"A Visit to the Cemetery"

"A Visit to the Cemetery"
November 14, 1978
A-

The best episode of the series so far (maybe ever) was written by Leschin & Duclon and it features just the core cast of seven, and although it is mostly about Laverne, everyone gets something to do.  In fact, Laverne is the last to enter in the first scene and we get a very silly-- and kinky!-- magic act, I think to lull us into expecting farce rather than dramedy, giving more impact when she comes in upset.

The Great Sguiggini and his "lovely" assistant Lenny are practicing a magic trick.  (Why?  I don't know.  Maybe there was going to be another talent show, or maybe they hoped to get rich quick.  Do we really need an excuse?)  Carmine and Shirley are playing along with it, because they seem quite content to be tied together by "the King of Bondage" and are smooching during the patter.  Squiggy throws his bedsheet over them and then Lenny reveals that Squiggy is now literally between Carmine and Shirley, and she's unknowingly kissing Squiggy.  I expected this to be Squiggy's plan all along, but he seems as surprised as anyone, although Shirley is of course revolted when she realizes. 

As Lenny tries to free them, Laverne comes in and then her father calls.  It's very slapsticky with the four friends clustered in the living room, yelling to Laverne and her dad, and we still don't know why Laverne is upset, but it seems to be related to her dad.  She tells Shirley to make the guys leave, and just her yelling, "Get out!" is enough to undo the knots.

Shirley drags Laverne down to the Pizza Bowl to make peace with her father, although we and Shirley still don't know what the issue is.  Edna has corralled Frank as well, and we see that the DeFazios are both stubborn.  They do make up, and we still don't know what the fight was about, and the viewer could assume that it's about Mr. DeFazio pressuring his daughter yet again about marriage.

Then it's revealed that he wants her to make the visit of the title.  Her mother's 50th birthday is coming up (so born in 1910?) and Laverne never goes to the cemetery.  She talks to Shirley about how hard it was growing up without a mother, learning all the "woman stuff," like how to shave her legs.  I vaguely remember this episode having an impact on me at age 10, like when Mindy would later talk about her mother on Mork & Mindy.  If you're a motherless girl (I lost mine when I was 3), you never do really get over it.  (Not that it doesn't affect boys, just not in the same way.)

Shirley tries her best to relate, and we know that she has a difficult relationship with both her parents.  But it takes Lenny to really understand what Laverne is going through.  His abusive mother abandoned him when he was 5 and he says he was angry at her for a long time, and maybe Laverne is angry at her mother, too.  Laverne slaps Lenny for this and then immediately feels remorse.  They talk some more and she says, "You know, Len, for a guy who keeps falling off the roof [mentioned but not seen earlier], you got some pretty good smarts."

He smiles when he sees her come over to kiss him, but winces in advance when she heads towards the cheek she slapped.  She sees this and chooses the other cheek.  He giggles at the affection and she tells him not to.  And then he stumbles out of the apartment, maybe because he's clumsy or maybe because he is always really affected when Laverne kisses him.  As with the "proposal" scene in Season Two, Marshall and McKean play this whole scene just right and it adds an extra layer to their characters and to the relationship. 

Laverne does go to the cemetery, where Frank is talking to "Josephine."  He hugs Laverne and tells her she's beautiful.  Then he gives her some privacy and she talks to her mother, with a cute interruption from Shirley, to provide comic relief and show how supportive Shirley is.  Laverne even makes the silly face that used to amuse her mother.

And in the tag, everyone abandons Squiggy in a trunk for free beer at the Pizza Bowl, because this is still a goofy sitcom.

"Shirley's Operation"

"Shirley's Operation"
December 6, 1977
B-

This David W. Duclon story has the cast in Alice in Wonderland costumes for most of the episode, costumes that we hear are borrowed from Squiggy's uncle's wax museum (mentioned in at least one previous episode).  The gang is rehearsing for a play when Shirley doubles over in pain and then passes out.  She's rushed to the hospital and it turns out she has to have her appendix removed.  She's scared of the operation, a contrast to earlier episodes where Laverne was the one who was scared.  (Of driving, of flying, maybe they're just travel fears, although she was fine on the ship.)

And speaking of ships, we get a bit of Shirmine-- Laverne jokes Shirley told her that Carmine (here dressed as the Caterpillar) was all hands-- but there's actually more of Squigley, although that's arguably platonic.  She actually turns to him for comfort, including an embrace, and he tells her that he's always thought of her as "the female Squiggy" (a line I vaguely recall from the time).

