"New Year's Eve 1959"

"New Year's Eve 1959"
December 27, 1977
B

Marc Sotkin also wrote this episode, which is the best of the season so far.  Laverne has a chance to finally date Pete, the guy who gave her her first kiss ten years ago, when she was in the 6th grade.  (This confirms that they're going with the girls being born in '38, no matter what we might've thought in Season One.)  He's recently broken up with his long-term girlfriend, Bea, and Shirley encourages Laverne to get Pete to invite her to the five-dollars-a-couple dance Shirley is throwing at the Pizza Bowl for New Year's.  Laverne goes skating with Pete and they have a great time, and then they make out on her couch, despite Shirley bursting in and cockblocking every couple minutes (not that they called it that back then).  They do go to the dance together, but Bea shows up and only has to play their song, "Chances Are," for Pete to take her back.  Poor Laverne is heartbroken, but Shirley cheers her up, including insisting that Laverne is pretty on the inside and out.

I found the episode both funnier and more touching than any episode in awhile, sometimes within the same minute.  We find out that Pete (like Lenny) admires Laverne's toughness, in this case her ability to take a punch, but he finds milk & Pepsi disgusting, so Laverne, who sometimes gives up part of herself to please men, says she's going to give up m & P.  Then later, when she's lost Pete (and he doesn't even dump her or acknowledge her once he sees Bea), she pours a bucket of milk & Pepsi to drown her sorrows.  Also, it's poignant that Laverne doubts her looks, because Penny Marshall always did. 

Cindy Williams does well with both the comedy and drama, and we can see that her heart breaks for Laverne in the scene at the Pizza Bowl.  Although Officer Norman, who's referred to earlier, shows up shortly before midnight, it is the girls' sisterhood that is the most important relationship here.

As for romance, it's actually Shirmine that gets the most attention of the established couples.  Well, we do see Frank refuse to do the Twist with Edna and put on a waltz instead.  But Carmine gets Shirley a diary and writes the first entry for her, saying that "Carmine" told her that she was the best part of the '50s for him and will be the best part of the '60s.  Of course, little did he know they wouldn't see the next decade out together, but that is a long way off at this point.