Season 2 Episode 21: Father Lode

Al wins twelve hundred and fifty dollars at the racetrack and resolves to keep it to himself, which is the whole episode: not the winning, but the concealment. Peggy, meanwhile, has started helping herself to money from his wallet, so the two of them spend the half-hour running opposite operations on the same cash without either acknowledging the other.

It is a good illustration of how the Bundy marriage actually functioned in the early seasons. Neither of them is confronting the other, because confrontation would require admitting what they are each doing. The money moves quietly in both directions and the arithmetic is the plot. By the end the winnings have been distributed to the family anyway, which is the only outcome the series would have allowed: Al never gets to keep anything.

The racetrack had been set up a few episodes earlier in “Born to Walk,” when Al lost his licence and had to listen to the race on the radio with Steve instead of attending. This time he gets there and wins, and the show immediately takes it off him by other means.

The episode marks the second of Jade’s four appearances between seasons two and five, the strikingly attractive customer who comes into the shoe store to talk to Al and is played by Teri Weigel. Bud confirms he is still a virgin, invoking the household’s “double for virgins” rule, and announces plans to spend his share of the money on a new skateboard, though he had already been given one a few episodes earlier in “Master the Possibilities,” and it is visible in the house.

Episode Facts

• Original air date: March 13, 1988
• Season 2, Episode 21, and the 34th episode of the series
• Written by Jerry Perzigian
• Directed by Linda Day

Guest Cast

• Teri Weigel as Jade

Twelve Hundred and Fifty Dollars, Hidden Badly

The Jade scene is the centrepiece and it is her second appearance. She walks into the shoe store, tells Al she wants him, and he says no because he is married. The show put him in that position four separate times and he never once took it, which is the most consistent thing about him.

Peg’s opening grievance, that she deliberately did not ask him for money that day, is worth noting. She is not objecting to the gambling. She is objecting to the timing.

Famous Quotes

• Peg: “I purposely didn’t ask you for any money today and now you’re going to go blow it at the track!” Peg’s actual complaint.
• Al: “I’ve never woken up in the middle of the night to find a quarter horse going through my wallet!” Al’s rebuttal.
• Jade: “I can’t stop thinking about you. Remember me?” Al: “Nightly! Uh… I mean vaguely.” Al, caught out by his own answer.
• Jade: “I want you!” Al: “Well, that’s so nice. But… I’m married.” The decline, delivered with genuine regret.

Notes

• The title plays on the expression “mother lode.”
• Jade’s second appearance, after The Great Escape. Teri Weigel played her in four episodes.
• Bud establishes that he is still a virgin, under what the episode calls the “double for virgins” rule.
• Al finally gets to the track here after missing out in Born to Walk.