‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ review: Season 8 starts with a national treasure

When any show lasts for eight seasons, there is the sort of feeling that there really cannot be that much of a story left to tell. You’ve covered nearly a decade of time, and for a show that runs in real time like “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” that’s almost a decade of these characters’ lives. We would be lying were we to say that the show is still as great as it once was, but even with a premiere that was a tad predictable at times, this was still yet another reminder as to why this is consistently the most underrated comedy show on TV.

The premise here was so ridiculous itself it sounded like it came out of the same sort of crazy brainstorming session as most of the other episodes. In the beginning, we learned that Dee and Dennis’ grandfather was about to die in the hospital, and they were the only people left who could authorize the doctors to pull the plug. However, this somehow ended up becoming an episode that was about finding treasure, Pop Pop’s past association with a certain Adolf Hitler regime, and a painting of a German shepherd. Confused? You should be, since we still don’t have any idea how some of these characters’ brains work.  Then again, it really doesn’t matter as we witnessed a wild goose chase so that Charlie and Mac could hunt down a painting that Mac believed may have been painted by Hitler himself. This of course led to him thinking that he was on the cusp of a great international discovery, and that he would be featured in a movie a la “National Treasure” with Ryan Gosling playing him. Meanwhile, all Charlie wanted to do was hang the picture back up on his wall after Frank took it down.

As always on the show, we did eventually get to a conclusion that proved that even after all these years, the gang still manages to screw up everything … including burning the picture (which Charlie later labeled to be “cursed” due to the drama it has caused), only for us to find out that there was something painted by Hitler underneath. Of course this episode was offensive, as the show always it; but it is meant for comedic purposes and not to hurt anyone, and once again the cast has some of the best chemistry out of any out there.

At the end of the day, we really don’t mind that these guys really have not grown up at all since the start of the show; as a matter of fact, we wouldn’t have it any other way.