My non-LAS review is here https://relivinghappydays.blogspot.com/2021/04/joanies-weird-boyfriend.html, but this is the set-up: Fifteenish Joanie, feeling frustrated by her boyfriend who won't kiss her, annoyed with her family who treat her like a little kid, and egged on by the bad-influence (but still unseen by the audience) Jenny Piccalo, dresses like a tramp and flirts with the leader of the Red Devils gang. He invites her to a party, but first she has to be initiated, meaning she has to neck with all eight Devils. And she doesn't even kiss on the first date. Big brother Richie tracks the gang down to, for some reason, the Jefferson High gym, where he confronts them single-handed, he thinks. But his three best friends (Fonzie, Potsie, and Ralph, in that order) are already hiding in the lockers. Now it's four against eight, since Joanie, even though she's hit at least two boys for trying to kiss her on previous episodes, doesn't defend herself.
About seventeen minutes in, Fonzie says that "an old friend happened to come and visit" him. Presumably Carmine and Fonzie (who knew each other pretty well by the time of the "bachelor party" episode of LAS) decided to hang out at Arnold's, where they heard about Joanie and the gang from Potsie and Ralph, but Carmine isn't going to enter from a locker, good Heavens, no.
Fonzie snaps his fingers and Carmine emerges from the bleachers, singing, this will shock you, "Rags to Riches"! He makes some gymnastic moves and Ralph's face is all of us.
Carmine warms up with more dance moves, but Fonzie just cracks his knuckles. Joanie tries to stop the fight but then walks out when no one backs down, and no one stops her, even though the point of the fight was supposedly to protect her.
Carmine uses Fonzie's fist like a punching bag, as if they've worked out together before. Richie is tired of Fonzie fighting his battles, so he insists that he, Ralph, and Potsie take on the gang. Fonzie has the gangleader pick out three members to fight, and he and Carmine are going to sit this one out. Which makes Mekka's cameo seem really pointless, but OK.
A comical three-on-three battle begins, with the Fonz and the Big Ragoo offering verbal encouragement, including Carmine telling Richie, "Go get 'em, Tiger!" They also, however, make asides to each other about the patheticness of the boys' fighting styles.
Eventually Richie has had enough and Fonzie suggests ending the fight, but the gangleader refuses and even calls the Fonz "Arthur." So Fonzie sasses back and then asks if Carmine is all warmed up. He musically replies, "They'll never go from rags to riches." And then the two old friends kick the gangleader and main sidekick in the face. They scare off the gang and then slap hands to celebrate.
Carmine isn't even mentioned in the remaining couple minutes of the episode, and this is another case of a shoehorned cameo, although I do like that it expands on the Fonzie & Carmine friendship. Mekka and Winkler have a good rapport together, and it's interesting to see what they're like without Laverne and Shirley around. Also, it's another chance for Carmine and Richie to interact together, admittedly briefly, after "Excuse Me, May I Cut In?" back in October. Note that this episode starts out on St. Patrick's Day, so presumably the double date to La Fondue was around then.
I am somewhere between Ralph and Fonzie whenever they have EM enter a scene dancing and singing. Again.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Fonzie does have that "What the hell are you doing, Ragusa?" look on his face, although he then acts charmed by Carmine. The faces in that pic are indeed an array of reactions.
DeleteWhen they use his talents well, it's great. When he enters a funeral spinning and cartwheeling, it's an oy vey!
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