1110  -  Bud on the Side

 
B+. This was a fine episode, and like the best episodes this season, showed the Bundys 
in new ways without reinventing the characters.

The premise is funny to begin with. Bud's desperation, romancing, and finally wounded 
dignity is a potent mixture. Watching Bud & Gary going at it is like gawking at a 
traffic accident: the horror, the horror, but still we can't tear our eyes away. Besides, 
how often do we get to see Bud dump anybody? IIRC, not since Marcy!

Also liked: Al & Peg lecturing Kelly. Kelly's advice to Bud. Al and Peg's hearty handshake. 
Al hearing that Gary was nekkid in his basement getting into "corrective undergarments".

Not so hot: This was mostly Bud's show, but at the very end he's off camera in the basement, 
so we don't quite have closure. And when Gary is too docile, it never feels quite real.

In-jokes: "Love and Marriage go together like a... I can't remember what they go together 
like."

Continuity: "...when your daughter [Kelly] was dating a rich man..."

Discontinuity: Gary couldn't have thrown the Bundy family out of the company picnic when 
Bud was little, because Al met Gary for the first time in _Business Still Sucks_, and 
because the store changed owners in _'Tis Time To Smell The Roses_.

Discontinuity: According to _Business Still Sucks_, Gary owns men. Either she is insatiable
(shudder) or they also dumped her like a bunch of Tom Arnolds...