10 Episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia The Prove Mac Is the Best

FX’s flagship comedy series, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has become the longest-running live action sitcom in history thanks to, among other things, clever writing and a specific type of strangely endearing morally bankrupt depravity that no other show offers. Many shows that last a long time do so because its characters go through great changes, and the audience wants to see them continue to do so. But Sunny isn’t one of those series. For the most part, the Gang stays the same. The exception is Mac, who has changed in some seriously drastic ways, both internally and externally.

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Ways that were hinted at from the beginning? Sure, but it remains that he is without a doubt the character who has experienced the biggest arc. Need proof? The following episodes serve as such.

1) “Mac and Charlie Die” (Season 4, Episodes 5 & 6)

Widely deemed two of the best episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in general, the duology “Mac and Charlie Die” is classic Sunny at its peak. As for Mac, it’s especially memorable because he sustains a brain injury which results in consistent memory loss and an odd obsession with a wedding dress found in a pawn shop.

The Mac of “Mac and Charlie Die” is still classic era Mac, though, especially after he’s shaken out of his cognitive funk with the assistance of some poppers. He’s over-confident without any reason to be as such, afraid of the father whose approval he desperately craves, and utterly ignored by the mother who also has contempt for him (as seen in the hilarious shot where she’s asleep at her own son’s funeral).

2) “Mac Fights Gay Marriage” (Season 6, Episode 1)

Several episodes of Sunny have been pulled from streaming, but the character of Carmen (Brittany Daniel) isn’t the reason why. We could have a whole debate about whether its right or wrong to pull any episode of any show, especially one that’s crafted to offend while also making cogent points, e.g. the Always Sunny in Philadelphias and South Parks of the world, but the point is she isn’t the reason why.

Carmen is a transgender woman, and in the show’s earliest days Mac had an on and off thing with her. In a way, this was a foreshadowing to Mac’s eventual coming out, or at the very least it was when his friends got it in their heads that he was confused about his sexuality. And, without a doubt, Carmen was the one who got away for him. Once she gets married, he’s genuinely upset about that. He coats it in Catholicism, which has never gelled with his repressed homosexuality, causing him much struggle, but at the end of the day he’s just upset that his love passed him over for another man.

3) “Mac and Charlie: White Trash” (Season 6, Episode 5)

Mac always claims to have impressive physical skills that he just can’t seem to prove. The reason he’s consistently claiming he can do these things? His friends’ approval. For instance, his Project Badass videos in Season 4’s “Mac’s Banging the Waitress.”

Then there’s Season 6’s “Mac and Charlie: White Trash,” which has the titular duo trapped at the bottom of an abandoned pool. As the show has gone on, his friends have felt decreasing inhibition about calling him out on his claims, but Charlie did it first here. He challenges Mac to do a backflip. After all, the man just said he could do it and he currently has four big walls he could use to aid him in the endeavor. But the man simply won’t (or can’t) do it.

4) “How Mac Got Fat” (Season 7, Episode 10)

Even though “How Mac Got Fat” is a great Dennis Reynolds episode, it primarily functions as an explanation of, well, how Mac got fat. Furthermore, like the rest of the Gang, Mac is unable to accept accountability for his actions, but he may be the worst of the bunch. In his mind, his weight gain is fully on his peers.

This episode also shows how Mac hasn’t gotten any greater sense of who he is with age. The reason he gained the weight is to “pack on mass” so he can look like a man who he claims will serve as his avatar. But, as Dee says, “not once” has he “ever looked like that.” Putting on weight certainly won’t help.

5) “The High School Reunion” (Season 7, Episodes 12 & 13)

Season 7 showed that Rob McElhenney is the cast member most willing to develop their character through severe alterations to their own physical appearance. But McElhenney/Mac’s weight gain for that season wouldn’t be the only time this would happen.

This also wasn’t the only notable element of the character to be introduced this season, either. Why? Because in the two-parter finale, “The High School Reunion,” we learn his first name (much to Dennis’ delight): Ronald McDonald.

