"The Gang Gets Cursed" is the third episode in the sixteenth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the 165th episode overall.
Synopsis[]
The Gang's going to be on Bar Rescue but a series of bad omens leads them to believe they are all cursed. They set off to undo the curses and make amends to the people/things they've wronged. While Mac, who's on a run of good luck, meets Chase Utley and invites him for a catch.
Plot[]
11:30AM. On a Friday. Philadelphia, PA.
Mac excitedly announces to the gang that Paddy’s has been selected to be on Bar Rescue. The others are skeptical of being on a reality show, but Mac is confident things will change for the better.
Before the crew gets to Paddy's Pub, Dee walks into the bar with the right half of her face paralyzed, Dennis begins forgetting simple words, and Frank cracks open an egg to reveal blood inside. Charlie believes they've all been cursed, and the Gang begins to recount moments that may have led to this. Dee awarded her neighbor with a "Cunt of the Year" trophy when she was asked to keep her voice down, Frank killed a seagull that had flown into the bar, and Mac shooed Cricket out of the bar, calling him street trash, to which Cricket responded to by placing a curse on Mac. Mac dismisses the curse as being anti-God and continues getting ready for the show, while Charlie persuades the others to make amends with those they wronged in hopes of lifting their own curses.
Dennis accompanies Dee to retrieve the trophy from her neighbor, when a black cat runs out of the apartment. He asks about the cat, and is told that Dee's neighbor had a cat named Maureen, but she died years ago. This reminds Dennis of his late ex-wife, Maureen Ponderosa who surgically altered herself in order to become a cat.
Mac and Cricket stakeout the Plaza hotel, where Mac’s baseball hero, Chase Utley is staying. While they wait, Mac shows Cricket a monkey’s paw, which he believes is bringing him good luck. When Chase exits the building, Mac comes up to him and request to have a catch with him, showing a video Chase recorded during a Phillies Mail Bag in 2013.[1] Chase states that he had thought he was responding to a child's letters, which Mac quickly claims is his son "little Mac" who is sick with leukemia. Chase begrudgingly agrees to have a catch with him and "little Mac" the next day, which leads Mac to ask for Cricket's help again.
Charlie and Frank visit Bonnie Kelly for advice on how to lift Frank's curse, and after several other ideas she proposes are thrown out, Charlie and Frank decide to give it a proper burial at the pet cemetery.
Back at the bar, Dennis reveals he's kept an urn of Maureen's ashes in the bar against her wishes, (as Dennis had refused to bury her at the pet cemetery like she'd wanted, as he maintains she was not a cat). Charlie believes this has resulted in a curse upon Dennis. Once Cricket tells the Gang about Mac’s monkey paw, they discover it was from the monkey that they had previously gotten to work for them,[15x4] and its corpse has been decomposing behind the kegs since then.
The Gang takes the dead seagull, monkey, and Maureen's ashes to the pet cemetery, and Mac tells Chase that his son is dead and buried there. Chase catches onto Mac's lies and he relents, telling him of the monkey's paw he'd found, assuming that Chase doesn't believe in curses or superstitions, but Chase tells Mac that he believes in them, as they motivate people, although they’re still responsible for their own actions. He requests Mac give up the paw, and Chase gleefully takes off with it, hoping it will help him get into the hall of fame.
The rest of the Gang joins Mac, and Dennis informs them that the effects of the curse can be explained by exposure to the mold that had grown on the dead monkey carcass, and Frank’s "bloody" egg was a seagull egg that was mixed in with his and Charlie’s store-bought eggs. However, due to none of them being at the bar when they arrived, the Bar Rescue team revoke their offer to feature the gang. They come to the conclusion that none of them have bad luck and just need to make better decisions, though when Cricket asks about his own luck, they have no explanation for it, completely oblivious to the part they played in ruining his life.
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[]
- Rhea Perlman as Bertha Fussy
- David Hornsby as Cricket
- Lynne Marie Stewart as Bonnie Kelly
- Sandy Martin as Mrs. Mac
- Andrew Friedman as Uncle Jack
- Chase Utley as Himself
- CJ Hoff as The Kid
Continuity[]
- It is revealed that Mac's letter to Chase Utley from the season 5 episode "The World Series Defense" was in fact, read by him. The video that Mac shows Chase Utley is real: it was made 9 years ago, in response to that episode. The full video can be seen here.
Trivia[]
- In the US, this is the first episode to debut without an additional episode airing with it since "Paddy's Has a Jumper."
- Rhea Perlman previously played Gladys in the live version of "The Nightman Cometh," and was in a video (as herself) with the rest of the cast called "Danny DeVito and The Contract." This marks her first appearance in an episode of the show itself.
- With this episode, every spouse of the main cast has had a role on the show.
Gallery[]
References[]
< Season 15 |
Season 16 | Season > 17 |
1. "The Gang Inflates" |