Al sustains a head injury, and shortly afterward three small green aliens begin appearing in his living room and taking his socks. Nobody believes him. The twist is that he is entirely correct: the socks are a fuel source, the aliens need them urgently, and the cosmic catastrophe they are trying to avert is real. Al helps save a number of inhabited worlds, this one included, and never finds out.
The joke is built on something the show had been establishing for four seasons, which is that Al Bundy’s feet are a force in the world. Having aliens travel interstellar distances specifically for his socks is the logical endpoint of every joke the series had made about them, and the episode plays it absolutely straight.
His reception at home is the other half. He comes back from the hospital having been left there by his own family, who were still deciding which of them would collect him, and his account of their wedding day involves uncles, a baseball bat and the boot of a car.
The episode picked up an Emmy nomination for costuming, which is not something this series collected often, and the alien suits are the reason. This is one of a handful of episodes where the show steps outside its own reality and expects you to come with it. There is no dream frame, no gag reveal, no suggestion at the end that Al imagined any of it. The aliens were real, the socks were fuel, and the universe owes a debt to a shoe salesman from Chicago who will never collect on it. For a series that ran on relentless disappointment, it is a surprisingly generous premise.
Episode Facts
- Original air date: November 4, 1990
- Season 5, Episode 7, and the 87th episode of the series
- Nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Costuming for a Series
- Written by Ellen L. Fogle
- Directed by Gerry Cohen
Guest Cast
- Leonard Lightfoot as Oliver
- Phil Fondacaro, Debbie Lee Carrington, Tony Cox, Patty Maloney, Felix Silla and Susan Rossitto as the aliens
- Kevin Curran as the voice of Buck, uncredited
An Emmy Nomination for the Alien Suits
Debbie Lee Carrington, one of the aliens, had appeared five months earlier in Total Recall. Felix Silla had played Cousin Itt and Twiki in earlier decades, so the casting pulled from a small and very experienced pool of performers.
Leonard Lightfoot, the Photorama cashier, was a regular on Silver Spoons.
Watch the coffee table after the first alien encounter. Al slipped his loafers off in advance of the scene and they are visible underneath it.
Famous Quotes
- Al: “Three little green aliens came in here and stole my socks!” Peggy: “Were they green before or after they touched your socks?” The only question that matters.
- Peg: “We were just deciding who was going to pick you up.” Peg, on Al’s discharge from hospital.
- Al: “Why don’t you use the method you used on our wedding day? Have a couple of uncles baseball bat my knees, throw me in the trunk of the car.” Al, on transport arrangements.
Notes
- Goof: Al arrives home wearing shoes and is in socked feet on the sofa moments later without having removed them.
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