It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Review: It’s Not Easy Being Frank

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a show that has never been afraid to take risks. The show has always been over-the-top and unafraid to touch any subject, and that’s what makes it so successful. Sometimes these risks pay off big, like in episodes such as “The Nightman Cometh” and “Charlie Work.” Other times, like in tonight’s episode, you can’t help but give them props for trying something difficult and new, even if it didn’t completely work. This whole episode was told from Frank’s perspective, meaning that we saw everything through his eyes. And there were a lot of things I, for one, wish I could unsee.

Let’s start with the good: this was truly an innovative episode unlike anything else you’re going to see on television. The filming style was unique and interesting and had the exact affect that they were going for. To show the perspective of someone like Frank, both when we was on and off drugs, is something that could not have been easy to film and they did a great job with it. There were also plenty of quick yet funny references to things that long time viewers of the show would catch, such as the toe knife and the hilarious game of Night Crawlers.

We also got a really interesting look inside Frank’s head, understanding a lot more about the character and what drives the behavior we normally see in an episode. There’s no doubt that Frank is the grossest member of the gang and being able to see what leads to so many of his more disturbing moments was eye-opening. Most of the time he really doesn’t know what’s going on and is simply flying by the seat of his pants. The funny part of this episode came from realizing that this approach of Frank’s genuinely seems to work out most of the time.

What this episode was missing was the comedy we’ve come to expect from It’s Always Sunny. I think I laughed just once the whole episode, and that was at the end when Charlie grabbed the blanket to start a game of Night Crawlers. In the end, Frank’s life really isn’t all that funny. Instead, it’s mostly just sad. If you dislike gross comedy that relies on shock value, then you probably aren’t a big fan of most Frank-centric episodes. And I definitely fall into that category. That doesn’t necessarily make it a bad episode, it just means that not every episode of It’s Always Sunny is going to work for everyone.

Other than the lack of laughs in the episode, it also suffered a bit from the confusion at the beginning of not knowing when Frank was thinking or actually talking out loud. While it got easier to pick up on this as the episode went along, it never fully felt differentiated enough. And while it was interesting, it was not particularly funny to get a look at what Frank actually thinks of the gang. Turns out, he doesn’t really like any of them that much (except, of course, for Charlie). In the end, I think what hurt it most was that it almost solely featured the weakest character of the group. Don’t get me wrong, Danny DeVito is great and Frank is funny in small doses. But watching a full episode of just his antics was difficult to sit through. So while I think it’s great that It’s Always Sunny is still taking these big risks, this time it didn’t quite hit the mark. But that’s okay because there’s always next week.