"Shotgun Wedding: Part 2"September 13, 1979
B-
So, ABC, in its infinite late-Carter-era wisdom, broke up their winning Tuesday night lineup, taking Laverne & Shirley out (replaced by Angie, which I admittedly liked) and over to Thursdays at eight o'clock, which sent Mork & Mindy to Sundays, which....Sixth-grade was tough enough without my network loyalties being tested like this. And yet, yes, I do vaguely recall both parts of the "shotgun wedding" from the time, and a crossover two-parter would've been enough for me to tune in almost 48 hours later, rather than just after these messages.*
Judy Ervin wrote Part Two and it is an improvement over Part One. (Also, Lavenny shipper that she is, she has Lenny overhear the proposals and prevent the wedding.) I was leaning towards a B until we got to Fonzie ex machina, at his own wedding! As with the dance contest episode, I can see Ron Howard visibly perk up when give other material to work with and other characters to interact with, and Richie is especially fun to watch in his first scene in this episode with L & S, whether reacting to Laverne slapping him twice in the face with a dead fish ("You girls live in a rough world") or proposing to both girls in quick succession, and still willing to pose for shutterbug Laverne in the midst of explaining that he has to get married because he and the Fonz are in trouble.
The episode actually starts out with Al Delvecchio's "previously." (Or is he perhaps Father Gucci from L & S's Season One, explaining what he learned in Confession later?) We get scenes of the L & S gang settling into the campsite that Fonzie recommended, interspersed with Richie running, before he actually shows up, and presumably the warm-up guy back in July or August of '79 explained the set-up, but the studio audience is delighted to see Ron Howard enter. The stuff with the regulars is fine, of course the part with Lenny and Squiggy, explaining their plans to use duck puppets to trap ducks for their duck circus, being the highlight. In fact, Lenny peeks out of a "wigwam" and McKean gamely (sorry) does reaction shots with his puppet. So at least the boys showing up with Carmine, Frank, and Edna later makes sense.
The girls agree to pretend to be engaged, and Richie leads them back to the farm. Richie boosts the girls over the fence and Laverne warns, "Watch the hands, Cunningham." As he and Shirley hold hands to look engaged, Laverne calls for Fonzie, who enters bound and on a donkey. The girls and the guys plan to leave after announcing their engagements, but Helga and Inga challenge Laverne and Shirley to a square-dancing contest, with H & I's four female cousins as the other pairs. Of course things get a little rough, but Laverne fights back and fights dirty, impressing Fonzie.
Laverne brings up Carmine, who early in the episode she said Shirley was lucky to have, since he was hauling everything out of the car and to the campsite. Shirley says Carmine will understand, "and I'll explain things to Lori Beth." Carmine will understand? This is the same guy who (admittedly accidentally) hit her just for going to the opera with an older man! As for Lori Beth, I'm fuzzy on this, but wasn't there an episode where Richie "cheated" on her and they had to start their relationship all over, including introductions?
Fonzie looks surprisingly calm and happy, but Richie requests, "Shirley, if our first baby's a girl, can we name her Lori Beth?" She sensibly replies, "Richie, could we possibly talk about this some other time?" (And again, we see more subtlety in the writing for her than we got on Part One.)
Laverne wants to know if she'll be known as "Mrs. Fonzie" and her groom tells her that "they're gonna call you the Fonzess," so she feels like she's marrying into royalty.
When the minister asks if there are any objections, Helga and Inga speak up but their father shushes them. The minister asks the guys if they take Laverne and Shirley. Richie answers first and solemnly says, "I do," to Shirley's delight. Fonzie calmly says, "Me, too." Laverne looks like she's thinking of the honeymoon again.
The minister asks if the girls take Fonzie and Richie. Laverne nods eagerly and quickly says, "I do!", but Shirley makes a little speech out of her vows.
The minister is wrapping up when Lenny and Squiggy announce their arrival with duck calls. The girls seem annoyed to be saved, and then the farmer shoots his shotgun, causing Lenny and Squiggy to flee for protection from Hilda and Inga. (Squiggy and Hilda, the more brazen one, look particularly friendly for the next minute or so.) Carmine, Frank, and Edna also arrive. Frank doesn't want his daughter marrying without his permission, and Carmine feels the same about Shirley, who is impressed by his "forcefulness."
The farmer won't listen to any of the girls' friends, so Fonzie says he's tired of being polite and he breaks the ropes and takes the gun. Couldn't he have done that an hour ago? Why lead on poor Laverne with that "Fonzess" talk and all?
The Fonz recommends that the farmer take lessons from Mr. DeFazio on how to be a better father, dubious advice but they've got to resolve this somehow. Fonzie frees Richie and everyone is happy, except the girls, who feel used and cheated out of a wedding. They settle for a wedding photo, with everyone including the minister. Laverne poses with her groom, but Carmine yanks Shirley away from Richie. Yeah, I'm sure Carmine would've totally understood Shirley marrying another man.
*This is, I believe, the end of the HD/ L & S crossover saga. At season's end, Richie would leave Happy Days for quite awhile, and the girls would soon find it difficult to return to Milwaukee, but I think it was also that that era, for Garry Marshall, for sitcoms, was coming to an end, just like the '70s were going to morph into the '80s. We're not there yet, but this is an interesting last hoedown.
No comments:
Post a Comment