It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Hundred Dollar Baby

(S02E05) "All during the 60's before I met my whore wife, I was a boxer. They called me Frankie Fast Hands."

Danny DeVito is an absolute riot. This show is a perfect fit for him. That line right there had me on the floor. I'm not sure if I enjoy the whore wife part or his ridiculous fighting name more, but no matter how you look at it... funny. This episode was originally titled "Sweet Dee Takes Steroids" (that's what it was called on the screener I got), but somewhere along the line it got changed to what we have here. So based on that you can assume there's going to some sort of spoof on the film (Clint Eastwood crying... don't get me started), and there was.

That being said, I was kind of disappointed that the show is headed in that direction. I like the whole pop-culture reference thing, but not on this show. It was never like that before. While I still absolutely love It's Always Sunny..., it seems pretty clear that this isn't quite that same show we got in season one. Whatever, it was still really funny.

So Dee got mugged and started taking self defense classes. Frank got wind of it, excited by the prospect of reliving his fighting days, and offers to train his daughter. That didn't work, so Dee started taking the 'roids. Enter montage of Dee growing a mustache, shaving, punching things, and putting holes in walls. I think those pills are safe though.

Meanwhile, Dennis and Mac decided to train Charlie as an underground street fighter. That training consisted of punching Charlie, throwing garbage cans at him, and breaking chairs over his back. The plan was that he could take such a beating that he'd just outlast any opponent. Again, I liked this, but I wasn't a fan of the whole Rocky similarities. It was too canned, too forced. I mean c'mon, they're in Philly... that's enough right there. Charlie's mood swings (he found Dee's pills) were priceless though.

So there you go. Great episode, but I just hope that this whole reliance on pop-culture themes doesn't last long. This show works better when it just deals with uncomfortable and taboo topics. We don't need all the film allusions. (But we do need more of Joe Esposito's "You're the Best!")

However, we still got plenty of great quotes:

Female Fighter (challenging Dee): "You look like a Holocaust victim in pageant make-up."

Dee (accepting the fight): "I will eat your babies, bitch!"