6) “Mac Day” (Season 9, Episode 5)

Mac forever craves attention, it’s something he absolutely never got from his parents, neither of whom ever cared whether he lived or died. Too bad for him the friends he grew up with and spends most of his adult life with are a dispassionate bunch who don’t really think of him in a different light than his parents do.

This leads to perpetual overcompensation by Mac. This is especially true on “Mac Day,” which is supposed to be all about him. But, if shoving his confused views down their throats wasn’t enough, he also brings in his cousin, “Country Mac,” who does in fact get the Gang’s affection and attention. Mac’s increasing frustration by this (and his barked order to “start greasing some dudes”) is sublime. This Season 9 episode is also the first time the Gang verbally acknowledges to one another that Mac is, in fact, gay.

7) “The Gang Goes to Hell” (Season 11, Episodes & 9)

“The Gang Goes to Hell” is another two-parter that is more important for Mac than the other characters who surround him. Specifically, this is when his religion and repressed homosexuality finally clash once and for all. Mac has brought his friends along on a Christian cruise. And, on this Christian cruise, he finds out that two of the fellow members of his church are a gay couple.

After first (with full sincerity) telling the two men that the thunder in the background is God clapping and yelling “No!” to the sight of the two men kissing, he seems to come to terms not just with their relationship, but also with his own identity. At the end of the two-parter’s first chapter, he finds the Gang and comes out. Now, he’d go back into the closet by the end of the second chapter, but he did peak his head out of it for a bit.

8) “Hero or Hate Crime?” (Season 12, Episode 6)

Mac may have gone back into the closet at the end of “The Gang Goes to Hell: Part Two,” but he didn’t stay in there long. And all it took for him to come out officially, and stay out, was a scratcher worth $10,000. It’s actually a fairly sweet moment for the character. He’s finally coming to terms with himself. He finally can have a modicum of inner peace. It’s undermined by the fact he’s standing in front of a bike with an adult toy mounted to it, but it’s an important moment of growth, nonetheless.

9) “Mac Finds His Pride” (Season 13, Episode 10)

Charlie Day and Kaitlin Olson were with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia from the first episode, and Glenn Howerton co-developed the show, but at the end of the day it is really McElhenney’s baby. The first seed of an idea came to him, which he then took to Howerton to flesh out. It’s something he holds near to his heart, as much as his co-ownership of Wrexham A.F.C. if not more so. He puts everything he has and everything he is into it.

This has never been more evident than in the final stretch of Season 13’s finale, “Mac Finds His Pride.” The way the show tackles the topic of homosexuality is also more layered than it seems on the surface. Mac’s homosexuality itself is never the butt of his friends’ jokes…he himself is. It’s more his perpetual denial of who he is and who they know him to be. McElhenney himself has said that he’s “always been part of the gay community,” as both of his brothers are gay and his parents split after his mother came out as a lesbian. In “Mac Finds His Pride,” we learn exactly why he is so conflicted about his homosexuality. Part of it is his Catholicism, sure, but mostly it’s because he’s afraid to come out to his father. He does so in this episode, not with words, but with an extensive, beautifully choreographed dance. And, while Mac’s dad is having none of it, Mac essentially gets a new father in Frank, one who will give him a bit more validation and positive reinforcement than the career criminal who helped spawn him.

10) “The Gang Texts” (Season 14, Episode 5)

Season 13 had Mac get ripped, not so much for his own health, but rather for, per usual, his friends’ approval (“You guys like me, right?”). But no matter what he looks like, Mac is still going to be the butt of his friends’ jokes.

Really, it’s his own fault. He lacks the confidence in the later seasons to really push back against them. And, in that, Mac’s internal change is made the most evident. He used to overcompensate. Now, he’ll try and get his friends into texting only to be the absolute worst at it and get only more reserved and sullener when they call him on it.