0102  -  "Thinnergy"


 "I can't believe you let your husband watch this mindless exploitation of women!"  (Marcy)
"It's not mindless!"  (Al)


There's a certain amount of instant reassurance when I put the tape in the VCR and press
'play'. Al's watching smutty television. A few days ago myself and a friend were playing 
the MWC drinking game, once with a season 10 episode and once with the pilot. We got far 
less drinks on the pilot, which only emphasised how much the show built up traditions in 
later years. And then Peg makes a vibrator joke, and Marcy gives Peg advice about sex. 
This episode is a little more recognisable in that sense, but for some reason it seems 
curiously lifeless at the same time. Perhaps it's the resemblance between this episode and 
"The Lost Show" (308), which I was rewatching the other day as a break from essay writing. 
Both stories are about the "fire" of Al and Peg's relationship and efforts to try and 
improve it. Neither is quite as good as the synopsis in the TV guide might suggests.


"Even if you were beautiful, I'd still ignore you!"  (Al to Peg)


Incidentally, Luke Ventura is a distinctly unlikeable person and a waste of space. 
I am beginning to understand, however, the Steve-adores' viewpoint a little better. 
Not necessarily because of David Garrison's acting, but his voice; the fluid delivery 
and the tone of his speech is exactly like a public service announcement of the 1950s, 
apparently earnest and providing a good indication of the man behind the Marcy-subdued 
husband. The children are again totally underused, although Christina Applegate gets a 
slightly better share of the lines this time. Not many are quotable though, which means 
I had to struggle to find something to put into this review. Incidentally part 2 : it's 
a subtle thing, but in both this and the pilot, Marcy and Steve arrive at the Bundy 
house side-by-side, arm-in-arm, but depart one after the other, either pursued or 
pursuing. A subtle thing, as I say, but I quite like it. And a one-word summary of my 
opinion? Thin.


Rating: 4/10