Requiem For a Chevyweight (Part II) is the fifth episode of Season 11, the second part of the two parter involving Al's car, and the 243rd overall episode of Married... with Children.
Directed by Amanda Bearse and written by Russell Marcus, the episode originally aired on FOX on November 17, 1996.
Summary[]
With his old Dodge dead and buried, Al leases a new car with disastrous results. Meanwhile, Jefferson takes a surprise trip to Cuba to visit an old friend while Peggy and the kids continue to find a way to sell the Dodge's parts to an international collector.
Plot[]
Sometime after the Dodge had finally "passed away", Al holds a funeral for it (complete with a "folded beaded seat cover" presented to Al by Griff and Ike playing the bagpipes) and buries it in the backyard. Several days later, as Al goes to the backyard to leave flowers on the grave, Peggy is still in contact with a collector in Germany who wants to purchase the parts of the Dodge. The kids try to convince Al that it is time to move on and get a new car. Bud reveals to Al that he had Marcy look over Al's financial records to see what he can afford. Though as it turns out, Marcy, as well as her banking collogues and even people around town have a good laugh at seeing just how poor he truly is.
Despite being considered too poor by Marcy and her banking colleagues, Al declares that it is his god given right as an American to rack up as much debt as possible and decides to go look for a new car with the kids. The trio end up at Cal Stevens Auto, where they meet the man himself. Despite claiming that as a shoe salesman, he knows a thing or two about business and how to negotiate, Al quickly ends up getting sweettalked into leasing a new sports car, the Testica 2000. Although the car handles well and looks amazing, Marcy informs him that Cal ripped him off with their lease agreement, which includes owning the car for 20 years, followed by a balloon payment at the end. Although he dismisses her remark, the car soon turns out to be a lemon and begins malfunctioning to the point where it nearly crushes and burns Al to death.
After Kelly and Bud enjoy Al's torturing, they soon find Peggy digging up the Dodge late at night, so they can sell the engine to the German collector for $10,000. The following day, Al goes back to Cal Stevens to return the car, but the salesman quickly dismisses Al, pretending that they had never even met before and refuses to take the car back due to Al not taking the extended warranty deal
Meanwhile, ex-CIA operative Jefferson makes a quick trip to Cuba, where he sneaks into the residence of Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba. After Jefferson tells Castro that lost his job at the CIA due to failing to kill him, he then asks for a favor from his friend/old nemesis: since there are so many old cars there due to the trade embargo, maybe one of them has a fuel pump that might fit in the Dodge.
Jefferson and Castro, old adversaries...now working together.
As Kelly and Peggy are trying to get the Dodge's engine ready to ship to Germany, Al returns home from the dealership and tells Bud that he want to see the Dodge. Suddenly, Jefferson arrives with Dr. Fischer, who inform Al that they found a "donor" gas pump, but they cannot make any promises. As it turns out, the fuel pump works, and so the car survives for another day, leaving the three without an engine to sell.
After the Dodge comes back to life, Al then decides to visit Cal one last time and greet him by driving the Testica through the dealership window.
Recurring Cast[]
Guest Cast[]
- Rick Overton as Dr. Fisher
- Michael Sorich as Fidel Castro
- Gary Grubbs as Cal Stevens
Quotes[]
- [In the Bundy backyard, a funeral is being held for Al's beloved Dodge. After presenting Al with a "folded beaded car seat cover", Griff then starts the funeral by offering his eulogy]
- Griff: Al, we've had some great times in this car. [starts to get choked up] I think my favorite was the time we tried to run down my ex-wife.
- Al: [smiling] She outran us, but the Dodge gave it her best shot.
- Griff: [walks over to Peg and helps her stand] Mrs. Peg Bundy would now like to say a few words.
- Al: [crying] Thank you, Peg.
- Peg: My husband... is a moron. Thank you.
- [As she sits down, the kids reach out and congratulate her]
- Kelly: That was beautiful, Mama, really.
- Al: [to Peg. bitterly] See how you do when Oprah checks out.
