The Ten Best FAMILY TIES Episodes of Season Two

[TMC]

https://jacksonupperco.com/2021/12/0...of-season-two/

The second season of Family Ties gets to apply the lessons learned over the course of its first. Not only are stories here even better at spotlighting the figure quickly becoming the series’ star — Michael J. Fox’s Alex P. Keaton, the funniest and best-defined character in the ensemble — there’s also a huge difference in Two’s handling of the political generational divide between Alex and his parents. That is, this divide barely exists now, for as we discussed last time, the show quickly realized that its initially premised clash on sociopolitical beliefs would have a difficult time coexisting in this super traditional family sitcom structure, where the parents must be an accepted status quo and the children the misbehaving figures who err, for in a conservative format during a conservative era and with a conservative audience, it’s their liberal progressivism that would stand out as more of the mockable contrast — not any personified conservative force. Accordingly, this family structure, along with the show’s own ideology (and Fox’s evident star quality), made it necessary to mitigate the politics, and particularly the parents’, in plot. Oh, sure, it still exists and is referenced for comedic banter, but it doesn’t come up in story during Season Two like it did in the year prior (when, for instance, Steven and Elyse were arrested at a nuclear protest, squeamish about buying a firearm, etc.). Now, the Keatons consistently have the temperamentally geared versions of their identities, as the parents’ liberal politics have morphed into a more emotionally generous, even-keeled normalcy, and Alex — with his strident objectives, perspectives, and flaws — gets to stand out as the contrast… but one with growing humanity too, because of this shifting emphasis from the political to the personal, as he also finds his personality, not just his ideology, guiding even more of his depiction. This trend ensures that Alex is beautifully displayed, but the problem is… no one else is, for the girls continue to lack trackable depictions, and the parents have had their rough edges smoothed out, making them less conducive to laughs and story — two things essential in the sitcom. That’s why, the fact that Two still has the adults often anchoring plot — not as much as last year, but more than the seasons ahead — keeps it from being great, for there are too many inherently lame outings.