Frank's Brother

"Frank's Brother" is the fifth episode of the seventh season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It aired on October, 13, 2011.

Synopsis
Frank's long-lost brother shows up unexpectedly and spills family secrets.

Recap
3:50 PM on a Wednesday

As the Gang makes fun of Frank as he makes a hoagie inside of his mouth, an old man arrives. Frank and the man begin fighting. After Frank smashes a beer bottle on his head, he introduces him as his older brother Gino.

The two bicker with each other about stealing the love of each other's lives from each other. The rest of the gang pulls up seats to hear about the story which takes place in the 1960s. When Frank was 19, Gino got him a job at a jazz club and he fell in love with a girl named Shadynasty (pronounced sha-DYE-nuh-stee).

The Reynolds brothers eventually opened up their own club. Shadynasty's former lover Reggie came to politely yell at Frank and Gino beat him up. Gino and Reggie were sent to prison, and once they got out Gino was addicted to cocaine which Frank didn't approve of. Reggie later came to the club as a Black Panther to politely give a pamphlet to Gino, but Frank was worried he was reaching for a gun so he shoots Reggie in the arm.

Frank flees to South America where he worked in quality control at a cocaine farm. He missed Shadynasty too much after two years so he returned to find her in the arms of Gino. She is also addicted to cocaine and he makes her choose between him and drugs and she chose drugs.

Gino says that she left him soon after. He says that he found love letters that he believed to be Frank's. The gang then reads in a letter that she will be at the airport. The gang then goes to the airport to find Shadynasty with Reggie. Reggie is detained by airport security, as he is apparently on the no-fly list, and Frank and Gino leave, saying that Shadynasty didn't really age well anyway.

Starring

 * Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
 * Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
 * Rob McElhenney as Mac
 * Kaitlin Olson as Dee Reynolds
 * Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds

Guest starring

 * Jon Polito as Gino
 * Naturi Naughton as Shadynasty
 * Lance Reddick as Reggie
 * Matt Corby as Airport Security

Co-starring

 * Clara Golidy Holmes as Old Shadynasty
 * Mike Ivy as Old Reggie
 * Nicholas Grad as Clubgoer

Trivia

 * Promotional photos for this episode contain an illustration of Dee's fantasy from the very beginning: "...if I were a cop, I would have an Uzi".
 * An Uzi fires at a rate of 600 rounds per minute, 100 times slower than the "1000 bullets in one second" that Dee suggests.
 * From "The Gang Gets Invincible" we learn that Frank was at Woodstock (he spent 3 days locked in the bathroom of his cousin's Winnebago, surviving on hand soap and toilet water).
 * Actually, Danny DeVito is older than Jon Polito by six years.
 * This episode muddled up the timelines of Frank's life a little bit based on what we know from earlier seasons (and even things we learn in episodes that come afterwards; for example, it's very hard to imagine that Frank could have founded Atwater, as shown in "Frank's Back in Business", in the timeframe that this episode establishes.)
 * Initially, this episode was supposed to contain some scenes with the Gang members as old-school cops.
 * "I Love the Nightlife" by Alicia Bridges plays in Shadynasty's when Frank comes back from Colombia.
 * The scene in which Frank repeatedly yells "You son of a bitch!" at Gino as he attacks him at the club echoes a scene in the Coen Brothers movie Millers Crossing, in which Johnny Caspar (also played by Jon Polito) attacks his enforcer, "The Dane", believing that he's betrayed him.
 * In reality, neither the gang nor Reggie would've been able to get to the waiting area at the airport. Following 9/11, a ticket is required to access such areas; as well, anyone with a ticket would've still had to check in, which would reveal whether or not someone is on the no-fly list, as Reggie was.
 * The beginning of the episode states it takes place at 3:50PM on a Wednesday, but the ending implies it actually takes place near 5:00PM on a Friday.

Quotes
"I'm going to open a jazz joint of my own. An integrated place. Where blacks and whites can get along. No Orientals, though."

- frank

"You did not want to be caught out in the street in those days with a negress. They'd tear you apart!"

- frank

"Whatever the proper word was..."

- frank