- [At the funeral for the Dodge, Al decides to stand up and offer a eulogy]
- Al: Twenty-five years ago, a young man of endless promise was going places. All he needed was a way to get there. He found it on a used-car lot on Route 12. And through the years, the journey had some unexpected turns [pauses, then turns to Peg, Bud, Kelly] ...and some unwanted passengers.
- [Peg, Bud, and Kelly give Al a dirty look. Bud also makes a hand gesture that looks like he is going to give Al "Five across the eyes" or in other words, slap Al across his face. ]
- Al: There are several kinds of love. [slowly walks towards Peg] One kind of love begins with misplaced lust. [gradually becomes more angry] And degenerates into a raging hell OF MISERY AND DISPAIR!! [Peg lowers her head, as Al begins to calm down] But I digress. Then there's the kind of love that only turns on when asked and performs beautifully. The kind of love that makes you feel young when you go for a ride. Farewell, my sweet chariot of youth.
- [In the residential home of Fidel Castro, Jefferson drops in from the roof and then puts a knife on the Cuban leader's throat.]
- Fidel Castro: Wha?! [turns and smile upon seeing Jefferson] Ah, Hefferson! My old adversary! [laughs, extends his hand out]
- Jefferson: [smiling, laughing as they shaking hands] Fidel, mi compadre! (My friend}
- Fidel Castro: Still with the CIA?
- Jefferson: No, no. When I couldn't kill you, they fired me.
- Fidel Castro: Oh, sorry. But you still got the moves!
- Jefferson: That's what the wife says! Hehehe.
- [Jefferson reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out his wallet to show Fidel a picture of Marcy]
- Fidel Castro: [confused] You married the kid from Home Improvement?
- Jefferson: [studies the picture] Aye, caramba! (Oh, wow!) I guess I did! Oh, well. She's got money, she buys me things.
- Fidel Castro: Ha! So did Russia and look what that got us!
Notes[]
Title[]
- The title of this episode is a pun on Requiem for a Heavyweight, a movie based on a story by Rod Serling and references the Chevrolet brand of cars, colloquially called "Chevy".
- Two other MWC episodes share similar titles based on that of the film: season 3's "Requiem for a Dead Barber" and season 10's "Requiem for a Dead Briard".
Trivia[]
- Al reveals that he had bought the car 25 years ago on a used car lot on Route 12.
- Gary Grubbs, who plays Cal Stevens, previously appeared on MWC as Delbert in the season 2 two-parter, "Poppy's by the Tree (Parts 1 and 2)".
- The building used for Cal Stevens Motors was previously used in season 4's “Oh, What a Feeling” as that of the Scott N Gary Motors dealership.
- The "Kiwi" featured is actually a real car. It's an electric vehicle from Norway called the Kewet El Jet that was first introduced in 1991.[1]. As of 2000, the vehicle is now sold as the "Buddy".
- Al's shiny new "Testica" is actually a 1996 Ford Mustang.
- In this episode, Jefferson is shown to be on good terms with Fidel Castro and reveals to the Cuban leader was let go from the C.I.A. after failing to kill Castro as part of his assignment.
- In the season 8 episode "The D'Arcy Files", a man named Walter Traugott revealed that Jefferson had betrayed the U.S. government and sold classified information to foreign leaders. He then showed Al pictures that included Jefferson talking with Fidel Castro among other leaders.
- Ike has a brief cameo in this episode, but does not speak as he is playing the bagpipes.
- Michael Sorich, who plays Fidel Castro in this episode, also played Castro on an episode of Seinfeld titled "The Race". Though in that episode, he is only shown from the back, as he talks about various things to George Costanza.
- In 2000, he also played the Cuban leader three additional times in the films, Noriega: God's Favorite, Seven Days, and A Family in Crisis: The Elian Gonzales Story.
Cultural References[]
- During the funeral, Griff is shown with another man folding a beaded car seat several times until it forms a triangle, which is then presented to Al. This is a reference to the folded flag used during military funerals, in which the flag that was draped over the coffin is picked up and folded over on itself 13 time to form a triangle, before it is presented to the next of kin. [1]
- Cal Stevens' accent and fashion is based on used car salesman Cal Worthington, who was known for his chain of dealerships along the West Coast and their commercials.
