The High School Reunion

"The High School Reunion" is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It was the first half of the Reunion set of episodes, followed by "The High School Reunion, Part 2: The Gang's Revenge".

Synopsis
The Gang attends their reunion with a lot to prove. Old friends are met and new foes are made as the gang trips down memory lane.

Recap
7:10 PM on a Friday

In the parking lot of their former High School, Dee chugs a beer. Dennis, Mac, Charlie, and Frank also drink and talk about how excited they are for the reunion. The shatter their bottles on the ground and head into the reunion. Frank isn't allowed in by the security guard, who also doesn't allow them to sneak in other beers. They break those on the ground as well and head in to the reunion.



Charlie and Dee see Brad Fisher at the nametag table and sneak around, afraid that he will be angry from how they hurt him. Dennis and Mac get their nametags, but Mac is ashamed to put his on. Dennis talks him in to it, and Mac's real name is revealed: "Ronald McDonald."

In the gymnasium, Dee tries to show off her sexy brace-less back. Adriano Calvanese, the boy who gave Dee the nickname of "The Aluminum Monster" comes over and hits on her. She tells Charlie that she is going to infiltrate the former "cool kids" and destroy them. She then joins Adriano in insulting Charlie. Mac arrives and Adriano and Dee insult him for his name and fatness as well.

Dennis gives Charlie his nametag and breaks off, trying to stay aloof and cool. He is joined at a table by Frank who has stolen Nikki Potnick's nametag, Maureen Ponderosa who shows that she is using Dennis' alimony payments to purchase a diamond for her dead tooth, and a very drunk waitress. He shakes them all, trying to find a place to hang out and attract his old friends. He is later approached by Tim Murphy (who slept with his prom date ) but he sends him away.

Rickety Cricket shows up at the "cool kids" table, clean shaven and wearing his priests' clothing. He tells Dee that he has made his way out of his rutt. He shakes everybody's hands and leaves.



At the bar, Mac is upset that he is only allowed two drinks. When Adriano arrives with counterfeit tickets, Mac rats him out. Charlie, upset with Mac, goes to the bathroom to huff bleach and ammonia. When he passes out, Adriano, Brad, and Jimmy Doyle arrive and give Charlie, Mac, and Frank wedgies.

Back in the gym, people start to notice they are missing jewelry. Cricket gets nervous and gets up to leave. Adriano notices Cricket has a necklace sticking out of his shirt and finds out that Cricket has robbed everyone. Dennis and Dee are blamed as the cool kids drag Cricket out the parking lot.

To be continued...

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

 * Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Waitress
 * David Hornsby as Cricket
 * Sasha Roiz as Adriano Calvanese
 * Catherine Reitman as Maureen Ponderosa
 * Cormac Bluestone as Jimmy Doyle
 * Nick Wechsler as Brad Fisher
 * Ian Reed Kesler as Tim Murphy
 * Frances Turner as Christie
 * Caleb Followill as Man at Bar
 * Nathan Followill as Bartender #1
 * Jared Followill as Bartender #2

Co-Starring

 * Nikki McKenzie as Keisha
 * Sashi Wells as Another Girl
 * Eoin O'Shea as Security Guard

Trivia

 * In this episode we learn that Mac's full name is "Ronald McDonald"
 * In the scene where Mac puts on his name tag, the sticker moves around multiple times in between shots.
 * Mac's nickname in high school was "Ronnie the Rat" - he was a drug dealer and ratted out all the other drug dealers. Charlie's nickname was "Dirtgrub".
 * "Unbelievable" by EMF plays at the beginning of the Reunion party.
 * Caleb Followill ("Man at Bar") - frontman of Kings of Leon - happened to be a big fan of It's Always Sunny.
 * Cricket is pretending to be a priest just to steal jewelry from his school affronters.
 * This episode led to fan speculation that The Waitress' name is actually Nikki Potnick – the name on the card Frank steals to crash the reunion. The Waitress later arrives with no name tag, declaring that hers had been stolen. Combined with the fact that Nikki is stated to be a girl, many fans assumed this meant they were one and the same. This was quickly shot down by Glenn Howerton ("Dennis") on his personal Twitter account stating that Nikki Potnick was a different person who had already been mentioned in the Season 1 episode "Underage Drinking: A National Concern".

Continuity

 * Tim Murphy and Nikki Potnick are first mentioned in "Underage Drinking: A National Concern".
 * Stash, who was first mentioned in "Dennis and Dee's Mom Is Dead", appears briefly.
 * Jimmy Doyle was first seen in the very end of "Charlie Wants an Abortion".
 * In this episode, on 12:46 starts playing an instrumental from the disco-song "Go For It", which was recorded by Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton for , and was inspired by the Danny DeVito's improvisation on the set. ​
 * Obviously, Mac keeps calling a lot of unfamiliar people "bozo" (like in "The Gang Hits the Road").
 * Mac's family dog Poppins was mentioned in this episode. In their bizarre childhood, and 🇲🇴 used to shave the neighborhood dogs and glue the fur to their faces for the game "Captain Caveman!"  - but they still blame Poppins for giving them ringworm.
 * In "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops" Mac has been told about his and Charlie's wrestling experience as "Pigeon Boys", too ("We used to do backyard wrestling all the time, dude").
 * On 18:42 Murphy says to Cricket "Wait a second, Mara - what is that around your neck?" and then he answers with that's "probably just a scar" - it's another reference for "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops" which Cricket explains in greater detail in "Mac's Big Break".
 * This is the first time since "The Gang Gets Whacked (Part 2)" where Rickity Cricket's real name (Matthew Mara) is used.
 * In "The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell", Dennis from revolutionary times used to call Mac by his real name - "MacDonald".

Quotes
"He's coming over. All right, do you see a spider I can eat?"

- charlie

"You should stay away from those people. I mean, they- they will ruin your life like they tried to ruin mine."

- cricket

"We are grown adults. We are respected businessmen now."

- mac