The Egg and I was the 17th episode of Season 6 of Married... with Children, also the 122nd overall series episode. Directed by Gerry Cohen and written by Ellen L. Fogle, the episode premiered on FOX, airing on February 16, 1992.
Synopsis[]
Steve Rhoades returns to reclaim his wife, but is shocked to find out that Marcy has remarried. The Bundys argue whether friendship is more important than money when they find out that Steve is on the run from the police for stealing a rare hawk egg from a national park.
Storyline[]
When Steve Rhoades returns to Chicago to reclaim his estranged wife, Marcy. He's unaware that she had remarried to Jefferson D'Arcy until he sneaks into his old house and finds out the truth from her in his old bedroom. Meanwhile, the Bundys tries to help him avoid the FBI agents who believes he's involved in a priceless egg theft! The FBI places out a bulletin on the missing egg, which Park Ranger Steve, who also is wanted in the bulletin, stole from the National Park where he worked, on the local TV news with a reward of $10000.
When the FBI catches up with fugitive Steve, who was hiding out at the Bundys, The Bundys, who all unwittingly implicate themselves in the theft, are taken in with Steve by an FBI agent (Dan Tullis, Jr., who later appears in the recurring part of Officer Dan) who, after everyone wondered who blew the whistle on on the whereabouts of Steve and the priceless egg, acted on a tip by none other than family dog and stoolie Buck!
Recurring cast/Guest stars[]
- Cast Regulars
- Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy
- Katey Sagal as Peggy Bundy
- Christina Applegate as Kelly Bundy
- David Faustino as Bud Bundy
- Amanda Bearse as Marcy D'Arcy
- Ted McGinley as Jefferson D'Arcy
- Buck the Dog as Buck Bundy
Guest starring[]
- David Garrison as Steve Rhoades
- Dan Tullis, Jr. as FBI Man (Agent Mahoney)
- Larry McKay as News anchor (voice)
- Kevin Curran as voice of Buck Bundy
Quotes[]
- [From Al and Peg's bedroom window, the Bundys are eating popcorn and gleefully watching Steve, Jefferson, and Marcy scream and fight, after Steve snuck into the D'Arcys bedroom]
- Al: You getting all this, Bud?
- Bud: Mmhmm. [nods "Yes" as he records the fight on a camcorder and eats some popcorn]
- Peg: Wow, look at them run around! [Al smiles and holds Peg as they continue watching]
- Kelly: [looking inside the bedroom with binoculars] Hey... How come I can't see anything [Al grabs her and turns her to face outside] Oh, I got them you guys, they're over here!
- [Offscreen, the trio continue to yell and break objects]
- Jefferson: [offscreen] ...He touched my hair! This is an outrage!
- Peg: Hey! Where did that little guy come from? [the rest of the family lean in for a better look] ...Whoops! It's Marcy!
- Marcy: [offscreen] STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!
- Jefferson and Steve: [offscreen] OWW! OWWW!
- Peg: [smiling and laughing] Oh, God, Al! Look at the mayhem and carnage you caused! [Al holds Peg and laughs while stomping his foot] You know, every now and again, I really love you!
- Al: Ahahaha! [leans in and kisses Peg, then stops to point and laugh at the fight continues]
- [Steve, Marcy, and Jefferson are standing in the middle of the bedroom after getting into a scuffle, while the Bundys are gleefully watching from Al and Peg's bedroom window. Marcy then turns and confronts Steve.]
- Marcy: Despite what you think, you are not God's gift to women!
- Steve: Oh yeah? Tell that to the burly "Earth First" babes who come every spring for baby moose and lovin'! They may not shave like you and I, but they can fill out a flannel shirt, I can tell you that!
- Marcy: Then why are you back?! [puts her finger on Steve's lips before he can speak] I'll tell you why you're back. You're back... for this! [quickly removes her bathrobe to show off her negligee]
- Al: [offscreen, in agony] I'M BLIND! MY EYES! MY EYES!
- [The trio look around the room in confusion]
- [Marcy is attempting to have sex with Jefferson while Steve looks on, but the results are mixed.]
- Steve: Okay, I get the message. [walks to the door and opens it, but then stops] But before I walk out the door for the last time, what's good for the goose, is good for the gander. [pulls his shirt open to reveal a hairy but bare chest] Take THIS to your grave!
