"The Gang Gets Trapped" is the ninth episode of the seventh season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Synopsis[]
The gang sneak into a residence to "extract" an "artifact," only to discover that someone is home. Uh-oh.
Recap[]
1:45 PM on a Tuesday
Dennis and Dee are trapped in the bedroom closet of a strange home while the homeowner packs her suitcase. They walkie-talkie Charlie and Mac in the getaway van for help on extraction, but they pressure them to return to their goal for breaking into the house: to retrieve a vase that a museum auctioned off.
When the woman leaves her bedroom, Dennis and Dee leave the closet since Dee has to pee. Frank comes out from under the bed and refuses to leave until they get the vase. Mac radios in that a man with pointed feet is entering the house and the whole gang is frightened by the fact that the family is Southern and therefore dangerous. The woman returns and the three rush back into the closet. The husband leaves due to the false alarm.
Dennis, Dee, and Frank go through the woman's suitcase but do not find the vase. Mac and Charlie begin to fight over chips as Mac refuses to share. Theories develop that the woman is either banging Jay Leno or is seeking revenge for the icing of Conan O'Brien. Frank breaks off to go retrieve the vase with his Indiana Jones inspired whip. Dee finally relieves herself, leaving her DNA evidence, which she later flushes.
Dee and Dennis end back up in the bedroom closet. Dee walkies Mac and Charlie asking why Mac is the only one that gets to push the button on the walkie. Frank finds a little girl's bedroom and rummages through her suitcase, finding a teddy bear. He rips it to pieces thinking the vase is inside. Charlie then enters the house and joins Dee and Dennis in the closet being upset with Mac. Dennis calls Mac to make a distraction, but he has left to get fast food to get more chips. He answers their call and decides to pretend to be a Swedish plumber as a distraction, since Indiana Jones would do the same. The little girl comes back and Frank hides in her pile of stuffed animals, and remains unseen.
Charlie, Dee, and Dennis make their way into entryway closet when the family's dirty laundry is aired: the woman was planning to elope to Disney Land, California with another man, Barry. The husband returns and the gang fears it could get violent. Instead, the family sits down and talks about their future.
Dennis, who has had enough, decides to simply walk out of the house through the front door. They make their way to the door and see the family sitting in the living room, realizing for the first time that their perception of the family had been wrong. Mac busts in the front door pretending to be a Swedish plumber. Charlie calls Frank, who joins them in the entryway. He sees the vase and tries to retrieve it with his whip, but ends up smashing it to pieces, and they all walk out with no resistance.
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[]
- Susan Park as Woman
- Robert Wu as Man
- Arnold Chun as Barry
Co-Starring[]
- Kylie Kim as Daughter
- Victoria Hoffman as Woman (V.O.)
- Maury Sterling as Man (V.O.)
- Stephen Stanton as Barry (V.O.)
- Emily French as Daughter (V.O.)
Trivia[]
- Instead of the standard soundtrack, dramatic-action music is used instead. The title track remains unchanged.
- Frank hiding in the little girl's closet, pretending to be a stuffed toy is a parody of a scene from the movie "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial".
- There's an Indiana Jones outfit hiding in the episode: Mac with the hat, Charlie with the jacket, and Frank with the whip.
- About Indiana Jones Movies: writer Luvh Rakhe finds "Temple of Doom" to be the best one, and had no words to say about "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"; Dennis only likes "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and Indy himself (as a character); Mac use to called "Temple of Doom" dumb, but Charlie really likes that one - however, they both find "Crystal Skull" to be lame (Charlie doesn't even count the fourth part).
- Charlie and Mac discuss southerners having "torture basements" and "crazy type dungeons" similar to the one in Pulp Fiction. Later when the doorbell rings, it is the same doorbell as the one in Maynard's shop.
- Mac refers to people from the southern US moving north as "carpetbaggers", but that's a reversal of the actual meaning of the term, which was first used to describe people from the northern US moving south in the aftermath of the Civil War.
- Dee's bladder is also a source of argument in the Season 5 episode "The Gang Hits the Road"
- The mother of the family has a t-shirt covered in 'Hidden Mickeys,' the three-circle shape of Mickey Mouse found hidden around their holiday location of Disneyland.
- In the episode commentary, Glenn Howerton remarks that Dennis' frustration was genuine, as he was not happy about extensive filming in a small closet
- No scenes in this episode take place at Paddy's Pub.
- Susan Park, who plays the woman, would later act in The Mick, which also stars Kaitlin Olson.
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| 1. "Frank's Pretty Woman" 2. "The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore" |