The brilliant facet of the Lawyer’s absence all through the previous six seasons is that we might inform ourselves his eye healed and that maybe he’d moved on from his want for vengeance. Tragically, season 17 confirms his eye was certainly misplaced for good, and he is nonetheless been lowered to a bitter man. His interactions with Frank in season 17, episode 3, “”Mac and Dennis Develop into EMTs,” actually spotlight how futile his hate is; for the Lawyer, that season 11 courtroom episode was the worst day of his life, however for Frank, it was one other Tuesday. Frank is a horrible particular person, however he would not hate the Lawyer. In truth, he would not consider him in any respect. The Lawyer, in different phrases, is obsessive about 5 individuals who do not keep in mind he exists when he is not within the room.
This time round, although, the gang would not simply gouge the Lawyer’s eye out: They poison him, throw sizzling fryer oil on his face, break a number of bones, depart him in a burning automobile, and body him for a number of crimes that they themselves dedicated. “Mac and Dennis Develop into EMTs” then ends with the Lawyer going to jail, whereas your entire gang as soon as once more will get off scot-free.
It is humorous however miserable. The gang has ruined the Lawyer’s existence about as a lot as they’ve ruined Cricket’s, however no less than Cricket has developed a Zen-like angle together with his lifetime of squalor. Cricket barely appears to grasp the unfavourable affect the gang’s had on him, whereas the Lawyer is aware of precisely the place all of it went unsuitable.
What’s additionally notable concerning the Lawyer is the clear mid-series shift in how the “All the time Sunny” writers approached him. At first, they appeared to desire him in a voice-of-reason position, however in some unspecified time in the future, the present’s creatives should’ve figured it might be funnier to punish him for his distaste for the gang as a substitute. It is a stunning change in method — one which highlights how the gang has grown much more wicked and harmful through the years — however it’s not one I hope the writers maintain doing.
By this level, I say the Lawyer’s suffered sufficient. Let him be like Carmen from the early seasons, who let her success be her finest revenge. Ruining the Lawyer’s life was a enjoyable subversion of expectations, however let’s hope the present subverts them but once more and provides him one other win. On the very least, let the poor man transfer on.
New episodes of “It is All the time Sunny in Philadelphia” premiere Wednesdays at 9pm EST on FXX and drop on Hulu a day later.
