In its latest episode, “It’s Always Sunny” showcased many of the bizarre side characters who have largely been absent since the end of the ninth season.
While the Ponderosas have sporadically appeared, as in last week’s “Being Frank,” this episode displays the McPoyle clan in all its freakish, incestuous glory and the return of Charlie’s (Charlie Day) pedophilic uncle, Jack (Andrew Friedman).
The episode deals with the long-term aftermath of the self-explanatory season eight episode, “The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre.” Thrown in for good measure is a lawyer with whom the gang frequently butts heads.
As usual with episodes featuring the McPoyles, this installment is more gruesome and bizarre than traditionally funny. The first 20 minutes or so of the episode are relatively flat. Uncle Jack’s obvious incompetence as the Ponderosa lawyer doesn’t quite deliver, and Charlie feels underused as the aspiring legal mind and self-proclaimed leader in “bird law” — a running joke in the show. The most recognizable McPoyles, Liam (Jimmi Simpson) and Ryan (Nate Mooney), are strangely absent.
The ambitious title, “McPoyle vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century,” while good in its own right, invites an unfavorable comparison to the show’s previous trial-based episodes such as “The World Series Defense” and “Reynolds vs. Reynolds: The Cereal Defense,” which rank among the best in the series.
Although the show has previously used trials as an effective storytelling device, this episode focuses more on procedure.
Unfortunately, the latest execution isn’t particularly strong.
Various members of the gang try to insert themselves into the proceedings in brief, generally good scenes, but the episode only really takes off towards the very end. After years of Charlie bragging about his acumen for bird-law, he applies this knowledge in a surprisingly effective way, setting off this chaotic third act where the episode starts to shine.
Often this season, the episode derives both its format and its subject from previous episodes, and while the lack of originality hurts, the ending makes it feel somewhat worthwhile. To its credit, the episode advances the gang’s various ongoing feuds, and the final joke particularly is a classic “It’s Always Sunny” moment.
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