- Both Al and Fidel Castro refer to Marcy as "the kid from 'Home Improvement'", a likely reference to child actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who played Randy Taylor (the wisecracking middle son of Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson’s characters, Tim and Jill Taylor) on the 1991–99 ABC sitcom.
- The show also featured former MWC guest stars Pamela Anderson and Debbe Dunning.
- After Jefferson shows a picture of Marcy to Fidel Castro and then remarks that he's staying with her because she has money and buys him things. Castro then chimes in "So did Russia and look what that got us.", referring to the relations that Cuba had with the Soviet Union that deteriorated after Soviet politician Nikita Khrushchev made an agreement to dismantle the missiles that they had given to Cuba earlier to defend themselves.
- When Fidel reveals that he still has plenty of old car parts on the island, he says "Damn trade embargo! Damn Kennedy! Damn Steve Allen!", in reference to:
- The U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which prevented U.S. companies from doing businesses with or providing aid to Cuba and essentially banned direct commercial flights to the country.
- John F. Kennedy - U.S. President who was involved with the Cuban Missile Crisis and the trade embargo.
- Steve Allen was an American actor and talk show host. Al also made a seemingly random complaint about Allen in part 1 of this episode.
- The episode’s repeated jabs at him may be motivated by the fact that he co-founded and sat on the board of the conservative media advocacy group, Parents Television Council (despite Allen being a registered Democrat and having liberal viewpoints on other topics), which harshly criticized Married… with Children, calling it “the crudest comedy on primetime television” in 1996 and placing it at #1 on its list of the “Top 10 Least Family Friendly Shows” of 1996 and 1997. [2][3][4]
- Jefferson promises to give Castro "America's greatest export" called SnackWell's in exchange for helping with the old car part.
- SnackWell's is a brand of healthy, fat-free snack food that was popular during the early to mid 1990s.
Music[]
- Ike plays "Amazing Grace" during the burial of Al's car.
- Peggy sings an adaptation of the song "I've Been Working on the Railroad" called "I've Been Working in the Backyard".
Locations[]
- Bundy Residence
- Cal Stevens Motors
- Cuba
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
- Bundy Backyard
- Bundy Garage
- Cal Stevens Motors Car Lot / Showroom
- Fidel Castro's Office / Balcony
Goofs[]
- Jefferson goes to Cuba and gets a fuel pump for Al's Dodge. However, the trade embargo with Cuba went into effect in February 1962. Al drives a 1974 Dodge Dart, so the Cubans shouldn't have any post-1962 auto parts.
- Al claims that he got the car 25 years ago. As this took place in 1996, that would mean he bought it in 1971, but this would create some contradictions:
- Al was born in 1948 (as his driver's license stated in "Un-Alful Entry"), so he would have been around 21 years old in 1971. Yet, he is shown to have owned the car while still in high school in the previous episode and it was also stated in several past episodes, such as "I Who Have Nothing" that he owned it while in high school. Someone born in 1948 would have likely graduated in 1966 at the age of 17-18 (unless they had been held back or were drafted into the military due to the Vietnam War).
- Kelly was born in 1971, but Al already had the 1971 Dodge the night she was conceived, which, in the previous episode, showed that it happened the night he scored four touchdowns in a single game. That game would have taken place in November 1966.
- When Al "returns" the Testica to Cal, he watches out of the car window, but when he drives through the window of the shop in the next shot, the car window is up again.
- Al buries the Dodge in the backyard while Ike plays "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes; the piper is obviously not playing as his hands never move during the note changes.
References[]
- ↑ IMCDb.org: Kewet El Jet in "Married with Children, 1987-1997"
- ↑ MARRIED WITH CHILDREN — 10 FACTS ABOUT THE GROUNDBREAKING SITCOM. Great Entertainment Television. Retrieved on July 22, 2024.
- ↑ ‘Married… With Children’ animated reboot with original cast in the works. WFTV9 (May 14, 2022). Retrieved on July 22, 2024.
- ↑ Organization History. Parents Television Media Council. Retrieved on July 22, 2024.