- Peggy: [offscreen, in agony] WAHHHH! NOW I'M BLIND TOO!
- [The trio look around the room in confusion]
- [Steve heads to the basement to hide after hearing an FBI agent knock on the Bundy's front door and announce himself. Al walks over and opens the door]
- FBI Agent: Hello. Agent Mahoney, [pulls out his badge] FBI. [shows his identification card] Have you seen this man? [pulls out a black and white photo of Steve in his park ranger outfit, looking upward] Have you seen this egg? [pulls out a picture of an egg sitting in a nest] They're known to be in the area. Have you seen either of them?
- Al: Let me tell you something. I served my country. I played high school football. Four touchdowns in one game. Yet I'm not exempt from state and federal taxes. Now, is this any way America should treat its heroes? So you just flash that badge at some registered voter, buddy. We're Bundys. We hate cops. [slams the door on the agent, causing the rest of the family to get up and cheer]
- [Marcy returns to the Bundy residence in a black trench coat to talk to Steve after the bedroom incident from the previous night]
- Marcy: Steve, I want to talk to you.
- [the sound of footsteps quickly moving is heard, followed by Steve emerging from the basement]
- Steve: Ah, Marcy! [puts the egg down on the couch, starts to walk and talk with swagger] I see you dumped the pretty wrapping for the total package.
- Marcy: [remorseful] Steve, I've got something to say. Last night, things were said in the heat of the moment and... I may have hurt your feelings.
- Steve: I've already forgotten that.
- Marcy: No, let me remind you. Look at this and see what YOU'LL NEVER HAVE AGAIN!
- [Marcy immediately removes her trench coat, revealing that she is wearing green lingerie.]
- Al: AHHH!
- [Al immediately gets up from the kitchen table and frantically tries to find his way around the kitchen, knocking over several items before stopping by the fridge]
- Al: PEG! I'M BLIND! I SAW IT AGAIN AND ITS ALL DARKNESS!
- Peg: [walks over with a glass of "Smoking Tang"] Well, here honey, drink this.
- Marcy: [in a mocking, sing-song tone] That's right! What you see is what you don't get! So drool on, dream on, move on.
Notes[]
Title[]
- The title of this episode is a reference to the 1947 movie of the same name.
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the return of David Garrison as Steve Rhoades, who had left MWC during the later half of Season 4.
- Dan Tullis Jr., who played Officer Dan in the show’s later seasons as well as an unnamed sheriff and cop in earlier seasons, appears in this episode as FBI Agent Mahoney, who is trying to apprehend Steve.
- This episode marks the first time that Steve and Jefferson have appeared on-screen together.
- When Buck is shown at the end of the episode doing a PSA, he is standing in the same nighttime Chicago skyline background and wearing the same hat that Al wore in season 6's "Al Bundy, Shoe Dick".
- Kelly reveals that she has the keys for their neighbors, the Murphys, the Mullens and the Leavens.
- Al had previous dealt with tax problems and the IRS in season 4's "A Taxing Problem".
- Al tells the FBI agent "We're Bundys. We hate cops", yet in season 11's "Kelly's Gotta Habit", Al mentions that he would have been a great cop and then dresses up as a cop to be on the Fox TV show COPS, as it had been his life's dream.
- Ironically, the FBI agent in this episode would later play Officer Dan, Al's partner, in the same season 11 episode.
- Al tries to lead his family in a variation of the “Whoa Bundy!” cheer.
- In the promotional ad for this episode, there was a scene that was not included in the actual episode or on the DVD release. In the scene, Bud gleefully asks the family if they should have told Steve about Marcy's new marriage, to which Peg responds in a high-pitched, mocking tone "Aww did we forget to tell him that?!" before they all burst into laughter. It appears to have originally been in the scene where Steve exits the Bundy residence and the Bundys appear to form a huddle, before it immediately cuts to Marcy and Jefferson asleep in bed. [1]
Cultural References[]
- After reviewing his taxes, Al starts comparing himself to country musician Willie Nelson and actor/comedian Redd Foxx, both of whom faced financial problems during the height of their careers due to their lavish spending. This eventually led to the IRS seizing and auctioning off many of Foxx and Nelson's possessions to pay off the debts they owed.
