"PTSDee" is the seventh episode of the twelfth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It aired on February 22, 2017.
Synopsis[]
After finding out she's a male stripper's "rock bottom," Dee goes on a mission to prove she's the best thing that ever happened to him. Dennis takes over for the stripper with the help of his bag boy, Charlie. Meanwhile, Mac and Frank get sucked into a VR war game that causes Mac to develop his own case of PTSD.
Plot[]
Mac and Frank are playing a VR war game in the bar which traumatizes Mac as Frank keeps killing children and women. Charlie and Dennis are disinterestedly watching them and Charlie tells Dennis they have been playing this game for three days straight without sleeping. Dee comes in, telling them her new guy is coming by, boasting he is a soldier stripper and that they have a special connection. The guys are not impressed, making fun of her, and Dennis - correctly - concludes the guy is only coming by because Dee took his watch.
As the guy, Mike, comes by, he asks Dee for his watch back. As it turns out, sleeping with Dee has made him realize he is at his rock bottom, stripping, sleeping with strange women, playing video games all days, not even able to see his daughter, and he doesn't even remember Dee's name. Dee in incensed she is somebody's rock bottom, ranting about how she is a rock and storming out of the bar, followed by Mac who is so traumatized by the game he quits it. Dennis bitches about how neither Mac nor Mike have endured real trauma and gets the idea to try out stripping himself, appointing Charlie to literally have his back.
On his first booking (arriving late because Charlie cut him so often shaving his back), Dennis tells Charlie he plays the Dad type because all girls want to have sex with their Dads. However, he hasn't been booked by young girls but cougars.
Frank takes Mac to a PTSD meeting so Mac gets over himself and continues playing the game. They meet Dee who wants to prove she is a rock, not a rock bottom, and has brought Mike, believing him to be a soldier, though that was only a role he played as stripper. Franks and Dee get Mike to play with Frank by offering him money, thereby "helping" both Mike and Frank. Meanwhile, Mac keeps having nightmares about his father as result of the game.
Dee books Dennis and Charlie - who go as Daddy and the boy now - for a sorority party in the bar, as well as Mike, claiming she wants to show Mike this life is fun and not rock bottom.
Meanwhile, Frank passes out playing the VR game and gets nightmares too, telling Mac he was right and that he has PTSD as well, but Mac informs him it was just sleep deprivation. After sleeping ten hours the night before, Mac is alright again and has, in fact, finished the game with Mike. He has woken Frank up because of the stripper show starting at the bar.
The show is started off with Rickety Cricket, but he only disturbs the girls. Then Dennis and Charlie come on. Dennis is shirtless beneath the duster, playing a "bad Dad" while Charlie is dressed like a kid, playing his son, but they get only ridiculed. Mike is, however, immediately cheered on as he strips, wearing only a thong. As he is humping one of the girls, Dee switches on the lights and it is revealed this girl is Mike's daughter, who is horrified and tells Mike he'll never get to see her again. Dee proclaims to the devastated Mike that clearly she wasn't his rock bottom, but that now he is on his rock bottom.
Afterwards, Dennis comments this was the darkest thing Dee ever did. They all decide not to think about trauma or anything like that, getting drunk instead.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
- Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
- Rob McElhenney as Mac
- Kaitlin Olson as Dee Reynolds
- Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds
Guest starring[]
- David Hornsby as Cricket
- Gregory Scott Cummins as Luther McDonald
- Carter MacIntyre as Mike
- Wil Garret as Old Black Man
- Suzanne Ford as Cynthia
- Casey Sander as Group Leader
Co-starring[]
- Raj Pabari as Small Boy
- Marisela Zumbado as Sorority Girl
- Annalisa Cochrane as Birthday Girl
Trivia[]
- We found out that Dennis was statutorily-raped by Miss Klinksy in the season 11 episode "Dee Made a Smut Film".
- Old Black Man is still sleeping with Dee, Dennis, and Mac, continuing the bet made in the Season 11 episode "Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs".
- Frank's mentions of Vietnam at the PTSD support group refer to the fact he ran a sweatshop in Vietnam, which was first mentioned in the episode "Charlie Goes America All Over Everybody's Ass", and rather graphically described in this season's episode "Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer."
- Rickety Cricket first mentioned that a "Chinaman" stole his kidney in the Season 6 episode "Mac's Big Break".
