User Reviews

I watched all episodes of "Married with children" so far and this is the first episode in which the stereotype of seeing Al Bundy failing at everything he does, does not take place and the resource vanishes. At the end of "The Unnatural" I see for the very first time an Al who seems to be really happy and joyful with what he is doing. Maybe he is not the best at the most what he does, but this episode depicts him like the real winner and legend he could be, at least at softballs championships near Chicago. It is just like to imagine when the coyote finally catches the roadrunner, it breaks the routine. A happy ending. I really enjoyed this episode.

I guess the title and the film, "The Natural," has some connection to it. Al and the family play for the New Market Mallers baseball team. Al loves the game but he is terrible at it. The Mallers decide to get a ringer, a Swedish guy named Sven who's built up. The Mallers need the Bundys to turn against each other for Al to be dropped. For Bud and Kelly, they are promised free meals at the local diner at the mall by one of the players. Marcy gets to be the umpire and strikes Al out and enjoys it. When the Mallers bring Sven, Peggy is all over him and feeling his muscular arms. It's kind of sad to see Al Bundy to prove the Mallers wrong at the final game where they can take home the trophy.

After a slight drop in quality in the last episode, things are again on the up again in this episode.

Plot In A Paragraph: Al has won MVP (Most Valued Player) two years running for the baseball team he plays for The New Market Mallers. With his family in tow he plays for the love of the game, but following a slump in form just before the big game, the team come to the other three Bundy's saying they want to drop Al, and bring in a ringer.

All the cast are great again and clearly having a lot if fun. O'Neil is again great as Al, as is the gorgeous Applegate as Kelly and David Faustino has some good moments as Bud. Peggy (Katy Segal) is a lot of fun here too.

Injuries cause Al to lose a game for the mall baseball team, so they decide to replace him with young hunk Sven; a unanimous vote is needed to dump Al from the team, but Peg is easily swayed and the kids eventually agree. However, when Sven is accidentally knocked out by umpire Marcy, Al steps up to the plate one more time to prove that he is still a winner.

Al failing at stuff is what makes MWC so funny, and while I guess it's nice to see Al as a champ for a change, proving everyone wrong by winning the baseball championships for the New Market Mallers, this episode is missing the big laughs as a result. Peg does her best at getting some giggles by going gaga over Sven, but it's not enough -- the dialogue doesn't sparkle and the whole thing relies too heavily on the sentiment associated with the sport (I think the ending references The Natural, the schmaltzy '80s baseball film starring Robert Redford).