A devout Latter-day Saint's earnest, opinionated, and surprisingly thorough companion to the Gang.
My name is Brother Nathaniel Birch. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I hold a current temple recommend. I served a full-time mission in the Ohio Columbus Mission. I teach the seventeen-year-old Sunday School class, which I genuinely enjoy. I have read the Book of Mormon cover to cover eleven times.
I have also watched every single episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia — all sixteen seasons, including the holiday specials, and yes, the one with the water park.
This is my guide.
I want to be clear upfront: I am not here to tell you the show is wholesome, because it is not. It contains language I would not use, behavior I would not condone, and at least three scenes I had to explain to my wife in a way that involved a great deal of throat-clearing on my part. Paddy's Pub is not a meetinghouse. The Gang is not Zion. Dennis Reynolds is not a man you would want blessing the sacrament.
And yet. And yet. There is something happening in this show that I find genuinely instructive — about pride, about the natural man, about what people become when they are never held accountable by anything larger than themselves. I watch it the way I imagine some people read cautionary scriptures. With one hand over my eyes and the other taking notes.
This guide exists for two kinds of people: my fellow Saints who are curious about the show (or already watching it quietly and would appreciate some moral scaffolding), and fans of the show who are curious about what a Mormon could possibly find compelling about five of the most self-destructive characters on American television. You are both welcome here. There is room in this guide for everyone. That is not something that can be said about Paddy's Pub.
There are five main characters. Here is my quick moral assessment of each. Full assessments are available on the character guide.
Narcissism, entitlement, and what the scriptures call "hardness of heart."
Dennis is the most frightening character on the show because he is charming enough to believe his own rationalizations. He is, in the language of Alma 5:14, a man who has never experienced a "mighty change of heart" — and who would consider such a change a personal insult. He is a walking argument for why the natural man needs to be put off. Moral threat level: High.
Misguided faith, performative righteousness, and genuine spiritual hunger.
Mac is the character who most fascinates me. He calls himself a devout Catholic and spends the series doing almost nothing a devout Catholic would do. And yet his need for God — his desperate, clumsy, deeply sincere need for something transcendent — breaks through in unexpected moments. He is what happens when real spiritual longing gets no nourishment. I root for Mac more than I probably should. Moral threat level: Medium, with occasional moments of accidental grace.
Innocence corrupted, but still present. Somewhat.
Charlie is — and I say this carefully — the closest thing the show has to a guileless soul. He is naive, he has very limited literacy, he inhales chemicals he should not inhale, and his romantic situation is something I will address at length in the episode guide. But there is a purity of intent in Charlie that the others lack. He wants simple things: friendship, love, a warm place to be. The show keeps denying him these things. It is sad. Moral threat level: Low-to-Medium, mostly on account of the chemicals.
Primary Sin: Envy — the one member of the Gang with the most legitimate grievances and the least institutional power.
Dee is in a genuinely difficult position, and I try to remember that. She is dismissed, belittled, and excluded by the rest of the Gang at almost every turn, and many of her complaints about this treatment are entirely correct. The tragedy of Dee is that her grievances are real but her responses to them are consistently destructive. Envy, when left unaddressed, does not free a person from their circumstances — it simply gives them a new reason to wound others. Dee wants to be seen and taken seriously. These are righteous desires. She has chosen almost every wrong path toward them. Moral threat level: Medium-High, and worthy of more sympathy than she usually receives.
A man who had everything the world offers and found it wanting — then kept going anyway.
Frank is the show's most extreme case study. He was once wealthy, respectable, and powerful. He voluntarily gave all of it up to live in squalor with Charlie. This is either a profound rejection of mammon or a complete spiritual collapse — possibly both. Frank is what Korihor might have looked like in his later years, if Korihor had gotten into the sewers. Moral threat level: Very High. Do not let Frank near your Ward activities.
This site is organized so you can engage with it at whatever depth feels right for you. Here are my suggestions based on who you are:
Navigation is available throughout the site. New entries are added on an ongoing basis. I watch about two episodes a week, which is the pace my conscience can sustain.
May the Lord bless your viewing. Or at least let it be instructive.
— Brother Nathaniel Birch, Salt Lake Valley, Utah