Although Family Matters had a lot of wild and wacky situations, mainly those centered on resident nerd Steve Urkel and his forever-suffering foil Carl Winslow, the show had a number of nightmare-inducing episodes, more than one of which was deadly serious.
- The most notable Nightmare Fuel is, hands down, "Good Cop, Bad Cop," where the Winslows experience what every Black family fears: One of its family members becoming the victim of racial profiling by a police officer. Here, Eddie is stopped by an officer who turns out to be viciously racist ... and all for failing to signal a turn. Eddie is ordered to get out of his car and his handcuffed ... and God only knows what else ... before he is somehow allowed to leave. That situation was frightening enough for Eddie, but when the shaken Winslow son comes home to tell the parents what happened, Carl – who was fuming because Eddie was late for curfew again – is furious and is skeptical about the story, thinking he's covering up for more late-night carousing, note but offers to check it out for himself. Eddie breaks down in tears as he tells him he already went through one nightmare, now he's going through another: Not having his father believe him. (This, despite the immediate support he gets from Harriette and Estelle.) Eventually, Carl then experiences the nightmare when he learns that Eddie was telling the truth and, not only to mend the rift with his son, reveals that he, too, was racially harassed by the police when he was a teenager and lived the same nightmare. With his apology, Carl helps sooth the nightmare but he knows he can't make it all better even by he and Eddie reporting the incident to the police review board; it's likely Eddie will carry this for the rest of his life.
- The whole Very Special Episode "The Gun" deals with Laura's traumatic experience with gun violence and gang threats at her school.
- After school, Laura proceeds to her car to go home, but is stopped by gang member Toni Procopio. Toni compliments Laura on her new leather jacket she is wearing and then tells her she can get another one and to give up hers. Laura refuses and insults Toni. This angers Toni, causing her to whistle for her two gang friends and threatens to rip Laura's jacket off of her back if she doesn't give it to her. Laura refuses again and tries to leave but gets beaten up by Toni and her goons and her jacket stolen.
- Later on at home, Laura is being nursed by her family who is concerned about what happened. Carl reprimands Laura for putting herself in danger like that and for not giving up her jacket and tells her that her life is worth more than that jacket. After revealing it was Toni who took her jacket, Eddie then reveals Toni's infamous reputation at school. Carl then asks Laura for Toni's description and tells her that he's going to arrest her.
- The next day, Steve has made himself Laura's bodyguard (much to her annoyance), hassling anyone coming in her direction, including other students. Everything is fine until Laura and Steve run into Toni and her goons again. Toni is angry at Laura for getting her arrested and Laura tells her that she deserved it. After she and her goons trade insults with Steve, Toni then pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot Laura if she testifies against her.
- Days later, Laura and Maxine are complimenting Josie on her new tennis shoes...Laura then asks Josie what if someone tries to steal them. Josie responds that she's not scared and shows her gun to Laura, also telling her if she had one, she would still have her jacket. Maxine and Josie leave and then Steve comes to check on Laura. He reveals that Laura didn't even tell Carl nor Harriette about Toni pulling a gun on her. Laura explains that they're worried about her enough and doesn’t want to worry them more. They are then approached by fellow classmate Bobby, who knows about Toni harassing Laura. He tells Laura she needs to defend herself and shows her his gun collection in his car trunk. Steve tells Bobby that it's against the law to have those guns at the school and sarcastically names them. Much to Steve's dismay and him begging her not to buy it, Laura holds a pistol and asks how much it is.
- Before Bobby can name a price, they are alerted by a yelling Josie and Maxine and then a gunshot goes off. The students run in panic as Laura and Steve rush to the scene to find a wounded Josie on the ground being held by Maxine. A hysterical Maxine reveals that Toni picked a fight with Josie and she was shot in the arm for not giving up her shoes. Steve yells out for someone to call 911 and gives Maxine a makeshift tourniquet to hold on to Josie's wound to keep the blood from going further down her arm until help arrives.
