyer holds the franchise record for most goals in a single season?” The clock begins to tick. Charlie, apparently having meant to prepare himself to Google the inquiry for an expedited response and likelier chances of answering correctly, instead panics when he notices the keyboard is missing the “H” key, and he is therefore unable to type a question involving the word “hockey.” But of course. Mac’s grace under fire doesn’t prove any more productive, as he manages to distract both himself and Charlie from the question at hand, instead wondering what figure is known for thinking with his fist under his chin, as Mac is doing at that exact moment. “The Thinker!” Dee and Dennis correctly announce as they intently listen to the entire exchange on their boom box in the next room. “The Incredible Hulk!” offers Charlie.

Just when it seems Mac and Charlie have blown it, Mac offers the name of the first Flyer that pops into his mind at the last second. “I dunno, Reggie Leach,” he shrugs. To everyone’s amazement, it’s the correct answer and Mac will be shooting a puck from center ice at the next Flyers game to try and win a weekend getaway at the station’s beach house. While there are certainly more glamorous prizes given away in more glamorous contests every day, for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia standards, this on-air trivia victory proves to be “Mac’s Big Break.”

Mac and Charlie spastically dance into the bar with glee to share their joy with the mildly amused Dennis, Dee and Frank. Mac is overjoyed and expresses his excitement for this “life-changing opportunity.” Ever-dubious Dennis asks how a weekend at a Philly radio station’s beach house could be a “life-changing opportunity,” and Mac hilariously cites his firm belief he’ll be able to rub elbows with celebrities and bigwigs who will give him the chance to become part of “the inner circle.”

As Mac and Charlie give Dennis, Dee and Frank their cell phones back, Dee and Dennis discuss whether or not once-precious cell phone minutes are still a commodity these days. “No one gives a shit about minutes anymore,” testifies Dennis. Dee, however, does, and as the two banter back and forth Mac and Charlie notice Frank tape recording the debate. He says listening to a conversation between Dee and Dennis is “better than radio,” and this statement gives the duo an idea to begin their own podcast, since they “talk about issues” in such an innovative way. People would surely take the time to listen, no? Frank suddenly groans as he realizes he’s taped over his Luther Vandross mix, and Dee and Dennis head to the office to record their “inaugural podcast.”

Charlie and Mac, meanwhile, start readying for slap shot practice – on asphalt, mind you – with a determination not to squander this opportunity like they have, well, every other opportunity that has ever crossed their paths. Ever. After Charlie remarks on Mac’s stiffness (“You look like a G.I. Joe,” he quips) and awkward handling of the hockey stick, he advises him to regard the puck with gentle grace. “Guide it like a bowl of cream you don’t want to spill,” he genuinely offers, but Mac claims he wants to piledrive the puck down the ice with all the force his masculinity will allow. Otherwise, he says, he’ll “look like a jabroni,” a word that apparently serves as both a favorite of Mac’s and a recurring theme of the episode. Charlie agrees to compromise and start Mac off with the “bowl of cream” style of shooting until they work their way up to a bona fide slap shot. As they officially begin practice, however, Mac’s efforts immediately prove unsuccessful and the guys decide the non-regulation asphalt must be the culprit. To the ice rink!

Dee and Dennis’ podcast is initially set to center on the topic of technology – “because it’s everywhere,” the ever-perceptive Dee notes – but the conversation awkwardly lulls upon Frank’s unwelcome cracker chomping and the subsequent noise it makes. In lieu of uncomfortable silence, Frank announces he’s invited a guest. It’s none other than Cricket, homeless and strung out, with an infected throat wound rendering his voice squeaky and hoarse. Things just keep getting better and better for this guy. Cricket infests the podcast with a bizarre tale of “the homeless circuit,” involving a recent encounter with a “fully aroused” dog. I’ll leave it at that. Frank had given Cricket the false promise of a rotisserie chicken if he appeared on the podcast, and instead provided him with a bowl of lemons to suck on. “Lemons are good for scurvy,” Cricket agrees, and puckers away.

