This hilarious three-parter was worth every minute.

In part 1, a professional ditz supervises a Tupperware party with Edith as hostess, while Mike and Gloria are hilarious as Marx Brothers impersonators. Meanwhile, Archie did not show up at his lodge convention.

Part 2 is a little grim, as we meet Stretch Cunningham (who isn't funny at all) while searching for Archie. The trail leads to Boom-Boom Turner's house, but of course she's inno...Well, no she isn't, but Archie isn't with her.

The Longest Kiss begins with Edith's hilarious recounting of a fascinating story of how Archie missed the bus, got on a plane, sat down next to a Mormon...The story alone was worth the entire episode. Edith and Mike get into a fight over whether she is really allergic to lima beans, and whether Mike can really identify colas by taste alone.

By the time Archie walks through the door, safe and sound, we've had a good three episodes.

Personally, I didn't care for these episodes because Archie wasn't even seen until the end. That would be like taking Lucy out of the show I Love Lucy and saying she's on vacation. Sure there were some funny moments, but it I usually skip those episodes when they show them because of Archie's absence. I think I recall reading that they filmed those episodes because Carroll O'Connor wasn't sure he was going to resign. I wonder what the out come of the last episode would have been like had he chose not to resign.

Personally, I didn't care for these episodes because Archie wasn't even seen until the end. That would be like taking Lucy out of the show I Love Lucy and saying she's on vacation. Sure there were some funny moments, but it I usually skip those episodes when they show them because of Archie's absence. I think I recall reading that they filmed those episodes because Carroll O'Connor wasn't sure he was going to resign. I wonder what the out come of the last episode would have been like had he chose not to resign.
The plan was to have Archie killed off if he did not come back. That would had been a hard blow because the show would not been the same. Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers carried those three episodes very well when O'Connor was gone. Those episodes were funny but emotional as well when it was uncertain about Archie when Edith and Gloria was shaken up about Archie being missing.

I personally enjoyed these episodes, particularly the worry over Archie's disappearance and the great way the other three actors carried the weight in O'Connor's absence.

But any attempt to continue the show without him would have been insane.