Recap / Married With Children S 3 E 18 The House That Peg Lost

"The House That Peg Lost" is an episode in the third season of Married... with Children.

Al and Peg are tasked with house-sitting while Steve and Marcy are away, only to give the Rhoades' house away to someone looking for "Steve's Roadhouse", leading to Steve and Marcy staying in the Bundy residence after they return. Meanwhile, Kelly has a sleepover with her group of girls, but things go awry once Bud reveals some incriminating facts about the girls' — and especially Kelly's — dating records.

Tropes in this episode:

• All Women Hate Each Other: An activity during Kelly's slumber party involves one of the girls leaving the room for a moment, during which the other girls gossip about and badmouth her behind her back, only to feign friendliness once she returns to the room. Then even that thin layer of fake friendship is torn apart after Bud reveals (or helps to reveal) some incriminating facts about the girls' dating records, especially Kelly's, leading to Cat Fight lasting through the rest of the slumber party time.
• Call-Back: Bud mockingly tells Kelly to "Spell it" after she says "Ha" to him referencing the time Kelly misspelled "Ha ha" in "Can't Dance Don't Ask Me."
• Casanova Wannabe: Bud tries to hit on the girls at Kelly's sleepover by dressing up like Hugh Hefner. It goes about as well as Bud's later romantic efforts do, but he gets back at the girls by being The Stool Pigeon about Kelly seducing their boyfriends.
• Cat Fight: Kelly's slumber party ends with Kelly fighting a girl in the sleepover and two other girls fighting each other (and dragging one other girl with it), as the result of Bud revealing and helping to uncover some incriminating dating secrets, much to Bud's delight.
  Bud: (taking pictures of the girls fighting) Yum, yum, give me some.
• Characterisation Click Moment: Bud's reputation with girls had been back in forth but has had respectable success, this episode settles with his character being a perverted Casanova Wannabe.
• Driven to Suicide: After Steve and Marcy's lovey-dovey words and behaviors prove too much for Al and Peg to withstand, they decide to sleep in the empty lot where the Rhoades' house used to be, with Al voicing hope that he'd drown.
• Epic Fail: Peg managing to lose the Rhoades' entire house because she mistook a demolition foreman for the plumber.
• Exact Words: Al and Peg make it clear that no boys would be allowed in Kelly's sleepover. Girls fighting each other, on the other hand, are allowed, as Al and Peg pass through the fighting girls without comment, while Peg reiterate the "no boys" rule to Kelly before leaving the Bundy house for the night.
• Fate Worse than Death: Steve and Marcy's sugary words and behaviors to each other drive Al and Peg up the wall so much that they decide to sleep in the empty lot where the Rhoades' house used to be instead.
  Al: Maybe I'll drown.
• Foreshadowing: Even if you also misheard the foreman saying "Steve Rhoades' House" instead of "Steve's Roadhouse" you could tell he wasn't the plumber as a few minutes ago Al had said the house was only in Marcy's name.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: Kelly is having a slumber party with her girlfriends, which Bud ruins by revealing that Kelly slept with more than one of her friends' boyfriends, leading to a Catfight riot.
  TASHA: You're seeing my Greg?
  LAUREN: And Dan?
  KELLY: Well, I wasn't gonna keep 'em.
  LAUREN: Sow.
  TASHA: Trollop.
  LAUREN: Tramp.
  TASHA: Slut.
  LAUREN: Bundy!
• Laser-Guided Karma: Marcy revealed in "Requiem For A Barber" that she took out a life insurance policy on Steve with a shady company without his knowledge and said that he's worth more dead than alive. Peg reveals that in the interim, Steve retaliated by changing the beneficiary to his mother without her knowledge.
• Mood Whiplash: While crashing on the couch, Marcy says she's happy so long as she has Steve, which even prompts an "Aw!" from some in the Studio Audience. Steve lets out an incredulous "Yeah, right" in response.
• Noodle Incident: Kelly was once in legal trouble so severe that she was nearly tried as an adult when she was eight. The details of the case have never been elaborated upon at all. Nevertheless, this is treated with Once Done, Never Forgotten, as Al and Peg bring up this incident to make Kelly adhere to the "no boys" rule for her sleepover.
• Oh, Crap!: Al and Peg have this reaction when Steve and Marcy return home and see the pit where their house used to be.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Al and Peg observe Steve and Marcy returning to their now empty lot, realizing who is responsible for this, and rushing over to the Bundy house. Upon hearing the doorbell ring, Al hesitates and all he can manage to do is unconvincingly ask, "Who is it?" He tries to brush them off by pretending to not know what's going on, only to try "Who is it?" again when they knock on the door.
• Poor Communication Kills: Peg's misunderstanding with a guy looking for "Steve's Roadhouse" leads to Steve and Marcy's house being taken away.
• Really Gets Around: As Bud gleefully reveals to the girls in the sleepover, Kelly has slept with two guys, each of whom is the boyfriend of another girl in the sleepover group.
• Riddle for the Ages: How and when did Steve and Marcy get their house re-installed on their property? Did they have to pay anything for it? Did the Bundys have to reimburse them for any expenses?
• Rock Bottom: The Rhoades have to crash at the Bundy house, sleep in their clothes, and put up with Kelly's loud slumber party. The final straw is Marcy being in close proximity to Al's bare feet.
• Sarcasm Mode: When mentioning how their boyfriends keep leaving Kelly messages, Bud consistently feigns surprise in response to the different girls complaining.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Upon Steve and Marcy's lovey-dovey words and behaviors to each other proving too much for Al and Peg to handle while they're all sharing a bedroom, Al and Peg decide to sleep in the Rhoades' empty lot instead.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: To calm Marcy down from her funk due to the loss of house, Steve delivers sweet talks to her. It works as intended, as the sugary words successfully lightens up Marcy's mood, but Al and Peg are irked by those words due to Steve and Marcy sleeping in Al and Peg's bedroom at the time.
• The Stool Pigeon: When the girls at Kelly's sleepover reject Bud, he gets back at them by ratting Kelly out for seducing their boyfriends and provoking a Cat Fight.
• This Is Gonna Suck:
  • Al and Peg when Steve and Marcy come back from their trip and immediately realize who to blame for their house being gone.
  • Kelly when Bud starts talking in front of the other girls about the different guys that have left her messages.