Alex (Micheal J. Fox) is going to a banking seminar in Chicago with his boss, Rebecca (Melinda Culea) in A Tale of Two Cities: Part 1. Written by Marc Lawrence and Alan Uger, this episode was first broadcast on 5 February, 1987.

The b-story follows Elsye (Meredith Baxter) thinking about redesigning the Keaton kitchen, something neither Alex nor Steven (Michael Gross) feels comfortable about. Still, the rest of the family are keen for change, and come up with a scheme to get Steven to agree to it.

Alex can barely contain his glee at being able to go to Chicago, but things get complicated and uncomfortable for the pair when the hotel loses Alex’s reservation, and he has to bunk in with Rebecca.

Things aren’t going to go smoothly for the pair and Fox gets to do some great physical comedy as well as deliver a great monologue after Rebecca accuses him of arranging the whole thing.

The episode ends with a temporary truce called between the two, and Steven saying if anyone is going to remodel the kitchen, it’ll be him, which makes no sense because his wife is an architect!

It’s a little silly and goofy, but not all the stories are going to be winners. At least the laughs are fairly consistent.

A Tale of Two Cities: Part 2 aired a week later on 15 February, 1987. It was also written by Lawrence and Uger.

As Alex and Rebecca continue to deal with the confined living spaces brought on by the hotel room for the seminar, the rest of the Keatons try to deal with Steven attempting to remodel the kitchen on his own. He’s stripped the walls and is about ready to wallpaper, and everyone wants to make sure he gets some help, enter Nick (Scott Valentine) and Skippy (Marc Price) not to mention everyone else trying to help. It doesn’t go as well as Steven planned.

Back in Chicago, Alex has ordered some champagne for the pair to relax, but once the seminar meet-and-greet gets underway Rebecca has a little too much to drink. Alex tries to run interference for her, and look out for her.

Both Rebecca and Alex make a really bad impression on the head of the company, Charles Okun (Reid Shelton) and his very young wife, Tammy (Jonna Lee). Back in the hotel room, things take an almost dangerous edge. Rebecca makes an overture to Alex, but he stops her, reminding her she’ll regret her decisions, and is only concerned about her well-being.

But come morning he teases her a little making her think they slept together. But only for so long, He’s not that mean. It’s a little fun. The first half was stronger though.

Battle of the Sexes begins another two-parter. Hey, look everyone, it’s a clip show. After Alex orders for Elyse, Mallory and Jennifer in a restaurant. The trio take umbrage and then begin to illustrate how often and repeatedly Alex is chauvinistic, and not charming, despite what he thinks.

Written by Stephen Curwick, this episode was first broadcast on 19 February, 1987. Did we need another clip show already? I don’t think so, and honestly, we’re close enough to the end of the season that perhaps they could have dropped this two-parter and just delivered a shorter season. Perhaps it was a contract thing.

It’s a cobbled-together collection of clips as Alex and Steven try to make an argument for male bonding while avoiding the accusations directed at Alex for being sexist and chauvinistic. Sure it shares some great moments from the series, but once again, did we really need a two-parter to illustrate how Alex is sexist? Or the difference between male and female bonding?

We didn’t, and with only two seasons to go, I’d rather have fresh material instead of revisiting prior stories.

Let’s see how they tie this one up next week…