"Laverne and Shirley Move In"

Goat chow and a unicycle?  OK, not completely unfurnished.

"Laverne and Shirley Move In"
November 28, 1978
B-

Paula A. Roth wrote this story that flashes back to approximately December 1956 (six months after the girls graduated from high school) and got the very unfurnished apartment.  (No appliances!  No wonder they wanted to win a stove on the game show.)  Shirley tells the story to Mrs. Babish, so everyone but Mrs. B has to play their four-years-younger selves, which ranges from Foster not even bothering to do something about his mustache, to McKean giving his all to a barely post-pubescent version of Lenny, voice cracking and everything.

Mr. DeFazio is the typically old-fashioned Italian father who doesn't want Laverne to move out, but Shirley's (unseen and unheard) mother is moving to California and expects Shirley to go with her.  Frank finally realizes it's time to let the girls grow up, and he will be just around the corner.  He also tells Shirley that he and Laverne will now be her Milwaukee family.

We learn that Carmine has been dating Shirley all through high school and has given her his class ring.  He plans to "say goodbye" to her in a backseat.  And yet, we also get Shirley insisting that Laverne make a vow to never touch Carmine's chest.  (And I went Aha, then the "Roxy" scene was even more significant than I realized!)

Yes, there is L/L on this episode, and indeed S/S, but it should be noted that the boys stalked the girls to the apartment building, so they haven't changed much since we saw them in the "Anne-Marie and Hector" flashback to approximately '54.  As for the L/L, there's a scene that's very famous to Lavennists (it's at both https://santaburger57.wixsite.com/lands/lavenny and https://ship-manifesto.livejournal.com/190382.html), and yet, as I've known since watching the "Top 10 Lavenny Moments" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0K13cTMNLE&t=272s), they've got the quote wrong, and it really does matter in this case.

Here's how the exchange is presented at the Ship Manifesto page--
LENNY: I defy you to look into my eyes and tell me you can resist me, Laverne.
LAVERNE: (looking into his eyes) I can resist you.
LENNY: (aside happily to Squiggy) She'll do whatever I tell her to!

But in fact, with one of those Lenny-and-Squiggy patented mistakes (see "State of Milwaukee" for instance), he actually says "defile," which puts a whole extra spin on it.

As for Squiggy, he not only rhetorically asks Laverne, "Yeah, but without her, what good are you?", he also says that Shirley was his last hope for a short woman.

Anyway, the episode is a little uneven and the device of Mr. DeFazio "bimonthly" pretending to be a prowler is a strange lead-in, but this is definitely an episode that you need to watch for extra backstory.  (Although I'm sure some things will be retconned later.)

Oh, and note that apparently Frank and Edna have never spent the whole night together, because he's very surprised by her face cream.