"The Gang Solves Global Warming" is the seventh episode of the fourteenth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the 151st episode of the series overall.
Synopsis[]
As a record-breaking heat wave overtakes Philly, the Gang plans to profit from global warming by pumping up the A/C so people will congregate at Paddy's and save energy at home.
Plot[]
1:00 PM, on a Saturday, Philadelphia, PA
It’s a hot day as the Gang sits in the bar, listening to a weather forecast and discussing global warming. Dennis is happy that they finally all agree that global warming is real and is convinced they can solve this situation if they work together.
Temperature inside Paddy’s: 72 degrees
Dennis has turned the AC way down so it is cool at Paddy’s. Frank complains they are wasting the AC on strangers but Dennis claims by cranking the AC below the recommended settings and getting word out that Paddy’s has the best AC, they are helping both their business and the environment. Dee argues you have to use shame to get people to help the environment, as she does with her shoes that are made out of recycled materials, about which she did an instagram story.
Charlie comes in, telling the others the ice machine is broken. Dennis wants to order some ice but Dee protests it isn’t environment friendly to get it delivered, arguing they could very well just go to the store by themselves. The guys yell at Dee to go so she takes off, getting Charlie to come with her to film her for her instagram by incentivizing him with a tin of cat food. Dennis tells Frank if you give someone an incentive you get them to do what you want and suggests turning the AC even further down in order to see women's nipples perk up.
After getting the ice Dee complains about being overcharged with $40 for the ice bag. Also, her feet are hurting from her shoes. Charlie starts filming her complaining about her shoes, but she immediately takes away the phone, telling him she wants him to film staged scenes that look candid and seem honest, not those that are actually honest. As her feet are hurting her so much Dee is unable to walk back to the bar. Charlie suggests taking the bus but Dee claims busses are wasteful and disgusting, ordering instead a rideshare.
Temperature inside Paddy’s: 78 degrees
Dennis complains to Frank about the raised temperature inside Paddy’s. Frank tells him there are too many people here, the body heat makes the temperature go up. Also, water flows out of a burst pipe in the bar and the fish factory guys are here as they have heard about the AC. Dennis wants Mac to throw them out so they don’t scare away other customers but Mac refuses since they go to his church.
Charlie and Dee are cramped in the back of an electric car, and Charlie films Dee boasting about using an environment friendly carshare. Dee complains to the driver about the heat in the car, but he tells her AC kills the battery and doesn’t take her shit. Once they have arrived, Dee yells at him she’ll give him only one star, only to quickly turn nice when Charlie starts to film her, bragging again about how environment friendly she is. However, the ice has melted by now. Dee wants to call a car again to get another bag of ice, but when Charlie points out that there are now way more cars involved than if they had just gotten it delivered, she grudgingly decides to walk.
Temperature inside Paddy’s: 90 degrees
The fish factory guys are standing in the water puddle in one corner of the bar while the rest of the bar is full of customers dancing in their underwear. Dennis complains that they are out of glasses, but turning on the dishwasher would kill the AC. Fortunately Frank has stored disposable cups he originally wanted to use for another occasion. As Mac interprets this as God helping them out, he and Dennis get in an argument about faith until things get back on track. Dennis then plans to put on slower music so people don’t move that much and the temperature doesn’t raise any more.
Meanwhile, Dee and Charlie got another bag of ice. When Dee wants to call another rideshare, she finds out her account has been suspended as the last driver gave her one star, citing verbal abuse and that she peed all over his backseat. At first she rails this was merely the ice before both of them admit they did in fact pee a bit. They are then forced to take the bus, much to Dee’s disgust.
Temperature inside Paddy’s: 95 degrees
It is hotter than ever even though they put on slow music. Dennis theorizes all the friction from the grinding has raised the temperature. Also, the customers don’t reuse the cups, instead throwing them in the ever-growing water puddle to the fish factory guys. Moreover, the guys don’t have anymore booze left. Dennis makes an announcement, asking the crowd to stop dancing or at least to slow down so the AC can catch up, and to drink a bit less, but the crowd grows unruly. Mac and Frank quickly ditch Dennis behind the bar before the crowd goes completely crazy, storming the bar.
