It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphiahas built quite a reputation for itself after 16 seasons, perhaps most notably for the truly horrifying actions of its main characters. The gang has been terrorizing the people around them for many years now, ruining lives, occasionally killing people, and constantly coming up withnew and outrageous schemesto top their previous ones.
At this point in the show, there is not much that the gang can do or be a part of that is truly shocking, considering how they have proven themselves to be capable of many morally reprehensible deeds. However, occasionally, the gang will still have moments that are truly shocking. These are the wildest moments inIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphiaso far.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
10"A Very Sunny Christmas"
Season 6, Episode 13
Sitcom holiday episodes tend to be sweet and wholesome, so of course,It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphiapushed its Christmas episodeentirely in the opposite direction. There was Frank’s tradition of buying the twins' dream gifts for himself out of spite, and Mac realized that his parents used to take him to break into other people’s houses and steal their presents every year on Christmas Day.
The wildest moment of the episode, though, was how Charlie reacted to some revelations about his childhood Christmases. Upon realizing why his mom used to bring men dressed like Santa to her room after they brought him gifts, Charlie ended up at the mall with Mac.Charlie then accused a mall Santa of having a past relationship with his mom before attacking the Santa and even biting him.
9"Paddy’s Pub: the Worst Bar in Philadelphia"
Season 4, Episode 8
For a bar as dysfunctional as Paddy’s Pub, it was only a matter of time before the negative reviews started pouring in. When a reviewer named Lyle Korman gave Paddy’s an extremely negative review, Charlie naturally kidnapped him. This led toan absolutely wild scheme, where the gang kept Korman taped to a chair in the bar while they tried to figure out what to do with him and tried to get him to change his review to a positive one.
The gang has certainly ruined a number of lives in their time, but kidnapping a man during work hours and keeping him hostage in their workplace was very wild.The stakes certainly escalated very quickly, all due to a negative review, and the entire episode quickly became extremely intense, all due to what could have just been some mild offense.
8"Ass Kickers United: Mac and Charlie Join a Cult"
Season 10, Episode 10
In the Season 10 finale ofIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Mac and Charlie joined a cult that turned out to have been started by Dennis, just to keep Mac from eating his Thin Mints. The cult spiraled out of control quickly, going from athletic workouts to doing construction, until finally, Dennis announced that the leader of the cult wanted them to die.
Poor Jojo then chose to die in the name of the cult, and once again, the gang moved on after destroying yet another life.It was a very wild moment, in which a guy died just because Dennis wanted thin mint cookies.It was yet another scheme that took a typical motive and turned it into the destruction of a life.
7"Sweet Dee Gets Audited"
Season 7, Episode 4
When Dee suddenly got audited, she had to hide the fact that she had claimed Carmen’s baby as a dependent after acting as her surrogate. This led to Dee struggling to come up with a fake child, before finally coming up with a solution.Dee claimed that her baby, Barnabas, had died, and threw a funeral for this fake baby at Paddy’s.
It was a truly wild moment, as the gang put on a fake funeral for Dee’s fake baby. It had hilariously disastrous moments, like Dennis blowing chili powder into Dee’s eyes to make her cry, only for Dee to bleed from her eyes instead. Additionally, there turned out to be a dog corpse in the coffin all along, making it truly a fake funeral to remember.
6"Charlie’s Mom Has Cancer"
Season 8, Episode 6
Season 8, Episode 6,“Charlie’s Mom Has Cancer"was generally a pretty wild episode. Charlie’s mom faked cancer because she accidentally broke a statue, and in turn, everyone started doing various things to help Charlie. Most disturbing of all, Frank set the twins on a hunt for their mother’s money, leading them to dig up her grave and see her long-dead body. Worst of all, there had never been money, and the whole thing was just Frank’s sick revenge.
In short, to get revenge on the twins for his simple comments, Frank had them dig up their dead mother’s body.It was a truly wild moment, showing just how far the gang is willing to push each other over any perceived slight. Most unsettling was how Dennis broke down crying and shouting, “My mommy’s a skeleton!”
Season 12, Episode 7
After hooking up with a stripper named Mike in Season 12, Episode 7, “PTSDee,” Dee was dismayed when he told her that she was his rock bottom. After sleeping with Dee, Mike realized that he wanted to turn his life around. Dee was so upset at being somebody’s rock bottom, that she decided to help Mike improve his life.
This was certainly suspicious, as the members of the gang almost never do kind things for no reason.However, nobody could have predicted where this scheme was going.Dee set up a strip show for Mike to advance his career in front of a group of college students, only for one of those students to end up being his daughter. It was one of the show’s more disturbing moments, especially becauseDee planned the whole thing.
4"Charlie and Dee Find Love”
Season 8, Episode 4
When the filthy rich and good-looking Taft siblings started dating Charlie and Dee, Dennis raised his suspicions that they were just using them for a mean bet. Although he certainly had ulterior motives, Dennis did not seem to be far off in his thoughts, especially when it was revealed that that was exactly what Trevor Taft was doing to Dee and Mac.
The wildest twist of the episode was when it turned outthat poor Ruby Tafthad been completely sincere, and that Charlie had been the one using her.Charlie humiliated Ruby in front of everyone, revealed that he was only using her to make The Waitress jealous, and stomped on her heart with a truly vicious speech. It was completely unexpected, and a phenomenal twist.
3"The Gang Broke Dee"
Season 9, Episode 1
It is always a bit suspicious when any member of the gang is too nice to anyone, including each other. At the beginning of Season 9, Episode 1, “The Gang Broke Dee,” the gang realized how they had in fact broken Dee, and decided to help her. Although their version of help was misguided, it really did seem like they were helping her with her stand-up career, and at least trying to do something somewhat kind for once.
This led to one of the absolute wildest moments inIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where it was revealed that Mac, Charlie, and Frankhad set the whole thing up, and that everyone involved was an actor.Even worse, they pulled this elaborate prank on Dee, to show her that she could sink even lower than she had thought. This had all been unbeknownst to Dennis, too.
2"Mac & Dennis Move to the Suburbs"
Season 11, Episode 5
Many sitcom characters in the later seasons of their shows will take a stab at living in the suburbs.It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphiatook this trope up a notch by having Mac and Dennis move to the suburbs for an episode, in what quickly turned out to be a true psychological horror. They both slowly became more and more detached from reality, due to the isolation and the mysterious beeping noise.
In one of the wildest moments of the series, Mac had slowly snapped after being trapped alone in the house when Dennis went off to work.One night, over mac and cheese, Mac revealed to Dennis that he was eating their recently-deceased dog.It was a truly wild and horrifying moment that proved thatIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphiacould still shock viewersafter so many seasons.
1"Hundred Dollar Baby"
Season 2, Episode 5
The gang has certainly been responsible for several deaths over the years, but the wildest moment on the show is easily the first one. In a spoof ofMillion Dollar Baby, Frank spent the episode training Dee to fight, competing with a father-daughter pair. Then, in a dark play in the movie, Frank knocked out his rival, who accidentally knocked his daughter into a stool, breaking her neck and likely killing her, at the end of the episode.
This was easily the wildest moment of the show, and definitely one of the darkest.Because this happened so early on in the show, it was truly unexpected, and it showed what linesIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphiawas willing to cross.Additionally, having Frank likely kill a person, then it never being discussed again, was wild, andset the tone of the showto come.
