Season 2 Episode 10: The Razor’s Edge

On the Bundy BreakdownDavid Garrison (Steve Rhoades) Takes Over the Bundy Breakdown Our Latest Zoom Watch Party Recap

Steve comes back from a week’s rafting trip with a beard, likes it, and will not shave it off. Marcy’s objection escalates into a full domestic rupture, and Steve moves in with the Bundys, which means Al spends the episode with a houseguest who cooks, a development he receives with more enthusiasm than he has shown for anything involving his own family. The series ran that joke again in season five’s “The Dance Show,” and it works both times because Al’s gratitude is entirely sincere.

The beard is a good vehicle for what the series understood about the Rhoades marriage. The argument is not really about facial hair; it is about Steve having made a decision on his own, while away, without consulting her. Marcy’s position is non-negotiable because the beard is evidence. This is one of only two episodes to show Steve bearded, the other is “The Egg and I“, and in both cases he grew it outdoors, away from his wife.

The half-hour is a milestone behind the camera: it is the first episode directed by Gerry Cohen, who had been the show’s associate director through the first two seasons and went on to direct more episodes of Married… with Children than anyone else. On screen, Bud establishes that at sixteen Kelly is no longer a virgin and that he is now the only one left in the family, a status the series kept him in for several more seasons. Peggy also reports having overheard Marcy’s nickname for a part of Steve’s anatomy, first mentioned a few episodes earlier in “Buck Can Do It.”

Episode Facts

• Original air date: November 15, 1987
• Season 2, Episode 10, and the 23rd episode of the series
• Written by Ellen L. Fogle
• Directed by Gerry Cohen, his first episode as director of the series
• No guest cast is credited.

The Beard That Moved In

Steve comes back from five days of river rafting with a beard. Marcy wants it gone. Steve refuses on principle, and rather than shave he moves in with the Bundys, which is the best thing that has ever happened to Al. Steve cleans the kitchen, fixes the stove, cooks the family a real meal and helps Kelly with her algebra, and within a day Peg is being out-wifed in her own house.

So the episode flips: Al, who hates having Steve there on principle, becomes the one arguing hardest that the beard must stay, because the beard is paying for itself in brown potatoes. His pep talk about pride is one of the great Al Bundy monologues, and it works, right up until Marcy takes her coat off.

This is Gerry Cohen’s first credit as director after two seasons as the show’s associate director. He went on to direct the majority of the series. It is also one of only two episodes in which Steve has a beard, both times grown away from Marcy in the woods. The other is The Egg and I.

Famous Quotes

• Al: “Nature gave men the urge, and women the answer. True, it’s not much, but it’s all they need.” The opening of Al’s lecture on evolution.
• Al: “It’s pride that keeps our pants up, Steve! Just say no!” The closing argument.
• Steve: “You know something, Al? You’re right. Evolution may have passed you by, but you’re right!” Steve, convinced.
• Al: “Well, the summer place is all closed up, the yacht’s in dry dock, so I thought: what the hell, let’s spend the night at the ghetto home!” Al explaining why he is in his own house.
• Peggy: “We may not have upper body strength, but we do have sexual kryptonite.” Peg handing Marcy the solution.

Notes

• The title references the 1946 film The Razor’s Edge.
• Bud establishes in this episode that Kelly, at sixteen, is no longer a virgin, and that he is the only virgin left in the house, a running position he held for several seasons.
• First episode in which Al is thrilled to have another man cooking for him because of someone else’s marital trouble. It happens again in season 5’s “The Dance Show.”
• Marcy’s nickname for Steve, Mr. Mike, was first mentioned in “Buck Can Do It.”
• Goof: Steve says the stove’s cord was cut, then Al says the stove is gas.
• Goof: Marcy says Steve has been gone five days, which is not long enough for the beard he comes home with.

The Razor’s Edge

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