A Very Sunny Christmas

A Very Sunny Christmas
Information
Season	Five
Episode	Thirteen
Writer(s)	Charlie Day & Rob McElhenney
Director(s)	Fred Savage
Air Date	November 17, 2009 (DVD & Blu-ray) December 16, 2010 (First TV Broadcast)
Chronology
Preceded by	"The Gang Reignites the Rivalry"
Followed by	"Mac Fights Gay Marriage"

"A Very Sunny Christmas" is the thirteenth and last episode of the fifth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It originally aired on FX in December 2010 (after Season 6 completed airing) but was first released on DVD & Blu-ray in November 2009. Due to its later airing, most other listings such as Hulu consider this to be the season finale of season 6. It is 43 minutes in length, twice the length of a typical episode.

Synopsis

Christmas is nearly here and the Paddy's gang has got the spirit. For the gang the holidays have always been a time of trickery, backstabbing, and disappointment. But this year they are determined to rediscover the joy of Christmas. Mac, Charlie, Dennis, Dee, and Frank embark on a holiday adventure filled with stolen toys, childhood videos, naked elves, and a bloody run-in with Santa Claus that is guaranteed to blast Christmas spirit all over!

Recap

"Merry Christmas, bitches!"

9:00 AM on Christmas Eve

Dee & Dennis

While decorating Paddy's, Charlie and Mac mock Dennis and Dee for hating Christmas under the assumption that Frank was a terrible gift-giver. Dennis corrects them, clarifying that Frank would buy whatever they wanted most for himself, and rub it in their faces as a form of sadistic self-satisfaction and attempting to teach his children "a lesson." This year, Frank has bought Dennis' dream car, a Lamborghini Countach, and a high-end designer handbag that Dee wanted.

"Your old business partner is not dead."

Dee and Dennis decide to track down Eugene Hamilton, an old business partner Frank screwed out of millions of dollars, to teach Frank a lesson. They decide to do so in the manner of Charles Dickens' "Ghost of Christmas Past," in an attempt to have Frank see the error of his ways. Eugene has recently converted to Christianity, and only agrees to pretend to be a ghost if he can talk to Frank about Jesus. At Frank's apartment, Frank tries to kill Eugene when Eugene surprises Frank as a ghost per Dennis and Dee's plan. Dennis and Dee interrupt and make Frank re-watch an old home movie he took of them opening empty boxes on Christmas morning while he takes delight in their disappointment. They are further disappointed that Frank shows no guilt, and Eugene lacks any urge to exact revenge on Frank.

"Can't breathe!"

Dennis and Dee take Frank and Eugene to their old real estate office and sew Frank inside a couch so he can overhear his former co-workers gossiping about him. Their plan is a failure, however, as Frank has long since left the company and everyone currently employed hardly knows who he is, and is confused at Dennis and Dee's urging for everyone to say disparaging things about Frank. Frank gets too hot in the couch and strips naked, then emerges from the couch, walking nude across the entire party with everyone staring at him in surprise.

At a cemetery, Dennis and Dee decide to finish their "Ghost of Christmas Past" analogy by showing Frank an empty grave with a tombstone that reads "He was a dick of a father" as a "vision" of Frank's future. Frank scoffs that he wouldn't be buried anyway, stating that he simply wants his body tossed away in the trash. Dennis and Dee lose their patience and yell at Frank to change his ways and to give them reparations for past Christmases, to which Frank rebuffs that Dennis and Dee have not learned their lesson all along. Frank drives away, leaving Dennis, Dee, and Eugene stranded.

Mac & Charlie

"I was taking their presents, but they were taking mine."

Mac and Charlie head to Mac's house to find some of his favorite toys from Christmases past. They find an Omnibot and a videotape of Mac's 1985 Christmas. When they watch the videotape, it shows a child Mac oblivious of going along with his parents breaking into other people's houses and opening their presents. Mac swears it was a neighborhood tradition, but Charlie informs him that he was just robbing innocent families.

"He'd give me a present ya know, or something, and then he'd go in the room with my mom and cheer her up for a while."

