ALL IN THE FAMILY-Archie and Edith Alone and Edith Gets a Mink

 

ALL IN THE FAMILY-Archie and Edith Alone and Edith Gets a Mink

 

“Once again, your side of the family.”

 

Too fun episodes but also a bit sad and a bit annoying. Archie is unreasonable in both episodes and even when he should see how wrong he’s being, he’s being mean and nasty …most of it directed toward Edith, which I don’t really like much, and again, that is shadowed by her dumb death (off screen) in ARCHIE’S PLACE, a series that should never have been made.

 

ARCHIE AND EDITH ALONE: Having the kids go off to a commune (“Listen, people that go off and live in a commune are commune-ists!) for eight days, leaving Archie and Edith alone is a stroke of genius plot wise. It also allowed for Edith to get Archie to sort of say he’s sorry for calling Edith a saint and not human. Some of this feels a bit forced but it’s an exploration of their characters and it has a lot of depth. At one point, instead of letting Edith go off and get him coffee like she wants to, he asks her to stay and so he can share something with her about him: He never finished high school. It’s a touching moment. He also recalls his work in a Jewish area and in an almost exact word for word dialog when he told Mike about the work but not about him never having finished his senior year in high school because he had to quit school to help out his family (it’s implied this was during the Great Depression). Archie finally dancing with Edith is wonderful moment, too and this episode has many of them: warm moments and lots of laughs. I LOVE that when Mike and Gloria do return, they find Archie and Edith kissing and hugging. “Aw, geeze, they’re at it again.”

 

EDITH GETS A MINK isn’t as successful an episode and also relies on some annoying things. Edith is sent a mink by her cousin Ameila for having taken care of her after her gall stone operation or gall bladder removal. Archie’s just being selfish and prideful by wanting Edith to return it but honestly, he’s right that the insurance money for the damage the Jeffersons (they don’t have to worry about the bleach, Archie says!) did trying to clean it after Archie made Edith accidentally spill spaghetti on it (he likes it short but Edith thought he liked it long) should be …well, not his but Edith’s.

 

Part of the failure of the episode is that Archie is right to dislike, if not hate, Amelia’s obnoxious and awful, money grubbing plumber of a husband Ross (he’s Greek I believe). Ross is a horrid person and an unlikable character, caring only about himself and he constantly jabs at Archie, the house, and everything else that feels is beneath him. He is, in short, disgusting. And while there is dialog to make Amelia a bit better and more likable than her horrid husband, the actress playing her fails to imbibe her with any likeable traits. So we almost don’t believe anything she says to Edith. Why doesn’t she just promise to send Edith the money after it’s cashed as the check is in her name (probably Edith’s fault that it is)? In any case, though there are some laughs before Ross and Amelia arrive, they’re not enough to save this from being just a mediocre episode and it borderlines annoying thanks to Ross’s inclusion at all. Once they arrive, it fails totally to be funny.

 

Of note: I wish I made note of all the neighbors, relatives, and more importantly, all the flubs in the English language Archie makes but to do so would take an awful lot of effort and writing down as I watch the episodes and I just want to try to enjoy them but maybe next time? If there is a next time?   

 

One of the funniest scenes ever is when Archie asks Edith, “Didn’t you never want to be nothing?” And Edith has to ponder it for a long time. A long time, before answering, “No.”  In the hands of ANYONE else, this scene would not have worked but Jean is a total pro at Edith and comedy. In fact, in the hands of anyone else, Archie and Edith in this episode and in any other way played by anyone else, just would never work and yes, I forgot about the recent crapola AITF remake in 2019 which I did not watch because it’s shit.

 

The other por-oint I forgot to make is this: Archie’s right about the kids wanting a mink for Edith but also for Edith to want one: a real one is horribly made from animals raised to be killed. It’s disgusting and it’s one of the other reasons not to like this ep.

Louise, almost forgotten, appears briefly, and brings the check to Edith.