separation is Archie's reaction when he discovers that Gloria has been unfaithful to her husband: For the first time in nine years, he turns his back on his daughter and sides with Michael. The script, rife with disturbing details of the petty cruelties that have already poisoned the Stivics' marriage, avoids the easy out of a tidy resolution. Mike and Gloria do effect a spontaneous reconciliation under the tree, but the tentative exchange lacks the conviction of a permanent reunion. They've been through enough to know, as we do, that the optimism of Christmas morning doesn't always stand up to the cold light of the new year. years, he turns his back on his daughter and sides with Michael.