The two head over to Charlie's mother's house, where Charlie attempts to cheer Mac up with his own traditions. Charlie tells Mac about how when he was a kid, Santas would come over on Christmas morning and give him presents before going upstairs to "cheer up" his mother Bonnie as a tradition. When Mac pieces together the information, he informs Charlie that his mother was simply prostituting herself out for money and gifts. This is a hard pill for Charlie to swallow, and Charlie is in denial of his mother's behavior.

Mac and Charlie apologize to Ricky Falcone, the boy that Mac unknowingly stole the Omnibot from in his old videotapes. They decide to go to the mall to get him the hottest toy for his kids. At the mall, Mac nearly fights a toy store clerk due to supplies running out of the "hottest" toy on Christmas Eve, and assuming there is a "special reserve" of toys that the clerk is not willing to pull from. Charlie pulls Mac away, and the two decide to regroup their efforts to keep up the Christmas spirit. Mac states he wants to hide in the mall until the stores close and steal a robot from the toy store, but Charlie reminds him he is stealing like his family's tradition again. Charlie prides himself on keeping up his Christmas spirit, but loses his mind upon sight of the mall Santa. Charlie cuts past the line of families and sits himself on the Santa's lap, loudly asking "Did you fuck my mom?" over and over. When the Santa cannot answer, Charlie attacks and bites the Santa in the neck, causing a panic as people run and children cry. Mac physically drags an enraged Charlie from the scene.

"Gouge your eyes out with a spoon, blow them up like two balloons, keep them close so you can see, as they chainsaw off your knee!"

The Gang unites

At Paddy's, Mac, Charlie, Dennis, and Dee commiserate about how much they hate Christmas. Suddenly, Charlie receives a call from the hospital that Frank has died. The gang go to identify Frank's body, but finds that Frank is still alive. It turns out that Frank did get into a crash with his Lamborghini, and apparently had a cartoonish vision of the gang violently dismembering him if he continues with his selfish behavior and lack of a Christmas spirit. Frank promises the gang that he will make it up to them, but Dennis and Dee, having been spurned too many times by Frank, convinces the gang the only lesson to take away from Frank's story is that the rest of them should stick together and make their own Christmas spirit without their respective parents. They leave the hospital without Frank.

"We're trying to give you the Christmas spirit, dickhole!"

Dennis, Dee, Charlie, and Mac all go over to sing Christmas carols to Ricky Falcone at 4:00am in the morning, where they are booed and glass bottles are thrown at them. As they spitefully continue to sing, Dennis' car is towed. When they eventually return to Paddy's, they are surprised by the bar being beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations. Frank reveals he and Eugene have decorated the bar, and tells the gang he has presents for them to show that he has truly seen the error of his ways and wants to change. Dee is given the designer handbag, Charlie and Mac is given the previously sold-out toy robot, and Dennis is given the keys to the Lamborghini parked in the alleyway with a large ribbon. Eugene then surprises Frank too, by pulling out a handgun. He demands the gang give all their presents to him, revealing he has not changed and still wants revenge on Frank after all. He then lines the gang up together and blasts them with an industrial snow-making cannon to make his get-away.

Upset that all their gifts were stolen, the gang spends Christmas morning throwing rocks at trains, a tradition Mac and Charlie have held onto since they were little boys.

Gregory Scott Cummins as Luther Mac and Sandy Martin as Mrs. Mac

Cast

Starring

• Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
• Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
• Rob McElhenney as Mac
• Kaitlin Olson as Dee Reynolds
• Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds

Guest Starring

• David Huddleston as Eugene
• Gregory Scott Cummins as Luther
• Sandy Martin as Mac's Mom
• Lynne Marie Stewart as Charlie's Mom
• Pablo Schreiber as Ricky Falcone
• Ryan Michelle Bathe as Woman-Office Worker
• Mike Beaver as Man-Office Worker
• Derek Waters as Toy Store Clerk
• Mark Povinelli as Tiny

Co-Starring

• Preston Bailey as Young Mac
• Charlie Carter as Young Dennis
• Harley Graham as Young Dee
• Robbie Tucker as Young Charlie
• Timothy Goodwin as Christmas Dad
• Donovan Scott as Santa in Mall
• Karly Rothenberg as Another Mom
• Marc Anthony Samuel as Raisin #1 V.O.
• Gary Anthony Williams as Snowman and Raisin V.O.

