Breaking Up Is Easy To Do (Part 2) is the 15th episode of season 11 of Married... with Children and the 253rd overall series episode. Directed by Gerry Cohen and written by Russell Marcus, it premiered on FOX TV on February 24, 1997.
Synopsis[]
After separating from Peggy, Al finds an apartment by the airport. He goes to a nearby singles bar, whereupon he runs into Peggy, who is wooed by a rich man.
Plot Summary[]
After attending couples therapy, Al decides to moves out of the house. With some money that he had hidden in a toilet seat, Al eventually moves into an apartment near O'Hare International Airport (which shakes with each arriving aircraft). Although Peggy proudly tells Al as he left that she will be fine without him, she soon turns into a sobbing, disheveled mess. Bud and Kelly try to comfort her while Marcy gleefully marches inside with confetti to celebrate Al finally leaving the neighborhood. Eventually, Marcy tries to cheer her friend up by telling her what she did when her former husband, Steve Rhoades, left her and together they destroy several of Al's items.
Although Marcy reminds Peg that Al will likely feel worse than her, it turns out that he is actually enjoying his life as a bachelor. He invites Griff and Jefferson over, and after updating his look to include a wig and modern clothing, the men celebrate by going to a singles bar. As it turns out, Peggy, who is now happy and dressed up, happens to go to the same bar with Kelly and Marcy. Jefferson's time at the bar is cut short though after she punches him for dancing with another woman.
While Al strikes out picking up women, Peggy catches the eye of a wealthy man named Bruce, who showers Peggy, Kelly and Bud with lavish gifts. Sometime later, after trying to call the family, Al receives another invitation to go out with Jefferson and Griff, but tells them that he is just too tired from the constant rejection. Just then, an attractive woman named Suzie shows up, revealing that she is one of Al's neighbors and heard that he is knowledgeable about women's shoes. He quickly kicks his friends out and offers to help fix her shoe.
As Al takes a look at the shoe, he begins to tell her about Peg, but then tries to stop himself. The neighbor reassures Al that it is fine to talk about her and even offer to talk about her own ex-boyfriend, just before a knock at Al's door is heard. As it turns out, the person at the door was Suzie ex-boyfriend, who proceeds to punch Al, causing him to stagger all the way back to his waterbed and in turn, punctures it with the woman's shoe.
Suzie quickly takes her shoe back and thanks the unconscious Al, who is now left with a leaky waterbed and part of the ceiling falling onto him as the next arriving plane descends down.
Recurring Cast[]
Guest cast[]
- Alan Thicke as Bruce
- Lisa Melilli as Sandy
- Rosa Blasi as Woman #1
- Mandy Levin as Woman #2
- Irene Roseen as Woman #3
- Christopher Shobe as Guy in Bar
- Lisa Maris as Suzie (Uncredited)
Quotes[]
- [After Al finally moved out, Peggy is now sitting on the couch, looking disheveled and trying to dry her tears, while watching the Shop at Home channel]
- Announcer: [v.o., in a caring tone] We wanna send a special home-shopping hello to Peggy Bundy. [Peggy waves to the screen] It's been a long time, Peggy. And speaking of time.... [becomes more energetic] look at this lovely "Martin Lawrence Coo Coo Clock".
- Peg: Hmm, isn't that cute? The second hand has a gun.
- [suddenly, the sound of gunshots is heard, causing Peg and Bud to stop and notice]
- Martin Lawrence [v.o.] It's 3 o'clock, bitch!
- [At the singles bar, Peg begins to unbutton her top, catching the attention of a wealthy businessman named Bruce.]
- Bruce: Whoa! I never thought this could happen. I've actually met somebody as beautiful as me. [chuckles]
- Peg: You have a big ego.
- Bruce: It matches my wallet and my car.
- Peg: Hmm, anything else?
- Bruce: [amused] Ohoho
- [Al, who spotted Peg, decides to take a seat at a table and unbutton his shirt just like she did. A young attractive redheaded woman notices him, but for the wrong reason]
- Woman #2: Quick, call the paramedics!
- Al: Hmm?
- Woman #2: This old guy's having a heart attack!
- [The woman proceeds to pound on his chest with her fist several times in order to revive him, despite him clearly breathing on his own]
- Al: Oh! Oh! Argh! [begins gasping and struggling to breathe]
- Woman #2: [disgusted] It looks like his diaper is coming off! Ewww!
Notes[]
Title[]
- The episode title is inspired by the song "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" by Neil Sedaka.
Trivia[]
- This episode does not end with an epilogue scene.
