The Stepford Peg is the 10th episode of Season 11 of Married... with Children and the 248th overall series episode. Directed by Amanda Bearse and written by Valerie Ahern & Christian McLaughlin, it premiered on FOX-TV on January 6, 1997.
Synopsis[]
After Peggy gets amnesia, Al reprograms her. The result is a woman who cooks, cleans and even accepts a ring girl when Al invites the guys over to watch wrestling.
Plot Summary[]
Al wants to throw the biggest get together and watch some wrestling with his friends at the house. Unfortunately, he tries to enlist Peg to help him out and she flat out refuses. Sometime later, Peg ends up slipping and hitting her head on the living room floor, due to a bonbon that she accidently left on the floor. When the rest of the family express their concern over Peggy having not moved for several hours, Al simply plays it off and tries to relax. After taking off his shoes, Peggy is suddenly awakened by his foot odor, but claims that she does not know where she is at nor does she recognize them.
With Peggy completely feeling lost and confused, Al sees the opportunity to trick her into leaving for good, but Bud and Kelly stop him. When the confused Peg offers to cook for her family, Al decides to reprogram her into a wife that cleans, cooks and doesn't want sex. This also comes at the cost of her not sleeping at all. While Al and the kids prefer the new, hardworking and tidy Peg, Marcy prefers the mean, rude and sloppy Peg. She tries to change Peggy back by reminding her that she was "the laziest bitch in Chicago" prior to the accident, but fails.
The next day, with the wrestling match underway and the NO MA'AM members present for the festivities, Peg continues to bake. Jefferson also brings over a young, attractive woman named Sally, which causes the other guys to wonder what kind of magic did Jefferson and Al used on their wives. Jefferson then explains that Sally is going to be the "ring girl" for them. Bob Rooney accuses Al of having sex with Peg in order to have this party, but Al quickly denies it and reminds the group that the first commandment of NO MA'AM is "Thou shall never covet thy own wife". Despite the vow, Al soon finds himself ignoring the match and getting turned on by the new and improved Peggy as she continues preparing food. Al then coaxes Peg to go upstairs for a quick round of sex. Though, this soon comes back to bite Al, as during sex, Peg's memory comes back, causing Al to run downstairs and tell the guys to flee.
Peggy catches up with Al and tears into him, claiming that she feels so violated for having to cook and clean. Al tries to pretend that he has amnesia, but it doesn't work with her. Despite hoping that she might still make him breakfast in the morning, she makes him march upstairs to have sex again as a punishment and promises that by the time they are done, he won't be hungry anymore.
Recurring Cast/Regulars[]
Guest Stars[]
- Ron-Ann Frey as Sally
- Larry McKay as TV Announcer
Quotes[]
- Peggy: Am I in hell?
- Al: No Peg, if you were in hell, you'd be on the throne and the devil would be packing.
- Bob Rooney: Say, how did you get these margaritas so frothy?
- Peggy: Well I had a battery-operated cocktail stirrer.
- Bob Rooney: Oh! [impressed, resumes drinking]
- Peggy: Found it in my nightstand.
- [Bob Rooney immediately spits out the drink, realizing what the device actually was, while Ike continues drinking and smiling]
- [As the wrestling event is about to start, Jefferson walks in with a beautiful woman wearing a bikini]
- Jefferson: [escorting the lady inside] Here we go!
- Ike: Wow! Look what happened to Marcy.
- Bob Rooney: I don't know what you guys are doing, but please come do it to my wife! [Ike playful taps Bob Rooney on the knee]
- Jefferson: This isn't Marcy. This is Sally. [steps forward with her] She'll be our ring girl for the evening.
- Griff: What is going on here?
- Bob Rooney: Al, I hate to accuse you of this, but... did you sleep with Peggy?
- Al: Are you crazy? That would violate our first commandment.
- [The guys take their right hand and slap it across their chest before raising it upward, as if to make a vow]
- NO MA'AM: "Thou shall never covet thy own wife."
Notes[]
Title[]
- The episode title was inspired by the 1974 movie The Stepford Wives.
Trivia[]
- Although this episode aired in January 1997 as the 10th episode of the season, it was actually filmed in August 1996 and was the first episode to be filmed.
