Look, we have to talk about the year the Gang almost broke. When It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 13 premiered in 2018, the vibe was... off. Not necessarily bad, just fundamentally different from anything the show had attempted in over a decade of televised depravity. Fans were panicking because Glenn Howerton was busy with A.P. Bio, and the rumors were flying that Dennis Reynolds was gone for good.
He wasn't. But the season felt the void anyway.
It’s an experimental, jagged, and occasionally uncomfortable stretch of television. You’ve got a sex doll standing in for a lead character. You’ve got an all-female reboot episode that somehow avoids being a cliché. And then, of course, there’s the finale—a literal interpretive dance that left half the audience crying and the other half scratching their heads. It was a turning point. If the first twelve seasons were about the Gang never changing, Season 13 was the first time the show admitted that time, and the world outside Paddy’s Pub, was actually moving forward.
The Dennis Reynolds Shaped Hole in the Bar
The biggest hurdle for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 13 was the "will he, won't he" regarding Glenn Howerton's involvement. For the first time, the show’s rigid five-person chemistry was threatened. The writers leaned into it. Hard.
In "The Gang Makes Paddy’s Great Again," they didn't just ignore Dennis’s absence; they replaced him with a hyper-realistic sex doll. It’s one of the darkest bits they’ve ever done. Mac, now weirdly shredded and looking for approval, uses the doll to maintain his sense of reality. It’s pathetic. It’s hilarious. It’s classic Sunny, yet it feels lonely.
When Dennis finally does walk back through that door, the relief is palpable. But things aren't the same. The dynamic shifted. Howerton only appeared in the majority of the episodes, but his reduced role forced the other four—Charlie Day, Danny DeVito, Kaitlin Olson, and Rob McElhenney—to carry weight in ways they hadn't before. It forced the show to innovate because it simply couldn't rely on the "Golden God" to anchor every single scheme.
Mac’s Physical Transformation and the New Reality
Can we talk about Rob McElhenney’s physique for a second?
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In Season 7, he became "Fat Mac" as a protest against sitcom characters getting better looking as they got richer. For Season 13, he did the opposite. He got terrifyingly lean. "Ripped Mac" wasn't just a sight gag; it was a character choice that mirrored his desperate need for validation after finally coming out as gay in Season 12.
The physical change is jarring. It changes how he moves and how the Gang treats him. There’s a specific kind of vanity in Season 13 that feels more modern and, frankly, more narcissistic than the earlier seasons. They aren't just dirtbags anymore; they are dirtbags trying to fit into a world of Instagram fitness and political correctness.
Navigating a Changing Cultural Climate
A lot of long-running sitcoms die because they can't adapt to new social norms. Sunny didn't die; it just mocked the process of adapting.
"The Gang Solves the Bathroom Problem" is basically a bottle episode about the trans-inclusive bathroom debate. It’s set entirely in the Paddy’s Pub bathroom. What makes it work isn't that the Gang has a "moral" stance—they don't—it's that they are obsessed with the minutiae of it. They manage to turn a massive cultural flashpoint into a petty argument about who gets to use the "luxury" stalls.
Then you have "The Gang Beats Boggs: Ladies' Provider." This was a direct riff on the trend of all-female reboots like Ghostbusters or Ocean's 8. It would have been easy to make this a lazy "women aren't funny" joke, but that's not what Sunny does. Instead, it shows that Dee, Artemis, and The Waitress are just as disgusting, drunk, and incompetent as the men. Equality, in the Sunny universe, means everyone is equally terrible.
The Mindy Kaling Cameo
One of the more controversial moves in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 13 was the inclusion of Mindy Kaling as Cindy. She plays the "new Dennis." She’s smart, organized, and actually successful at running scams.
