The Gas Station Show is an episode from Season 6 of Married... with Children.
Watching Shenendoah inspires Al to take Peg and the kids on a day out as part of "Bundy Sunday Funday". But the day goes pear-shape when the car runs out of gas and Al has to work off the $12 Peg and the kids racked up for buying snacks.
This episode has become one of the show's most popular episodes because of both Al's "Shoot me - $12" sign and the Swedish bikini girl team at the end. The former became a Memetic Mutation.
Tropes
- A-Cup Angst: Jefferson agrees with Al (subliminally, not directly) that he's disappointed with Marcy's small chest when in the past he dated many women with succulent large breasts.
- Agony of the Feet: The Running Gag in this episode is Al's foot being repeatedly run over. Played with when he tries to make money off it with a sign that reads "RUN OVER MY FOOT — $12", and it's only then that his foot is not run over.
- The Alleged Car: The Bundys have to push their Dodge because it's out of gas. Also implied with the three guesses Bud, Kelly, and Peg give about what Al's surprise is on "Bundy Sunday Funday" (Bud thinks Al got a new bumper sticker for his car that reads, "My Other Car is My Feet"; Kelly thinks Al drew a cool racing stripe in the dirt on the sides of the Dodge; and Peg thinks Al bought a new 8-track tape of "Hotel California" they can listen to as they're being towed off the freeway).
- Bait-and-Switch: At one point, Al's telling an offscreen customer at the gas station not to marry, saying that it leads to everything bad in life ("work, kids, Habib shirts"). The Reveal Shot shows that he was actually telling a little boy on a bicycle, who then proceeds to run over his foot as he leaves.
- Beggar with a Signboard: Al ultimately resorts to this, offering a variety of things in exchange for $12: his Habib shirt, high school football stories, letting a car run over his foot, his house, erotic massages note , and finally "shoot me" (at which point he pantomimes it and falls over in frustration).
- Gainax Ending: The episode ends with a fat women's bowling team coming looking for "guys named Al" and take Al away before he can pay the 12 dollars.
- Gave Up Too Soon: Poor Al. Had he kept his "Habib" shirt on just a few seconds longer before relinquishing it to Bud, he could have had fun riding in a car with The Swedish Bikini Team, who happen to love guys named "Habib".
- Happy Family Charade: A bizarro world version of the Bundys, called the Lundys, come into the gas station as a sickeningly sweet loving family. After Al messes with the car causing it to crash, they begin to snipe at each other, culminating in the father telling them all to drop dead.
- Hypocrite: Despite working a demeaning job he hates and is treated terribly at, Al has no problem rubbing the gas station attendant's duties in his face.
- Insult Backfire: Al is incredulous that Peg couldn't raise $12 in the seven hours he's been stuck at the gas station. Peg retorts that he can't make $12 in seven hours at the shoe store.
- Irony: The shirt that Al intended to wear today turns out to have had $20 in its pocket.
- Jaded Washout: Al is stuck working at a gas station to pay back $12 and gets to the point of holding up various signs offering services in exchange for the money.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: A bit of an overdue one, but the kids and Peg taking advantage of Al and Marcy in "At The Zoo" comes back to bite them when it's revealed they have since been banned for their constant antics.
- Ms. Fanservice: The Swedish Bikini Team, who pick up Bud (believing him to be a man named Habib) and drive down a "bumpy road" with his, to his and their extreme delight.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: "All I wanted to do was spend one day with my family. Am I being punished for this? Yes! Because it's a stupid, moronic thing to wanna waste your Sunday with your family."
- Running Gag: Al's foot repeatedly getting run over.
- Taught by Experience: Everyone kept running over his foot, so Al eventually figures he could at least try charging people first. Naturally, this is literally the only time that no one runs over his foot.
- Tempting Fate: Al says Bud is dealing with the next car to pull in, while he just watches. Cue the Swedish Bikini Team.
- Throw the Dog a Bone:
- The Lundys' car wreck and subsequent arguing are the only moments of genuine delight that Al has while working at the gas station.
- Bud leaves with the Swedish Bikini Team. Unsurprisingly, this occurs immediately after Al forced him to take his place at the gas station.
- Weight Woe: Played for laughs. According to Peg, her mother experienced this when the scale had her at 380 pounds, which was a crushing blow after being 374 ever since high school.Peg: She's afraid she's getting fat.
Al: Don't worry, Peg. She probably had six pounds of food stuffed between her teeth. - What the Hell, Hero?: After Peg comes back without the needed money, Al says he expected such nonsense from her and Kelly, but he expected more loyalty from his only son.
- Work Off the Debt: Al is forced to pay off the $12 his family accrued from buying snacks, which he couldn't afford from his meager pay from the shoe store.
- Would Hit a Girl: Al strangles Kelly hard on her neck for putting the car in "Park" mode when he, Peg and Bud had to push it to the gas store. Peg and Bud intervene, then Al backs down. But then he tries it again.
