"It's the Water"

"It's the Water"
April 6, 1976
C+

Greg Strangis's only L & S script is uneven and handles the issue of sexual harassment clumsily, although that of course was typical of the time.  (Three's Company would be worse, repeatedly.)  Shirley gets an "executive position" as a beer-taster, which makes Laverne jealous and causes the guys (including Carmine) to tease Shirley about slumming.  It turns out that the head of the tasting department, Wolfgang Gessler, is interested in more than Shirley's "taste buds," and Lenny and Squiggy are amused at the idea of Gessler planning to get her drunk and "have his way with her."  Carmine is more protective of course.  (I'm guessing the episodes again aired out of order, because Shirley has Lenny and Squiggy go get Carmine from "the gym," although in the previous episode he had quit the gym to work in a dance studio.)

Other than possibly being pushed down the stairs by Carmine, there are no consequences for Gessler.  It's the '50s and there's no reporting him to HR or anything.  In fact, Shirley forgives him when he sends flowers and an apologetic note.  She doesn't even think other women at the brewery should be warned, because some of them might want to have sex with Gessler in order to keep the job, although it's not phrased this way of course.  (The series, thus far anyway, doesn't really say "sex" or words to that effect.  A lot is implied, which I'm sure sailed right over my ponytailed eight-year-old head.)

Other than the Shirmine of Carmine's protectiveness, which again, could be big-brotherly, the main shipping note is that Lenny invites Laverne and the absent Shirley to go to the Tunnel of Love with him and Squiggy.  Later Laverne says defending Shirley "beats being in a swan with Lenny and Squiggy," which Shirley doesn't even blink at.  In any case, I'm sure Lenny was thinking of himself paired off with Laverne, Squiggy with Shirley, but he takes it well when Laverne says she isn't "that hard up."

Note that the timing of the "hello" entrance is off, although the audience does applaud when Squiggy & Lenny enter.  I recalled these entrances as having brilliant timing, but this may be a case where it's not as good before it's established shtick.

Dennis Klein would direct three more episodes.