Always Sunny S12E3 Recap: A Situational MomCom
In their boundless effort to garner new laughs, the Always Sunny Gang takes ‘meta’ to strange, chip-eating new heights in Season 12’s “Old Lady House: A Situation Comedy.”
The subtle brilliance and smart writing of the Always Sunny cast and crew is not lost on its audience. The fanbase fiercely defends these five yutzes who have become these increasingly terrible folks we can’t help but love. However, the Television Academy isn’t as keen on them as we are. The show is notoriously snubbed by the Emmy awards, their closest recognition includes three nominations for Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program. That’s why the Gang takes things into their own hands for this week’s episode “Old Lady House: A Situation Comedy.”
Courtesy: FXX
Creepy Cameras
We begin at Paddy’s Pub, where Charlie and Mac burst in fighting. Apparently Charlie’s mom has been calling non-stop, which he assumes is because of the stress he’s under living with Mac’s mom. The ladies have been roommates since the Season 6 episode “Mac’s Mom Burns Her House Down.” Charlie produces a note from his mom, which is composed in the same ransom-note-rebus-puzzle style he writes in. She’s in turmoil, and Charlie wants to help (despite ignoring the constant calls from his mother).
Since he has so many unused surveillance cameras lying around, Dennis suggests they set them up inside their moms’ home, in order to capture the alleged abuse. The Gang agrees, and sets up their own surveillance in the moms’ home, using cameras poorly disguised as teddy bears and globes. As the sons try and get some information about what’s going on in the home, they are diverted from their own fight when Charlie’s mom claims Mac’s mom purposefully spilled hot soup on her. No one is owning up to it, so they decide to go back to the bar and rewind the tapes.
As Dennis lords over the editing process, he realizes Mac and Charlie’s mom have some “classic comedic rivalry.” All three are dazzled when a simple laugh track added to Charlie’s mom nearly hitting Mac’s mom with a hammer produces some hilarious content. “The grunty one physically abuses the shrill one and the shrill one psychologically abuses the grunty one,” Dennis claims, “And it really plays.”
Courtesy: FXX
Just for Laughs
This entire episode feels like another bit of slightly sour grapes, hearkening us back to Season 9’s “The Gang Desperately Tries to Win an Award.” Always Sunny has always gone against the grain, but are never recognized by the entities that somehow set the barometer for what’s good TV and what’s not. The cast and crew has said several times that they don’t really care they’ve never been nominated for an Emmy, even though they totally do. By poking fun at hackneyed sitcom plot devices and laugh tracks, they’re giving a sort of “eff you” to what has worked for shows in the past in order to get that prestigious award.
“Old Lady House” takes off the more laugh tracks, somber music, and audience reaction Dennis adds. All the while, he and his pals sit and observe, eating “Let’s” potato chips and drinking beer. Being the natural producers they are, they start thinking of ways to make the show go even more. Dee gets the idea to make a Three Stooges sort of deal and volunteers to be on the show. But with her terrible comedic timing and propensity for sound effects, Dee just ends up getting her head stuck in the banister for the entire episode. And tooting.
There’s many a discussion about Bonnie Kelly being a bigger star than Mrs. Mac, a note of contention Mac is desperate to disprove. Frank wants to spice things up with a romance and go over to the home to ‘bang’ Charlie’s mom. And Charlie, despite seeing his mom’s OCD, still won’t answer any of her calls, allowing her to think he’s dead. The show is quickly becoming a success, but only for the characters involved, paralleling Sunny’s real-life success with the FXX network and the fans.
Courtesy: FXX
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What have we learned?
For once, Dennis’ creepy tendencies to control nearly everything around him paid off with the comedic gold of Old Lady House. He comes off like a jaded TV executive who knows what will play but rarely cares about the quality of the content. These traits were on display way early on in the series with Season 5’s episode “Mac and Charlie Write a Movie,” and they seem to excel here.
There’s a lot of talk about “what’s funny” and why things are funny. The Gang makes a case that abuse can be funny, talking about The Honeymooners and Ralph Kramden’s constant threats to beat his wife. Looking back on a show from the 50s, it may seem dark in this day and age, but we forget that this crew has ruined countless peoples’ lives, let friends burn alive in their home, and caused enough of a rift at a wedding that someone lost an eye.
What’s most important is a show finding a voice, versus looking at all the “problematic” behavior we could pick out. The Honeymooners had a distinct voice, as does Always Sunny. So we can’t be mad about some of the less-than-favorable things that happen along the way, like no one helping Dee from getting stuck in the banister or Uncle Jack (in full Boy Scout uniform) giving Charlie a creepy bear hug. These characters are who they are, and we love them for bringing a lot of laughter into our worlds. Emmys be damned.
Tune in next week on FXX at 10:00 p.m. eastern for even more call backs with Episode 4: “Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare.”