Driving Mr. Boondy

Driving Mr. Boondy is the 185th overall series episode of Married... with Children, and also the 2nd episode of Season 9 of the series. Directed by Gerry Cohen and written by Donald Beck, the episode originally aired on FON-TV on September 11, 1994.

Synopsis

Al refuses to give Bud a handout, saying he will have to learn the value of hard work in order to make money to finance a road trip. Meanwhile, Al is trying to get his own house in order after learning how incompetent Peg had been. In doing so, he learns that his driver's license has been suspended and must pass an exam in order to get it reinstated. The examiner turns out to be Bud, who has an axe to grind with Al from the earlier lecture, saying he got a job at the DMV and is going to take it out on his father. But who will get the last laugh?

• Note: Katey Sagal makes a brief cameo appearance.

Storyline

Bud needs $700 for a trip to Milwaukee with the Fraternity, which Al refuses. To earn it, Bud takes up a job as a driving examiner. Due to Peggy's negligence, Al's driver's license has expired and he has to take the test again—with Jefferson's help. Bud administers Al's test and gives him a hard time as a revenge for Al refusing to give him $700. Al gets the last word when he tells Bud if he fails the test he can no longer drive to work, so he will be home all day and cause Bud embarrassment. Mortified by that idea, Bud passes Al, who ends up getting his driver's license renewed. In a subplot, Kelly is upset that she has to do her next Verminator commercial in a skimpy red bikini. On the advice of Jefferson, she protests this and loses her contract. Marcy praises Kelly for refusing to be seen as an object and gets her a job at Marcy's bank, only for Kelly to find herself doing a humiliating job of advertising the bank, coincidentally wearing only a bikini and holding a board saying "Check out these rates" as well as receiving jokes from passers by that she is really advertising herself.  She sees an Arab man wearing a copa, and figures he must be a terrorist. Kelly and Marcy panic and yell for the police, who brutalize the man. Just afterwards, Marcy's boss passes on a message that an oil sheik will be coming to the bank to make a large withdrawal, and that he expects Marcy will give him "the VIP treatment". As Al goes home, wondering about his bad luck, he think no one has a worse job than him. The episode ends showing Marcy now doing Kelly's job as a punishment for losing the bank's best client, only she is wearing a chicken costume with a board saying "Let us sit on your nest egg". 

Recurring Cast/Regulars

• Ed O'Neil as Al Bundy
• Katey Sagal  as Peggy Bundy
• Christina Applegate as Kelly Bundy
• David Faustino as Bud Bundy
• Amanda Bearse as Marcy D'Arcy
• Ted McGinley as Jefferson D'Arcy
• Buck as Buck The Dog

Guest starring

• Oliver Muirhead as Mr. Blithers
• Kevin Curran as Voice of Buck
• Nicole Nagel as Heidi
• Isa Totah as Ahmed, Middle Eastern bank client
• Greg Callahan as Bank President
• Jeffrey Winner as Driving Test Examiner
• Deborah Lee Hall as DVS Woman
• Wesley Leong as Man
• Gene Steichen as Bank Customer

Notes

Title

• The title of this episode is a play on the Oscar-winning 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy, with Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman as well as the DVS employee's way of pronouncing Al's last name.

Trivia

• This is Katey Sagal's first physical appearance of the season, returning after the birth of her daughter. In the episode, Peg is still out of town, looking after her mother who had a heart attack, when she calls home. She is only seen by the phone from the chest up.
• Kelly loses her job as the Verminator in this episode after demanding to be treated better.
• Kelly reveals that she is 23 years old in this episode.
• Marcy tells Kelly that she graduated from college as a double major in business and economics.

Cultural References

• The festival that Bud and Heidi go to, Oktoberfest, is a real beer festival that originated in Germany. In the United States, it is held in many cities across the country, due to Americans of German descent being the largest self-reported ancestral group.
  • Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Bud and Heidi go for the festival is one of the many cities that actually hosts the festival.
• The catalog that Peggy has Al look at, X.X.L.L. Bean, is a parody of retail store L.L.Bean.
• Kelly tells Al that she wants to do films where she's naked or at least starring alongside that "Hey Vern!" guy. This in reference to fictional character, Ernest P. Worrell who began appearing in commercials in the 1980s before eventually starring in a series of movies named after the character, typically addressing the viewers as Vern. The character was played by actor Jim Varney until his death in 2000.
• When Marcy gets mad at Jefferson for giving Kelly advice, she says that he believes a W-2 is a bingo number. He then points out that its not a bingo number but something used to treat squeaking hinges.
  • A W-2 form that Marcy points out is a form used by the IRS in the United States that reports wages paid to employees and the taxes withheld from them .
  • The product that Jefferson thought was a W-2 is called WD-40, the name brand of penetrating oil.
• While making Al his chauffeur during his driving test, Bud makes out with a German hitchhiker Heidi and tells her "Pretend like my pants are France and invade me!" in reference to Germany invading France during World War II.
• After Kelly mentions that the bank is right near a bar, Marcy tells her, "That's how we got the Kennedy account", in reference to the politically connected Kennedy family and several members who were known for their alcohol consumption.
• After Kelly says that she feels like a cheap slut, Marcy tells her "Well, that's how were hoping to get the Clinton account", referring to then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, who had been accused of having inappropriate sexual relations with several women during his tenure as Governor of Arkansas as well as during his two terms as President of the United States.
• When Al said to Peg "Did you alert Tokyo?" when she said her mother had just taken her first step after her heart attack is a reference to the fictional Japanese monster, Godzilla.

Music

• Some easy listening muzak is played when Al arrives home from work at the beginning of the episode.
• Bud and Heidi sing the German folk song "Hoch auf dem gelben Wagen" (High on the Yellow Wagon) while riding in the backseat of Al's Dodge.

Locations

• Bundy Residence
• Department of Vehicle Services
• Chicago
• Kyoto National Bank

Sets

• Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
• Wanker County Payphone
• Department of Vehicles Services Field Office / Parking Lot
• Chicago Expressway
• Kyoto National Bank Window / Lobby

Goofs

• As Al gets up to pick up the phone when Peggy calls, a boom mic is clearly seen in the upper right hand corner for a brief moment.