'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia' Could Be A Mulligan For Seinfeld's Despised Finale

Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's daily comedy vertical. For more ComedyNerd content, and ongoing coverage of the Iran/Contra Affair, please sign up for the ComedyNerd newsletter below.

Sign up for the Cracked Newsletter

Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox!

SIGN ME UP

11:00 AM

On A Friday 

Cracked's Offices, New York, New York

Move over, Charlie Kelly misreading the state of Pennsylvania as “Pepe Silvia” in his famed mailroom conspiracy rant – it seems yet another bizarre It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia fan theory has emerged from the bowels of the internet, this time implying that …

“The Gang May Actually Go To Jail”

do do do do do do do doooo do … 

Yep, after 14 seasons, one network change, and notably zero Emmy awards, it seems the fine people of Reddit have finally developed a theory as to why each episode begins with a card depicting the time, date, and locale of the opening scene – Sunny is actually a documentation of all of the various crimes the gang has committed throughout the past 15-ish years.

Over the course of the series's several episodes, Dennis, Mac, Charlie, Dee, and Frank have committed a cornucopia of alarming offenses, including facilitating underage drinking, embezzlement, burning down an apartment, drug possession, animal abuse, sexual assault, grand theft auto, and even conspiring to commit murder – just to name a few. Hell, the gang has committed so many crimes that there's even an entire It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Wiki page dedicated to archiving every single instance they've legally f--ked up. Considering this laundry list of apparent offenses, it seems quite plausible that the often consequence-free events of the series could ultimately culminate in a courtroom showdown – presuming the show, like, actually ever ends. 

If correct, however, this hunch may prove to be more than just a theory, serving as both a clever easter egg to one of Sunny's biggest influences/the show boasting the most detested series finale in all of sitcom history – Seinfeld. Featuring the pals finding themselves on trial for breaking a good samaritan law, Seinfeld ends with pretty much everyone Jerry, Kramer, Elaine, and George have ever wronged testifying against them as character witnesses in court, including Mr. Pitt, Babu Bhatt, and even the Soup Nazi, leading to the series' protagonists ending up in jail. USA Today dubbed it a “slow, smug exercise in self-congratulation.” Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker called it “off-key and bloated.” Hell, my aggressively midwestern dad described it as “horrible," turning off the TV and walking away, vowing to never view another episode of the sitcom ever again. Despite these scathing critiques from renowned publications, reviewers, and well, Howard Tennes alike, the ending of Seinfeld isn't bad, per se – it's the right ending for the wrong show, a notion that Sunny could avenge. 

As many have noted over the years, Seinfeld and Sunny represent two sides of the same conceptual coin. Seinfeld is about nothing with the character's status as a bunch of raging assholes playing second fiddle to its signature inconsequentiality. Sunny, on the other hand, is the opposite. While the characters have notably stagnated throughout their decade and change at Paddy's Pub (sans Mac coming out as gay in season 12 and the occasional references to Dennis marrying IRL Catwoman, the now-deceased Maureen Ponderosa), the show hinges on the fact that the gang is a group of terrible, terrible people, who will happily f--k over each other for their own personal gain. 

While Seinfeld's banality would have been suited for a more inconsequential ending (a la the ultra-abrupt finale of Freaks and Geeks that is really just another episode, but done intentionally and without catalyzing Judd Apatow's villain origin story) Sunny, especially with the backing of this new theory, could bring redemption for Seinfeld's ultimate installment. 

While it seems unlikely that Sunny would recreate the sordid ending exactly – although this approach isn't entirely out of the question, considering they included a frame-for-frame recreation of a scene from Seinfeld's “The Contest” during season 13 – this theory hints that the sitcom's eventual ending could allude to the detested '90s send-off of its predecessor. In other words, the gang could actually face consequences for the way the f--ked up the lives of everyone from The Lawyer (appropriate) to The Waitress, and of course, good ‘ol Rickety Cricket. A sharp departure from the show’s continued status quo, Seinfeld may provide the blueprint for what could easily be a five-star finale. 

Or who knows, maybe we're all just a bunch of speculative idiots, savages, and idiots.

Top Image: FXX/Sony Television

For more internet nonsense, follow Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ on TikTok as @HuntressThompson_, and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.