It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Twinks and bears

Last Thursday, the FX comedy series It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia had another scene of gay-themed hilarity. You may recall that an earlier episode mined laughs when Dennis, Mac and Charlie wrote a flier seeking new friends that read like something out of the "men seeking men" section of the personals. This week, they demonstrate that a little knowledge about gay culture can make you an even bigger twit.

In "The Gang Sells the Bar" a restaurant chain offers to buy Paddy's Pub to turn into a new location of their themed restaurants. Unsurprisingly, the gang quickly turns greedy and start making unreasonable demands that gets the offer cheerfully rescinded. That gets Dennis, Mac and Frank begging for the original offer, leading to an awkward conversation in a strip club with a gay exec (played by Richard Ruccolo of Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place and All Over the Guy). It starts with Dennis' declaration that "Some gay guys are twinks and others are bears" and goes downhill quickly from there.

If I've done my research correctly, next week's episode should include the return of Carmen, a transgender woman Mac dated in the first season. I've been looking forward to seeing how they handle Carmen the second time around. There have been more nuanced depictions of transgender characters on TV since that episode aired and I'm curious if Carmen's return will be a part of that tapestry.