I don’t know what kind of pull you guys have with the universe but, if you can swing it, you should really try to have one of your favorite television shows do a two-part episode about one of your beloved local sports franchises winning a Super Bowl. That’s the main thing I’m taking away from the It’s Always Sunny Eagles Super Bowl spectacular, that it was cool and fun. For me. Was it as cool for fans of the show who don’t care about my favorite football team? That’s an interesting question and I don’t care about the answer at all because Tom Brady dropped a pass and then later Nick Foles caught a touchdown on a similar play, go Birds, grease the poles, etc. etc. etc.
The first half of the two-parter aired last week and featured Charlie in a Home Alone situation after getting left behind by Frank’s fancy party bus. The episode featured bear traps and urine drinking and paint can mishaps and, if we’re being honest about it all, made a pretty good case that Charlie Day deserves an Emmy nomination one of these days. Yes, it was all very gross and silly and not the high-minded comedy that usually gets recognized by voters, but it was also a one-man physical comedy tour de force unlike just about anything we’ve seen on television recently. Gotta be a place for that.
This week’s episode, the conclusion, focused almost entirely on the rest of the group as they embarked for the game in Minnesota. We learned how Charlie got left in the bar (Cricket stole the Green Man costume), we had travel misadventures (that were quickly solved via private plane), and we ended up at the stadium in a luxury box. This last thing brings up an important point: How… how rich is Frank? And how much juice does he have? Because those suckers aren’t cheap or easy to acquire at any price. Part of me demands a full accounting of his finances but also, again, I mostly don’t care, I’m willing to just accept it, go Birds.
At the game, a few things of note happened, all of them circling back to Mac’s disbelief of Charlie’s various gameday superstitions:
- Frank developed a kidney stone and the Eagles only scored when he was trying to pass it
- Frank gave a speech about the similarities between passing a kidney stone and a long-suffering fan base winning a championship
- Charlie smashed his leg back into a bear trap for a second time, at the behest of a FaceTiming Mac and the ghostlike apparitions of Eagles players Jason Kelce and Beau Allen, while the Rocky music played, during the Patriots final Hail Mary attempt, and I almost cried about it(?)
- I’m fine, leave me alone
All of which is great. And it is very tempting to look at all of this and say that the Gang’s actions played a part in the Eagles’ Super Bowl win. But each of those things, separately or together, are too circumstantial to be taken as proof. Yes, they followed through on their superstitions and good things happened, but nothing they did had a real, tangible, undeniable effect on the outcome of the game…
… except for Dee getting blinded by a disgusting case of pink eye going all Mr. Magoo through the stadium before running her crusty red face on a towel bound for Tom Brady. It’s been a great season for Dee. Relatively speaking, I mean. (She should really see a doctor about those eyes.) I’m going to give her the credit for this one, too. The entire Super Bowl win. Let’s slot her in just behind Nick Foles, who, again, caught a touchdown pass on a similar play to one the Patriots ran earlier in the game that resulted in Tom Brady short-arming the throw and dropping the ball. Just making sure everyone remembers.
The funny thing is that the episode was almost sweet, really. Mac accepted the situation and realized he needed to let the crude Philly fans be themselves. The whole Gang rode the underdog wave the Eagles championed in the playoffs. There was even, at the very end, real cell phone footage of Rob McElhenney at the real Super Bowl, his face stuck in a wide-eyed expression of joy and complete disbelief. It made the whole thing feel like a love song to Philadelphia, in a way, a tribute to the city that lent the show its name over a decade ago. That may sound overly sentimental but keep in mind I just admitted to almost crying when Charlie jammed his leg in the bear trap the second time. I said leave me alone.
So yes, let’s go with “sweet.” At the very least, it was almost definitely the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen that involved bear traps and urine drinking. Go Birds.
