Higher Anxiety is the eighteenth episode of the fourth season of Family Matters, which aired on ABC on February 26, 1993. It was directed by Richard Correll and written by Jim Geoghan.
Synopsis[]
Urkel reveals to Eddie that his girlfriend, Oneisha (Mari Morrow), is a two-timer. After he breaks off their relationship, Eddie goes into a week long depression. Waldo and Urkel try to cheer him up by taking him to a party. When Eddie steps outside to get some air, Waldo and Urkel find him on the fire escape, and their combined weight breaks it. With teamwork, Eddie, Urkel, and Waldo manage to get back inside, and Eddie realizes that his friends are more important than a girl. However, he does take comfort knowing that Oneisha's current boyfriend had his car crushed by the fire escape ladder. Meanwhile, Estelle and her beau, Fletcher Thomas, have really advanced their relationship and are contemplating marriage, much to Carl's chagrin, after a white water rafting trip. When Harriette calls him out for hurting his mother, she learns Carl's real reason for not accepting their relationship.
Plot[]
Laura is heading out for a movie with Maxine and Steve shows up with his flowers and candy for her in the hopes they'll go out. However, she manages to warn Urkel that if he follows in his "toy" car she'll crush it. Unfortunately for him, Eddie takes the flowers and candy from him and gives them to Oneisha. They leave, even after Steve starts chasing them in the hopes he can get his stuff back.
One week later, Eddie and Oneisha were cuddling with each other, when Urkel arrives in the Winslow house. He tells him that they're busy right now and wants him to go home. Steve refuses and says it's urgent information he wants to tell him in private. He mentions to Eddie to send her home immediately since she may lie about what happened. He refuses and tells Urkel that whatever he says to him, he can say it in front of her. He says fine and tells Eddie exactly what happened. Steve mentions that last night, he and Waldo were hanging out at Paul's Pizza & Pudding Parlor, where they caught Oneisha cheating on him by making out with Joey Newman, in the parking lot. He grabs Urkel and asks her if that was a lie hoping she does say so, and he could beat up both Waldo and Steve for lying to him. However, she ended up confirming Urkel's story, which upsets him. Oneisha tries to explain herself about what happened, claiming she made a mistake in cheating on him with Joey. Eddie refuses to hear any of it and they break up as a result.
Carl is still against his mother's relationship with Fletcher Thomas. However, Harriette is fed up with his insensitivity and sets him straight for his selfishness. She points out that it's not Fletcher who's hurting Estelle by loving her for who she is. Harriette calls Carl out for being selfish and mentions that he's the one hurting her for refusing to come to terms that she's found love. He finally reveals his real reason why he tried to keep Fletcher and Estelle apart. Carl mentions to Harriette that every time he sees them together, it always brings back painful memories about his father, Sam, and the heartbreak she went through when he died. That Carl is afraid that if Fletcher dies, it'll bring Estelle back to the same depression she felt. Harriette tells Carl that she understands his concerns and how upset he was about his father's death. However, she warns him that if he keeps rejecting Estelle's relationship with Fletcher, he could lose his mother too. Carl finally agrees to be more open to their relationship for both her and Harriette's sake.
Later in the living room, Eddie has really become despondent and is watching television. He shuts off the T.V., still depressed over Oneisha cheating on him with Joey. Waldo and Steve shows up decked out in trendy party clothes and tells him that they're taking him to a party. Eddie refused to go and both guys sit down on the couch next to him until he relents. Eventually, he does so and changes his clothes after being annoyed by Urkel and Waldo.
At the high-rise party, Eddie becomes very depressed and stands outside on a fire escape nearby. He is contemplating suicide after seeing Oneisha with her current boyfriend, Joey. Urkel and Waldo notices this and are concerned. They try to convince Eddie to come back inside and talk to them. When he refuses, Steve and Waldo go out onto the fire escape to try to talk him out of suicide. Due to the combined weight, the badly-rusted fire escape begins to give way. Managing to balance the fire escape, Eddie tells Steve to go back inside the window first. When he refuses, Eddie convinces him to do so because he's the lightest of the three. Once Steve is safely inside, Waldo can go next and then Eddie. After he safely makes it inside, Waldo goes next. Finally, Eddie makes it inside before the fire escape. Immediately, he learns his lesson that his life and friends are very important to him. Eddie realizes there's more to his life than being depressed about being cheated on. Oneisha shows up with Joey who's very upset about a fire escape ladder falling on top of his newly-purchased car. Eddie and his buddies look down and cheers for damaging the car.
During the trip in the American Southwest, Estelle and Fletcher are having a good time and he decides it's the right time to ask her to marry him. He proposes to her and she accepts it right away. He even promised her to get a new house close to their families to visit them anytime they want. When they return to Chicago, Carl apologizes to them about his selfish behavior and tells Fletcher that since he is special to Estelle, he should be special to him, too. She and Estelle are happy to see them getting along. Estelle mentions they're getting married and before he can protest, Carl accidentally pulls the cord of the inflatable raft and tries in vain to stop it. Fletcher, Estelle and Harriette are embarrassed by Carl's antics, to which Carl, emulating Urkel, asks: "Did I do that?".
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
- Shawn Harrison as Waldo Geraldo Faldo
Guest[]
Recurring[]
- Mari Marrow as Oneisha
- Arnold Johnson as Fletcher Thomas
Trivia[]
- The episode's title comes from the 1977 Mel Brooks movie High Anxiety, which is a spoof of many of Alfred Hitchcock's movies.
- Eddie breaks up with Oneisha in this episode after she cheats on him and doesn't regret it. However, this was retconned in the Season Nine's "Who's Afraid of the Big Black Book?", where Eddie is stated to have cheated on her.
- The escaping from the fire escape in having Steve go first is referenced here from season 2's Ice Station Winslow when he and Eddie had to face a similar situation on the icy lake of Lake Wannamuck with Carl.
- Laura doesn't appear in this episode aside from the early scene.