Archie is frightened of senescence; he now needs glasses to read the newspaper, and down at Kelsey's bar, he runs into an old buddy from three decades ago, which makes him dread to think where the years went, and he appears to be trying best to remain youthful; Archie is a very vulnerable protagonist here the episode does a great job of making us sympathise with Archie he is going through something troubling to him he is trying not to think about it he's more forgetful and self conscious I think the show in general does a very good job of development and making you care about characters even when what they say disgusts you Norman Lear created this character as a realistic human being a very flawed human being that reflects on the society at the time and still remains relevant today in 2022.