Deandra Reynolds

Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia character
First appearance	"The Gang Gets Racist"
Created by	Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day
Portrayed by	Kaitlin Olson Harley Graham (as a child in "A Very Sunny Christmas") Danelle Parker (as a child in "Pop-Pop: The Final Solution")
Information
Occupation	Bartender of Paddy's Pub
Family	Pop Pop (grandfather) Frank Reynolds (legal father) Dennis Reynolds (twin brother) Barbara Reynolds (mother, deceased) Bruce Mathis (biological father) Donna (maternal aunt) Max (uncle by marriage, deceased) Gail the snail (cousin) Maureen Ponderosa (ex sister-in-law) Gino Reynolds (legal paternal uncle) Unnamed Baby (Maternal Surrogate Child)

Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds, or "Dee", is a fictional character on the FX television series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, She was played by Jordan Reid in the unaired pilot episode, and portrayed by Kaitlin Olson for the actual series. Dee was the only major character in the show to be conceived without an actor in mind. Although she was originally written to be a female voice of reason, Dee's character quickly became an equal participant in The Gang's illicit and morally questionable activities once Olson was cast.

Background

Dee is Dennis Reynolds' twin sister and is the main bartender at their bar, Paddy's.^[1] Dee was unpopular in high school due to her severe scoliosis, for which she wore a corrective back brace that earned her the nickname "The Aluminum Monster". Additionally, she is often ridiculed for her resemblance to a bird by the rest of The Gang, especially Dennis and Mac. She identifies herself as a liberal, and claims to be compassionate and smart; in reality, however, she is selfish, greedy, and prejudiced. Dee battles The Gang's view that "females are inferior" and feels that she must prove that she's as capable as her male friends. In "The Gang Gets Invincible", Dee poses as male alter ego "Cole" to try out for the Philadelphia Eagles with Mac and Dennis; she does a superb job and impresses the Eagles coaches until she stuns everyone by revealing she's a woman right before her punting tryout, after which she kicks the ball and severely injures her foot. Her father Frank is the only one who considers Dee a true member of The Gang. Whenever there is a decision or a vote among members of The Gang, the three other guys habitually exclude her.

Though Dee was originally intended to be a sensible and compassionate counterpoint to the other characters, she has shown herself to be just as morally bankrupt as the rest of the gang. She consistently uses others for her own ends, including: feigning affection for Matthew "Rickety Cricket" Mara for financial gain only to reject him when he leaves the priesthood for her; blackmailing the Waitress to come out with her for drinks despite the fact the woman is a recovering alcoholic; and pushing a reluctant young girl into performing with her in a beauty pageant.

Dee is usually ignored or ridiculed whenever she presents an idea to The Gang; however, if someone repeats her exact suggestion, it is immediately accepted. In her will, Dee's mother tells her that she has been a disappointment and a mistake.^[2] consequently, she has considerable animosity towards her mother, and many of her actions are designed to "shove it in her face".

In the season 2 episode "Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare", she and Dennis temporarily develop an addiction to crack cocaine, which is brought up a few times in later episodes.

A recurring joke on the show is Dee having her car destroyed or stolen. In season 4, Mac and Charlie steal and crash her blue Dodge Neon to fake their deaths in the episode "Mac and Charlie Die". In season 5, her next car, a red Ford Aspire, is stolen the same day she bought it by a hitchhiker the gang picked up on their way to the Grand Canyon in "The Gang Hits The Road". After Dee becomes his mistress in the season 6 episode, "Dennis Gets Divorced", Bill Ponderosa gives her a brand new black BMW 3 Series. Soon afterward, however, another of Bill's mistresses arrives to reclaim the car as Bill had originally given it to her. In the season 8 episode, "The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre", Charlie and Mac steal Dee's purple Chrysler PT Cruiser and crash it into a pole, totaling it, claiming "zombies must have stolen [it]." However, the same PT Cruiser shows up again in the next episode, "Charlie and Dee Find Love," with Charlie complaining, "I cant believe you just bought another ridiculous ugly car" just before another car crashes into it.

Career

After flunking out of the University of Pennsylvania, where she had intended to major in psychology, Dee decided to become an actress. However, she has put little effort into realizing her ambition and has never had any significant acting work; as a result, The Gang frequently says that she has no talent for anything.

Dee's aspirations to be an actress inspire her to create several characters, all of which are based on ethnic stereotypes. Many of these are seen in the episode "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest", in which she attempts to be discovered by talent agencies by posting videos of her acting on YouTube. However, her presence in the videos is overshadowed by Charlie's performances as Green Man. Although Dee shows no on-camera stage fright, she consistently faces severe glossophobia when performing in front of an audience. When she performs a stand-up comedy routine at a local comedy club, she repeatedly gags and dry-heaves on stage due to her anxiety.

Relationships

Since high school and through the entire series, Dee has had a long list of failed relationships and one-night stands that includes: a high-school boy who uses her for alcohol and to make his girlfriend jealous; a thief who robs the bar; a middle-aged toothless Korean busboy; a sweet, but simple-minded Iraq War veteran named Ben, who ultimately finds her to be "a mean person"; Lil Kev, a rapper who The Gang originally thought was mentally retarded, only to find out he wasn't; and Bill Ponderosa, a man whom she had a crush on back in high school only to find out he was an overweight loser and married. Like the other members of The Gang, Dee drinks heavily, often hoping to calm herself when meeting an attractive man. Relative to the rest of The Gang, Dee seems to drink more and be drunk more often. She harbors a phobia of the elderly. Despite her many insecurities, Dee is aggressively outspoken and is prone to violence when angered. At one point, she assaults a bum she finds masturbating in the alley behind Paddy's. Charlie and Dee accidentally use steroids in "Hundred Dollar Baby", which greatly increases their anger. In "The Gang Solves the North Korea Situation", she is, along with Frank and Mac, on an American Idol-like panel where she portrays a drunken spoof of Paula Abdul, slurring her words and judging hopefuls in a talent contest. She drinks heavily from a cup full of "Rum and Coke" and uses the event as an excuse to criticize and demean the contestants.

In season 10 she sleeps with Charlie.

Pregnancy

In one of the show's most well-known story arcs, Dee gets pregnant, but does not reveal the identity of the father. The father is eventually revealed to be a transgender woman named Carmen who once dated Mac. Dee carries Carmen's child as a surrogate, having been impregnated through Carmen's sperm and an egg from a donor. She gives birth to a boy in the episode "Dee Gives Birth". The episode was dedicated to Axel Lee McElhenney (Kaitlin Olson's and Rob McElhenney's real-life son).

References

1. "Kaitlin Olson". Buddytv.com. 1975-08-18. Archived from the original on 2008-01-13. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
2. James Wray and Ulf Stabe (2009-04-12). "'It's Always Sunny' screen test college tour - Smallscreen". Monstersandcritics.com. Retrieved 2009-06-22.