Episode 121--"born to be mild"

Writer Jerry Stahl Director Ron Lagormarsino Air Dates 5/10/88, 8/23/88 Guest Stars

Robert Crow as Dr. Butler; Robin Leach as himself

Synopsis

Hope and Michael go away for the weekend, leaving Janey behind and Ellyn and Woodman in charge of the house.

Summary

As Hope and Michael prepare to go on their first weekend away together since Janey was born, Hope has trouble letting go and believing that Nancy can take care of Janey while they are gone. In the car, she refuses to give the keys to Michael and has a waking nightmare of Robin Leach awarding her the Worst Parent of 1988 Award.

Ellyn and Woodman stay at the house while they're gone (an obvious test run of the "living together" concept) and end up snooping through stuff and finding lots of interesting things, such as horrible love poetry Michael wrote in 1982 and pictures he and Hope took of each other nude, eating granola (it's in the script, I'm not making this up). Unfortunately, Nancy gets extremely sick and has to dump Janey back with Ellyn and Woodman.

At the shore, Hope sits around moping for a while, but it doesn't take much for her to remember how nice it was to be alone with Michael and without a baby. Back at the ranch, Ellyn and Woodman do the domestic thing and take care of Janey who promptly develops an inexplicable rash which sends them into a tailspin. They take Janey to the hospital and call Hope from there, which naturally sends her into a corresponding tailspin. It turned out Ellyn had just washed Janey in dishsoap, so Gary and Melissa come over to help entertain until Janey throws up on Gary's favorite sweater. Woodman and Ellyn proceed to discuss domestic matters in a roundabout way as he cooks an elaborate meal for her even after she accidentally threw away a main ingredient. Ellyn is so tired by bedtime she doesn't even want to have sex.

Hope and Michael continue having a great time at the beach and have more than enough sex for everyone. Woodman goes out for a bike ride and runs into Gary while Ellyn and Melissa kvetch about men while watching a nature documentary. Hope and Michael lose all track of time and have to dash to make checkout, and end up bursting in on Ellyn and Woodman who had just decided to live together and were on the verge of cementing the deal in Hope and Michael's bed.

Notes

Michael used to ride a motorcycle and has lots of leather hidden in the closet.

Hope's parents made the down payment on the house.

Michael knew he loved Hope after some strange pizza incident years ago

Opener clips of Ellyn holding Janey, and Hope and Michael at the shore.

Fashion

Gary and Woodman looked ridiculous riding bikes in spandex. Yes, Ellyn's hair is definitely looking much better though she wore incredibly tacky shiny blue running shorts slit up the side.

Music

Michael belts out a few lines from "Born to be Wild", Steppenwolf's great hit by M. Bonfire.

Dream Sequence

As they're about to leave for the beach, Hope fantasizes about receiving the Worst Parent of 1988 award from Robin Leach (who's sitting in the back seat).

Quotes

"AAA said this was a classic Victorian place, but who would've thought Queen Victoria was a Magic Fingers kinda gal?" --Michael

"Well, my mother washed me with dish soap . Hope, that's not true. My skin was fine until junior high." --Ellyn to Hope, on the phone

"I do have a first name, you know." --(Steve) Woodman

"How can you trust someone who doesn't binge on M&Ms?" --Melissa on the utter dearth of chocolate in Hope's pantry

"Hoo, little guilt, little guilt. Were you born into some secret sect of Jewish Presbyterianism?" --Michael to Hope

"I think I'm missing the relationship chromosome." --Gary

Analysis

• Ken Olin has significantly bulked out in the upper body since the beginning of the season--was this recommended to help support his image as the leading man of the series or just a nice by product of a good catering crew?

• How is it that I can 1) dislike the Ellyn character more than any other, yet 2) appreciate what a good job Polly Draper does of playing that character, and 3) realize (sadly) just how many Ellyns there are out there.

• Hope actually came across quite nicely as a mother going through separation anxiety that was not alleviated at all by her friends' bumbling efforts to help

• Overall, I would have to say that I didn't get very much out of this episode, possibly because I've never been in a domestic partnership situation like those being debated in the episode. Not to overreach, but it's possible that we are being shown both sides of the same coin--1) Hope and Michael are domestic to the gills and have to get away to recapture their more romantic past, and 2) Ellyn and Woodman have to go somewhere else to discover their domestic side, even at the expense of sex and romance.

To return to the Season One index

To return to the Bedford Falls index