Trivia

• The Lamborghini is yellow and black, the theme colors of the show.
• There are multiple Christmas songs in this episode:

1. "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms
2. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" by Bing Crosby
   feat. The Andrews Sisters
3. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams
4. "Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley
5. "O Holy Night" by Andy Williams
6. "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby

• Because this episode was not originally broadcast on TV, the word "fuck" is used multiple times by multiple characters. (previously, in the 4th Season premiere Charlie was yelling "I ate a fucking monkey, Dee!", and it was censored; also, in the episode "Mac and Charlie: White Trash", Mac does say "Fuck you" to the attendant at the pool, but it's also censored.) Charlie uses the word at least 15 times (possibly more, though it's a bit indistinct at times) during his violent outburst towards Santa. This would later become a more regular occurrence in the later seasons of the series, when the show moved to FXX.
• Due to this episode making its broadcast debut in December 2010, it is listed as the last episode of "Season 6" on Hulu.

• The scene where Frank comes out of the couch naked is visually similar to a scene in "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" with a naked Jim Carrey being birthed from a mechanical rhino.
• When Frank crawls out of the couch you can see his testicles for a brief second.
• A scene where Frank rips off the couch was reused in the launch of FXX on Monday, September 2nd, 2013 (two days before the show moved to FXX for its ninth season) at 7:00am, which replaces Fox Soccer.
• In "Dennis Looks Like a Registered Sex Offender", Charlie talks about his mom's inner whore (and even called her "one hell of a whore") because he was mad at her for "stealing Frank" from him. In this Christmas special, the gang sees Bonnie performing actual prostitution.
• In "Charlie Got Molested" Mrs. Kelly also calls Charlie her "little gingerbread man".
• This episode went on sale on Danny DeVito's birthday - November 17
  (and two days before "The D.E.N.N.I.S. System" was first aired).
• There's a slight editing snafoo during Charlie's Santa-freak-out (right before Mac elbows the lady at the mall).
• The stereo receiver which Luther is stealing during Mac's childhood "Christmas Morning", is very likely a Technics SA-390 Quartz Stereo Receiver, manufactured and released in 1986.
• Danny DeVito was hesitant about the snowblower scene. He thought it would be dangerous.
• Charlie Day actually bruised his ribs filming the snowblower scene.

• The stop motion animation scene, which was animated by Cuppa Coffee Studios, is an homage to the 1964 Christmas classic cartoon "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." A page for their work on this episode can also be found on their website.
• This is the first episode that gives a specific date for the day rather than just a day of the week ("9:00 AM, on Christmas Eve, Philadelphia, PA"). The episode "The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre" gives the date as "Friday the 13th".
• The title sequence is also changed to show Christmas lights and decorations around Philly, and the theme is remixed to add jingle bells (as is a lot of the other music in this episode).
• The "Sergio Giorgini" bag that Frank buys to taunt Dee is a reference to the UK version of The Office, in which office manager David Brent brags about having a "Sergio Giorgini" leather jacket. It is unclear if the brand is meant to be an in-universe, fictional brand, or simply a fake name made up by their respective characters. As such, no brand with the name currently exists outside of the shows.
• Mac elbows a woman who comes up behind him, reminiscent of his reflexes that caused him to punch Carmen in "Charlie Has Cancer".
• For the TV broadcast Charlie's fatal question to Santa was redubbed to "Did you SEX my mom?".
• As Dennis and Dee return to the bar after failing to change Frank for the better, Mac is briefly seen studying the train routes so that he and Charlie can throw rocks at trains on Christmas.
• If you look closely during the mall freak-out scene, Rickety Cricket is in the crowd.
• The model train set that Frank sets up on the bar is a Lionel O gauge Polar Express set (with extra pieces of track added to run the full length of the bar). This particular train set is a tie-in product with the 2004 animated movie of the same name.

