The D'Arcy Files

The D'Arcy Files is the 20th episode of season 8 of Married... with Children, also the 177th overall series episode. Directed by Gerry Cohen and written by Ilunga Adell, it premiered on FOX-TV on March 20, 1994.

Synopsis

Al is offered $50,000 dollars to reveal the identity of Jefferson, who, evidence suggests, is a rogue/former spy.

Storyline

Jefferson reveals his secret past to Marcy when he tells her that he is a ex-CIA spy in a witness relocation program. Meanwhile, Al gets conflicting emotions when he is offered a $50,000 reward by a certain Walter Traugott, a shady thug who is looking for Jefferson. Elsewhere, Peggy has a toothache from a broken tooth, and Kelly and Bud dress up as bums at the mall to get more cash for themselves. The night of Marcy's April Fool's Party, Jefferson walks into the Bundy house and overhears the announcer saying that Al is paging Traugott, during the baseball game, causing Jefferson to lock the doors and "take out" Al as he believes Al turned him in. Al falls to the floor and begs for his life as Jefferson reveals it all to be an April's Fools joke (as he is not really a spy and Traugott, is an old friend of the D'Arcy family). Jefferson tells Al that if he was really a spy, he would have taken out Traugott,. As Al and Jefferson leave for the party, Jefferson hears on TV that Traugott, has suffered a fatal accident during the game and blows his party horn in excitement before leaving. 

Recurring Cast/Regulars

• Amanda Bearse as Marcy D'Arcy
• Ted McGinley as Jefferson D'Arcy
• Buck the Dog as Buck Bundy

Guest starring

• Robert Mandan as Walter Traugott

Notes

Title

• The title of this episode is a reference to the FOX sci-fi drama series The X-Files which began airing in September 1993.

Trivia

• Al and Peggy reveal that they got their music teacher, Mrs. Quinn, in trouble by forging a love note from the female P.E. teacher to her. This led to the school board to suspend her teaching license 3 days before her retirement and her husband to divorce her.
• Jefferson reveals that his actual name is not "Jefferson D'Arcy" and that he worked for the CIA several years before meeting Marcy.
• During the closing credits, instead of the picture of Al and Peggy on the couch, it continues from the last scene. Now, with only Buck in the living room, the TV announcer is reading sports scores, including "and in Los Angeles, the Dodgers still suck".
  • The Dodgers finished 63-99 in 1992 which was last place in the NL West, but they rebounded the following year to finish at .500.
    • In the DVD release, the ending is the same, except the credits for "Love and Marriage" is removed.
• During their game of naming U.S. presidents, Al keeps mentioning Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served from 1953 to 1961.
  • Al had previously mentioned that he would be happy to go back living under the Eisenhower administration in "NO MA'AM" after arguing with The Masculine Feminist.
• Al reveals that he wants to die like how all other Bundys have, which is to hang himself by jumping off the workbench in the basement.
• The ending scene with Jefferson blowing the party whistle would later be used to introduce Ted McGinely for the season 9 opening credits.

