Born to Be Mild is the ninth episode of the third season in this television sitcom Family Matters, which was aired from ABC on November 15, 1991. It was directed by John Tracy and written by Jim Geoghan.
Plot
A street gang known as "The Dragons" come into Rachel's Place and try to stir up trouble but luckily, Carl comes by just in time to stop it. Later that night, Harriette receives a police call from Carl that The Dragons trashed Rachel's Place and upon entering, discover that tables were flipped, chairs were thrown and the walls were tagged. As if that wasn't enough for the family to deal with, Eddie enters with his shirt all torn after he was beaten up by The Dragons while he was returning from a date. Carl is furious and wants revenge but Steve, fearing The Dragons might claim police brutality, which would subsequently cause Carl to lose his badge, stops him, saying he shouldn't do anything stupid. Therefore, Steve voluntarily offers to go into the lair of "The Dragons" under a disguise, wired. He keeps them busy long enough to make them confess their crimes and Carl and his partner, Lieutenant Murtaugh, barge in at the last moment to arrest them and save Steve.
Synopsis
A street gang known as The Dragons causes trouble at Rachel's Place. They harass Urkel by hanging him by his suspenders on a coat rack, make fresh comments to Laura & Rachel and damage glassware.
Rachel orders the gang members out but Chain, the gang's leader, has everyone pick tables, chairs and more malt glasses so they can cause major damage. Just then, Carl shows up and knowing what was about to happen, asks what's going on. The gang decides to leave, but not before Carl demands Chain pay for the broken glasses.
That night, Rachel and the others laugh about how Carl taught The Dragons a lesson in manners and respect. Then, the phone rings. Harriette answers it and learns from Carl that The Dragons returned to Rachel's Place to finish what they started earlier in the day. The damage is far worse than Rachel had ever feared: tables and chairs lying everywhere, video games damaged, the glasses and china broken and The Dragons' logo spray painted on the wall.
Carl reassures her that they'll catch The Dragons, but warns her that they will be back on the streets in two hours since one or more people will back up their alibi about being somewhere else when all this happened.
Rachel asks him if The Dragons can do whatever they want and get away with it. Carl refuses to go that far, but Eddie staggers into Rachel's Place, badly beaten up and tells them that they can.
Minutes later, Harriette has an ice pack on Eddie as he tells them about what happened when he was out walking back from his date. He was minding his own business when The Dragons jumped out from behind a parked van, attacked him and beat him up (presumably for defending Laura earlier and for Carl demanding Chain pay for the broken glasses).
Fortunately, Harriette is able to treat the injuries, which are not serious but she still wants to put antiseptic on his wounds to clean it up. Rachel and Laura are resigned to cleaning up the mess that The Dragons made to Rachel's Place. Carl is outraged and wants to take matters into his own hands.
Steve begs him to reconsider because he's a cop. Carl refuses by insisting he's a father first and wants to handle the situation his own way since it was his only son that was attacked. Urkel refuses and warns Carl that if he took matters into his own hands, he'll be charged with police brutality by The Dragons and risk losing his badge.
Urkel manages to persuade Carl to handle things the right way by allowing him to pose as a bloodthirsty and prospect gangster who is seeking to get into The Dragons. At the house, Carl is dressing Urkel up as a prospect gangster and tries to convince him to back away while he still can, but Urkel refuses, claiming that he wants revenge just as much as he does and reassures him that he'll be fine.
Urkel will be hooked to a wire and Steve's conversation with Chain will be tape-recorded. Lieutenant Murtaugh tells them the plan: while Urkel is in The Dragons' hangout, he and Carl will be in a white van listening to their conversation.
At first, things go off smoothly but as Urkel continues to ask questions, one of the more talkative members lets slip that he and the other Dragons caused the vandalism and beat up Eddie.
Chain tells the others to shut up and then says he suspects that Urkel was wired, forcing Carl and Lieutenant Murtaugh (who have been listening to the entire proceedings from their surveilance van) to run in to save Urkel's life. Even though they are handcuffed together thanks to Murtaugh's immaturity, they manage to get the job done & arrest The Dragons.
Later on, Rachel's Place is restored to its original state & Steve is rewarded as a hero for putting The Dragons away for a long time.
Cast
Main
- Reginald VelJohnson as Carl Winslow
- Jo Marie Payton as Harriette Winslow
- Rosetta LeNoire as Estelle Winslow
- Darius McCrary as Eddie Winslow
- Kellie Shanygne Williams as Laura Winslow
- Jaimee Foxworth as Judy Winslow
- Bryton James as Richie Crawford (credited as Bryton McClure)
- Jaleel White as Steve Urkel
- Telma Hopkins as Rachel Crawford
Guest
Recurring
Cameo
- Juan Lamont Pope as Chain (as J. Lamont Pope)
- Jaime Cardriche as Osgood
Trivia
- Juan Lamont Pope plays Chain, the leader of The Dragons. In Season 4, he returns to play one of the orderlies in "Number One With a Bullet." Also in season 4, episode 8 "An Officer and a Waldo", he plays an army cadet. In Seasons 7–8, he plays Laura's boyfriend Curtis. When he begins his role as Curtis, it is possible that this character is a reformed Chain, but this is unconfirmed.