Charlie Gets Crippled

"Charlie Gets Crippled" is the second season premiere, as well as the eighth episode, of the American situation comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia aired on June 29, 2006 on the FX Networks in the United States. The episode was directed by Rob McElhenney and written by Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton. This is the first episode where Danny DeVito and his character, Frank Reynolds, makes an appearance on the show who is a series regular from then on.

Plot

The episode starts out at the bar where Charlie, Mac and Dennis are drinking beer and are planning on going to the strip club. Dee enters the bar and tells Dennis that their father is coming over to talk with them. They don't want to talk to him though and they decide to bail. While escaping the bar and heading over to the strip club Dennis accidentally runs over Charlie.

Dennis and Dee's father, Frank (Danny DeVito), who appeared outside the bar joins them and heads to the hospital where Charlie is put in a wheel chair. Frank tells his kids that he is miserable and is getting a divorce and plan on selling everything he owns and give the money away to poor people. However Dennis and Dee feel that they are entitled to the money and decide to break in into their father's house and take some things before he sells them.

Frank, Mac and Charlie go to the strip club where Charlie gets free lap dances because of his injury. Two strippers join them and then they all head over to Charlie’s place. Frank who seemed to be really depressed before is now having the time of his life with the strippers. He locks out Charlie and Mac from the apartment and Charlie has to sleep in the hallway.

The day after Frank tells Charlie that he loves the carefree slacker life that Charlie and the gang lives and that he wants to be a part of it. He offers to pay Charlie’s rent if he can move in with him.

Back at the bar Dennis and Dee are stacking up the things they stole from their fathers house when Mac comes in with a wheel chair. He tells them that disabled people gets all kind of special treatment and he and Dennis decide to "roll" down to the mall to perhaps get some things for free under heavy protests from Dee.

At the mall they both fake having Polio. They can't get anything for free because Dee has beat them to it, pretending to have a back injury. They also run in to a person who really is disabled which leads to an awkward moment. Angry that Mac stole Dennis' idea of having polio, Dennis starts to fight Mac and they end up solving their differences by racing with their wheel chairs in the mall.

Meanwhile Charlie and Frank are heading back to the strip club when Charlie cracks a brilliant idea: he'll dress up as a war hero to get even more affection from people. Things backfire, though, when he acts like a jerk in the bar. Frank gets all the sympathy instead by pretending he is the father of Charlie.

Next day after being locked out and sleeping outside yet again Charlie goes back to the strip club alone only to find Frank there in a wheel chair. Charlie loses it and starts a big fight with Frank. Meanwhile Dennis and Mac are getting really drunk at the bar and they decide to head over to the strip bar too.

Outside the strip club Dee happens to be walking by with a nice guy she met because of her fake back injury. When they pass by the strip club they see Charlie and Frank fighting outside and Dee tries to break it up, where Frank yanks Dee's crutches away revealing she is faking her injury. Dennis and Mac who both are awfully drunk both fall asleep in their car while it is still driving and they end up hitting Frank, Charlie, Dee and the other guy.

The episode ends at the hospital where Frank tells them to stop fighting and be thankful nobody important got seriously hurt. They leave the room for some ice cream and we see the nice guy lying there seriously injured saying, "What a bunch of assholes."