Mike is helping Archie close up the bar for the night and accidentally locks them in a back room.
This is a plot used in many sitcoms of the time in which characters are locked together in a room, it happened in The Odd Couple, Maude, Bob Newhart Show and some others. A previous episode "Archie In The Cellar" had Archie all alone and it was much funnier than this one. It starts with some bickering between the two characters, Reiner overacts a bit and O'Connor is strangely sedate. Then it attempts to be an Arthur Miller type play as Archie recalls his relationship with his father and how he became prejudiced, the writing is not up to par though. The audience is even giggling at this supposedly great dramatic moment.
This is a plot used in many sitcoms of the time in which characters are locked together in a room, it happened in The Odd Couple, Maude, Bob Newhart Show and some others. A previous episode "Archie In The Cellar" had Archie all alone and it was much funnier than this one. It starts with some bickering between the two characters, Reiner overacts a bit and O'Connor is strangely sedate. Then it attempts to be an Arthur Miller type play as Archie recalls his relationship with his father and how he became prejudiced, the writing is not up to par though. The audience is even giggling at this supposedly great dramatic moment.