It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – Season 16 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Celebrity Booze: The Ultimate Cash Grab

Episode 5 of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Season 16 begins at Paddy’s Bar. The gang discover Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul from TV’s Breaking Bad are coming to Philly to promote their new alcohol brand, Dos Hombres. 

This news inspires the gang to create their own alcohol business. Dennis decides their brand will be a Premium brand – a blend of all the most premium drinks. Wisely, he ignores Charlie’s idea of creating a drink using crushed-up nickels!

The next steps are to find somebody to fund the operation and to choose a celeb to support their idea. For funding, they call Frank, who just so happens to be with Dee on a private plane which is apparently flying to Aruba. Frank refers to a business he started in the 80s that didn’t go so well because the “face” of his brand, a sports star, cracked his noggin at the Olympics, causing the business to go downhill (in Frank’s screwy logic). 

To sway Frank, Dennis tells him they’re interested in getting the stars of Malcolm In The Middle to endorse their brand. We then cut to a scene with Dee and Frank and discover they aren’t going to Aruba after all. The plane is circling Philly to put enough miles on the jet to make it look like they went to Aruba and back for tax purposes. Dee is not happy about this!

In the next scene, the gang are queuing up for a meet and greet with their chosen celebs. Charlie has difficulty getting through the metal detector because his belly is full of nickel (due to his ridiculous drink). He goes outside to get rid of the coins by throwing up!

After waiting in line, Dennis and Mac get to meet Bryan and Aaron who refuse to shake hands with them. They do get a photo with them though and are then moved on quickly as others greet the two stars. For some reason, the guys have made the assumption that Aaron is the grown-up Malcolm from Malcolm In The Middle. 

Outside, Charlie is spewing his guts up. A limo driver pulls up and Charlie tells him about the reason for his vomiting. He asks the driver to check for loose change in his “next hurl.” The driver refuses but gets a close-up look at Charlie’s vomit anyway when Charlie accidentally pukes on him. Understandably, the driver is angry with Charlie and tells him to stay by his car while he goes somewhere to clean himself up. 

Moments later, Charlie is mistaken for the Breaking Bad actors’ limo driver by somebody working at the meet-and-greet. Charlie goes along with this. Meanwhile, Dennis and Mac are back in line for another meet-up with Bryan and Aaron. They are disappointed when they realize the actors are wrapping things up and leaving. Dennis thinks they missed their one shot to get somebody to endorse their brand but then Mac thinks he sees football star Jalen Hurts. 

The two follow Jalen into the bathroom and talk to who they think is the star from outside a bathroom stall. They are surprised when the door opens and Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers mascot, comes out in full costume. Dennis is confused as to how Mac confused a young Black man with a giant orange monster! While Mac tries to pitch to him, Jalen emerges from another stall and makes a quick exit before the guys can speak to him. 

Dennis receives a call from Charlie who tells him he is with Bryan and Aaron in the limo. The actors are put off by the smell of the vomit in the car. Bryan refers to Charlie as “the common man” while waxing lyrical about his own career. Aaron undermines his former co-star by talking about Bryan’s supposed gambling habit that almost caused him to rent himself out to tourists for sex acts. 

Charlie is driving the limo to Frank’s private plane which has now landed. On the plane, Dee has just eaten tuna from a can after Frank’s encouragement. He then informs her the tuna was from a business he started with Tony Danza back in the 80s. She then starts to feel ill! Charlie calls Frank and lets them know the actors are on the way. 

We then cut to a scene taking place a while later, with Bryan and Aaron on the plane. Bryan is bragging about his career to his co-star again. They assume they’re alone but then Frank and Dee enter their cabin. Frank immediately tries to get them to buy the plane for $35 million.

Then Dennis and Mac turn up. Dennis tells the actors they aren’t here to sell them the plane. Mac tells them they’re here to invest in fashion, due to his efforts to dress up like a 90s celeb but Dennis refutes this. Next up is Charlie, who pops into the cabin to ask the celebs to endorse his nickel drink, which infuriates Dennis. 

Dennis then tries to shake Bryan’s hand and when the actor is reluctant to do so, Dennis suggests to Bryan that he is in an abusive relationship. This proves to be correct when Aaron tells Bryan to put his hand down while calling him a “silly little bitch.”

Aaron thinks he has been controlling Bryan but his older co-star turns on him, telling him the role is actually reversed – he has been controlling Aaron by manipulating him to be the face of their brand. We see the sinister side of Bryan from his Breaking Bad days but just as we think he is going to lose it, he sits down and reveals he has just been acting due to his love to perform.

The episode closes with Dennis asking the actors if they want to invest, to which the answer is an expletive-laden “no.”

The Episode Review

If it wasn’t for the presence of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, this episode would be completely unmemorable. Laughs were very thin on the ground overall but the Breaking Bad actors elevated the episode with their vain celebrity behaviour. It’s interesting to note that the alcohol brand they were promoting is real – Dos Hombres is a drinks company co-founded by the two in 2019. This makes the episode rather meta – were they on the show to advertise their own alcohol? 

Outside of the guest stars, it was business as usual (no pun intended) for the gang as they tried to come up with their own business scheme. They have done this countless times throughout the show so the storyline was hardly original. In fact, that’s the problem the acting-writing team have had all season – a lack of fresh ideas. At one time, this show was daring and inventive but now it’s just treading old ground. Here’s hoping things improve with the next few episodes.