- Al mentions The Royal Family, a 1991–92 CBS sitcom that originally starred Foxx and actress Della Reese as a sexagenarian mailman and his wife, whose younger adult daughter and three grandchildren move in with them when she becomes estranged from her husband.
- During his speech, Al says of Foxx, "They [the IRS] drive him to 'Royal Family' and you knew he wasn't going to live long after that." As Al pointed out, Redd Foxx, who was already in his late 60s, had agreed to star in the series after not being able to find much work following the cancellation of his more well-known 1972–77 NBC sitcom, Sanford and Son, and had been in serious debt for some time.
- Ratings for The Royal Family were high at first, but Foxx’s sudden death from a heart attack during an episode rehearsal in October 1991, resulted in it being put on hiatus after filming of the eighth episode to rework the series. When it returned in April 1992, actress Jackeé Harry joined the show as the previously estranged elder daughter of the two co-leads. (She was originally cast in the episode that paid tribute to Foxx and killed off his character, Al Royal, as the sister of Reese’s character, Victoria.) Ratings were subpar for the retooled show, leading CBS to cancel it a month later, after 13 episodes. (Two additional unaired episodes would later air on American classic TV network Decades (now Catchy Comedy) in 2019.)
- Barry Shabaka Henley, who played Charlie in the later seasons of MWC, co-starred on The Royal Family as Willis Tillis, Al Royal’s friend/co-worker who harbored a crush on Jackeé Harry’s character, Ruth.
- Al also mentions that he "wouldn't mind starring in an episode or two of 'Growing Pains' ", a popular family sitcom that aired on ABC from 1985 to 1992. Al then has an outburst and screams that he doesn't want to be on ABC before attempting to hang himself.
- Alan Thicke, who played psychologist patriarch Jason Seaver on the show, would later appear on MWC twice: as Henry in season 10 and Bruce in season 11. He was also a songwriter whose credits include the theme to The Facts of Life, which Al hates and was used earlier in the season in "Kelly Does Hollywood (Part 2)".
- The first two seasons of MWC were filmed at ABC Television Center (now known as The Prospect Studios) in Burbank, California.
- After Steve calls himself a brave eco-warrior, Al jokes about Alfalfa being dead and how he would have made a great "Steve Rhoades" in the movie of his life. This is in reference to child actor Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, who starred in the The Little Rascals short films as Alfalfa Switzer. He was shot and killed in a financial dispute at the age of 31 in 1959.
- Jefferson calls Steve "Yogi", in reference to the cartoon series The Yogi Bear Show and more specifically Ranger Smith.
- Marcy mentions actor Mel Gibson.
- Steve mentions that he gets loving from female members of radical environmentalist group Earth First!.
- After the FBI arrive to arrest Steve, he yells out "Traitors! Judases!" as he taken out of the Bundy residence. This is in reference to Judas Iscariot, a figure from the Bible whose name is often synonymous with betrayal or traitor.
- Judas was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ who revealed his identity to the Romans in exchange for money, leading to the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus.
- Judas hanged himself while holding the silver coins out of guilt. His expiration caused the coins to the fall to the ground. The Jewish elders eventually found his corpse and had speculated why he took his own life. The elders claimed the money and used it to buy a plot of land which they made into a "potter's field", which was used to bury foreigners.
- The family tries to poison Al with Tang, an orange-flavored powdered drink mix.
Music[]
- The theme song from the police television series, Dragnet can be heard after Buck picks up his reward money.
- Ed O'Neill would later star in the 2003 version of Dragnet on ABC, the network that Al said he didn't want to be on in this episode.
Locations[]
- Bundy Residence
- D'Arcy Residence
- Downtown Chicago
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
- Al & Peggy's Bedroom
- Marcy & Jefferson's Bedroom
- Chicago Nighttime Skyline
Goofs[]
- As Al adjusts the noose on his neck and begins to walk down the lower portions of the stairs, the shadow of a boom mic can be seen moving in the upper left hand corner by the kitchen wall
- When the FBI Agent Mahoney shows the photo of the egg in its nest, he shows it sideways instead of right-side up.
- When Agent Mahoney arrests Steve, he only puts on one side of the handcuffs on. Though this is not unintentional, because Steve/David needed to have at least one hand free to perform his 'curse'. After Steve curses the Bundys, the cuff is still seen dangling on only one of wrists as he is whisked away.