The Draft Dodger

The Bunkers and the Stivics have guests for Xmas dinner: Archie's buddy Pinky who lost his only son in Vietnam, and Mike's college pal David, who moved to Canada to avoid the draft. What could go wrong?

This is a fantastic installment. It is the series' best holiday episode and it's most powerful - even more so than Edith's cancer scare back in Season 4. It's cute seeing Edith get a little buzz going on from the eggnog. Archie's Xmas toast to Michael is funny and a little double entendre. The highlight is the dinner scene where the truth is about to come out thanks to Edith's loose lips. Gloria's discomfort at the brewing storm is especially palpable. When Archie finally blows, it is spine-tingling.

The bit with Archie's gag gift for Pinky is overdone, so I am removing one star for that, but everything else in the script flows perfectly and switches from drama to humor and back again in a heartbeat.

A holiday classic with a powerful message about truth, acceptance, and forgiveness. 9/10.

Quite simply, this is one of the ten best episodes of All In The Family. The show had tackled the Vietnam War in past episode discussions, but nothing like this and nothing like one of the most heated debates of this or any era. Mike's friend David (Renny Temple) drops in for a surprise visit during the Christmas holidays. Originally from Chicago, he's been living in Canada. The nervous audience reaction upon this reveal is chilling over 40 years later. Archie's announcement that his old friend, and sometime foil, Pinky Peterson (Eugene Roche) will be joining them too, adds another layer of tension. Pinky's son Steve was killed in Vietnam. The way shows like AITF, and to a greater extent M*A*S*H, blended comedy and dramatic commentary together, was incredible. It created powerful television. Carroll O'Connor gives a riveting, heart wrenching, performance. Archie's anger, frustration, and outright contempt for David mirrors so many men of a certain age. David's firm, strident objections represented so many young men who chose the path he took. In one of the shows' most devastating scenes, O'Connor delivers a line that literally had to be censored prior to air. Roche's counter point to Archie's tirade, which was classic Archie, so much so, you can tell the audience was almost feeling guilty laughing at times, gets to the heart of the divisiveness that was the Vietnam War. The way the episode ends, with Edith trying to talk Archie back to the dinner table, is one full of emotion and a touch of sadness. An episode not to be missed, and when you're finished watching, study up on why this topic was and remains so volatile to this day.