It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s “The Gang Get’s Quarantined” saw the Paddy’s Pub crew get a full dose of cabin fever. For such an unrelentingly dark sitcom that revolves around a pub full of selfish, vain and borderline evil creeps, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia has been delighting viewers for fourteen seasons and counting. The show debuted in 2005 and proved to be a cult hit, but scored poor ratings. It was only when Danny DeVito joined up for season 2 that the show started to take off.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s gang – consisting of Dennis, Dee, Mac, Charlie, and Frank – haven’t evolved as human beings in the last fifteen years, but the comic chemistry of the cast keeps viewers coming back. The show can still surprise after all these years too, such as season 13 finale “Mac Finds His Pride,” which proved to be unexpectedly moving. While It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia season 15 isn’t currently confirmed, it feels like a given at least one more series will happen.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia season 9 featured some gems, including episodes like the pitch black “The Gang Broke Dee” and the delightfully meta “The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award.” This series also featured “The Gang Get’s Quarantined,” where the misfits of Paddy’s Pub isolate themselves inside the bar to avoid a super flu racing through the city. Mac, Charlie, Dee, and Dennis also wish to protect their voices, as they’ve formed an A Capella group and hope to win a chance to perform for Boyz II Men.
Naturally, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s “The Gang Get’s Quarantined” finds them going a little stir crazy being locked in together. Frank gets obsessed with eradicating germs and starts isolating those he suspects have been infected in the bathroom. Dennis is the first, quickly followed by Dee and then Mac, after his hazmat suit gets torn while he’s out buying beer. Dennis and Dee soon show signs of sickness, becoming deathly pale and weak. Charlie voluntarily joins the isolated group just to get away from Frank, who shaves all his hair off to keep germs away.
Towards the end of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s “The Gang Get’s Quarantined,” the sick group starts drinking hidden booze. They soon feel much better and realize it wasn’t the flu affecting them, it was the fact they’re all raging alcoholics. Rather than be concerned about this development, they do what they always do when confronted with a real problem and ignore it. The episode ends with one of the more upsetting images of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, where a hairless, almost nude Frank has slathered himself in hand sanitizer and crawls across the bar floor like a snail to stay “pure.” After taking him to the hospital, they realize the quarantine was for nothing, as the Boyz II Men concert was cancelled due to the band coming down with the flu.
