Review: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "Mac and Dennis Tear Their ACLs"| Season 18, Episode 8

"That’s was sarcasm so, you know, label it because it’s best to label sarcasm after you use it."

One of the chief benefits of The Gang's insularity from the rest of Philly/the world is their shared language. Here, the "benefit" is ours, with the rewards to Dee, Dennis, Mac, Charlie and Frank a matter of debate. "Mac and Dennis Tear Their ACLs" is awash with Gang lore, from the well-known to the heretofore obscure, as the simple matter of mailing out a Christmas card reveals new layers of dysfunction.

First off, it's been a while since the title reveal made me chuckle, so props to the set-up, as Mac and Dennis, wearing identical light-up Rudolph sweaters, limber up in anticipation of a footrace, only for the smash to a black and white injury report to let us know how that turns out. It seems that the boys have beef over who gets to wear the ugly Christmas sweater for the Gang's annual holiday card, and naturally a footrace outside of Paddy's is the only civilized way to settle the question. The way Charlie yelps out "Car!" at every approaching vehicle evocatively harks back to childhood street games, seeding in the essentially frozen development of this group. (Even if the fact that these actually are men in their late 40s who live almost entirely on alcohol means the question remains unsettled.)

Now, there's some rapid-fire world-building going on here, which I admire. Charlie irritatedly has to explain the premise to a furious Dee and Frank, establishing that The Gang invests surprising passion into presenting themselves as a nuclear family unit once a year, that Mac and Dennis routinely monopolize the event, and that the whole annual card arms race is meant to out-do former Gang member Schmitty. Introduced in Season 6 and not seen after a Season 7 cameo, Schmitty is a deep dive, even if the actor playing him is far too busy coaching women's soccer these days for anything but some Photoshopped drop-bys.