"The Driving Test"

"The Driving Test"
February 21, 1978
B+

This Chris-Thompson-written episode is a lot of fun, although it uses only six of the regulars (no Mrs. Babish) and only three basic sets: the Shotz lunch room, the girls' living room, and the boys' apartment.  We find out that Squiggy failed the written part of his truck-driver's license six months ago and has to take it again or be fired.  Lenny offers to help but Squiggy wants to go it alone.  Of course, as soon as Lenny points out that if Squiggy gets fired, Lenny might have to move in with the girls (rather than with his family or whoever), they insist that Lenny help Squiggy, and they get drafted into helping, too.

The girls quickly get frustrated with Squiggy and the scene of first Laverne and then Shirley getting comically violent with him works, although comic violence doesn't always (and not just on this show).  Even better is the tragic accident with Squiggy on a tricycle and Laverne on what looks like a homemade crate-scooter (I'm sure there's a name for it, but it seems like something kids would make from the '30s through '50s), and Boo Boo Kitty as the innocent victim.

But my favorite part is Lenny's pep talk/ hero-worship speech to a drunk Squiggy, who hugs him and exclaims, "How selfish can you be?"  I love the reversal of cliches, and the underlying sincerity of their friendship, as Lander and McKean gleefully yet straight-facedly overact.  Even Laverne Twisting in the living room to mop the floor is fun, as is Lenny's predictable but nonetheless satisfying slip, helped to his feet by Laverne.

The shipping notes are odd here.  Shirley convinces Carmine to offer Squiggy a job, but she just talks sweetly and doesn't kiss him or anything.  And it turns out that both Laverne and Shirley are in Squiggy's little black book, Laverne because her father paid Squiggy to never try to ask her out, and Shirley with a warning that she wants to marry Squiggy and have his babies!  And when the boys want to go to a truckstop to celebrate Squiggy passing his test, they have to tell the girls it's just for truckers, and they wonder aloud why the girls always want to tag along with them.