Episode 314--"once a mermaid"

Story Ellen Simon Writer Ann Lewis Hamilton Director Ellen S. Pressman Air Dates

2/6/90, 7/10/90

Richard Gilliland as Jeffrey Milgrom; Felicity la Fortune as Valerie Milgrom; Erich Anderson as Billy Sidel

Ellyn runs into Jeffrey Milgrom again and they begin an affair.

Michael and Hope set up Ellyn with a nice friend of theirs, Billy Sidel. She reluctantly agrees, then promptly runs into Jeffrey Milgrom again. They half-heartedly fight their attraction for one another and Hope begins to vaguely suspect that something might be up since Ellyn is acting entirely too cheerful and covering something.

Ellyn goes out with Billy to an art film and they have a nice time, but she explains that she's started seeing someone and they just let it go. While waiting on a clandestine meeting with Jeffrey in the park, Ellyn runs into Gary, out for a bike ride, and the three just miss an awkward meeting. Gary does notice Jeffrey with Ellyn as he leaves and he innocently mentions this to Hope and Michael later. Ellyn and Jeffrey begin their affair in earnest, consumating just about everywhere imaginable.

While everyone is at Hope's for a dinner party, they play a game that involves naming off great pairs from history such as Romeo and Juliet. This leads Michael to blurt out Ellyn and Jeffrey, which lets the cat out of the bag. Ellyn leaves for the kitchen and Gary follows her to apologize while he and Melissa expound their philosophy of "it's your life, we can't judge you."

Ellyn and Hope talk upstairs and Hope makes a strong point for not having an affair, but wimps out some by the end. Eventually, Ellyn feels guilty and gives Jeffrey an ultimatum. He catches up with her later at the Y, where they first met in the swimming pool, and says he'll leave his wife for her.

Fashion

Erich Anderson, playing Billy Sidel, has a beard in this episode and looks much better for it, sort of like Raul Malo of the Mavericks.

Diana Bosworth notes that while Ellyn is waiting for Jeffrey to arrive in the "lasagna" scene, she puts black olives on all her fingertips. When Jeffrey comes to the door, she takes the olives off. Later, as he is leaving, she takes them off again!

Diana Bosworth has these thoughts on the overall development of Billy's plotline:

"Michael and Hope tell Ellyn that Billy is a graphic artist with a very expensive car and a golden retriever. No mention that he is a comic book illustrator specifically - which we find out later - nor does the dog ever turn up in future episodes. As for the car - I don't remember if Billy's car is ever identified, but he doesn't seem like the "very expensive car" type. In fact, I am assuming he owns the Olds Cutlass he and Ellyn take to Atlantic City in "never better," since Ellyn was driving a Honda Accord in "once a mermaid." (He doesn't seem like the Cutlass type, either, so maybe the Olds is the heaterless car he unloads on Madison in "advanced beginners"? Very confusing, this car business.)"

"It Must Be Love" is sung by Rickie Lee Jones (also written by Rickie Lee Jones).

Mary Welty-Havens has recalled this missing clip from the episode:

"I had the original episode on tape and remembered there is a small piece not shown in the re-run that was in the original which I had noticed missing when it was shown before.

When Ellyn is in her apartment waiting for Jeffrey to show up for dinner, and he comes and asks her to freeze the lasagna and leaves. Here the re-run cuts to commerical. In the original episode she turns and takes the pan of lasagna, in a symbolic gesture and throws it down the (I assume) garbage disposal in the sink. It may seem trivial, but it's always stuck in my mind, maybe because at the time this episode was aired originally, I really related to Ellyn.

Analysis

• Sorry, guys, had to write this one from memory, so it's a little short on details until the rerun rolls around.

• Diana Bosworth notes that "At the beginning of the show, Ellyn says to Hope, "Blind dates are terrible, they never work out." Didn't Hope and Michael meet on a blind date? Did the writers forget this (note that Hope does not mention it in response to the remark), or is Ellyn's line just an inside joke?"

• Well, no one knows, but it's pretty prophetic in a reverse kinda way!

• Markus Schmitz has this observation:

There is a scene where Ellyn and Melissa meet accidently Jeffrey and Valerie at an exposition [a photo exhibition]. This scene is very similar to the one in Manhattan by Woody Allen, where W. Allen and his 17 year old girl friend meet his friend (who is married) with his girlfriend (played by D.Keaton). OK, the relations between the four characters are different to the ones in thirtysomething, but the way the whole scene is filmed and the things they are talking about are quite the similar.
 

• Am I the only person somewhat disturbed by the fact that while there was something of a case against having an affair with a married man who has a child, the majority of the opinions being vocalized seemed to say that it whatever Ellyn wants is all right? (I say all of this with some reservations since the storyline plays itself out and at least some consequences are seen for actions.)

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