And there is definitely comforting going on with Lavenny.  When she thinks that Shirley has died, she automatically goes to him for a hug, and I don't think that it's just that he's standing right next to her.  Later, when she hears that Shirley is going to be all right, she and Lenny hold hands, until she gets self-conscious about it.  Of course, there's also Lenny still in his team-lust, offering himself and Squiggy as Shirley's potential sponge-bathers.  Season Three is kind of weird, and not just romantically.

Oh, and note that they're still dressing P. Marshall more sexily than in the first couple seasons, here with fishnet stockings that make her look like, as Carmine jokes, "the Mad Hooker."

"Oh Hear the Angels' Voices"

"Oh Hear the Angels' Voices"
December 21, 1976
C+

The gang puts on a Christmas show at a mental hospital, which is as odd as it sounds.  I might've gone with a B-, but I didn't feel like the acts were that memorable, even the McKean-and-Lander-penned "The Jolliest Fat Man" song.  Note that it's now a month until the Lucille & Carmine trip to Europe.

Garry Marshall makes another uncredited onscreen appearance as a Drummer, while David W. Duclon, who wrote this episode and others, plays Vincent Van Eagle.  And the one and only Howard Hesseman is Dr. Grayson, around the time he had a recurring role as Craig Plager on The Bob Newhart Show and almost two years before he became Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati.

"Look Before You Leap"

"Look Before You Leap"
November 16, 1976
B+

This is mostly set at the girls' apartment and doesn't have guest stars (not counting extras at the Pizza Bowl).  As such, it is a very interesting look at the interactions of what is now the core cast of seven.  But of course the episode is just as notable for its script, by David W. Duclon (his first of four) and Deborah Leschin (her second of six, after the quite good "Fakeout at the Stakeout"), being both daring and Family-Hour-friendly.*

We start with slapstick, as the dumbwaiter that we saw in a recent episode as being a sort of pipeline to Lenny & Squiggy's apartment (up on the fourth floor? maybe the intervening neighbors ignore it) is now being used by the guys to play Mine Shaft.  In fact, Mrs. Babish and Lenny have to rescue Squiggy from the shaft.  Then Carmine shows up and yells at Shirley because Rosie Greenbaum (not shown) told him that Shirley has an appointment with a "baby doctor."  She says it's on behalf of a friend of a friend of friend.  Carmine apologizes, but I think it's interesting that his first reaction is anger, rather than sympathy.  If she were in what we discover is Laverne's situation, he presumably would not try to help her, at least not initially.  Well, he might threaten to beat up someone but that's about it.

The audience has seen that Laverne isn't feeling well and it soon becomes clear who the appointment is really for.  Carmine apologizes to Shirley, but the other guys mostly find it amusing that Laverne might be pregnant.  However, this is their initial reaction and it will change.

Shirley confides in Mrs. Babish, partly through a flashback to a month ago, when Laverne was out all night and passed out in a vat, where she had a dream about a honeymoon with a cute guy she'd met that night.  Then it turns out she's wearing boxer shorts under her dress and over her full-slip.  It's not quite The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, but there are parallels, although there Trudy Kockenlocker is definitely knocked up by a passing stranger and writer-director Preston Sturges is doing everything he can to subvert World-War-II era censorship.  L & S leaves things more ambiguous.  We don't know even know if Laverne had sex, although maybe the doctor can tell her that.

Mrs. Babish is motherly here and in fact mentions that she has five kids.  Garrett plays the scene well, warm but sensible, sympathetic to Laverne's plight but also believing that it's best that Laverne tell her father before he "hears it on the streets."  Laverne understandably fears doing this, because her pop is an old-fashioned Italian.  Also, she's ashamed that this has happened (or might've happened), especially how.  But when they have their talk, he's also warm and supportive, while still taking a few moments to rant and rave.  (And he asks if the potential father is Italian.)  It's a sweet scene that gives Foster more to play than the easy comedy he's been given so far.

