WTF Rachel?

If I mention the Family Matters episode entitled "The Life of the Party" you probably wouldn't know it's from Season 2 or what it's about.  However, if I say "the one where Urkel got drunk" you will know exactly what episode I am referencing, and chances are, if you are a dude, you also have a prostate exam coming up. Old ass.

The episode centers on Maxine being excited to have a birthday party.  Not just any party but what 80's and 90's TV shows refer to as a "boy/girl party."  Her parents apparently got new carpet and thought it would be a great idea to have their daughter's party on the roof of the apartment building instead.  Look at the picture above, the height of the wall is about 3 or 4 feet tops.  Max's parents didn't give a good damn about her or any of those kids. You're telling me you thought that inviting and letting loose a bunch of hormone driven teenagers on the roof of your building was a good enough idea?  Either they thought this was acceptable or they just didn't care to think about it at all. Pick one. Everybody knows teenagers don't make very good decisions and bring a lot of alcohol hidden in sown-in coat pockets to spike punch.  Unless these parents had the intelligence of Waldo, they knew their daughter had a birthday coming up, was probably very excited and still decided to get new carpet anyway and banish her along with her little friends to the top of the building... at night... unsupervised.  That's right, not once do Max's parents make n appearance to check on her or how the party is doing.  The kids are free to fight, flirt, drink and dress like Arsenio Hall.

In the most famous part of the episode, Urkel leads a group of kind of diverse kids in the first flash mob in 1990's Chicago.  Somehow, everyone knows the steps to his dance and then do a nerdy line dancing thing where everyone knows exactly what to do.  Do you know how many times I have tried to start a flash mob or sang a conversation to start a Broadway-like conversation?  Several.  How many times has it actually worked out?  None.  Zero, ask Victor.  Yet, the kids here not only know the dance and mannerisms but sing and dance right on cue.  Anyway, a young kid who you can tell is a menace to society gets Urkel drunk by giving him spiked drinks, unbeknownst to the poor nerd.  Steve soon starts yelling, slurring, stomping and climbing on the wall. This is where we see that RACHEL HAS BEEN THERE THE WHOLE TIME!   We hear her say in the beginning of the episode that she is catering the party and even see her and her big bucket/sunflower hat exit the party at the start after embarrassing Laura and Max.  For some reason at some point, she came back and let Urkel get drunk, saw him acting a fool, let him get on the ledge and was perfectly fine just staring in disbelief.  

Surprising everyone who has been staring at a drunk Urkel walk along the wall, he eventually falls and manages to use his drunk geek superpowers to hang on to a ledge. It is at this point where we see Rachel realizing she is the only adult and should have been chaperoning or you know, not let under-age drinking happen 10 ft in front of her. She springs into action trying to save Urkel but the way this building is set up, he is hanging on the ledge of the building about six feet below the wall.. Rachel hops down and starts to tight rope walk across a very strong clothes line. Maybe clotheslines are built tougher in Chicago, I don't know I have never been.  It's important to note that this show has never referenced Rachel being a stuntwoman or being a tight rope walker but it looks like those Circus of the Stars specials or the possibility of facing jail time gave her the confidence to try and she goes for it.  The ledge is very thin and in a more traditional emergency, getting to people on those top floors seems impossible.  You may be wondering how this situation is resolved after all this buildup.  It's cool because the writers don't waste their time telling us how Rachel and Urkel ever got down off the high building. After almost half the episode setting this up, they neglect to show how they got off the impossible to reach ledge. Just shut up and don't worry because apparently, everything is fine because the next day, they're both at home; Urkel with a small headache and Rachel probably skipped town after seeing the cops arrest the kids who spiked the punch and not the one grown ass adult who lets teenagers get drunk and fall off buildings.  TGIF!