It’s Always Sunny – Season 12 Episodes Ranked

After Season 10 and 11, I was a little worried that the later seasons of Sunny would let me down. Luckily for me, Season 12 was their best outing in years.

There are some surprisingly great episodes here – how would I rank them all?

You can check out some of my related blog posts below:

10 – A Cricket’s Tale

Rating: C-

In all honesty, “A Cricket’s Tale” isn’t nearly as abysmal as I remembered (and certainly not “Frank’s Brother” levels of bad). The jokes aren’t good, but they’re not terrible either.

I really liked how they managed to link Cricket’s story to nearly every other episode in the season, and that made the episode as a whole far better than it would have been otherwise.

9 – The Gang Tends Bar

Rating: B-

The gang just doing their jobs is a pretty neat idea that I appreciated on my first viewing, but when I actually think about it there isn’t much substance.

It just gets boring seeing them stuck in the bar trying to do their jobs, and if it didn’t take an emotional spin at the end it could have been a C-Tier episode.

8 – Old Lady House: A Situational Comedy

Rating: B

While not as elegant as “The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award”, “Old Lady House: A Situational Comedy” does a nice job of pointing out mainstream sitcoms’ flaws.

There are some great twists and turns, like how Dennis was filming his own sitcom all along, and the return of Uncle Jack is always welcome.

7 – PTSDee

Rating: B

There aren’t many Sunny episodes where Dee ends up being the most evil one in the gang – if “PTSDee” is anything to go by, it should happen more often.

While the PSTD / stripper stuff isn’t too interesting on its own, the way the two plotlines come together made for one of the most cringe twists in Sunny history.

6 – Dennis’ Double Life

Rating: B

“Dennis’ Double Life” is a surprisingly heartfelt finale, with a great performance by Glenn Howerton. At the time there was a chance this was his final ever episode, and it would have been a great send-off.

I really liked how they teased this character development in earlier episodes as well – the girl in the waterpark episode had a profound effect on Dennis, and his stripper name “The Daddy” in the “PTSDee” episode was also some nice foreshadowing.

5 – Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare

Rating: B

A really solid episode, “Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare” is just a good outing and a fun watch.

Both the Wolf Cola A-plot and Fight Milk B-plot work well, and their relation to each other makes for a great ending.

4 – The Gang Turns Black

Rating: B+

An absolutely ridiculous and outrageous opening to the season, but that’s why I love “The Gang Turns Black” so much.

There are some really great jabs at the justice system and our modern culture, with some hilarious jokes and songs to boot. It gets a little too insensitive at times, which is why it didn’t quite crack the top 3.

3 – Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer

Rating: B+

I remember the whole “Making a Murderer” craze taking the world by storm, so it’s no surprise that Sunny spoofed it – the biggest shock, however, was that they did it so well.

The mystery of whether Dennis actually killed Maureen is an intriguing one, and the gags along the way are fantastic – Mac’s Borat impression never fails to get a laugh out of me.

2 – The Gang Goes to a Water Park

Rating: A-

Classic Sunny through and through, “The Gang Goes to a Water Park” is the perfect escalation of an otherwise simple premise.

Every plot here is fantastic, from the Frank / Charlie AIDS scheme to the Mac / Dee slide shenanigans, but it’s the Dennis plot where he teams up with a young girl that sends this episode up a tier. It’s a dynamic that shouldn’t have worked so well, and it was great foreshadowing for the season finale.

1 – Hero or Hate Crime?

Rating: A

I always remembered “Hero or Hate Crime?” being the best of the season, but I completely forgot just how incredible it is.

There are about twenty lines that made me laugh out loud, and the rest of the argument was so enthralling that I nearly forget it’s a comedy show at times. They managed to set up the perfect conundrum for Mac’s sexuality, and the payoff where he finally comes out made it all worth it.

Season Rating: B+

Now let’s look at the stats for the season:

• 2A (20%)
• 7B (70%)
• 1C (10%)

Season 12 would have been really consistent if not for that one lacklustre episode.

And now the stats for the series so far:

• 34A (26%)
• 69B (53%)
• 23C (18%)
• 2D (2%)
• 1E (1%)

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