It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphiais thelongest-running sitcom on television, lasting 15 seasons since 2005, and renewed for another three. Each episode follows the friend group known as “the gang” as they get into, often illegal, hijinks running Paddy’s Pub in Philadelphia.
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What separatesIt’s Always Sunnyfrom other workplace sitcoms, though, is that the show fully accepts that its protagonists are generally terrible people. They commit crimes, hurt people, and cause mayhem all in the pursuit of selfish goals. While they all definitely fall on the same end of the moral spectrum, some are definitely more malicious than others.
The co-owner/janitor of Paddy’s Pub, Charlie Kelly is the least terrible member of the gang simply because, most of the time, he doesn’t really know what’s going on. Charlie can’t read or write but instead spends his timeplaying in garbage, hunting rats, and writing a musicalabout his childhood trauma in an attempt to win the affections of a waitress whose real name he doesn’t know.
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Most of the time that Charlie finds himself hurting someone else, it’s not his idea. He’s generally a follower, and so when another member of the gang proposes they do something pretty evil, like faking cancer, he goes along with it to fit in with his friends. At the end of the day,It’s Always Sunnyis about a group of people who, even when they’re absolutely horrible and want nothing to do with each other, find themselves irreversibly entangled in each other’s lives, and in many ways, Charlie is just along for the ride.
Ronald McDonald aka Mac, more than any other character onIt’s Always Sunnyhas gone through substantial change. While at the end of every episode the gang either refuses to learn from their mistakes or learns the wrong lesson, Mac has actually grown as a character. He has gone through body image issues, been diagnosed with diabetes, and come out as gay. All this is to say that though Mac may change, he’s still a pretty terrible person.
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Mac typically spends his time as Dennis' right-hand man or hanging out with Charlie, but in either scenario, Mac has a knack for escalating a situation to something worse than it needed to be. He tends to overestimate his ability at combat and is quick to try and solve his problems with a punch. Unfortunately, it never works out. He is also incredibly judgmental of other people, frequently guilty of homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, and often looking down on anyone not living a Catholic lifestyle.
Deandra “Dee” Reynolds is maybe the most sympathetic member of the gang because she is everyone’s go-to punching bag. The other four bond over their shared hatred of Dee by making jokes at her expense, wrecking her car on more than one occasion, and frequently comparing her to a bird. You feel bad for her because it sort of feels like she doesn’t have anyone else in her life other than these people who treat her like garbage. Because Dee is mistreated by her friends, she continues the cycle of abuse and often treats others the same way, in order to gain back some power.
Dee has ambition, much more than any other member of the gang. She believes deep down that she has what it takes to be a movie star. This sort of fragile, yet incredibly brash self-confidence is what fuels her to treat the surrounding people with complete disdain and dismissal. When something goes wrong in her life, like missing out on an acting role or finding herself the butt of some cruel, elaborate joke, Dee reacts by claiming that she knew this would happen all along, placing the blame on someone else, and hurling curse words at them until they go away.
Frank Reynolds is the incredibly wealthy father of Dee and Dennis (and maybe Charlie?), who funds Paddy’s Pub and most of the elaborate “get rich quick” schemes the gang concocts. There are moments where you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking Frank isn’t all that bad. Sometimes he can appear to be a level-headed, ruthless businessman with too much money and too much time. However, after joining the gang in season two, Frank begins a downward spiral into utter maliciousness and debauchery.
Frank has done it all. He founded and operated severalsuccessful business endeavorsincluding a sweatshop, took part in several Ponzi schemes, pimped out his own son for a business deal, convinced his daughter to act as his significant other, hung out with Jeffrey Epstein, became an expert at waterboarding, and has most certainly been responsible for the deaths of many people. Yet, despite all of that, he continually finds success in business.
Dennis Reynolds is the worst member of the gang for one reason: he is, in all likelihood, a serial killer. Or at least, he is more than capable of it. While he has not confirmed that he has killed for pleasure, Dennis has expressed an inability to feel emotions and a fascination with using human skin for things other than containing human flesh. Even if you don’t believe Dennis is a serial killer, it’s undeniable that he’s a predator of some sort.
Centering around his foolproof D.E.N.N.I.S. system for making women fall In love with him, Dennis' attraction to women causes him to behave in a way that is undeniably threatening and a prime example of sexual harassment. Case in point: Dennis records all of his sexual encounters without his partner’s permission, partly because he is a raging narcissist who is most attracted to himself, but also because it puts him in a position of power. In both his romantic and platonic relationships, Dennis sees other people as nothing more than an opportunity to achieve his goals if he can just use them in the right way. He manipulates people, abuses them, and then kills them, most likely.
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