PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*
Like the sixth season MWC episode "If Al Had a Hammer," this fifth season opus is metaphenomenal only in depicting a weird transformation that other characters clearly see, even if no real explanation for it is offered.
It's business as usual at the Bundy household, with Al and Peg running each other down constantly. (Peg offers Al the choice between showering or fixing the malfunctioning doorbell; he doesn't immediately do either, though the arc of the story is all about what happens when Al starts caring about his appearance.) A new neighbor, a sexy young thing, comes over and asks for the "loan" of Peg's husband to help move her couch. Peg continues to insult Al as a counterpoint to the young woman's fulsome compliments. But once Al shows the new neighbor some chivalry by helping her out, this snowballs as the local neighbor women start fancying Al. Peg can't believe that the husband she's spent so many years neutering has become attractive to other women. Even Kelly gets enthusiastic about the supposed "new hunk in town" until she finds out it's her own dad.
Al cleans himself up and starts dressing well, and even his nemesis Marcy shows a little interest in his new persona. Kelly has one of her few good insights, claiming that if you think you're sexy, other people will too. Peg is utterly unable to cope, but to her good fortune, Al's own pessimism comes to her rescue. After being offered the chance to become a rich woman's sex-toy, Al has an existential moment in which he realizes that there's no point in his flirting with other women, because "I'm married, with children." Then, despite being clean and well-dressed, Al "devolves" to his slob-self before the eyes of his family, and Peg is thrilled to have her beaten-down hubby back again.
On a side-note: Peg's torments of Al are once more mirrored by Kelly's tortures of Bud. This time, Bud takes on the job of fixing the door bell, but foolishly trusts Kelly to make sure that the power is off. Kelly not only doesn't seem too broken up by her brother's electrocution, she takes him seriously when he suggests that next time she should provide a bucket of water for him to stand in. Given Kelly's history, this suggests Bud himself may have a streak of sibling masochism.
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