Quotes

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“No, your other left.”

“My other left? I only have one left.”

—

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“It's just an expression. Just move it to the other direction.”

“What would that expression be for? For someone who has two lefts?”

—

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“No. Just move it the other way!”

“Towards your left?”

—

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“Your left and my left are the same because we're facing the same direction.”

“We're two different people. We can't have the same left.”

—

 

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“Why WOULDN'T we throw rocks at trains?”

 

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“Merry Christmas, bitches!”

 

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“You have to earn what you get. This principle is what made me a multi-millionaire.”

“No, no, stealing millions of dollars from your ex-business partner is what made you a millionaire.”

—

 

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Eugene

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“I saw the light and I saw the truth of the lord and savior Jesus Christ.”

“Oh, uh-oh.”

—

 

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“Why do you have a karate trophy?”

“I found that in the street once.”

—

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“Oh, that makes sense.”

 

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“What was that? What was the family on the stairs?”

“That was probably the next family, coming to get their next presents.”

—

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“What are you talking about? What was happening there?”

“That was the Christmas tradition. Where you go from house to house collecting your presents and when the next family comes you would run.”

—

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“I'm not aware of this tradition, Mac. In fact I think you were just stealing from that home.”

“No, I was taking their presents -- but they were taking mine. That's why there were never any presents under my tree when I got back -- the neighbors took them. It's a South Philly tradition.”

—

 

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“Mac, your dad is a thief and a murderer who eats people. So, he's not really trustworthy.”

“This is really dicking with my Christmas spirit.”

—

 

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“If you're going to bring God into it, can you do the Old Testament, and the covenant, and keeping your eyes closed or your face will melt, or the coins, and the fear, and the Indiana Jones...”

 

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“This is your chance to get your vengeance, guy. Where is your anger?”

“Let's all go to church!”

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Eugene

 

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“The Santas that come over on Christmas morning and cheer my mom up.”

“The Santas, plural? What the hell are you talking about?”

—

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“Oh dude, this was like the best tradition ever. Every Christmas morning, I would run to the door and open it and I'd find the first Santa Claus. Now the Santa Claus would come in and he'd give me a present or something and then he'd go in the room with my mom and cheer her up for a while. Then the doorbell would ring and the next Santa Claus would come, and he'd give me a present or something or other and he'd go cheer my mom up for a while.”

“Uh Charlie. I hate to break this to you man, but based on the story you just told me. I think your mother was a prostitute.”

—

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“What? Come on, man.”

“I'm just saying based on that story you just told me, I'm fairly certain those Santas were running a train on your mom for money.”

—

 

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“At this point, I think the robot has fallen under the "Finders, Keepers Act of America".”

 

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“Did you fuck my mom, Santa Claus? Did you fuck my mom? Did you fuck her? DID YOU FUCK MY FUCKING MOM? DID YOU FUCK MY MOM, SANTA? AAAAH!”

 

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Eugene

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“You didn't let me talk to Frank about the peace that he would find in the lord.”

“No no no! I can't stand it! I'll shove a fist right in your mouth right now, I'm sorry.”

—

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“If you think Jesus and the lord are so great, why don't you have them swing by in their Lamborghinis and take your ass home.”

 

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“Christmas is just a bunch of bullshit. You just find out that your dad stole all of your presents and that your mom gets fucked by a series of never ending Santa Clauses. Charlie's mom is a prostitute, by the way.”

 

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“What the hell is this?”

“I knew you guys wouldn't come, so I faked my own death.”

—

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“We really should have seen that one coming...”

 

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“What the hell was that, you little green bitch!?”

 

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  {{quote-text|Christmas is a time for joy for every girl and every boy. Rich or poor, old or young, the Christmas spirit's in everyone! But you'll miss out on all the fun 'cause you're not nice to anyone.

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