Charlie and Mac have finally made their way to the ice rink where Charlie advises Mac he wear a long, flowing, mullet-like wig to accompany his slap shot. Mac immediately balks, saying he’d then have to wear the wig for the entire beach vacation and beyond, keeping up the follicle façade “like Andre Agassi.” When the first practice shot goes awry and the rink manager kicks them out for both disturbing other patrons and failing to wear ice skates, Mac manages to use his new favorite word, jabroni, in another sentence and Charlie marvels at the term’s undeniable coolness.

Back at Paddy’s, Dee and Dennis’ podcast has evolved to the subject of stem-cell research, until Dee discovers the sound effects buttons and utilizes the duck quack to a mind-numbing degree. Dennis is annoyed until he discovers the glory of the laser beam and tells Dee they’ll “pepper in” that sound at every appropriate opportunity. Frank, always helpful, suggests they switch topics to war as he brings in another guest: Ben the Solider. Dee is immediately uncomfortable as her former lover dodges probing questions from Frank about their sex life and Dennis, having strangely adopted a speaking voice that sounds like a cross between Jed Clampett and Owen Wilson, shoots such investigative inquiries as whether or not either of the two wars the U.S. is involved in are being fought on U.S. soil. I’d almost feel the need to assure you I’m not making this up, but if you’re reading this, you’ve probably seen the episode or are at least familiar with Sunny’s off-color zaniness.

As Mac flails around on his ice skates with an encouraging Charlie looking on, a referential, self-aware montage begins, complete with an egg-yolk gulping homage to Rocky and a “Push It to the Limit” soundtrack. I’m surprised they didn’t show them running up the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Finally, Mac begins to literally guide a bowl of cream down the ice with grace and precision before barreling it across the rink with the accuracy of Wayne Gretzky. He and Charlie commence a celebratory, bromantic embrace. Beach house weekend with the inner circle, here they come!

Dee and Dennis’ podcast only continues to enter darker territory, as Frank’s final guest proves to be the poor, surely somewhat masochistic Waitress, led to Paddy’s under the false pretense that Dennis would be issuing an apology. When it’s made clear that won’t be happening, Frank offers her $50 to drink soup from his shoe while topless (I couldn’t make this up if I tried), but ups his prize to $500 when she initially recoils. Cricket comes in with a bucket of dishwater, claiming the bar is out of soup, and proceeds to dump it over her head after she refuses to drink it. Dee and Dennis’ cackles of laughter even make me wince, and I’m a far bigger sucker for off-color humor than most.

The episode’s resolution finally commences as Charlie and Mac make their way to the Flyers game for the titular event: Mac’s Big Break is officially upon us. Dennis and Dee show up, too, but only to make sure Mac gives the deejays their podcast demo tape – unfortunately still labeled “Luther Vandross” – and not to cheer on their friend. As Mac glides down the ice to a roaring crowd, a combination of both his swaggering confidence and Charlie’s American flag cape make my brow furrow with skepticism. Once Mac makes the shot and his moment of glory is far too perfect to be part of Sunny’s reality, I decide his victory must be a dream sequence. Indeed, it turns out Mac slipped and fell on his face as soon as he stepped onto the ice, knocking him unconscious and forcing Charlie to take the shot. Needless to say, Charlie missed the target “by a mile,” and Mac’s unfortunate Big Break is looped on the arena’s JumboTron for all of Philadelphia to laugh at, again and again.

While this week’s episode was a far cry from the doldrums of last week’s boat blunder, I wouldn’t file this in the annals of classic Sunny fare, either. Mac and Charlie’s rapport was vintage Sunny and the best part of the episode, but Dennis and Dee’s podcast fiasco only proved that, after six seasons, the subject matter is veering further from sarcastic audacity and closer to distasteful insults for the sake of grossing people out. A homeless man comparing his festering neck gash to a dog’s vagina is not what I would call groundbreaking humor. Sunny is at its peak when the dialogue is rapid fire and the references are pointed toward the more intellectually inclined viewers who may possess the ability to understand subtext. I fear Sunny may have hit its peak long ago and is now only enjoying a glimmer or two of shrewd comic timing and delivery per episode. Now that the writing has devolved to the point where characters are getting buckets of water dumped on their heads for laughs, it seems as though Sunny, like Philadelphia’s own Rocky Balboa, is unable to throw in the towel before it’s too late.

Season 6, Episode 4: Mac’s Big Break (originally aired October 7, 2010)

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Thursdays at 10pm on FX

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