But it is of course McKean and his Lenny that show previously hidden depths in this episode.  After Squiggy literally drags Shirley out of the apartment— "Don't worry, he won't hurt her," Lenny tells Laverne— L & L have a talk.  Lenny is nervous at first and Laverne is already on edge because she has an appointment with the obstetrician in an hour and a half.  But Lenny eventually admits that he and Squiggy flipped a coin to see who is "going to volunteer to be her husband."  The scene is somehow played for both laughs and sentiment and it mostly works.  (The line "Plus, I'll practically never hit you or nothin' " is admittedly funny because it emphatically doesn't belong in a proposal, but that doesn't make it not disturbing.)  When Lenny explains that his last name of Kosnowski means, "Help there's a hog in my kitchen," Laverne's confused, nasal "That's nice," underlines the real emotions of these often cartoony characters.  The situation isn't funny but the way they handle it can't help but be funny.

And when Laverne, even under stress, can't help a wisecrack with "Awww, and you lost, huh?", she rubs his arm, so that she's mocking herself but also grateful to her friend.  And then he says, with utter sincerity, "No, I won."  And the studio audience just melts.  Who knew that Lenny wasn't just a wrist-biting weirdo?  (At the beginning of the last scene, he and Squiggy are ogling girls, and Lenny doesn't exactly act like he was ready to make a lifetime commitment to Laverne.)

He references his Lone Wolf jacket, and we again see that her L is on his back, but he acts like he's ready to settle down, promising to take the dispatcher's test and support her.  He concludes by saying he likes her and he'd like her to marry him.  He's already kneeling and he now puts his head on her knee, as if he's humbly asking her to do him a favor.  The studio audience is even more moved this time, not just letting out "awws" but clapping and whistling.  OK, it's an overhyped, mid-'70s, ABC sitcom audience, but still.

And Laverne, who couldn't figure out how to get the grease off her hand after stroking Lenny's hair on the "Hi, Neighbor" episode, rubs his back and sweetly calls him Len.  She has him sit beside her, where she "can see his face."  She calls him a "big dope," but gently, and she says she's "real flattered" by his proposal.  She strokes his shoulder but tells him she can't accept.  He looks genuinely disappointed.

She gets to her feet and explains why getting married because she might be "in trouble" (Shirley had used the word "pregnant" earlier) would be wrong, and the title makes sense, that Laverne could leap into marriage with Lenny but it wouldn't be right (at least at this time).  He stands up, too, but puts his hands in his pockets, understanding and accepting what she's saying.  She tells him he's a "great friend and a real sweet guy."  She hugs him and his hands struggle helplessly in his jacket, unable to hug her back, a sight gag that gives the audience the release of more laughter, while fitting the scene.

Both Marshall and McKean play the scene perfectly, hitting all these different tones.  At the time, I don't think there was a conscious Lavenny thread for the series (if there ever was), but this is probably the episode where such a ship becomes plausible.  Even if you think Laverne's feelings are platonic, her fondness comes through, and I think it's arguable that this is the episode where Lenny begins to be smitten, not just having a casual lust for his old friend.  And of course, it would not be the last time he'd propose to her.  Even if you don't ship Laverne & Lenny, you have to admit that this scene humanizes him in a way we haven't seen before.

When Shirley returns, she says that Squiggy told her and she thinks it's "the most beautiful, wonderful, adorable thing she's ever heard of in her whole life."  However, she is not a Lavenny shipper, so when Laverne pretends she accepted, just to get a laugh, Shirley thinks Laverne is crazy.

In the last scene, Laverne silently tells her father she's not pregnant, then she and Shirley whisper the good news to Lenny and Squiggy respectively.  Frank tells Edna, and they embrace, although I'm not clear if they're a couple yet.  (Remember, this is the first scene we see of them together.)  Shirley whispers to Carmine, who's got his regular gig singing at the Pizza Bowl.  He breaks into "Hallelujah," and Shirley, Squiggy, and Lenny join in.  Squiggy puts his hands on Shirley's shoulders from behind, and she doesn't push him away.  An embarrassed Laverne buries her face on Lenny's chest.  And the episode ends there, perhaps forever changing the game, or is this just a blip?  Stay tuned....



*In January 1975, The FCC established the Family Viewing Hour, which tried to move "sex and violence" out of the 8 to 9 p.m. block of television.  It was repealed on November 4, 1976, shortly before this episode aired, but wouldn't officially become null and void until the next season.  You'll notice that when Three's Company originally aired in the Spring of '77, it was at 9:30 on Thursdays.  Racier innuendo aired in the 9 to 10 p.m. block, while "wholesome" shows, like Garry Marshall's Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, had to be less direct.  A typical early Three's Company joke would be Jack telling Chrissy he's so depressed that he "can't even raise a smile" when he walks in on her showering.  That would be too out there for Laverne & Shirley, at least at this point.