The sad, disturbing, strangely human saga of Charlie and the waitress continues, and Dee loses a rich guy to Mac. (Sort of.)

I could give a bunch of different logical reasons why “Charlie and Dee Find Love” turned out to be the standout episode so far of the otherwise scattershot Season 8 of It’s Always Sunny And Philadelphia, but I’ll just say this: The waitress is back.

The focus of Charlie’s creepy, obsessive love has returned and everything seems better because of it. While many of It’s Always Sunny’s funniest gags come from the simple fact that the characters are all irresponsible nomads, Charlie’s fetishization of a world in which he and the waitress can be together has often spurred the show’s darkest and saddest humor. We’re appalled by his psychotic desires, which include stalking her and performing maintenance duties in her apartment via breaking and entering, but there’s something compelling and subconsciously relatable about his plight.

In this episode, Charlie pretends to be in love with Ruby Taft, who comes from a very wealthy background, so that he can make the waitress jealous enough to want him back in her life. This works out surprisingly well, mostly due to the fact that he dispatches Frank to do a bunch of dirty work that forces her into the hospital. At this point, she ends up pining for Charlie’s stable presence, but this comes after Ruby reveals her love for him.

It’s this sweet cluelessness peppered with a tiny bit of nastiness – especially when he reveals his master plan to Ruby and other Taft family guests at a dinner party like an evil mastermind – that ultimately makes Charlie so perfect in this episode.

The B-plot, which includes Dee’s affection for another Taft sibling named Trevor, is as knotty as you would expect, but almost as good.

The gang is convinced that the Tafts are only using Charlie and Dee for their own amusement, Dinner For Schmucks-style. To verify this theory, Mac, Frank and Dennis join Charlie and Dee at the Taft house for a game of tennis. But, in a classic gang move, each person gets preoccupied with their own, silly pursuits.

Mac discovers that he and Trevor both have a shared love for martial arts, which inspires Trevor to shoot a film of Mac manhandling poor Dee with gratuitously violent karate moves. Not to mention, the friendship between Mac and Trevor blossoms directly after he and Dee were in mid-caress. This sequence turns out to be brilliant, transitioning from Dee’s unrestrained sexual pleas (“Let’s hump!” she shouts to Trevor at one point) to Mac and Trevor swapping karate stance theories.

With Frank busy torturing the waitress on behalf of Charlie, Dennis continues picking away at the Taft family’s impulses. This begins with a hilarious attempt at wooing Ruby by taking off his short on the tennis court to reveal his pale, pasty torso, but this goes horribly bad, fast.

But soon after, he discovers a Taft business secret. He learns that the company plans on going public through something said by Trevor in the martial arts video.

At the dinner party, Mr. Taft reveals the big company news, but is interrupted by Dennis who tells everyone that he knew all along through Trevor’s tip.

This announcement, though, is overshadowed by Charlie’s even bigger announcement that he delivers with loud, evil bombast: He was using Ruby all along to induce the waitress’ jealousy.

The episode ends with Charlie in the hospital with the waitress, who, in a sweet albeit minor display of affection, promises to reduce his restraining order to 50 feet.

Overall, “Charlie and Dee Find Love” is the finest 30 minutes of Season 8 of It’s Always Sunny. It alternates flawlessly between dark comedy and phenomenal slapstick, providing the best evidence so far that our favorite wacky gang is as strong as ever.

Tidbits:

–Is there a rich-person sport more iconic and obvious than tennis?

–This may be the most desperate Charlie-waitress plot line since “The Nightman Cometh”

–Frank looked pretty ridiculous in that bandit hat.

–I don’t think Dee has had a more perfect line than “Let’s hump!”

Frank Did What?:

–Essentially nothing. “Charlie and Dee Find Love” was nearly Frank-less, despite a few, brief scenes. But, surprisingly, it didn’t hinder the episode at all.

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