The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell

The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell
Information
Season	Four
Episode	Eleven
Writer(s)	Rob McElhenney & Glenn Howerton & David Hornsby
Director(s)	Matt Shakman
Air Date	November 6, 2008
Chronology
Preceded by	"Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack"
Followed by	"The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition"

"The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Synopsis

In an attempt to turn their bar into a Philadelphia landmark, the gang tells the story of how Paddy's Pub was historically relevant during the Revolutionary War.

Recap

2:30PM on a Thursday, Philadelphia, PA

Dennis, Mac, and Charlie are in the Philadelphia Historical Society office trying to have Paddy's Pub approved as a certified historical landmark. As they attempt to remove a portrait of George Washington for "looking like an old woman," they are interrupted by a Historical Society member. When asked why Paddy's Pub should be a historical landmark, the gang tells her the story of how "Patrick's Pub" in 1776 supposedly contributed to the cracking of the Liberty Bell.

1776

In a flashback to 1776, colonial versions of the gang exist and own Patrick's Pub in Philadelphia. Dennis and Mac balk at the fact that their bar is a hotbed for American revolutionaries to meet, as they believe the British would win if war broke out. They plan to draw up a "Declaration of Dependence" to prove their loyalty to the British. Dee is made to do most of the work at the bar since she is repeatedly called a witch or slave by the rest of the gang. Charlie and Frank are self-proclaimed thieves posing as fur traders and accost a man carrying pumpkins, only to lose their own supply of pelts when casually turning their backs to grab weapons to mug the man, and the man steals from them instead. Charlie is able to keep one single pumpkin held in his hands.

"This appears to be a rendering of the two of you sodomizing the king while the queen is forced to witness."

Dennis and Mac force Dee to carry a tribute of ale to a British military base as they attempt to deliver their Declaration of Dependence to the highest-ranking military officer they can find, which turns out to be Colonel Cricket. Cricket is offended and disgusted by their "declaration" since it contains a crude and easily misinterpreted drawing, and Dee spits in Cricket's face when delivering the ale. Although unimpressed by Dennis and Mac, Cricket is smitten with Dee and asks Dennis and Mac to help him court Dee.

Back at the pub, Charlie and Frank have stolen a cache of rifles that do not seem to fire, to which they blame Dee as having placed a "curse" on them with her "sorcery" as a witch. Dennis and Mac plan to infiltrate a group of revolutionaries at the pub to gain British favor, with Mac wearing wooden teeth to look more American while Dennis sports Venetian ceruse and a powdered wig to look more British. Their clashing appearances and poor acting quickly give them away, causing their ruse to fail.

Charlie and Frank visit some Native Americans hoping their "magical powers" can help remove what Charlie and Frank still believe is a curse on their stolen guns. They openly jeer and mock the Native Americans at first, believing they do not understand English, but quickly find out they do. The Native Americans chase them out and scalp Frank as a result.

As Frank tends to his wound back at the pub, Cricket arrives to ask Dee's hand in marriage. Dee brazenly denies Cricket's proposal and adds that American revolutionaries will win against the British. As Cricket begins to leave and laments about the foregone possibility of Dee living with him in a mansion and wearing fancy clothes and jewels, Dee immediately changes her mind and agrees to marry him despite refusing to kiss him. Frank interjects and tells Cricket that Dee needs permission to be married off, but is satisfied when Cricket agrees to a deal to buy Frank's stolen guns in exchange for marrying Dee.

Dennis and Mac walk around town with both of them wearing Venetian ceruse and powdered wigs, as Dennis doubles down on the idea that they must look like British upper class to ensure their safety and loyalty to the British. They are soon cornered by ruffians due to their looks, and proceed to be tarred and feathered.