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The joke, of course, is that the Gang hates her for it. They don't want to be successful; they want to be miserable together. Kaling’s presence highlighted exactly why the Gang is a closed loop. They are a vacuum of stupidity that sucks in anyone who tries to improve them. While some fans felt her presence was too "traditional sitcom," it served a specific purpose: it proved that the Gang is fundamentally unfixable.
The Finale: Mac Finds His Pride
Everything in Season 13 leads to the finale. "Mac Finds His Pride" is perhaps the most divisive twenty minutes in the history of the show.
For 12 years, Mac’s sexuality was a punchline. He was the repressed Catholic who couldn't admit who he was. In the Season 13 finale, that joke ends. Frank (Danny DeVito) is trying to help Mac "come out" so he can use him for a parade float. But Mac is struggling. He doesn't know how to explain his identity to his incarcerated father, Luther.
The episode ends with a five-minute contemporary dance routine performed by McElhenney and professional dancer Kylie Shea to the song "Varúð" by Sigur Rós.
There are no jokes. No laugh track. Just raw, athletic, emotional storytelling.
It was a massive risk. Some viewers hated it, claiming the show "lost its edge" or became "too serious." But others saw it as a profound moment of character growth. Seeing Frank, a man who once called Mac every name in the book, sit in the audience and whisper, "I get it now," was a genuine gut-punch. It showed that even after thirteen seasons, this show could still surprise people. It wasn't just about yelling anymore.
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Why the "Worst" Season is Actually the Most Important
People often rank Season 13 lower than the "golden era" (Seasons 3 through 7). I get it. The pacing is weird. Dennis is half-missing. The CGI on the bird in the "The Gang Escapes" is intentionally—but distractingly—bad.
But Season 13 is the reason the show is still on the air in 2026. It was a deconstruction. By stripping away Dennis, by changing Mac’s body, and by engaging with the "Me Too" era and identity politics, the writers (Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, and Rob McElhenney) proved they weren't just repeating a formula. They were willing to let the show evolve, even if it meant making the audience uncomfortable.
The "Home Alone" inspired episode, "Charlie's Home Alone," is a perfect example. It's basically a silent film where Charlie gets brutally injured over and over again. It’s gruesome. It’s borderline unwatchable for some. But it’s an incredible piece of physical comedy from Charlie Day that pushes the boundaries of what a 22-minute sitcom can be.
Technical Growth
The cinematography in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 13 took a massive leap forward. Look at the lighting in the bar or the way the dance sequence was shot. It stopped looking like a low-budget cable show and started looking like "prestige" television, which in itself is a meta-joke about how long they’ve been around. They went from a pilot shot on a handheld digital camera for $200 to a show capable of producing high-art dance sequences.
Practical Takeaways for a Rewatch
If you’re going back to dive into Season 13, don't expect the rapid-fire banter of the early years. Expect something more atmospheric.
- Watch for the subtle Dennis clues. Even when Glenn Howerton isn't in an episode, his presence is felt through the Gang's dysfunction.
- Pay attention to the background characters. This season makes great use of The Waitress and Cricket, showing just how much the Gang has ruined their lives over the years.
- Don't skip the finale. Even if you aren't a fan of contemporary dance, the sheer athleticism Rob McElhenney displays is worth the watch. He trained for months to pull that off without a stunt double.
- Look at the social commentary. This season tackles the Super Bowl, sexual harassment in the workplace, and the "all-female" movie trend. It’s a time capsule of 2018 cultural anxieties.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 13 isn't the easiest season to watch. It’s crunchy, it’s experimental, and it’s occasionally very bleak. But it’s the season where the show grew a heart, even if that heart is buried under layers of trash and Coors Light.
To get the most out of your rewatch, pair the episodes with the "Always Sunny Podcast" where the creators actually break down the behind-the-scenes chaos of this specific production year. It explains a lot of the weirdness you see on screen, especially regarding the scheduling conflicts that shaped the scripts. Stick with it—the payoff of seeing the Gang try to navigate a world that has finally surpassed them is worth the effort.