All in the Family/Edith's 50th Birthday

Edith's 50th Birthday
Season 8, Episodea 4 & 5
Airdate	October 16, 1977
Written by	Bob Weiskopf & Bob Schiller
Directed by	Paul Bogart
Produced by	Milt Josefsberg
← 8x03 Cousin Liz	8x06 → Unequal Partners
All in the Family — Season Eight

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Edith's 50th Birthday is the fourth and fifth episodes of the eighth season of All in the Family, and the one hundred sixty-first and one hundred sixty-second episodes overall.

Originally aired as a one-hour special focusing on the events of Edith's 50th birthday, the first half of the episode sees a man posing as a police investigator manipulating Edith into believing he is searching for a rapist, only to reveal that he is the rapist, before making good on attempts to sexually assault her. This, while Edith is home alone and the others are next door at Mike and Gloria's, planning a surprise party to celebrate their beloved "Dingbat."

The second half hour focuses on the aftermath of Edith being attacked and nearly raped, as the others plead with her to press charges and get the young man who attacked her off the streets for good.

Starring: Carroll O'Connor (Archie Bunker), Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker)

Co-Starring: Rob Reiner (Mike Stivic), Sally Struthers (Gloria Bunker Stivic)

Additional Cast: David Dukes (Lambert), Jane Connell (Sybil Gooley), John Brandon (Cop), Ray Colella (Cop)

Plot Overview

Part 1

Edith is at home, making preparations for her 50th birthday and a "surprise party" she kind of already knows about. She's happily working in the kitchen, visiting with a friend, while Archie is at the Stivics, helping plan for the party ... which means grumbling and arguing with Mike as usual.

As Edith's friend leaves, ultimately for the party, a handsome young man in a suit and tie comes to the door and asks to be invited in. He identifies himself as a police detective, asked to alert neighbors as to the activities of a rapist who may be in the neighborhood.

Strangely, the man, identified as Mr. Lambert, begins taking off his coat and tie, and then shirt. Edith is puzzled at first until she realizes to her horror that Lambert was describing himself.

What happens next is a string of events that every woman fears, and will become Edith's worst nightmare ... and every trick in the book she uses to fight off her attacker are of no use, as it is clear Lambert is an experienced rapist. Even when Archie comes to the house to grab a punchbowl, Lambert hides in the closet and warns Edith that saying anything will mean she will be shot and killed, and so will Archie.

In the end, the cake has been left in the oven too long, and Edith realizes the cake is burning. When Lambert tells her to get rid of the cake, Edith does just that ... right into Lambert's face!

A stiff knee to Lambert's groin area later, Lambert is thrown onto the service porch and is forced to flee. Edith flees to the Stivics, where the party-goers are not expecting her so early. (One party-goer even complains they didn't have time to get into their places.)

Edith is bawling and collapses into Archie's arms ... nobody yet aware of what had just happened to her.

Part 2

A trembling Edith is taken to Mike and Gloria's room, where she is so shaken by her ordeal she struggles even to talk. Archie eventually realizes that his wife was the victim of an attempted rape. Mike and Gloria find out and want to go to the police, but Archie and Edith both refuse. Edith wants to forget that it happened, while Archie is certain the attacker will find an experienced defense attorney and manipulate the situation into Edith "asking for it" (much like Gloria was told would happen to her in court several years earlier, when she was the near victim of a sexual assault, and ultimately declined to press charges).

Later, Archie and Mike search the house to see if Mr. Lambert, the attacker, had returned to the house, hoping to kill any witnesses. Lambert is gone, but Mike sees his clothes have been left behind. The police later come, Gloria having called them, and the one officer reveals they picked up a man wandering in the back alley, in pain (from having the burning cake thrown in his face) and trying to shake off his injuries and that he fits the description of someone they've been looking for in a string of sexual assaults. The instant Edith sees the clothes, she flees to the upstairs in absolute terror.

Fast forward two weeks, where Edith has fallen into a state of constant fear and depression, freaking out anytime someone comes to the door (even Archie, Mike and Gloria) or if the telephone rings. Archie tries to help but he's just himself, and at one point, Gloria has to correct his misconception that she had gotten over her own nearly becoming a victim. Gloria tries talking to Edith, telling her that the police had to release Lambert because nobody was willing to identify him as a suspect in the recent series of rapes, and that allowed him to attack another woman. Gloria tries everything to get Edith to go to the police, but Edith still balks, saying "I'm scared!" An exasperated Gloria then is out of options and declares her mother selfish and hypocritical, and that only by going to the station and identifying him will prevent him from attacking other women, if not worse.

Edith can't take no more and slaps Gloria in the face!

Amazingly, Edith realizes what she had just done and she immediately snaps out of her depression. She apologizes to Gloria (which Gloria accepts) and then finally realizes that she needs to identify her attacker to the police. She leaves for the police station with Archie, hoping that her actions will put the rapist away for good.

A bit of comic relief after Archie and Edith leave – Gloria, in a delayed reaction, begins to cry in pain due to the slap in the face, and Mike comforts her.

Trivia

Referbacks

• "Gloria the Victim": Several times the characters recount what Gloria went through when she was nearly attacked four years earlier in the late Season 3 episode. These include the family declining to press charges because of a concern the crime would be manipulated by a good defense attorney, and Gloria revealing to Archie that she still has post-traumatic stress disorder over the attempted attack.