Cultural Reference

• While watching baseball with Al, Peggy asks him why doesn't baseball have the equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters. He then tells her that they do and its called the Mets.
  • The Harlem Globetrotters is an exhibition basketball team that usually play basketball in a more comedic and theatrical way.
    • Their opponents are almost always the Washington Generals. The Washington Generals serve as stooges to the Globetrotters and their antics.
  • The Mets refers to the MLB, New York Mets, who, in the 1993 season had a record of 59 wins to 103 losses.
    • This was on top of losing seasons in 1991 and 1992.
    • If Peggy is thinking of dominance, then the baseball equivalent would be the New York Yankees. As of March of 2021, the Yankees have amassed 27 World Series titles and 40 American League Pennants.
      • Leaders in other sports leagues
        • National Football League (American Football): New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers; 6 Super Bowl titles between them.
        • National Hockey League: Montreal Canadians: 24 Stanley Cups
        • National Basketball Association: Boston Celtics: 17 NBA Championships including 8 in a row between 1959-1966.
        • NCAA Men's Basketball: UCLA Bruins: 11 Titles including 10 between 1964 and 1975. This includes 17 Final Four appearances though the North Carolina Tar Heels hold that record with 20 appearances. Despite that, the Tar Heels have won only 6 Titles.
        • NCAA Women's Basketball: UConn Huskies: 11 Titles and 20 Women's Final Four appearances
        • Men's World Cup Soccer: Brazil: 5 Championships
        • Women's World Cup Soccer: United States: 4 Championships
• When Jefferson stops by for the baseball game at the Bundy residence, he is wearing a Kansas City Monarchs jersey. The Kansas City Monarchs was a Negro League baseball team that produced more major league players than any other team in the Negro League.
• The answer to Al's question regarding who was Dwight D. Eisenhower's Vice President, was Richard Nixon who would later go on to become the 37th U.S. President in 1969.
• After Kelly suggests that the photography studio that they will open be named after her, Bud quips, "There's already a place called In-N-Out". In-N-Out Burger is an actual fast food restaurant chain that is primarily based in California and the southwestern U.S..
• Jefferson reveals that he dated singer / actress Cher which upsets Marcy.
  • In the season five episode, "You Better Shop Around (Part 1)" Marcy also got upset when Al falsely claims that the National Enquirer had the headline "Steve Rhoades Marries Cher".
    • Marcy had two reasons to be upset. First was the news of the headline itself and second was the fact that Al stole her shopping spree by cutting in line.
• When Al tries to sneak into the D'Arcys' bedroom, he sees Marcy in her Western attire and calls her "Gabby", likely referring to western actor George "Gabby" Hayes.
  • Marcy would once again appear in Western attire in the season 10 episode "The Agony and the Extra C."
• When Walter Traugott shows Al a series a pictures with Jefferson in them, the other people seen are:
  • Fidel Castro - President of Cuba
  • Yasser Arafat - Political Leader of Palestine
  • Rat Pack - A group of entertainers from the 1950s and 1960s that hung out and acted together in films as well as in venues in Las Vegas, Nevada. The most well known incarnation consisted of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop.
    • Jefferson's face in the Rat Pack picture replaces Peter Lawford. Incidentally Lawford had been kicked out of the Rat Pack following a fallout between him and Sinatra in 1962.
    • Theoretically, there is no way Jefferson could be a member of the Rat Pack in the late 1950s. As of the season 11 episode Birthday Boy Toy, Jefferson is 40 years old which would make him a small toddler or even just a baby at the time of the Rat Pack.
• After Al notices the gun holster that Walter Traugott has, he tells him, "Hey, now. If you're a cop, I don't talk to the law, I don't listen to the law, I don't watch 'L.A. Law'". L.A. Law was a legal procedural drama that aired on NBC for 8 seasons from 1986 to 1994.
• When Bud reveals that they were being sued for impersonating the homeless and asks what the worst part was, Al responds "That its too late to adopt the Menedez boys?". This is in reference to Lyle and Erik Menendez who were accused and eventually convicted of brutally murdering their parents in 1989.
  • Legally, Al can't adopt neither Lyle or Erik as they were above the age of consent at the time of the murders.
  • But Al likely wanted them to take him out of his misery anyway.

Music

• "Charge" the fanfare used in sporting events, can be heard when Al watches baseball before Jefferson stops by to pick him up for the April Fool's party.

Locations

• Bundy Residence
• D'Arcy Residence
• New Market Mall
• Gary's Shoes & Accessories for Today's Woman

Sets

• Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
• D'Arcy Bedroom
• New Market Mall Pathway
• Gary's Shoes Cash Register / Entrance

Goofs

• Bud mentions the fast food chain, In-N-Out Burger, but as the restaurant was primarily based in California, Nevada and Arizona at the time this episode was filmed, it would be rather odd for someone from Chicago to know about the chain.
• Al tells Jefferson that he wants to die like all other Bundys typically do, which is to hang himself in the basement. This would contradict several past episodes, such as The England Show Trilogy (where the male Bundys were killed by the people of Upper Uncton) and "And Baby Makes Money" and "I Who Have Nothing" where it is implied that those Bundys died of natural causes/old age.
• When Traugott is heard screaming as he falls to his death, the scream sounds like he is next to the announcer's microphone.