"Frank vs. Russia" is the fourth episode in the sixteenth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the 166th episode overall.
Synopsis[]
Charlie cheers on Frank at a local chess tournament against a Russian grandmaster. Dennis helps Mac and Dee find boyfriends after getting irritated by Mac's current boyfriend, Johnny.
Plot[]
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
- Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
- Rob McElhenney as Mac McDonald
- Kaitlin Olson as Dee Reynolds
- Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds
Guest Starring[]
- Lynne Marie Stewart as Bonnie Kelly
- Sandy Martin as Mrs. Mac
- Andrew Friedman as Jack Kelly
Co-Starring[]
- Endre Hules as Russian Grandmaster
- Iman Crosson as Patrick
- Dan Sachoff as Sportscaster Mark
- Rebecca Hanson as Sportscaster Susan
- Paul Black as Kyle
- Mike Baker as Attendant
- Aiden Arnold as Young Boy
Continuity[]
- Charlie wears his America denim jacket and bandana from "Charlie Goes America All Over Everybody's Ass" and bald eagle shirt from "Gun Fever Too: Still Hot". He also has two new America themed hoodies both heavily featuring bald eagles.
- Dee refers to her tactic of stealing a date's item to establish a second meeting with them, seen in "PTSDee".
- Frank says he is now an LGBT ally, ever since Mac did "The Dance", but goes back to "not getting it" when the conversation turns to anal beads which "The Dance" did not cover.
- Dennis reveals his S.I.N.N.E.D. system as a reverse of The D.E.N.N.I.S. System to attract men instead of women.
- Mac and Dennis have previously chaperoned a blind date for Charlie in "The Waitress Is Getting Married" by pretending to be restaurant management, just as Dennis does with Mac and Dee's dates.
- Dennis creating a fake person to get Mac out of the apartment is similar to how he created a cult just to keep Mac away from his thin mint cookies in 10x10.
- We see things from Frank's point of view again, previously happening in 11x06.
- Uncle Jack has a briefcase full of spy-like surveillance tools. Charlie and Dennis mention Jack being spy-like in "Old Lady House: A Situation Comedy" for having hard drives in the floorboards of Bonnie's attic.
- This episode marks the third time in a row Bonnie and Mrs. Mac have appeared in Season 16.
Trivia[]
- The plotline of Charlie and Frank using vibrating anal beads to cheat at chess is based on a real incident: after defeating (then) World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in a match, American Grandmaster Hans Niemann was accused of cheating, and there was speculation that he was receiving instructions on which piece to move through the use of vibrating anal beads. Niemann denied the allegation.
Gallery[]
Promotional image parodying Dr. Dre's The Chronic
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