It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 10 Episode 4 Review: Charlie Work
Narsimha Chintaluri
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It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 10 Episode 4 is a testament to the sheer talent Charlie Day possesses, as well as a reminder that the show is still very much alive and kickin', despite ten freakin' years on air.
Tonight's episode of Sunny was an instant classic – and why wouldn't it be with a premise involving "Charlie work?"
Sporting a mind-boggling single take (not dissimilar to the much raved about scene from True Detective Season 1) during basically the entirety of the health inspection, the Sunny crew clearly have a point to make tonight.
This far into their series, they should be bleeding any inkling of new stories dry, re-hashing and re-re-hashing old classics, and scrambling for a good rock to hide under considering that they already have two more season picked up. Instead – over a 100 episodes later – they still have a something as simple as a health inspection to use as a premise, and they still care enough to put in the effort to make it relentlessly hilarious and complete blast to watch.
Not only was the one-shot during the second half of the episode technically brilliant, it felt natural and not in any way forced. The show is already a constant stream of riffing, and the use of the continuous shot only adds to the Charlie's flawless orchestration.
Back office, chickens, vents. Everything's going in the vents, okay?
Charlie Day set loose with a script he's fully memorized, and endless room to improvise, for a straight, uninterrupted, 10 minutes, is comedy gold. He becomes the most tightly wound, yet extremely effective, conductor ever, weaving the solutions to the rest of the gang's problems into his own, and creating a brilliant symphony in the process.
And of course, as always, he gets absolutely no credit for being a low-key genius – even when he makes the entire group laugh by setting up Dee's chair to break into pieces.
Mac: Did you do that?
Dennis: You know what? I think I did.
Mac: Yeah I think I saw you!
I tried to count the number of times Dee was called a "bitch" this episode, but I lost count around a billion.
I'm sure not all of them were in the script, but rather, given how invested in his character Charlie Day was, a product of Day simply being immersed in the moment. As he said in a recent interview, him and the rest of the cast know their characters so well, that situations like this allow them to breath new life into their pre-existing idiosyncrasies – even if it's not in the script.
And a part of everyone's idiosyncrasies is calling Dee a "bitch."
You move the god damn dumpster you bitch.
Just do it Dee, just do it you god damn bitch! Ohhhh, that god damn bitch!
Another absolute highlight from tonight's episode was actually very brief, and I almost missed it on my first watch. Frank in black paint, hiding in the corner ready to blow two precise "g-sharp" notes, had me in stitches. I actually had to stop the episode to regroup.
Mac and Dennis also had some small, but equally funny, spats throughout which just kept the ball rolling so that there was never really a dull moment the entire time.
Dennis: It was Mac's stupid plan.
Mac: Then why did you scratch me?
Dennis: Because you annoyed.
Mac also seemed to be throwing some meta-shots at his partners in crime (or, well, writing a really funny TV show) with the way he talked about how an entire group can't come up with the same idea at the same time.
I couldn't help but wonder if those were some snide jabs at their own writing sessions when developing a new season. I'm sure by now, after nearly a decade, the gang, in real life, has clashed with each other over a number of various issues. Working with others, especially creatively, or when scheming for airline miles (a la Punch Drunk Love) with chickens and steak, can definitely be difficult – as Mac seemed to find out:
How can a whole group have the same idea? What, do they say it all at once? That's ludicrous.
Mac
Watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia online to catch any moments you may have missed, considering how fast-paced the entire half-hour seemed to be. It was joke after joke, gag after gag, and there are plenty more memorable scenes worth recapping over at It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia quotes. I have no doubt that the show will continue to deliver week after week, but, after nights like this, they've definitely earned some leeway for a few sub-par stints.
