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"The Gang Does a Clip Show" is the seventh episode of the thirteenth season of the American television sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It is the 141th overall episode of the series, and was written by co-executive producers Dannah Phirman and Danielle Schneider, and directed by producer Todd Biermann. It originally aired on FXX on October 17, 2018.

The series follows "The Gang", a group of five misfit friends: twins Dennis and Deandra "(Sweet) Dee" Reynolds, their friends Charlie Kelly and Ronald "Mac" McDonald, and Frank Reynolds, Dennis' and Dee's legal father. The Gang runs the fictional Paddy's Pub, an unsuccessful Irish bar in South Philadelphia. In the episode, while waiting for their phones to download software updates, the Gang reminisces about their past adventures in clip-show style, but their memories become warped, as does time itself.

Plot

Mac (Rob McElhenney) suggests that The Gang should remembers some memories from their pasts while they wait for their phones to download a software update. Frank (Danny DeVito) starts, remembering the time he sewed himself into a couch on Christmas. Dee (Kaitlin Olson) then does racist caricatures and trips over, hitting her head. The Gang then remembers a compilation of all the times Dee has gotten hurt. Mac then remembers all the "classic memories", including when Charlie (Charlie Day) bit a Santa impersonator, when Charlie cuts the brakes to their van, which leads to The Gang blowing up someone's car, when Charlie vomits fake blood on his date, when Dennis (Glenn Howerton) talks to Mac about the implications of taking a girl on a boat to sleep with him, when Dee threatens to punch Charlie, when Dennis, Mac and Charlie dress up like eagles before a wrestling match, when Mac and Charlie attempt to fake their own deaths, when The Gang imagines themselves performing a choreographed dance at their high school reunion and when Dennis temporarily leaves Paddy's.

In the latter memory, Mac misremembers turning off the lights to the bar when Dennis leaves, and Dennis corrects him, saying he actually turned the lights off, but his memory is hijack by Dee and Charlie, who both claim to have turned the lights off. Charlie then remembers his musical, "The Nightman Cometh", but in a different language. Mac then suggests to remember all the times someone didn't know what was happening, including when Dee fell for a pyramid scheme and when Charlie received a placebo effect from pills he was told would make him smarter. Dee then remembers an episode of Seinfeld, "The Contest", as real life, where Dennis and Mac are Jerry, Frank is George, Dee is Elaine and Charlie is Kramer. Dennis corrects The Gang, saying that their contest was to see who could masturbate the most, which caused them to be hospitalized.

Dennis explains that misremembering can change reality, so Charlie fake remembers him and The Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) having sex, and that she's pregnant with his child. After Charlie watched himself in his fake memory, he alters reality so that he and The Waitress really did have a child, but Dennis soon works out that they are in Frank's fake memory and that it wasn't real. The Gang thinks they've returned to reality, but Dennis sees that Dee's cut on her head from when she fell is gone, and that they are in someone's memory. The Gang realizes that they are in Dennis' memory, and they return to reality. Dennis suggests to test whether they're really in reality by spinning a spinning top like in Inception. Their phones finish updating as a second Charlie opens the door to the pub, watching in, and the top continues spinning, implying they are still in a memory.

Production

The episode was directed by supervising producer Todd Biermann, and was written by co-executive producers and writing duo Dannah Phirman and Danielle Schneider.

Reception

The episode was watched by 298 thousand viewers on its initial airing. It received positive reviews, with Decider calling it "the Funniest Episode the Show Has Ever Produced". The A.V. Club gave the episode a B- ranking, saying the writers "attempt to monkey with its formula".

Notes

1. ^ As seen in "A Very Sunny Christmas".
2. As seen in "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis".
3. As seen in "Frank's Pretty Woman".
4. As seen in "The Gang Buys a Boat".
5. As seen in "Hundred Dollar Baby".
6. As seen in "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops".
7. As seen in "Mac and Charlie Die".
8. As seen in "The High School Reunion Part 2: The Gang's Revenge".
9. As seen in "Dennis' Double Life".
10. As seen in "Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare".
11. As seen in "Flowers for Charlie".

References

1. "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Episode List | TVmaze". www.tvmaze.com. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
2. "Writers Guild of America Directory". directories.wga.org. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
3. Metcalf, Mitch (2018-10-18). ""UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 10.17.2018"". Showbuzzdaily.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
4. "'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Clip Show Is the Funniest Episode the Show Has Ever Produced | Decider". 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
5. "An It's Always Sunny clip show demonstrates the pitfalls of stretching the show's formula". The A.V. Club. 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2024-06-30.

• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 13 episodes
• Television episodes written by Dannah Phirman
• Television episodes written by Danielle Schneider
• 2018 American television episodes