'Miracle Workers: Dark Ages' Episode 5: Al’s facts labeled fake news at family dinner on medieval Thanksgiving
Class nor gender can protect you from the horrors of spending time with the family during the holidays. In the town of Lower Murkwood, it is "Harvest Day" -- that celebrates the genocide of the native Leaf people when King Cragnor took over their lands after they welcomed him with a feast. A bit like our own Thanksgiving really that papers over how, after the Pilgrims and native Americans came together to feast, the Wampanoag tribe was massacred.
With that sly wink at America's founding myths, creator Simon Rich launches into familial politics during the holidays. We all have that irritating uncle who drinks too much or that cousin with the contrary political wit, or the rowdy children who bully all the other kids. The "happy holidays" also turn awkward when one family member has gone through a divorce or has been fired, which no one must discuss.
Bert, Eddie Shitshoveler's brother and uncle to Al and Mikey, is all our problematic relatives rolled into one. Just like how family dinner tables have been divided over Trump since his elections, Al and Bert butt heads over their differing political opinions about the tyrant King Cragnor, their ruler.
Al brings facts to the table that Bert dismisses as "fake news" that makes Al commit the ultimate faux pas. She goes personal, bringing up how Aunt Rhonda left him for the town baker. You almost feel sorry for Bert but since he has been obnoxious all through the evening, you really don't.
But Al is a bigger person than most of us, going after Bert to smooth things over. Bert even apologizes to her and so she makes the effort to steer the conversation to safer topics. When she invites Prince Chauncley over, she instructs him sternly -- "No politics at the dinner table" -- which is a good rule to live by really.
Prince Chauncley on the other hand just wants the familial bond of love and togetherness -- something his father and his warlord sister and brother just don't get. As the odd one out and having unintentionally triggered his father to commit fratricide, Prince Chauncley fails to get the harmonious family time he wanted so desperately.
It is only when Al invites him to her own home that he realizes that he might have a bit of a crush on Al and that he can leave his hate-spewing father to his own devices -- at least until the holiday is over.
'Miracle Workers: Dark Ages' airs on Tuesdays on TBS at 10:30 pm ET.
