Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 Episodes 1 and 2.As promised, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia just kicked off its seventeenth season with the second half of the Abbott Elementary crossover, and it is a wildly funny installment. The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia version fills in the blanks of what happened when the gang went to volunteer at Abbott Elementary, without the limitations of network TV. The result pushes the envelope for the Abbott Elementary faculty and staff in the best possible ways, with highlights like Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Charlie (Charlie Day) getting competitive with Fall Out Boy about updating Billy Joel‘s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” and Dee (Kaitlin Olson) driving Janine (Quinta Brunson) to curse.
The second half of the Abbott Elementary crossover episode was just the first of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s two-part premiere for Season 17, though, and its second episode is somehow even stronger. The installment, titled “Frank is in a Coma,” starts with a typical cold open where the gang is at Paddy’s. Frank (Danny DeVito) is watching Is It Cake? and trying to get the others excited about the show, but everybody else is more concerned with an invitation to the Ben Franklin Liberty Ball that Frank threw away. This leads the gang to complain in great detail about how Frank has failed to subject them to his fancy lifestyle. Dee then wishes Frank dead, and Frank quite literally drops into a coma, kicking off one of the best It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes in years.
‘It’s Always Sunny’s “Frank is in a Coma” Perfectly Balances Dark Comedy with Deeply Emotional Moments
In the wake of Frank’s coma, Dennis, Mac (Rob Mac), and Charlie decide to leave Dee with Frank after she’s been tasked with pulling the plug on him if his heart rate drops. The guys then go to the gala and try to franchise Paddy’s. They are overdressed for the occasion, and the other guests mistakenly believe that they’re working the event. Dennis, Mac, and Charlie go along with it because they feel lost about what else to do, until they meet a guy named Simon (Alex Wolff). Simon relates to their complaints about Frank, saying that Frank sounds like his deceased father, whose lucrative and powerful company he now runs.
The guys do cocaine with Simon, and then they take him up on the opportunity to attend an afterparty, while discussing the possibility of working together. Simon offers Dennis, Mac, and Charlie the money, but it isn’t everything that they dreamed of, and they start to have second thoughts. The three realize that they don’t want to be involved in this lifestyle, and they gain a new appreciation for Frank, so they leave.
Meanwhile, Dee deals with a number of fluctuating emotions back at the apartment. Frank’s nurse (Audrey Wasilewski) suspects that the gang, and Dee in particular, are going through the five stages of grief. This leads to a hilarious structure in which the episode is framed by titles for each stage of grief. During the “Denial stage,” Dee complains about Frank and muses over her potential inheritance. During the “Anger stage,” Dee is furious upon finding out that the guys went to the gala without her, so she starts searching the apartment for Frank’s valuables. During the “Bargaining stage,” Dee becomes desperate to find Frank’s valuables, and tries to convince the nurse to pull the plug on Frank.
During the “Depression stage,” Dee disappointedly looks through a folder labeled as Frank’s most prized possession, which is just a porn magazine. Inside the magazine, though, is a drawing that Dee made for Frank as a child. In an emotional moment, Dee experiences real grief and gets ready to pull the plug on Frank, only to then learn that, of course, this has all been a prank.
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It’s always sunny at Abbott.
‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s “Frank is in a Coma” Is the Show at Its Very Best
Aside from the hilarious addition of the stages of grief, “Frank is in a Coma” follows the typical structure of the classic It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode that pulls the rug out from under the viewer at the end. It’s clear from the beginning that this is all a scheme by Frank set up to pull one over on the gang, along the lines of Season 8’s “Charlie Has Cancer.” In “Charlie Has Cancer,” Frank convinces Dee and Dennis that their mother, Barbara (Anne Archer), might have faked her death. In a quest to prove this and find any money that she may have left behind, the twins go with Frank to dig up Barbara’s grave, but they find her body instead. It was one of Frank’s cruelest schemes and led to a brutal emotional response from the twins, particularly Dennis. In “Frank is in a Coma,” Dee is the one who is brought to tears, because finding the drawing makes her believe that Frank really loved her, and that she took him for granted.
Even though it was obvious that there’d be a twist in this episode, the specific twist in “Frank is in a Coma” is absolutely brilliant. The rest of the gang gets ready to pull the plug on Frank, and in a vulnerable moment, Dee calls Frank “Dad” for the first time since Season 2. Dee gives Frank a kiss on the head to say goodbye, when she realizes that his forehead tastes sweet. When Dennis goes to check, they realize that the version of Frank who was in a coma is actually a cake that’s been made to look like him.
Frank gleefully pops out of the closet to gloat, revealing that the entire thing was fake, including the drawing. His nurse is actually a pastry chef, and the whole scheme had the purpose of getting the rest of the gang to appreciate Is It Cake? In the credits, the gang eats the cake, which was actually made for the episode. Ultimately, “Frank is in a Coma” is It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia at its best: the perfect blend of a shockingly dark scheme, a deeply emotional response, and an expertly executed pop culture reference.
New episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia drop every Wednesday on FX in the U.S.
