The Gang Goes Bowling - by Brianna Zigler
My coverage of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia continues with episode 7.
“The Gang Goes Bowling” is a fitting penultimate episode to a woefully short season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: a return of some of the series’ beloved GOAT players and a virtuoso web of plot threads and character relationships. The episode hinges on the oft-used dynamic between Dennis and Dee, of Dennis being unable to stomach the possibility of Dee excelling at literally anything; so, he takes it upon himself to sabotage her, in part to prove that women are inferior to men. And it’s also, in another part, an obvious reflection of Dennis’s own insecurities and feelings of inadequacy about himself that the only way he can prove his worth is by acting in bad faith towards his sister in areas that she clearly surpasses him. It’s not that he’s better than her and that women are, in fact, inferior, it’s that she’s conditioned to bend to the will of his lifelong manipulation — not to get overly analytical about it, or anything.
Dennis’s inability to let Dee go bowling without the Gang tagging along also reflects their own self-consciousness towards the fact that they are, well, a bunch of middle-aged losers. So, when Dee — attempting to sneak out of Paddy’s in a “Carmen Sandiego” trench coat to hide her bowling shirt — is forced to reveal her evening plans before she bids the guys farewell to spend the night playing with their penises, the guys (who all did, in fact, have their hands in their pants at the time of the jab), are incensed at the spoken reality of their boring Friday night. Having been provoked, they now see to opportunity to not only make some Friday night plans, but make some that involve their favorite past time: ruining things for Dee.
The guys follow Dee to the bowling alley, where she’s met up with her team comprised of the show’s best recurring female characters: Gail the Snail (Mary Lynn Rajskub), Artemis (Artemis Pebdani), and, of course, the Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). All of them hate each other and especially Dee, but they knew no one else but her would be free on a Friday night to fill the spot of a missing player (I wonder who that player was? Perhaps Margaret McPoyle?). But that’s not all, because, after leaving the video rental business, the bowling alley is now managed by none other than McPoyle brothers Liam (Jimmi Simpson) and Ryan (Nate Mooney). It’s a triumphant return for two essential characters who have been regrettably absent from the series since before the gangbusters episode “McPoyle vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century” in season 11.
In “The Gang Goes Bowling,” the Gang plays all the hits — literally, working not only with the all classic relationships between the Gang and each of their favorite guest characters, but with one another. While there’s the obvious Guys vs. Dee and Dee vs. Dennis, there’s also Guys vs. Each Other, as the writers (credited this episode to Charlie, Rob, and Glenn) concoct a pseudo-teen boy relationship between Charlie, Mac, and Dennis, wherein Dennis is the gang leader that they’re all trying to emulate and impress like little children — there’s a twice-recurring joke where Charlie tries to mimic Dennis’s witchlike cackle. Frank ends up being left to do his own thing this episode, with his little plot thread of simply wanting an order of chili cheese fries. When he asks the McPoyles if they have any at the bowling alley, Liam responds, “We do have chili, we do have cheese, and we do have fries — but combining them is strictly forbidden.” More on that later.
As the guys join in the co-ed tournament to beat the ladies (the girls are sponsored by Friget and call themselves the “Friget Bitches,” while the guys name themselves the “Hanging Monster Dong Lucky Strike Chili Cheese Friers), Dennis reveals Dee’s Achilles heel. Though Dee was a gifted bowler from a young age, Dennis, as he always manages to do, got in his twin sister’s head with the word “gutterball,” and since then can guarantee to trip her up with it. And he surely does, employing the rest of the men to use their powers of annoyance to annoy the other ladies into goofing up — that is, until the women start to play mind games with the men, too. It’s a classic “battle of the sexes” that leads to Dennis facing off with the Waitress in a test of strength, using an arcade punching bag at a child’s birthday party — which Charlie is working double duty at; not working, actually, just hanging out and eating cake — to prove who really is the superior gender. The Waitress gives an impressive kick, but Dennis’s punch outdoes her; except, he breaks every bone in his hand. “Bloody soup and bone broth," is what he tells the fellas is what remains inside his goopy appendage. Now, Dennis can’t bowl. What are the guys to do?
