‘It’s Always Sunny’ Is Back, And They’re Singing About Racism

There’s a musical refrain throughout It’s Always Sunny’s Season 12 opener that can be applied to the series as a whole — “What are the rules?” Whereas other comedies clearly have topics and boundaries they’re willing and able to explore, It’s Always Sunny has always been socially experimental, tackling abortion, gun control, the financial collapse, and homophobia through its often aggressively offensive characters. So let’s dive right in, shall we? Last night, the gang turned black and performed a musical about it.

“The Gang Turns Black” knows it’s a confusing episode, and the gang does literally nothing to help the audience along, as is their way. After hanging out with Old Black Man (who we later learn is named Carl) and watching The Wiz, a power surge knocks the gang out. When they come to and look in the mirror, they can only see African-American versions of themselves (played by A.J. Hudson, Farley Jackson, Leslie Miller, and Anthony Miller), and that’s when the antics begin. After a shockingly detailed debate about body-swapping movies, the rest of the episode follows Dee, Charlie, Dennis, Mac, and Frank as they try to figure out the rules for being black in America and how they can return to their bodies. Oh, and the entire thing is a musical.

If this complicated concept was executed by any other comedy, it wouldn’t strike the same balance of hilariously reckless and soberly insightful as this episode does. The gang has always stumbled through the concept of race to the show’s benefit, awkwardly calling itself and mainstream television out for racism as it exists in its mostly white bubble. Underneath the show’s innate horribleness has always been a criticism of white privilege, and that criticism is overtly apparent in this episode.

The season opener explores each member of the gang’s racism. Frank (Danny DeVito), for example, is embarrassingly excited to say the n-word (that moment is stolen from him by Chad Coleman’s Z). Meanwhile, Charlie (Charlie Day) connects deeply to the fatherless narrative he’s imagined for his young African-American reflection before realizing that assumption is racist, and Mac (Rob McElhenney) consistently tries to use every minor plot detail to create a grand lesson about all African-American people. Each of them are horrible in their own way, a narrative device that explores the many forms racism can take. Also, “I think we’re not supposed to make wild assumptions about black people based on what we have in our pockets” may be one of the funniest lines in It’s Always Sunny history.

So far, the risky, high concept episode has been reviewed favorably by the A.V. Club, The Daily Beast, and IGN. The episode was also largely praised by fans on social media last night, including a Reddit thread devoted to praising the episode:

However, the biggest shock of the episode wasn’t its concept or how surprisingly nuanced the episode often was. It was the episode’s ending. During the gang’s final number, they’re again confronted by the cops. Charlie, convinced that the cops are his friends, triumphantly pulls out the toy train they gave him as a symbol of camaraderie. For a brief second, the camera flashes to the cop’s point of view, showing a young African-American boy pulling something unexpected from his coat. That’s when they shoot.

As both Charlie Day and A.J. Hudson bleed out on the sidewalk, the gang begins to sing again, desperate to get back to their homes and versions of normal. It’s a bitter, bloody, and pointed punchline, one that knows exactly the dark stakes its playing with. In his review, A.V. Club’s Dennis Perkins described the moment well, writing, “ It’s Trayvon Martin, it’s Tamir Rice, and it’s a soul-numbing number of other black men (and children) dead at the hands of police in America. It’s a punchline that’s a punch in the stomach and, in this, yet another instance where Sunny dives into the darkest comedy and comes up with gems, it’s earned.”

There’s so much to say about this episode — Scott Bakula appears for a musical number, the episode was inspired by Hamilton, the gang is applaud-worthy when it comes to acting and singing at the same time. But one thing is clear: This will go down in Always Sunny history as one of the show’s most memorable episodes. Take that “The Nightman Cometh”

Stream ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ “The Gang Turns Black” on FX