0805  -  "Banking on Marcy"


"Marcy, why are you here?" (Al)
"I wanted to talk to Peggy privately." (Marcy)
"No, I mean here on Earth." (Al)

Another superb episode, and for the first time I understand why SKY couldn't
show this one at 6:30pm. I'm not sure when this episode originally aired in
the States but I have my suspicions it has something to do with the film
"When Harry Met Sally"; a writer saw the film and decided to do MWC's
version. Certainly this is a lot funnier, since I didn't like the film.
However, it is really based around that one set-piece - Marcy's speech -
with the other scenes all leading up to it, so the script loses points on
plot structure. That aside, That Scene just has to be dealt with first. It's
utterly hilarious and is a brilliant piece of acting from Amanda Bearse. The
expressions of Katey Sagal, Ed O'Neill and Ted McGinley are also joys to
behold as they, sitting in the front row, are left to watch as Marcy goes
well overboard on the 'transference'. Peg is captivated, Al horrified and
Jefferson utterly, totally humiliated. Amanda Bearse holds the honours for
this story but the other three adults acquit themselves perfectly as well.

"Guess what happened at the bank today." (Marcy)
"Holdup man gave you his mask to wear?" (Al)

The rest of the episode is also good, although not enough is made of Al's
fascination with rap videos. His gyrating is funny but the baseball cap
being back-to-front is a cliche; indeed, David Faustino did this much better
with his Grandmaster B "disguise" in earlier seasons. In the bank-speech
scene, incidentally, Al is watching rap videos on an LCD miniature TV. Since
when did he have one of those, or even the money to buy one? This was a bit
of a slip and so really I have to give the 'subplot' a big thumbs down,
preferring to concentrate on the main story. The second best scene is
unquestionably Marcy and Jefferson discussing their sexual 'problem' with Al
between them, slowly terrifying him with every word they speak. Both Amanda
Bearse and Ted McGinley act marvellously here, managing to convince us that
they're totally unaware of Al and wrapped up in one another, even with a
close-up angle like the director uses. It's impossible not to laugh at this. 

"..well, I thought of sex, where I talk, yell, scream - " (Marcy)
"Hey, I'll be having dinner later!" (Al)

Alright, it's a one-joke episode, but as with so many better-than-average
episodes of later MWC, it's the polish and skill of the actors that carries
it through after eight, or nine, or even eleven years of knowing their
characters pretty much inside out. One that's definitely worth rewatching,
is this. 

Rating 7.