War breaks out as Dennis and Mac rush back to the pub in their tarred and feathered state. Dee happily packs her belongings to go to England with Cricket, but Cricket enters the pub panicked and angry that Frank's stolen guns are unusable and causing the British to lose. As Cricket promises safety to Dennis and Mac if they shelter Cricket, Frank accidentally discharges one of his rifles and blows Cricket's head clean off. Fearing that they will all be seen as traitors to the British for murdering Cricket, the gang concocts a plan to get rid of the body. They install Charlie's single pumpkin (now carved with a jack-o-lantern face) on top of Cricket's headless body, and send it off riding on a horse. The body and horse nearly runs into and interrupts two men carrying the Liberty Bell, causing them to drop the bell and giving it its distinct crack. Dee then steps out of the pub to fly away on a broom, cackling like a witch.

The flashback ends as it is revealed Dennis, Mac, and Charlie are feverishly acting out their story to the overwhelmed Historical Society member. She shouts for them to stop, and flatly denies their proposal to have Paddy's Bar become a historical landmark. The gang believes they may have skimped on the details of their story as to why the Historical Society member does not believe them, and begin telling their story all over again as the episode ends.

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 Hornsby as Colonel Cricket
• Pat Crawford Brown as Woman-Historical Society

Co-Starring

• Marco Akiaten as Native American Elder
• Steven Flores as Younger Native American
• Dave Gueriera as Thug
• Dennis W. Hall as Pumpkin Guy
• Matt Vinci as Patriot

Trivia

• As a white woman, Deandra could not actually legally be a slave, but she could have been an indentured servant, which was only slightly better, being bound to labor for a period of several years before being freed.
• Although the most famous witch trials in America happened in 1692-93, there were many others that occurred into the colonial period and beyond, so Deandra being accused of witchcraft is not impossible.
• Charlie is making horse walking noises while making a motion that appears to be clicking together 2 halves of a coconut. This could very well be a reference to "Monty Python's Holy Grail"
• This episode was inspired by a historical tour of Philadelphia that the cast went on.
• Mac owns an sleeveless t-shirt with a picture of the Liberty Bell on it. ^[1x2]
• Charlie is pretty sure that the American Revolution started in 1412 - i.e. even before Columbus discovered America.
• The Liberty Bell cracked sometime between 1817 and 1846, decades after the Gang's story.
• The scene of Colonel Cricket getting his head blown off was inspired by the exploding head scene in the movie Scanners.
• Deandra tries to shoot a pumpkin off Frank's head, an allusion to the William Tell legend.
• The Washington portrait on the wall is a copy of Gilbert Stuart's 1803 portrait; in 1776 Washington was only 44 years old and looked like this.
• Charles and Franklin mock the sleeping situation of the Native American father and son they go to visit, saying that the fact they must sleep on the same bearskin means they are "losers". This is direct irony due to their modern day counterparts sleeping together on a fold-out couch. (See Who Pooped the Bed? for a vivid illustration of Charlie and Frank's own sleeping situation.)
• The Natives were played by Kaytennae-Marcos Antonio “Marcos” Akiaten (Chokonen Chiricahua Apache) and Steven Flores (Comanche/Mexican mestizo).
• Dennis is seen reading The Way to Wealth by Benjamin Franklin at the bar of Patrick's Pub.
• Mac is referred to as "MacDonald" in 1776, though his true name - Ronald McDonald - is not revealed until Season 7. _{("The High School Reunion")}
• Cricket's body with a jack-o-lantern for a head riding on a horse is reminiscent of the American short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
• Though Kaitlin Olsen and Danny Devito are clearly in the episode as Dee and Frank's old-timey counterparts, the characters of Dee and Frank are technically absent from the episode. A similar thing will happen in "How Mac Got Fat"; while all the cast and characters appear in the episode, they are all confined to appearances in flashbacks, with only Mac being physically present in real time.
• Deandra and Franklin refer to Charles as "Charlie" at different points in the episode - his name in the present day story.

Images

Quotes

Frank: (to Dee) Damn your necromancy, woman!

Rickety Cricket: Why does he keep spitting into my mouth?! Who is this man?

Charlie: (referring to Colonel Cricket) Wait, wait, wait... check his pulse.

Dee: He doesn't have a head, Charlie!

External Links

• Behind-the-Scenes video