1.11: Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year

We meet Pig AKA Peggy. She is a very cute gal friend of Robbie's. She helps him fix his engine. (What is he fixing in that engine? How is he spending months replacing things in it? Well, I'm not a gearhead.) One day, she arrives at the garage dressed as a woman, rather than as a greasy guy. Robbie doesn't know how to take it and, interestingly enough, Peggy doesn't quite seem to know why she's doing it. But, it is the first stirrings of young love.

And, the episode is about the hilariously awkward Robbie trying to work through something that, as Steve tells him, a man must go through alone (like going to the dentist). In fact, Steve keeps trying to talk to Robbie about it but the boy clearly doesn't know what it is he's feeling. The conversations are awkward and stilted and, I'm pretty sure, Steve wouldn't be able to help. (Bub isn't much help either.)

Robbie shows off in front of her (and gets beaten up). Then, he takes her on a date (which seems to be going badly but, in the end, he's thrilled). There is so much glorious awkward here. Robbie has to reassess the fact that one of his absolute best pals, Pig, is now Peggy, and that he's attracted to her. (I do like when Steve mentions that Peggy is pretty. Robbie says "Yeah, for a girl." As oppose to whom Robbie? One of your football buddies? It's a natural reaction but, when actually looked at, it's an odd one.) I'm sure hoping that they don't let this plotline go. I'd like to see this evolve a little further.

I recognized a lot of this from my first loves. Although, I wasn't fifteen. I was more like 12. Well, it is 1960-ish. That awkward not-feeling-like-you-can-tell-anyone-when-really-you-can-tell anyone feeling. The strange thought that you know you have to do something but what? At least, Robbie has some support. I wandered into it by myself and screwed up a bit before I got anything right.

This is a very good episode. It feels like the first part of something, though. As I said, I hope they continue with this later.

One thing that confused me: We had the Thanksgiving episode a little while ago. But, they mention that "Spring has sprung" for Robbie in the autumn. Aren't we past autumn? Has a year passed between Johnny Squanto and Pig?