Season 8 Episode 7: Take My Wife, Please

The season 8 Halloween episode, and one of the best high-concept episodes the series attempted. The Grim Reaper turns up at the Bundy front door, and when the hood comes off, Death has chosen to appear as Peggy, with black hair and darker makeup, purely because she judged it would land. The terms are straightforward: Al has until midnight, and if any member of his family says out loud that they need him, in any way, once, he lives. Al’s reaction to hearing the condition is the single funniest beat in the episode, because he does not even attempt to be optimistic. The problem is that his family is otherwise engaged. Marcy is hosting a charity event for rehabilitated female convicts and has booked the Village People, who cancel, so she bribes Peg, Kelly, Bud and Jefferson five hundred dollars to impersonate them and lip-sync. The only Village People record Marcy owns is a single of “YMCA,” so she plays it over and over, which is as hard on her guests as it sounds. Meanwhile Al sits on his own couch next to Death watching the performance on television, shouting instructions at his wife about what to say, and Peg comes agonizingly close to saying it before naming somebody else entirely. The real Village People do eventually show up. It is one of the few genuinely inventive episodes of the later run, and the premise gives Katey Sagal two roles in the same half hour.It also lands its one serious beat without comment, which is that nobody in that house ever does say it. It also lands its one serious beat without comment, which is that nobody in that house ever does say it.

Episode Facts

• Original air date: October 24, 1993
• Season and episode: Season 8, Episode 7
• Overall episode number: 164
• Written by: Eddie Feldmann and Brad Yuen
• Directed by: Tony Singletary
• Production note: The Village People appear as themselves. Marcy had paid Al a dollar to sing “YMCA” back in season 7’s “Al on the Rocks,” which makes this a long-delayed payoff.
• Production note: The Darcys’ kitchen is seen on screen for the first time.
• Production note: The last appearance of Kelly’s red and blue Verminator uniform. From the next episode it becomes red and gold.
• Title note: From Henny Youngman’s signature joke.

Guest Cast

• The Village People as themselves
• Patrika Darbo as Ethel
• Mindy Seeger as Jeannie
• Billi Gordon as Belle
• Joshua Boyd as Kid #1

Death Has a Gimmick

Casting Katey Sagal as Death is the episode’s masterstroke, and the script gets two separate jokes out of it: the reveal itself, and Death’s explanation that she can look like anything she wants and simply judged this would be effective. The series had quietly set this up three years earlier in season 5’s “A Man’s Castle,” where the photograph of Peg in Al’s bathroom turned into the Reaper.

The escape clause is where the episode makes its point. Death does not ask Al to achieve anything. She asks only that one of four people say, once, before midnight, that they need him, and Al’s immediate response is to go and pack. Nothing else in eleven seasons states the character’s position more economically.

The Village People material is the funniest thing in the episode, mostly because of Marcy’s logistics. She has booked a band, lost the band, bought replacements for five hundred dollars, and has exactly one song, which she plays on a loop to a room full of guests who did not come for this. Jefferson’s question about whether the lead singer wore his trousers this tight is also, as fans have long pointed out, aimed at the wrong member of the group.

Patrika Darbo, here as Ethel, had appeared in Dutch alongside Ed O’Neill, a film this series had already made a joke about in the England two-parter.

Famous Quotes

• Al: “How’d you do that?” Death: “I’m Death. That’s the first thing they teach you in Death School. Got to have a gimmick.”
• Death, removing the hood: “You mind if I take this hood off? It’s hot as hell in here, and uh, I just had my hair done…” Al, on seeing the face underneath: “…Perfect!”
• Death, setting the terms: “Any time between now and midnight, if any member of your family says that they need you, in any way, I’ll let you live.” Al: “Just once?” Death: “Just once.” Al: “…I’ll get my suitcase.”
• Peg, on television: “You know who I wish was here to see this?!” Al, at the screen: “SAY ME! AL! YOUR EVER LOVING HUSBAND, PEG!” Peg: “Cousin Wormy!”
• Death, as Al reacts: “Calm down, Bundy! You’ll give yourself a stroke…”

Notes

• The first trick-or-treater at the door is dressed as a Dilophosaurus and spits in Al’s face, which makes Al’s reaction a direct Jurassic Park parody.
• Peg and the children sing “Macho Man” once Marcy’s five hundred dollars is on the table, having implied moments earlier that they had never heard of the group.
• That is also a continuity problem: Bud had mentioned a Village People poster from Kelly back in season 6’s “Rites of Passage.”
• Peg names two more neighbors, the Millers and Mr. Grover.
• On the original broadcast the credits ran over Death, the Bundys and the real Village People all performing “YMCA” in the Bundy living room. Later prints freeze it.
• A goof: Katey Sagal’s red hair is visible under the black wig in several close-ups of Death.