Season 10 Episode 12: Love Conquers Al

December 10, 1995

Published 12/10/95

Marcy and Jefferson come back from two days at Dr. Richelieu’s love compound and water park in a state Al finds alarming: Marcy is radiant, and Jefferson has been emptied out. He answers questions in a flat monotone, declares that love is all he needs, and informs Al that the Three Stooges are not funny. Al diagnoses the problem immediately, reaches under the couch cushion, and administers a Big ‘Uns centrefold, which produces a convulsion and then a full recovery. The scene is one of the series’ best two-man bits and it sets up the episode’s actual plot, because the retreat is where Al and Peggy are headed next.

The mission is to get Peg’s parents back together so that her mother leaves the Bundy house. Al, Peggy, Ephraim and the unseen Mrs. Wanker all go to the compound, where a therapist leads couples through feeding exercises and two rounds of “Kumbaya,” and Al endures the whole programme on the strength of what he stands to gain. It does not work out. Ephraim meets another man’s wife and departs on a world tour with her, which leaves the problem upstairs exactly where it was and gives Tim Conway his most consequential exit on the show.

The children’s half of the episode runs on a symmetry the writers clearly enjoyed. Kelly is seeing Carlos, who will not sleep with her, while Bud is seeing Carlos’s cousin Esmerelda, who is extremely willing, each sibling landing precisely the partner the other one would have wanted. Carlos is introduced here and comes back later in the season, making him one of only three boyfriends the series gave Kelly more than once.