A failed attempt at having the McPoyle brothers bowl in their place — both too traumatized by a chili cheese dog-related bowling accident — leads to Dee breaking the tie by mental fortituding her way through Dennis’s hold on her, and imagining the pins each with Dennis’s stupid, cackling face on them (fantastic visualization for this). With that image in mind, she handily knocks down one, single pin, winning the entire game for the Friget Bitches. Of course, the guys have already left. It happens every time. Once Dee proves she can best them physically and that she has the brain power to do it, they no longer care. It’s an indictment of the guys’ own unwillingness to own up to their failures, sure, but it always ends up making Dee look worse: desperate, hysterical, and alone. Even the Waitress, the only female player remaining as Gail and Artemis have left to enjoy a three-way with Frank, admits that no one cares about women’s sports. Nobody really wins, especially not Dee.
Out of all the returning guest spots in this episode, Artemis handily wins out. It’s unsurprising, since she tends to be the best part of every episode she’s in; though in this one, she’s not “technically” acting as herself. Ever the performer, Artemis tells the girls that she’s bowling as a character named “Donna Brunswick” of the “Brunswick bowling dynasty,” who can really bowl while Artemis “can’t bowl for shit.” She also divulges that Donna is a “giant whore” which is what “attracted her to the role in the first place.” Of course, who gave her this role? Where did it come from? What is she talking about? No notes. So, too are the McPoyles “so fucking back;” though, I will say, their characters feel a little more played-up this time, assumedly due to not having been in the part for so long (similar thing going on with Rajskub as Gail the Snail). That’s not to say they aren’t funny. Simpson and Mooney are always funny as the McPoyles, especially now that Liam’s got that flesh-toned eyepatch with the eye drawn on. There’s a great scene where Liam is shot at comedic a distance while giving Dennis the stink eye (literally), and it’s also so funny how Liam refers to Frank as “Franklin.”
This episode is also a really good dual standout episode for Dennis and Dee, finally giving Kaitlin Olson more substantial material to work with ie, she gets to scream a lot. Meanwhile, Glenn Howerton is just getting to do so many funny things with his face and voice this season. And it’s not even always gratuitous, it’s subtle things, like a forceful “NAH” or a delayed “myeah;” but it’s also a blood-curdling cry to follow a broken hand, or the cackle of a deranged, performative weirdo. With each episode this season, it just seems like Howerton is having more fun portraying Dennis now than ever before, which I feel like has to have some connection to his recent performance in Blackberry — as if he got to flex some new muscles, then brought them back for Sunny. In that way, it’s a testament to his commitment to his character and to the show that brought him his awards-buzzy turn in Blackberry. It really was true when Dennis said that he hasn’t even begun to peak.
A rare instance in this episode where the Gang actually interacts with the patrons of their bar, who have, as a sort of running joke, been relegated to a few silent stand-ins for the series’ entire run; in this case, it’s only to prove that none of them have tipped Dee, of course.
You could argue — and I’m sure some fans could — that, in a twisted way, it’s actually kind of sweet that the guys can’t let Dee do anything without them. Like, obviously it isn’t: it’s all rooted in maliciousness, resentment, and spite. But it ties into what I wrote about in my Daily Beast article about how the Gang really only has each other. As the Waitress plainly states, her and the other women in Dee’s bowling group do not like her. Dee only has the Gang. What a horrible, if somewhat neverthelessheartwarming, fate.
Liam clocks that the Gang can’t afford the $35 fee to join the bowling tournament because it’s $35 per person.
I think it’s funny that they have Frank bowl like a child (two-handed, undertoss), which I feel like plays into his height, which on the podcast they once talked about not wanting to do jokes on since it’s easy with Danny DeVito, and also Danny himself not wanting to do it when they had tried getting him to one time many seasons ago. I mean, it kinda squeaks past it here since it’s not really a joke specifically making fun of his height, it just uses his height paired with bowling form as a sight gag. So, maybe that didn’t count in Danny’s mind. Or maybe he didn’t care — he is almost 80.
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