After That 'Abbott Elementary' Crossover, I Feel Weirdly Sorry for 'It's Always Sunny's Charlie Kelly

Published in Collider

A highly-anticipated collaboration between Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia had sitcom fans, late-night hosts, and cast members questioning how writers would merge the two comedy series’ massively different styles. The first half of a two-part crossover, an Abbott Elementary episode titled “Volunteers,” aired on Thursday. Series creator Quinta Brunson promoted the release on Late Night With Seth Meyers, where the pair described her work as a fun-for-the-whole-family network show and Always Sunny as a far less wholesome one. The latter series has spent 16 seasons following a group of bar owners who invent schemes to cash out, amuse themselves, or get attention. From running sweatshops to kidnapping, there’s no limit to how low Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Dee (Kaitlin Olson), Mac (Rob McElhenney), Frank (Danny DeVito), and Charlie (Charlie Day) will go.

By comparison, the characters of Abbott Elementary are saints, with Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter) serving as longtime teachers at the poorly funded school. The duo is constantly mentoring younger educators while looking out for their students. So when illiterate janitor Charlie Kelly arrives at Abbott to perform court-ordered community service, Barbara, Melissa, and Jacob (Chris Perfetti) naturally teach him to read. Seeing the 40-something janitor light up after earning a kindergarten-level reading certificate genuinely made me, and other fans, feel a bizarre warmth for the character.

'Abbott Elementary's Crossover Lets the Audience Sympathize With Charlie

Charlie Day as “Charlie” (FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 16 Assets)

Always Sunny viewers have plenty of reasons to be wary of Charlie’s recklessness — especially if it’s on display at a school. An episode from Season 11, titled “Dee Made a Smut Film,” shows the self-proclaimed bird lawyer shamelessly eating chalk to settle his stomach. (For the record, Charlie’s not claiming to be a lawyer representing birds, but a legal expert with loads of bird-related knowledge. He is neither.)

It’s fair to say that someone who swallows chalk, eats erasers, and drinks paint won’t thrive in a classroom. Not to mention that Charlie attacks a child in “The Gang Gets New Wheels.” The Season 13 episode ends with the Always Sunny crew piling into Dennis’ Range Rover as Charlie shouts, “We did a bad thing, dude. I think I killed a kid.” Dennis replies, with his trademark psychopathy, “Doesn’t matter.” Still, the Abbott crossover episode allows fans to sympathize with Charlie — something we rarely have the desire or encouragement to do.

'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' Has Little Patience for Charlie's Shenanigans

Sure, there are fleeting moments in Always Sunny where I feel bad for Charlie, where I feel like he may not be irredeemably awful after all. But that spell is quickly broken by Charlie making a terrible decision or by the rest of the gang pointing out his flaws. It’s easy to pity Charlie pining over the waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) until his longing turns into stalking, for example. In Season 8, Episode 4, Charlie defends breaking into the waitress’ apartment by listing all the ways he helps her out. “I put vitamins in your shampoo, so your hair doesn’t fall out,” he says. Minutes later, the vitamins are revealed to be rat poison.

The concern I feel for Charlie whenever he struggles with reading is similarly short-lived. Whether it’s accidentally marking Paddy’s Pub as closed or ruining a campaign speech, Charlie’s illiteracy tends to spark heated arguments that pull attention to other members of the gang. “Your illiteracy has screwed us again, Charlie,” screams Mac after the janitor mistakenly lists their bar as a contest prize in Season 3, Episode 15. Evidently, the Always Sunny crew has little patience for Charlie’s reading troubles. In an episode titled “Frank Retires,” Charlie's signature on the Paddy’s Pub succession plan reads “Chrundle.” When a defensive Charlie tries shutting down the conversation by insisting that he once went by “Chrundle the Great,” Mac snaps yet again.

Rob McElhenney as "Mac" (FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 16 Assets)

In the crossover episode, however, the perseverance of Abbott's teachers is no match for Charlie’s denial. They bring him a book about birds, help him sound out the letters, and host a school assembly to celebrate his achievement. It’s an adorable moment that couldn’t happen on a classic Always Sunny episode. Throughout the series, the closest Charlie gets to becoming literate is when a scientist investigating the placebo effect tricks the janitor into believing that a pill made him smarter. (It didn’t.) Plus, Abbott has the rest of the gang too distracted to mock Charlie or to sway viewers from feeling sorry for him. Frank is hunting raccoons, Mac is running errands for Principal Ava (Janelle James), and Dee is unsuccessfully seducing Mr. Eddie (Tyler James Williams). Their absence creates a rare opportunity for Charlie to garner on and off-screen sympathy. “Adult illiteracy is very common and there’s no shame in needing help,” says Barbara, before offering some reading tips.

To my fellow Always Sunny fans who found that feel-good ending weirdly unsettling, don’t distress. The final scene of the episode features Charlie mistaking the word “guest” for “ghost.” Though his reading improved, there’s still plenty of room for future illiteracy jokes in Always Sunny. The show’s creators — Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton — have a complicated love for the long-running gag. “He is both constantly making his own character dumber and dumber. And also complaining about how dumb his character's getting.” said Howerton, while describing Day in a January 2022 episode of The Always Sunny Podcast.

Plus, we’ll probably see a more vulgar version of events, where Charlie and the gang are worth no one’s sympathy, in the Always Sunny side of this two-part crossover. The show’s Season 17 release date has not been announced yet but is expected to air in 2025.