"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.
"Lonely at the Middle"