- The epilogue scene with Bud freaking out at seeing Kelly and her double would be used to introduce David Faustino in the opening credits for season 11.
- When Marcy goes out to check on Peggy and her Mercedes, the D'Arcy's address can be seen as 9524.
- The license plate on Marcy's Mercedes can be seen as "KDG 12".
- As indicated by Bud and Kelly, she is using a contraceptive sponge as a form of birth control.
Cultural References[]
- Besides the title, the plot is partially inspired by The Stepford Wives in that the lazy Peggy is trained to become the perfect wife by Al.
- Another plot inspiration comes from the 1987 romantic comedy movie Overboard, starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. The films revolves around a rich woman who fall off of a yacht and suffers from amnesia, only to be abandoned by her husband. She is then taken in by a carpenter who is seeking revenge on her and made to believe that she is actually his wife and the mother to his four children.
- When Al discusses his plans to have his friends over with Peg, she mentions that the same friends "who used Silly Putty to give Nancy and Sluggo hooters", referring to the characters Nancy Ritz and Sluggo Smith from the comic strip, Nancy.
- After Bud points out that Kelly uses a contraceptive sponge, she then accuses him of using "Miss Piggy sheets" for his birth control, in reference to the Muppet character.
- After Kelly and Bud point out the signs to indicate that something happened to Peggy, Al refers to the kids as "Nancy Drool and Hardly Boy", in reference to fictional teenage detectives, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys.
- Kelly refers to Bud as "Quasimodo, the main character from the 1996 Disney animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
- In response to Kelly calling him Quasimodo, he calls her "The Little Fur Maid", in reference to the 1989 Disney animated film, The Little Mermaid.
- There are references to the professional wrestling program WWF (now known as WWE) such as:
- Peggy makes a radish in the shape of Hulk Hogan.
- A poster near the staircase with Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
- A poster for WWF's King of the Ring 1995 match can be seen near the desk by the wall.
- It also appeared during season 10's "Flight of the Bumblebee."
Locations[]
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
- D'Arcy Front Yard / Driveway
Goofs[]
- When Al and the kids are discussing Peggy's new schedule, a shadow can be seen moving back and forth at the door window when the camera does a close up on Kelly. It is most likely Katey Sagal waiting to enter for her scene.
- Peggy asks if the wrestling event he and friends are watching is a pay per view event and he says no. Yet when the match finally occurs, the poster in the back does indicate that it is a pay per view event, (as King of the Ring typically is a pay-per-view event)
- The King of the Ring poster is for the 1995 match, which typically takes place in mid June, though this episode was filmed in August of 1996 and aired in January 1997.
- But the poster is irrelevant because it was a prop that originally appeared in season 10's "Flight of the Bumblebee". It can be seen when Bud and Kelly meet King Kong Bundy for the first time.
- At the beginning of the episode, Al says that he and Peg went to senior prom together and was in her dress for only 20 minutes after meeting his friends. Yet, in season 3's "Married... with Queen (Part 1)" Peggy clearly states that they didn't go to their senior prom and instead, watched sports at her father's house, with Al getting drunk, before having sex on her dad's coat.
- When Bud and Kelly find Peggy unconscious, Kelly points out that "There is a dent on the coffee table, like its been hit by a big hard hairdo.". Yet, when Peggy is shown slipping in slow motion, her head and hair clearly don't land on the table and instead hit the floor.
- When the close up of Peggy's feet slipping in slow motion is shown, her fall seems to be awkwardly stopped before showing the fall from a different angle. There is a harness in use to stop her from falling back completely.
- After Bud and Kelly arrive and argue about her contraceptive sponge, Al has a botte of beer in his left hand and keeps his arm down. After Bud comments on Peggy not looking very well, Al suddenly has the bottle in his hand and it appears to be foaming as he says "You should see her without her mask!". After the camera cuts back to him, the bottle is down again.
- When Peggy wakes up and asks if she is in hell, Al has the bottle of beer on the couch and he appears to be looking straight toward the door when telling her that the devil would be packing his bags if it were hell. When the camera cuts to a wide angle, Al has the beer bottle on his right leg and his head is now tilted at an angle towards Peggy. Then after Peggy says that she doesn't recognize them, the camera shifts to Al and his bottle on the couch again before he gets up to escort her out.