- Carter MacIntyre previously starred in the episode "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest" but in a different role.
- Some of Mac and Frank's VR scenes parodies the film Zero Dark Thirty.
- Dee is, of course, responsible for the downward spiral of Rickety Cricket's life, which began when he left the priesthood for her in the episode "The Gang Exploits a Miracle". However, due to her ignorance and self-righteous personality, she thinks that Cricket is not a good example of how she's a rock bottom, even though he is in fact the perfect example of how she's rock bottom. Surprisingly, even Dennis is aware that Dee was the main cause of Cricket's road to ruin.
- Luther says to Mac, "You killed me, son," which may actually be true; the last time we saw Luther, in the Season 10 episode "Mac Kills His Dad," he stated he was going to be killed because a gang believes he has ratted out their leader, an impression created by Mac (though we do hear that he had been writing to Mac in "The Gang Goes to Hell: Part Two", and Mac asks Dennis if Luther "still writes", suggesting he is alive). Luther is later confirmed to be alive in the season 13 finale "Mac Finds His Pride".
- Frank's dislike of Mac and being alone with him, shown in "Being Frank", seems to have softened due to his officially coming out of the closet in the previous episode, as they spend the majority of this episode playing VR games together, Frank tries to help Mac overcome his PTSD (so they can keep playing), and even apologizes for being too hard on Mac.
- The episode "A Cricket's Tale" shows more of what happened to Cricket during this episode, in particular what happens after he goes into the bathroom for his urinal shower, and what happened after the strip show.
- This is the first time the time of the show has been given according to the 24-hour clock, and the first time it's outside the US (not counting the "Unknown Time, Unknown Place" titles on "The Gang Goes to Hell" and "The Gang Goes to Hell: Part Two"
- PTSD also figures into the 9th season episode "Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare." Mac and Dennis assume Ben the Soldier has PTSD from his time in Iraq, but it turns out that Ben did not find his time in the Army stressful at all.
- Split-second images of the drug scene from "Being Frank" are shown during Frank's dream about the game.
- The voice Dee does when she calls Dennis and Charlie is very similar to her ridiculously poor "Philly accent" in the 11th season episode "Chardee MacDennis 2: Electric Boogaloo."
Images[]
Quotes[]
|
— | “Rock bottom? Me? Uh, hey buddy, how about when your daughter stopped talking to you? Maybe that was your rock bottom, OK? I'm not rock bottom. You know what I am? I'm a rock. Dee is a rock. in fact, I'm the type of gal who makes men's lives better.” |
- (The door of the bar opens, and Rickety Cricket enters.)
| “Hey-o! You guys mind if I shower in that leaky urinal again?” | — | 
|
- (Dennis looks at Dee and points to Cricket.)
- '
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— | “Well. don't count that. That's not a good example.” |
- (Rickety Cricket is acting as MC of the strip show)
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— | “Ladies, are we ready to party tonight?” |
- (Crowd whoops and cheers)
|
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— | “So am I!” |
- (Cricket turns around and reveals a horrifying scar, which disturbs the audience)
|
|
— | “All right! We're gonna see some skin tonight. Yeah! Scars and all. This, actually, is a real scar. And I got a good story behind that. This is, uh...They took out the kidney, actually, from the front...A Chinaman. And he did not know how to do it, I'll tell you that much.” |
- (Charlie and Dennis are watching from backstage)
| “Cricket was a bad idea, huh?” | — | 
|
|
— | “Yeah, I know. But we needed, that, like, you know, McConaughey MC-type.” |
| “Yeah. But looks like we got AIDS Dallas Buyers Club McConaughey, not Magic Mike McConaughey.” | — |
|
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— | “That is what he looks like.” |
| “It's a good crowd, though. It's a good crowd.” | — |
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— | “Yeah.” |
| “That was the first time that I really thought, "Hey, I might actually, uh...I might die, and no one's gonna remember."” | — |
|
- (Awkward silence from the crowd.)
| “All right! Hey! Let's, uh, keep it movin'. Keepin' it real, keepin' it sexy, and takin' back the power, let's give it up for Daddy and the Boy!” | — |
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— | “There's a war on women? Can I get in on that?” |
| < Season 11 |
Season 12 | Season > 13 |
| 1. "The Gang Turns Black" 2. "The Gang Goes to a Water Park" |