A pretty great episode that seems to stick to the pattern I mentioned in the last review. This one has less wackiness and more drama. It's pretty cool having no idea what exactly this show is supposed to be and where it is going.
The plot is simple. Mike and Robbie fight over the same girl. Steve intervenes and tries to get them to talk it out. But, Bub is right there the whole time insisting that Steve let the boys fight it out. It all comes to head at the breakfast table where the hostility shifts to the two grown-ups and Steve and Bub fight out back with switchblades drawn. No. Not really...They talk it out and it's handled nicely.
The episode begins as if is going to be about Mike, Robbie and Judy. Judy falls for Mike. However, through calm, almost clinical for a sitcom, plotting, a friend thinks she's referring to Robbie. Both boys wind up at the library. Judy goes with Mike. And, Robbie hides in the bushes until Mike gets home. As I watched the opening, I kept thinking "This is like Laurel & Hardy. We've had situations like this all over movies, TV & radio for twenty or more years. They know that and so do we. So, they've slowed it down and have made it very obvious but still quite charming. This is the definitive version of this storyline." Oddly enough, all this stuff with Judy is just set-up for the second half of the episode: Steve dealing with his sons and Bub and their tendency for violence.
In fact, Judy vanishes from the second half of the episode. The real point of the episode is in the scene when Mike and Robbie are sent to bed and Steve walks to their room and talks (or tries to talk) to them. He is trying to get his boys to make up. He is trying to get everything to calm down. But, the anger at bedtime is palpable. And, if you've grown up with brothers and sisters, you've probably gone to bed like that a few times But life goes on. The great part about all this is Fred MacMurray.
Bub thinks the boys should brawl and get it over with. Steve thinks fighting may be necessary at times but not here. But, Bub is consistently badgering him and Steve is having a hell of a time figuring out how he can get the boys to shed their animosity. Fred MacMurray brings a real feel of sadness to the scene at night. When he goes to bed knowing that Mike & Robbie hate each other at this moment, there is a real sense of "What can I do? How can I make them see?". It's quite nicely done. He's trying to raise his boys to be better men than Bub thinks they are.
I won't ruin the closing scene but Steve & Bub have it out and it's nicely done. When Steve puts his foot down, it doesn't just quiet the room but I gasped a bit, too. For one moment, in complete control, he asserts his authority. And, he proves to his boys that fighting isn't the first and best answer.
The music and sound effects in this one are great. A lot of goofy noises pepper the first half. Then, when Steve declares that breakfast is like the Cold War, military noises and sounds pepper the soundtrack. These culminate in Steve's brief outburst. Possibly the sounds and such are a little too obvious (especially after the smooth use of them throughout Countdown) but it shows that they were doing more than just writing generic "sitcom".
Robbie arrives with this episode. He is a confused, awkward kid entering those wacky teen years who is clearly jealous of his older brother. He drops his books, whines a lot and starts fighting at a moment's notice. Of course, he also feels completely misunderstood even though he's as transparent as your undershirt.
Mike is nicely oblivious of the fact that his brother gets jealous at the drop of a hat. He drives around in his car, charms the gals and bursts into violence when provoked. Only Chip gets through this without much trouble because he doesn't do anything.
Bub spends the whole time spouting advice about how the boys should just fight it out and how Steve is being wishy-washy. The fact that Bub cannot see at all what his son-in-law is trying to do either shows that things were incredibly different when Bub was a parent or Bub's a bit of a jerk. The jury is still out.
Another good episode. So far, the show is almost an anti-sitcom sitcom. When the humor is pushed, there is usually something else going on. When the drama is pushed, the humor is usually people trying to defuse awkward situations. What will things be like 200 episodes in the future, I wonder?
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