- Later on at home, Harriette and Carl discuss the traumatic events that happened to Laura and her friends. Harriette is relieved that Laura wasn't hurt and is alright. Carl agrees and asks how Josie is doing. Harriette reveals that Josie won't have full use of her arm for a long time.
- Carl says as a cop he deals with these type of situations everyday but it doesn't hit home until it happens to one of your own.
- Harriette then says that Laura is one of the most level-headed kids that she knows and she couldn't believe that she was thinking about buying a gun. Carl then tells Harriette to imagine how frightened Laura had to be to even consider doing. Harriette was just relieved that Steve was just there to stop her before hand.
- Carl and Harriette then discuss how the teens of Laura's generation have a lot more to worry about than they did when they were teens.
- Harriette then reveals that Josie's mom is even considering moving out of Chicago and she vows that no one will drive the Winslows out of their home.
- Carl says that's not the solution and that these situations are happening everywhere. He knows there must be more to be done to keep them safe from guns.
- Days later, Laura starts an event at Vanderbilt called Save Your Life, Turn In A Gun. A tough guy refuses after realizing he won't get anything in return. Then, a little boy brings his big brother to turn his gun in. He is hesitant but then puts the gun in the bin and leaves happily with his sibling while everyone smiles.
- The cast and crew then share a PSA message saying you should squash gun violence before it even starts.
- In the Very Special Episode "Fight The Good Fight", Laura deals with being the target of racism at her school.
- Laura is psyched about it being Black History Month, and decides that she wants to try and get a Black History class course started at her school all year. The teachers come to see it as a good idea and encourage her to carry on with her petition, and with Steve's help, the signatures for the petitions pile up. Just as the petition signings are at their peak, Laura soon faces a hurtful moment when she finds her locker open, with a note attached to the door.
- "If you want Black History, go back to Africa," the note reads. Steve crumples the hurtful note and angrily tosses it to the floor but that's not all there is on Laura's locker; as she closes the door, she discovers the N-Word spray painted on it, leaving her, Steve and fellow black students standing nearby hurt and worried. It's both Nightmare Fuel and Tear Jerker.Laura: Hey, my locker's open!
[finds a note hanging on the door]
Laura: Oh my God.
Urkel: Laura, what's wrong?
Laura: [reading note] 'If you want black history, go back to Africa'.
Urkel: What?
[takes note and crumbles it, Laura slams locker door, revealing the N-word spray-painted in red on it] - Worst part is, whomever committed the horrible acts of racism and graffiti against Laura never got caught.
- The ending of the third Halloween episode, “Dark and Stormy Night.” Sir Steven has defeated the vampire Carl and Harriette and rescued Laura. As Sir Steven goes in for a kiss, he looks at the camera, baring his vampire fangs…
- The "Stevil" episodes: while they're mostly Played for Laughs, they're still about Demonic Dummies who spring to life and attack the main cast. They even open with a Content Warning from Steve due to their macabre nature.
- In the first episode, Stevil does some truly horrifying things (by the show's standards, at least) to the Winslows. He uses Carl as a human dummy, turns Harriette into a giant jack-in-the-box, stuffs Eddie in the chimney, and splits Laura into thirds! Not even Richie and 3J are safe, as the dummy steals Steve's Isetta and chases them around the neighborhood.
- The scene where the camera zooms into the chest containing Stevil. After a moment of silence in the darkness, a bolt of lightning strikes and reveals Stevil’s creepy, laughing face.
- The scariest moment in the duology happens at the end of the second episode: Steve's body gets posessed by Stevil, and he uses his demonic powers to steal Carl's soul. We're treated with a shot of Carl's wide, terrified eyes as Stevil's Eye Beams zap his pupils, and it's not a pretty sight. He thankfully wakes up before the worst happens.
- Steve Urkel is nearly killed by The Dragons in "Born To Be Mild" when the colossal enforcer restrains Steve and Chain pulls a knife on him.
- Before that, after discovering that they've wrecked Rachel's restaurant, things go From Bad to Worse when Eddie then stumbles in, revealing that he's been ambushed and beaten up by them covered with bruises and is bleeding.
