The Gang Gives Back

"The Gang Gives Back"
Information
Season	Two
Episode	Three
Writer(s)	Charlie Day
Director(s)	Dan Attias
Air Date	July 20, 2006
Chronology
Preceded by	"Hundred Dollar Baby"
Followed by	"The Gang Exploits a Miracle"

"The Gang Gives Back" is chronologically the third episode of the second season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The episode was broadcast as the sixth episode, and is listed as such on most major streaming platforms.

Synopsis

Mac, Dennis and Dee are sentenced to teach inner-city children how to play basketball while Charlie is sentenced to attend AA meetings.

Recap

11:15 AM on a Monday

The gang eats brunch and complains about the community service they are required to do from burning down a building. ^[2x2] Charlie also complains about his required AA membership. They dine-and-dash when they realize Charlie drank seven $8 drinks.

Frank has invited some friends from Vietnam to gamble in Paddy's. The rest of the gang disagrees with this decision but can't think of anything else to do other than arguing about selling their portions of the bar. They enroll at the local community center for their community service and find out they will be coaching youth basketball teams.

Dennis, Mac, and Dee pick teams, choosing the black kids first. They find out their teams are preselected. Dennis's team, the Wildcats, has one clear star - Chris. He makes the rest run laps every time they mess up. Mac and Dee coach the Ducks and Mac teaches them to play dirty. Dee vies to be taken seriously as a coach but Mac continually belittles her. Frank hears about the basketball game and decides to help coach the Wildcats.

Meanwhile, Charlie attends AA meetings and finds out that the Waitress is also in AA. She feels sorry for him and asks to be his sponsor. He agrees and visits her place every day to aid his recovery. On the third day, she asks him what Dennis is up to. He tells her about Dennis' involvement at the youth center and she asks to go watch him coach. At the basketball court, she asks Dennis if he wants to get together anytime. Clearly not interested in her, he tries to get rid of her by telling her that he doesn't want to get in the way of Charlie's recovery. She tells Charlie that she is no longer interested in being his sponsor, and that she only asked so she could get closer to Dennis.

Frank and Dennis bet Mac and Dee $500 for the basketball game. Frank flips sides and buys Chris a bike if he skips the game. He invites his Vietnamese friends to gamble on the basketball game. Charlie shows up, drunk, to referee the game. The kids play dirty, the coaches yell and argue, and the parents fight. As the game completely falls apart, Charlie blames all the entire situation on the Waitress for dumping him.

The episode ends with a shot of The Gang picking up trash on the side of the road, apparently having been told their services are no longer required at the community center.

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

• Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Waitress
• Patrick Hallahan as AA Director
• Bill H. McKenzie as Rick (Rec Center)

Co-Starring

• Carlon Jeffery as Chris
• Calvin Tran as Flip Flop Kid
• Andy Pessoa as Kid (Ducks' Team)
• Tumbleweed as Homeless Guy
• Harold Chin as Vietnamese Poker Player

Uncredited

• Carla Renata as Cop 2007
• Preston Thompson as Ducks Team Member

Trivia

• The community service the Gang is sentenced to is a result of the events from "The Gang Goes Jihad".
  • Chronologically, the episode takes place directly after "The Gang Goes Jihad", however, it aired as the sixth episode, causing several continuity errors. In broadcast order, Frank would have already slept with the Waitress, as "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom" aired two episodes before, but he is introduced to her in this episode, and asks who she is. The Waitress mentions not hearing back from Dennis since the events of "Charlie Has Cancer", which is also contradicted by the events in "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom".
• Dee's pants suit is a parody of legendary women's college basketball coach Pat Summitt.
• In the scene where Dennis walks away from The Waitress after talking to her at the water fountain, there is a camera and a camera man's hand visible on the left side of the screen.
• In the episode "Charlie Goes America All Over Everybody's Ass", what exactly Frank did on his business trip to Vietnam is revealed: he went there to open up a sweat shop. And a lot of good men died in that sweat shop!
• The band Amagortis used a sample of Charlie's AA meeting dialogue from this episode in their song titled "Drenched In Diarrhea".
• The waitress still appears to be infatuated and chasing after Dennis in this episode, despite the events of "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom". It is also not mentioned that The Waitress had sex with Frank, which occurred in the same episode. Production numbers indicate this episode was to air before "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom", explaining the discrepancy.
• Dennis says to Frank that he "banged" the waitress, referring to the events of "Charlie Has Cancer".