‘Sunny’ finds its sizzle for season 5

Funny thing about my favorite show, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

Sometimes the show isn’t that funny. It usually occurs when the gang does something altogether without much of a B story. Such was the case with last week’s “The Gang Goes on a Road Trip.” Insulating the gang in one place without too much interaction with reality hurts. We need regular people to show us just how disturbed our dirty friends really are.

This week we had “The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention,” a return to form and one of the best “Sunny” episodes ever. Not on par with “Sweet Dee’s Dating a Retarded Person” or “Charlie Goes America All Over Everybody’s Ass,” but very close.

The crux of the episode: Frank (Danny Devito) is drinking more than usual. “Usual” is a lot. But the tipping point comes when Frank takes the Gang to a “party,” which happens to be his brother-in-law’s funeral. Frank only wants to go because he’s looking to score with his sister-in-law; moreover, he decides to roll up and smoke a blunt at the funeral. Yes, he’s off the deep end. That prompts Dee, Dennis and Charlie to schedule an intervention.

Mac, meanwhile, gets a hold of Frank’s sister-in-law Donna (Nora Dunn), and as he loves older women, he wants to score. He devises a plan to woo her, while distracting Frank with his niece Gail, a disgusting 31-year-old druggie who the Gang calls “Gail the Snail.” The only way to defeat her: Throw salt on her.

What happens next is classic “Sunny”: The Gang realizes traditional interventions suck, resorting instead to screaming and violence. They also realize boxed wine in a can is a great idea. Mac breaks into Donna’s house to make breakfast, while a hammered Frank “plays around” (for lack of a more G-rated term) with his niece Gail the Snail. Mac doesn’t get what he wants, and they bring Gail back to the bar, where the intervention occurs. Commence canned boxed wine discussion, an appearance by Frank’s gun, odd mentions of Charlie and Frank’s relationship, a scared interventionist (played straight by Suzy Nakamura) and plenty of salt.

This one really has all the trappings of a classic “Sunny” episode. You have weird family members, drunkenness, drugs, sex, the gun, physical comedy, sympathetic Charlie, an incredible dialogue scene in the interventionist’s office and a nice payoff. After the first couple episodes, which ranged from good to half-baked, we finally have a memorable 22 minutes of comedy this season.