It’s Always Sunny season 14, episode 8 recap: Paddy’s Has a Jumper

In episode 148 of FX series, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dennis adopts an algorithm to decide if the gang should save a suicide jumper.

This episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia begins with the gang watching some British show that was recommended by a streaming service algorithm. They talk about how they like it, and it even makes Charlie (Charlie Day) want some fish and chips. Things take a bit of a turn, however, when a police officer (Christine Horn) informs them of a roof jumper named Brian O’Brien (John Ponzio).

Mac (Rob McElhenney) quickly tries to be clever, saying “I’d kill myself, too, if I had that clown’s name.” However, Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton) is quick to note that, in fact, Mac literally has the name of a clown — Ronald “Mac” McDonald!

The sad event has Dee (Kaitlin Olson) debating the proper way to kill one’s self. Also, as often happens on “It’s Always Sunny,” Mac debates the science of the situation, concluding he can believe what he wants because he’s an American (conflating free thought with fact). In addition to debating whether the jumper could die from jumping off their roof, Dennis proposes creating an algorithm to decide if they should intervene.

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They ask the questions of “Could he, would he, should we?” For the “Could he die?” question, Charlie drops a hard-boiled egg, which proves to be an inadequate test. In any case, Dee eats the egg afterward. Of course, Charlie tells her it’s either a “rat’s egg” or a reptile egg.

Frank’s casaba melon

While busy figuring the jump dynamics out, they also ponder the nature of a casaba melon belonging to Frank (Danny DeVito). Because it has a hole it, they assume he’s using it for illicit self-gratification. As a pleasant surprise, Rickety Cricket (David Hornsby) shows up, revealing that he’s been involved with egg procurement.

Cricket informs them that he’s fallen from buildings before and lived, implying either suicide attempts or being thrown from roofs. However, Dennis says he’s a poor control group for being “subhuman.” Dennis concludes it’s actually how someone falls, basing it partly on how Maureen Ponderosa (Catherine Reitman) died.

They look at Brian’s social media page, noting that he has a childish look and drawing many unfair conclusions from that alone. Dennis uses it as another excuse to insult Mac, noting that Mac’s dad (Gregory Scott Cummin) named him after a hamburger clown. Still, they run with their conclusions about Brian, saying his daddy issues and his breakup would be enough for Brian to kill himself. Meanwhile, Frank is outside and trying to get into Paddy’s. He tells the police his son is in there, and they believe he’s talking about the jumper and not Dennis. Frank is briefly interviewed by reporter Jackie Denardo (Jessica Collins) but spends most of the time checking her out.

The flawed algorithm

It’s Always Sunny has revealed Dennis to have dark interests. Still, he partly doesn’t want Paddy’s to be a “suicide bar.” Still, they consider relevant marketing opportunities for their drink specials (“the last call,” “cosmo-fall-itan” and something to due with Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin'”). In fact, Dennis decides that the algorithm says they should help him die, because “that’s just math” and “feelings just get in the way.” Before they can actualize this potential, Brian comes down, misinformed about his estranged father showing up (again, it’s actually just Frank).

Once again, Charlie reveals himself as being (generally) the most humane member of the gang, saying he wouldn’t have felt comfortable killing the jumper. It’s also revealed that Frank regularly stashes his pot in casaba melons, which is why the hole was there. They mildly correct Frank, noting that marijuana is basically legal now (although, of course, one might still hide it to prevent it’s getting stolen anyway, which It’s Always Sunny doesn’t delve into).

Finally, the gang confesses that they actually didn’t like the British show after all and that algorithms aren’t more reliable than individual judgments. So, as sometimes happens on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this episode actually has a message.  On top of that, they were technically right about Brian’s daddy issues, despite their often being wrong in their assumptions.

What are your thoughts on this It’s Always Sunny episode? Let us know in the comments!