- Parts 1 and 2 were originally broadcast as a one-hour episode.
- Peggy reveals that Marcy picked up men at the airport for casual sex following her divorce from Steve Rhoades in season 4 and also broke his stuff.
- After reporting that Steve had left her during "You Gotta Know When to Hold'em," Marcy says that she's going to go home and cut the crotch out of Steve's pants.
- Alan Thicke, who plays Bruce, previously appeared on MWC as Henry, a rich man who eventually dates Kelly Bundy and watches the NBC sitcom Friends with Al, in the season 10 episode/backdoor spinoff pilot "Enemies".
- Al has a notably raspy voice in this episode, similar to how he sounded in the season 7 episode, "'Tis Time to Smell the Roses", where he mentions that he caught a cold (as his actor, Ed O'Neill was in fact sick during filming). Though, unlike that episode, there is no mention of Al being sick in this episode.
Cultural References[]
- When Peggy is watching the Home Shopping Network, the announcer offers a Martin Lawrence Cuckoo Clock. She then notes that Lawrence is holding a gun in the second hand of the clock.
- At the time this episode originally aired, actor/comedian Martin Lawrence was the star of the FOX sitcom Martin, which was in the middle of its fifth and final season, ending its run three months later.
- More specifically, the cuckoo clock alluded to Lawrence's mental health issues and troubles with the law over the previous year that ultimately contributed to Martin ending its run. In May 1996, he was arrested and hospitalized after brandishing a loaded gun and running through oncoming traffic in the streets of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, screaming obscenities and claiming that someone was trying to kill him. The incident was later blamed on exhaustion and dehydration. Two months later, in July 1996, he was arrested again after trying to carry a loaded gun onto a plane. In addition, his Martin co-star, Tisha Campbell, filed a lawsuit against him in January 1997, citing sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace. As part of their legal agreement for her to return to the show, Lawrence and Campbell had to film their scenes separately during the two-part series finale.[1][2]
- At the time this episode originally aired, actor/comedian Martin Lawrence was the star of the FOX sitcom Martin, which was in the middle of its fifth and final season, ending its run three months later.
- The scene in which Al slides across his new apartment while wearing a dress shirt and underwear, only to crash into a wall off-screen, parodies the iconic scene performed by Tom Cruise in the 1983 sex comedy film Risky Business.
- After Griff and Jefferson admire Al's new look, Jefferson says "Eat your heart out, George Clooney", in reference to the actor, who at the time of this episode’s broadcast, was known for his role as Doug Ross in the NBC medical drama ER. Al's wig appears to be somewhat modeled after Clooney's hairstyle during the mid to late 1990s, commonly known as a "Caesar Cut".[3]
- The apartment that Al stays at, "Casa Del O'Hare" is a reference to O'Hare International Airport.
Music[]
- Marcy sings a song called "Al Bundy Away" after finding out that Al has moved out.
- "Old Time Rock n' Roll" by Bob Seger is played when Al slides across his room and again as he and his friends head out to the club. This was substituted with a soundalike version of the song in the Season 11 DVD release, and later syndicated and streaming prints of the episode.
Locations[]
- Bundy Residence
- Casa Del O'Hare
- Nightclub
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
- Bundy Veranda
- Al's apartment
- Nightclub Bar / Dance Floor
Goofs[]
- As Peggy and Al debate over custody of the television sets, Al is shown holding his detached toilet seat near his upper chest. Then when Al justifies working to put a roof over the family's head as to why he deserves custody, Al is no longer holding the seat and Peggy has her arms crossed until the very last second. The camera then changes angles and shows Peggy with her hands clasped and Al, from the back, is holding the seat up to his chest again.
- After Griff picks up Al's hairpiece and jokes about running a vacuum over it, he puts it back on Al's head with the bangs coming at an angle on the right side of Al's face, near his eyebrow. Immediately, the camera cuts to a close up of Al, but the hairpiece is in a different angle and resting higher up on his head. Next, when Griff and Jefferson sit with Al, the hairpiece is still higher up, but facing the other way. Then when Al talks about how a woman kicked him, his hairpiece is changed again, looking like it was fluffed up in-between shots. After Griff says that Al still has the scent of Peggy on him, its changed yet again. Finally, it changes angles again when the woman who visits Al asks him to describe Peggy.
- As Al staggers back to the bed after being punched by Suzi's boyfriend, it is implied that the heel from the shoe in his hand is what caused the waterbed to start leaking. The leak is coming from the center of the bed, but his hand with the shoe in it clearly lands elsewhere on the bed.