Here Are the Most Magnanimous Apologies in ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ History
The Paddy’s Pub Gang of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia isn’t known for admitting when they’re wrong, but that doesn’t mean that Mac, Charlie, Dennis, Dee and Frank are completely unreasonable when it comes time for a mea culpa — reason will prevail.
At its heart, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is about the bonds of friendship and family. Sure, those friendships are toxic and typically abusive, and, yeah, the family is only slightly less dysfunctional than the Beverly Hills Menendez one. But like any great sitcom, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia features interesting characters who have compelling relationships to one another, even if they’re constantly scamming, berating, assaulting and igniting each other. And, as anyone who has been married for a few decades or shared a living space with their sociopathic crush for the same amount of time will tell you, the secret to making a relationship last 20 years is knowing when and how to say, “My bad.”
Over the course of the last 16 seasons of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, there have been a small handful of apologies delivered by one or more Gang members, some of which were even sincere, even though most of them were part of yet another scheme. However, when the Always Sunny social media team decided to highlight the Gang's apology skills with a post titled, “sorry for how we say sorry,” they left out some of the best sort-of-apologies in Always Sunny history.
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And so, here are the most gracious admissions of fault from Always Sunny history starting with…
Charlie Apologizes With Bugged Flowers
In the Season 10 episode “The Gang Spies Like U.S.,” Charlie apologizes for one of his jealous outbursts by bringing a beautiful bouquet to his best friends’ apartment with no ulterior motives. If Charlie seems like he’s not entirely comfortable in this scene, it’s only because he and the Gang are so famously averse to saying the words “I’m sorry,” so it required a tremendous amount of willpower for dear Trundle to cough out his contrite message. It’s just too bad that Dennis and Mac didn’t keep Charlie’s apology flowers pointed toward them so that they could feel his remorse more deeply.
Dennis Tells Dee That He’s Her ‘Perfect Guy’
For eight straight seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dennis Reynolds treated his “worst is first” twin with such utter cruelty that you’d practically think he was running a D.E.N.N.I.S. System on her. However, in the Season Nine premiere “The Gang Broke Dee,” Dennis realizes that his purpose in life is to support his newly successful sister in whatever creepy way he can, and he apologizes for doubting her dreams of superstardom. Of course, Dee didn’t care for his apology and kicked him off the private jet, which was probably for the best — if Dee let Dennis be her “perfect guy” before the big reveal, he really would have offed himself.
The Gang Celebrates A Peaceful Thanksgiving
Though the Peace Treaty that the Gang so graciously offered their enemies in the Season Nine episode “The Gang Squashes Their Beefs” was explicitly not an admission of guilt, the olive branch that Dennis and his friends offered the McPoyles, Bill “Pondy” Ponderosa and Rickety Cricket (for some reason) was even better than a simple apology, because this one is legally binding.
Dennis Expresses His Feelings for the Troop
When Dennis nearly ruined what was supposed to be a very special evening for him and Mac in “The Gang Dines Out,” he knew he had to do more to smooth things over with his longtime roommate and life partner than just tell Mac that his hair looked small. As such, Dennis delivered this stirring, heartfelt and earnest monologue about the invaluable support he’s always enjoyed from some random military veteran who happened to be in Guigino’s that night, and Mac couldn’t have been happier for the Troop.
The Gang Corrects Some Regrettable Makeup Choices
When Hulu and FX scrubbed a select few episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia from their streaming library in 2020, it sparked fan outrage that continues to this day. But while the Always Sunny fandom doesn’t see the problem with platforming episodes that feature Mac and Dee slathered in dark makeup as they continue the Lethal Weapon film series sans license and sans sensitivity, the Gang themselves saw the error in their ways and made brave, anti-racist steps toward correcting their past mistakes. Without the Gang admitting fault, we never would have gotten Lethal Weapon 7, a perfectly innocent cop flick about two strong, respected Black men fighting a natural disaster with absolutely no racial overtones.
