The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore

"The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore" is the second episode of the seventh season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Synopsis
and take the gang to their favorite childhood vacation spot on the Jersey Shore. Things aren't quite as they remember them. Still, Mac, and  have the times of their lives; Dee and Dennis not so much.

Recap
10:30 AM on a Friday, Philadelphia, PA

and stop  as he burns old photo albums behind Paddy's. They find photos of their favorite vacations at the Jersey shore and convince the rest of the gang to visit. 🇲🇴 chokeholds so they can successfully take him unconscious because of his crippling fear of leaving Philadelphia.



At the beach, Dennis and Dee drink tequila out of sunscreen bottles and comment on how there are only stray dogs and no people around. Charlie enjoys the ocean and drinks sunscreen, even though Dee told him that it is not alcohol. They decide to show Charlie the boardwalk, which is also quite vacant, and decide to go under the boardwalk to find the spot where Dennis had his first kiss. There, they find two homeless men having sex. They are all appalled and a disgusted Charlie leaves to head back to the beach.



Dennis and Dee decide to try and "reset" their trip by going on an amusement part ride on the boardwalk. On the top of the ride, a braid of Dee's hair gets stuck in the gears and is ripped out. Dennis vomits. They go to the hospital to have the part of her scalp reattached and they meet a girl who invites them to party. They are forced to smoke Angel Dust and assist in robbing a laundromat where a robber gets shot. A doctor stitches up the robber and is then shot. Dennis and Dee are forced to dig his grave on the beach, but manage to escape.



Meanwhile, Mac and Frank sit on the beach and eat ham that has been soaked in rum. Stray dogs keep attacking them for the ham, so they decide to float in the ocean in a dingy. They fall asleep and wake up in the middle of the ocean. The ham floats away and Frank contemplates eating Mac, but a boat of guidos arrives and picks them up. On the boat they get spray-tans and steroids, retrieve the ham, and party all night long.



Elsewhere on the beach, Charlie entertains himself when he sees the Waitress walking towards him. He convinces her that he is not stalking her, and she agrees to spend the evening with him on the beach. In the morning, she wakes up and realizes she was tripping on Ecstasy the previous night and hurries away, disgusted.

Back at the hotel parking lot, Dennis and Dee yell at the rest of the Gang to get in the Land Rover and go back to Philly.

Alliances

 * Mac and Frank
 * Dennis and Dee

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 The Waitress
 * Kristina Apgar as Stephanie
 * Christopher Backus as Bobby

Co-starring

 * Jeremy Radin as Sketchy Nick

Trivia

 * The episode's title references the reality show "Jersey Shore", which ran from 2009 to 2012 on MTV. It followed a group of self-described "guidos" (and "guidettes") over the course of a summer on the Jersey Shore.
 * This is the second time an episode has been set outside of Philadelphia, and the second time Charlie has left Philadelphia in his life. The first for both events occurred in the Season 6 episode "The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods". This episode also references Charlie needing to be knocked out in order to leave Philadelphia, the same method the gang used to get him out of Philadelphia previously.
 * When Mac and Frank lose the "rum ham" in the ocean - it's a spoof of "Cast Away", starring Tom Hanks.
 * Based upon locations used, the Gang most likely traveled to Ocean City, New Jersey, where the episode was filmed. The ride that Dee and Dennis go on is called Double Shot at Playland's Castaway Cove, which is mentioned on the ride itself.
 * Danny DeVito was born and raised in Neptune, New Jersey.
 * Kaitlin Olson was using a wig in this episode (for Sweet Dee's braided "Bo Derek look").
 * Back in Season 5, Dee was stealing Frank's idea of drinking a wine in a can. Now Dennis and Dee are drinking tequila out of sunscreen bottles.
 * This is the first time The Waitress admitted to doing drugs (specifically, Ecstasy). In "The Waitress Is Getting Married", she admits to having a drinking problem but is adamant that she has never done other drugs.
 * "Vacation" by The Go-Go's starts playing on 16:01.
 * "Under the Boardwalk" by The Drifters plays during the closing credits.
 * Charlie and Frank both demonstrate that they are unaware of the Gulf Stream: garbage could not "float in from Europe", and the raft that Mac and Frank are on would not drift back to the shore, because in both cases the Atlantic Ocean's current is flowing outwards, towards Europe.
 * An attempt to come up with a recipe for rum ham can be found here. By the way, it's a commonly held belief that if you cook something with alcohol, the alcohol will evaporate, but at least some alcohol usually remains after cooking. So you really could get "ham-mered."
 * In this episode Charlie and The Waitress spend a night at the beach collecting sea stuff. In real life, Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth Ellis used to go on dates at the beach collecting shells, with Day even proposing to her on a beach.
 * Mary Elizabeth Ellis, who plays The Waitress, is visibly pregnant during this episode. She gave birth to Russell Wallace Day on December 15, 2011, her first child with Charlie Day.

Quotes
"Holy shit! Is that the ocean?"

- charlie

"What's on the other side of it, there?"

- charlie

"Now how long would it take..."

- charlie

"Don't swim to Europe."

- charlie

"The sand feels good beneath my feet. I'm a little curious as to where the people are, though."

- dennis

"There are a shit ton of dogs out here, I tell ya. Where are their masters?"

- dennis

"Oh my god, this place is amazing! And this sunblock drink? Nice, guys."

- charlie

"It's good, it's good! It gets you all "ughgugh!""

- charlie

"I feel like we're just scratching the surface of all the cool shit out here."

- charlie

"Well, the sea specimens, the stray dogs, the trash that floated over from Europe..."

- charlie

"God damn it, Frank. Eating your drinks? That is genius."

- Mac

"Warm sun, cool ocean breezes, gettin' ripshit on ham..."

- frank

"I just want to get my scalp sewn back on and get the hell out of this miserable town."

- dee

"Look at this girl. What's her story? She's got a decent bone structure. She was probably very pretty when she was young. She probably spent her summers here lounging on the beach and scooping ice cream."

- dennis

"Right. Developed a nasty coke habit because she loved the way it made her feel. Extreme highs gave way to extreme lows and she fell into a depression."

- dennis

"And then social services came knocking at the door, and the kid lives upstate with his grandparents because she can't take care of this kid. And here she is festering away in a one bedroom apartment, waiting for the HIV to turn into AIDs, and wondering "what the hell..."

- dennis

"Oh, sorry. We were just using you as a metaphor, though. We didn't mean anything personal..."

- dennis

"Well, it was a cool night. We laughed, we collected sea specimens, we drank some ocean. You got a little sick from drinking the ocean, I loved it though."

- charlie

"(to Dennis and Dee) Guys, you will not believe the night we had!"

- mac

"It takes a classy man to admit when he was wrong, and I was wrong! I love the Jersey shore!"

- mac