Dee and Charlie arrive at the bar, only to discover someone put a hole in their bag and stole the ice. Dee has a last idea: getting the ice delivered as Dennis had suggested in the first place. When she and Charlie finally return to Paddy’s, the wild crowd has left, only the fish factory guys are there and Dennis and Mac concede they aren’t that bad after all. Dee brags about her environment friendly trip, showing the others her instagram story. However, she finds Charlie has put together a montage revealing Dee’s hypocrisy, fakeness and anger issues.
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[]
- Atticus Todd as Big Strange Dude
Co-Starring[]
- Christopher Chen as Rideshare Driver
- Elizabeth Posey as Woman
- Hailee Lautenbach as Woman #2
Trivia[]
- The "big strange dude" on the bus was first seen in the Season 4 episode "Mac and Charlie Die (Part 2)".
- The fish factory that the customers at the end were from was first seen and mentioned in the Season 10 episode "The Gang Spies Like U.S." They turn out to be the Vietnamese guys from Mac's church that he mentions in "The Gang Goes to Hell".
- Dee's bad luck with shoes continues here: previously she's slammed her head into a car door trying to steal a too-small pair of heels ("Who Pooped the Bed?"), had a pair destroyed by Frank to demonstrate his knives and vacuum ("The Great Recession"), and got caught in a wave of sewage after her shoe gets caught in a grate ("Thunder Gun Express").
- This episodes foregoes the Sunny soundtrack in favor of a topical soundtrack:
- The Heat Is On - Glenn Frey
- Hot in Here - Nelly
- Summer in the City - The Lovin' Spoonful
- Hot Blooded - Foreigner
- The electric car Dee and Charlie ride in is 2011 Nissan Leaf. Although very positively reviewed overall, these early model Leafs are notorious in the electric car community for their batteries losing capacity over time due to their inadequate battery cooling systems (a problem that would be further exacerbated by a hot climate). Their AC did also use quite a lot of battery power (an issue that was partially fixed for the 2013 model year). Thus, it's actually very plausible that the driver would be concerned about the AC using too much battery in this specific car, more so than other electric vehicles. This car is also ideally suited to ride-sharing in an urban environment, because its tight turning radius makes it easy to park and maneuver in small spaces, and short trips allow it to make the most of its limited range. Rarely has a specific car been so perfectly suited to its role in the plot of a TV episode. This could have been an intentional bit of background research by the writers, but more likely, they chose an early Leaf for this episode simply because it is the cheapest and most widely available used electric car in North America.
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— | “The 25 years of climate science finally caught up with my opinions. And Dennis, when opinions meet facts, that's when you get truth.” |
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— | “The Lord provideth again!” |
| “No, Mac! No. The Lord not provideth. Frank provideth. He's the one who bought the cups. Frank provideth!” | — | 
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— | “Well, the Lord provideth the snow storm in May that allowed us to get the cups now. See, it's all part of his divine plan, Dennis. And that's locked in, so we're good.” |
| “Okay, so all we have to do is nothing.” | — |
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— | “No, no because we have free will, Dennis, which means we have to take the necessary steps to make sure that plan comes into fruition.” |
| “Which is predetermined.” | — |
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— | “Yes.” |
| “But it doesn't matter what we do because it's all predetermined. You see how your argument doesn't make any sense?!” | — |
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— | “That's correct. But it doesn't have to make sense, because that's where the faith comes in, right. I have faith that what I am saying makes sense. ” |
| “So even if it doesn't make sense, your faith makes it make sense!” | — |
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— | “Correct.” |
| “Got it! So there's no way to have a rational conversation with you!” | — |
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— | “No.” |
| < Season 13 |
Season 14 | Season > 15 |
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1. "The Gang Gets Romantic" |