Grime and Punishment

Grime and Punishment is the 12th episode of Season 11 of Married... with Children and the 247th overall series episode. Directed by Sam W. Orender and written by Steve Faber & Bob Fisher, it premiered on FOX-TV on January 20, 1997.

Synopsis

After Al starts charging Bud rent, his tenant starts making certain demands over his accommodations. Al refuses to co-operate, and is horrified when a building inspector labels him a slumlord and confines him to Bud's basement room until he agrees to make the required repairs.

Plot Summary

Kelly takes an improv class and Al takes advantage of her by asking her to act (work) like him. Since Bud is actually earning money, Al starts charging rent for the basement. Bud and Al sign a lease and Bud pays his rent, after which he claims that the "apartment" is in need of repair. A health inspector declares the basement condemned and gives him a month to get the basement repaired. Al then makes the mistake of insulting her weight. Annoyed, the health inspector forces Al to wear an electronic neck band that prevents him from leaving the basement. Bud gets Marcy and Kelly to torture him so that he repairs the basement.

Al resists the movement despite his disgust over Marcy's attempts. When Jefferson tries to break him out of the basement, Al refuses to leave. He points out that since he was condemned to living in the basement, he had been free from Peg's overbearing needs for sex. Al tells Jefferson that he doesn't have to worry about needing to deal with her at all.

A few days later, Bud is annoyed by Al's resistance that he talks to Kelly and Peg about it. They discuss what to do in regards to him. Peg mentions that since Marcy and Kelly failed, they need to think outside the box and figure out a way to scare Al into compliance. Bud and Kelly then get an idea in how to make him repair the basement. Peg notices that they're staring directly at her and asks about it. Since Al is scared of her, Bud and Kelly decide to use her to their advantage.

In the basement, Al is cleaning his ears with a drill and reading Big Uns. Relishing his freedom in the basement, Al decides that he could start making improvement in it so he can stay there all the time. That is until Peg shows up and she horrifies him by forcing him to have sex with her. The following morning, Bud comes downstairs to the basement seeing Al in a horrible position from Peg's forced sex. Al promises to make the repairs if Bud turns off the tracking device and release him.

Guest Stars

• Marianne Muellereile as Health Inspector

Notes

Title

• The episode title was influenced by the novel, Crime And Punishment.

Trivia

• Al reveals that he enlisted his father in the U.S. Army and got him sent in to fight during the Korean War.
• According to Bud's Baby Book, his first words were "Bud need food. Bud want food. Ouch!".
  • In the season 7 episode "Christmas," there is a flashback scene where Bud's first words were "Playboys, Hooters."
• Al says that Bud has the traits of a Wanker, which include a slopping forehead, laziness, and the ability to catch flies with his tongue.
• This episode does not end with an epilogue scene.

Cultural References

• At the beginning of the episode, Al complains about Peggy and her collection of "The Little Rascal's Last Supper Commemorative Plates".
  • This is in reference to the short films, Our Gang (a.k.a. The Little Rascals) and the painting, "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci, which depicts the final meal between Jesus Christ and his disciples.
  • The Little Rascals were previously mentioned in the Season 5 episode, "And Baby Makes Money", when Al and the family keep mixing up Stymie Bundy's name with characters from the films and the Season 6 episode, "The Egg and I", when Al mentions the actor who played Alfalfa in the films could have played Steve Rhoades if they made a movie about him.
• Peggy's shadow on the wall was inspired by the movie Nosferatu.
• Jefferson hides behind a poster of model and actress Brooke Burke for Venus Swimwear.
• During Kelly's American history re-enactment, she is dressed up as a woman from the 1700s and claims that she will name her newborn son "Bob Dole".
  • Bob Dole was an attorney and former U.S. Senator from Kansas.
    • At the time this episode was filmed in September 1996, Dole was running as the Republican nominee for the 1996 U.S. Presidential Election against the incumbent, Bill Clinton as well as Independent, Ross Perot. By the time this episode aired in January 1997, Clinton had won and remained in office until January 2001.
    • Kelly's line was likely meant to mock Dole's age, as he was about 73 years old in 1996 compared to Clinton, who had just turned 50, but was often touted by the media as being hip and cool and relatable to the 20-something year-olds of Generation X. Their age difference was also highlighted by the media during their campaigns.
• Al mentions that he got a "My Three Sons Holy Trinity serving tray", in reference to the 1960s television show, My Three Sons.

Location

• Bundy Residence

Sets

• Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
• Bud's Room / Bundy Basement

Goofs

• Marcy giggles after she throws the hammer at the moving nipples.
• The health inspector is shown putting a restraint collar on Al to detain him to the basement until he makes the required upgrades. Despite working for the city government, she would actually have no legal authority to imprison Al within his own property, especially with a device such as a restraint collar.
• During Kelly's improvisation of American history, she throws a tomahawk and it hits Al. Yet, Kelly throws it straight forward, and Al was sitting off to the side, clearly away from the trajectory path, so it would be rather impossible for it to hit him unless it somehow changed its trajectory in mid flight and then made a sharp turn towards Al.
• When Al uses a power drill to clean his ear, it sounds like it's on, but the bit clearly isn't rotating. Also, it appears to be flexing until Al finally pulls it away from his ear.
• According to Bud's Baby Book, his first words were "Bud need food. Bud want food. Ouch!". But in the season 7 episode, "Christmas", Peggy said that his first words were "Playboys! Hooters!" when she is shown wiping his mouth.
• When Al reveals that he can now use a scanner to keep track of Bud's expenses, he only scanned the image of the can instad of an actual barcode.