A Televisual Feast

An excellent episode, again flexing the possibilities for “All in the Family.” The episode manages to cover Archie’s opinions on marriage, his opinions on Mike and Gloria’s hippie friends, and, finally, Mike and Gloria’s changing opinions on their hippie friends. Mike and Gloria’s opinions don’t change much, but they finally get fed up, about the same time the audience does, as Archie finally becomes sympathetic (it takes a lot).

The episode allows for some great Edith moments, like when she tries to remember the romance in she and Archie’s marriage. Gloria finally points out to Mike he dismisses her too, but nothing comes from the scene (it’s interrupted by Archie).

The writing’s very strong throughout and the third act punch line is particularly good. Oddly, the pre-end credit tag doesn’t deal with the episode’s story at all, instead addressing one of the other aspects (the episode takes place over three hours late at night) and closes off in an almost nice way. The writers set the audience up for a fantastic Archie outburst, but give them something much different instead.

4