Look, we need to talk about the elephant in the room regarding Always Sunny Season 13. People freaked out back in 2018. If you cruise through old Reddit threads or Rotten Tomatoes audience scores, you’ll see a lot of "the show has lost its edge" or "it’s too woke now." Honestly? That’s mostly noise. People were just terrified that Glenn Howerton was actually leaving the show to do A.P. Bio.
He didn't. Not really. But that absence—the "Dennis-shaped hole" in the Paddy’s Pub ecosystem—is exactly what makes this specific run of episodes so fascinating. It forced the writers to get weird. Like, really weird.
The Dennis Reynolds Problem
It was the first time the show felt vulnerable. For twelve years, the dynamic was a locked safe. Then suddenly, the safe was cracked. Dennis was in North Dakota being a dad, or at least that’s what we were told. The premiere, "The Gang Makes Paddy’s Pub Great Again," leaned directly into this anxiety by replacing Glenn with a literal sex doll. It’s a meta-commentary on how fans view TV characters as replaceable objects.
It’s dark. It’s uncomfortable. It’s classic Sunny.
Think about Mac for a second. Rob McElhenney spent years playing a character whose entire identity was "closet-case in denial." By Season 13, Mac is out. He’s ripped. He’s desperate for his father’s approval. The show stopped being a sitcom about nothing and started being a character study of five monsters trying to survive their own bad choices. Some people hated that. They wanted the status quo. But you can't do the same thing for thirteen years without becoming a parody of yourself.
Why the Experimental Episodes Actually Worked
Remember "The Gang Solves the Bathroom Problem"? It’s basically a bottle episode. One room. One argument. It felt like a stage play written by people who have spent too much time in a dive bar. It tackled the "transgender bathroom" debate not by taking a moral high ground, but by showing how the Gang’s inherent narcissism makes them completely unable to understand the actual issues. They just wanted to know where to poop.
💡 You might also like: The Weakest Link Game Show: Why We Can't Stop Watching People Get Insulted
Then you have "The Gang Gets New Wheels." This is arguably the peak of the season.
- Dee gets a taste of the high life and immediately becomes a villain.
- Frank loses his license and tries to use a toddler’s bike.
- Dennis tries to buy a "sensible" car and ends up being bullied by a teenager.
It proved that even without the full quintet in every scene, the DNA of the show remained intact. The humor wasn't "diluted." It was just redistributed. Charlie and Mac’s subplot about the bike—and that brutal collision with the car door—is a masterclass in physical comedy that rivals anything from the early seasons.
The Rickety Cricket Factor
David Hornsby is the unsung hero of this show. In Season 13, we see Cricket in "The Gang Spies Like U.S." and it’s a reminder of the collateral damage these five people cause. The show has always been a slow-motion car crash, and Cricket is the guy stuck under the tire. Some critics argued the show was getting "soft," but you can't watch a man’s life disintegrate into homelessness and drug addiction because of a group of friends and call it soft. It’s a tragedy disguised as a comedy.
That Finale: A Moment Nobody Saw Coming
We have to talk about "Mac Finds His Pride."
Seriously.
If you told a fan in 2005 that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia would end a season with a five-minute contemporary dance piece about the struggle of coming out to a parent, they would have laughed you out of the room. It was a massive risk. It was jarring. The tone shift from the rest of the season was like hitting a wall at 60 miles per hour.
👉 See also: Finding Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Book Online: Why We Still Can't Look Away
But it was earned.
Rob McElhenney trained for months. The choreography was legitimate. Watching Frank—the most disgusting man on television—finally "get it" while watching Mac dance in the rain was genuinely moving. It was a middle finger to the idea that a sitcom has to stay in its lane. It showed that the creators cared more about the characters than the laugh track.
Addressing the "Not as Funny" Allegations
Is Season 13 the funniest season? Probably not. Season 5 or Season 7 usually take that crown. There are some misses. "The Gang Beats Boggs: Ladies Provider" felt a bit like a retread, even if it was trying to make a point about gender-flipped reboots. "The Gang Wins the Big Game" was a bit of a localized celebration of the Eagles' Super Bowl win that might not land the same way if you aren't from Philly.
But "The Gang Escapes"? That’s a top-tier episode. The way they treat a simple escape room like a high-stakes hostage situation is exactly why we watch.
The reality is that Always Sunny Season 13 was a transitional period. It was the show learning how to be "Old Sunny" and "New Sunny" at the same time. It’s the bridge to the later seasons where they lean even harder into social commentary and experimental formats.
✨ Don't miss: Why I Miss You Still Hurts: The K-Drama Melodrama That Broke Everyone
If you're planning a rewatch, don't skip this one because of the internet discourse. To get the most out of it, watch "The Gang Makes Paddy’s Pub Great Again" and "Mac Finds His Pride" back-to-back. It frames the entire season as a journey for Mac specifically, moving from a sex-doll-obsessed weirdo to someone who finally finds a shred of self-respect.
Stop looking for the Dennis Reynolds of Season 3. He isn't there. Instead, look at how the rest of the Gang unravels without their "tether." It makes the eventual reunion in the following seasons feel much more significant.
Next Steps for the Always Sunny Fan:
- Watch the "Making Of" clips for the Season 13 finale. Understanding the physical toll that dance took on McElhenney changes how you view the scene entirely.
- Compare "The Gang Gets New Wheels" to Season 4’s "The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition." It’s a great way to see how their brand of "helpfulness" has evolved (or devolved) over a decade.
- Listen to The Always Sunny Podcast episodes covering this era. The guys are brutally honest about the production struggles and Glenn’s absence during this timeframe.
The show didn't get worse; it just grew up a little bit, which is the scariest thing a sitcom can do.