Episode 321--"arizona"

Writer Susan Shilliday Director Edward Zwick Air Date 4/17/90, 8/21/90 Guest Stars

Charlotte Stewart as Peggy York; Shirley Knight as Ruth Murdoch; George Coe as Ted Murdoch; J.D. Souther as John Dunaway

Hope and Michael go to Arizona to visit her parents on their 40th wedding anniversary

As Hope and Michael play to go to Arizona for Hope's parents' (Ruth and Ted) 40th wedding anniversary, Michael's schedule gets crazy and he has to delay his flight, saying that he'll come to join them later. Hope invites John Dunaway to stay in the house while he's in Philadelphia for a meeting and fusses over him a good bit as Michael is trying to get her out the door and to the airport.

Michael, Ellyn, Gary, and Susannah are at the loft for a dinner something and Ellyn comments that Michael seems to have come into his own with the promotion at D.A.A. Michael asks about Jeffrey and she seems happy despite the chaos. Ellyn asks why John is at the house and if Hope is still interested in him. Some good natured ribbing commences and Michael defends his wife, insisting that she's pregnant and as such no one could possibly be interested in her. When he gets home, Michael finds John reading poetry by the fire with Grendel and this pricks him into action, getting the first flight out to Arizona.

When Hope shows up, her mother begins making a fuss over her and being annoying and protective as usual. Michael shows up, unexpected, and proceeds to spend every minute on the phone with D.A.A. The next day at the golf course, Michael tries to politely sit out the social chit chat, but it gets progressively more annoying and harder to ignore.

That night Hope expresses her disatisfaction with how her mother treats her father, but Michael sees it just the opposite. This somehow digresses into Hope's wishing that Michael would be proud of her, and Michael responds by asking if she had an affair with John. Hope says no, but counters that at least John can see her as attractive, unlike Michael, and that she's upset with his "checked out" attitude as of late. The argument gets very ugly and cold very quickly, making reference to problems which have been simmering beneath the surface for a while.

Trying to work things out in the morning, they're interrupted by the Murdoch friends flitting through and being superficial. Michael and Ted go golfing and Ted begins a monologue on marriage which leads to the revelation that he once had a brief affair with a secretary at work when Hope was four. That night, Michael and Hope begin the discussion again, Hope accusing him of not knowing anything about her or what she does anymore. Michael attacks her parents marriage, but Hope defends it constantly.

The next day, Hope goes to watch her father golf. Later, Michael and Hope help Ruth get some things ready for the party while Michael acts sullen. Hope realizes that even though her father is very solicitous, he never helped out much around the place when she was younger. Janey pitches a fit while getting ready and while Hope is musing out loud, she wonders if parents ever have affairs--Michael is silent on the matter. While waiting for everyone to get ready, Hope and Michael catch a glimpse of Ted making a romantic overture to Ruth.

At the party, Hope and Michael go through a series of conflicting internal emotions while watching her parents make toasts and compliment each other. She leaves the room crying and Michael follows her outside where they fiercely avow their love and honesty to each other. Hope is called back to dance with her father and she goes, glancing back at Michael (who doesn't look "checked out" in the slightest).

• Hope and Michael met in 1984
• Hope has a sister named Mary Anne who is 4 years younger and unmarried
• The baby would be named Vanessa if it was a girl, Leo if a boy
• Hope is 7 months along (beats the heck out of me how she got to Arizona since I didn't think pregnant women could fly that late in the term)
• A  reference is made to LA Law. David Krell follows up by noting: "In an ep of LA Law when Anne is pregnant, Stuart says that she wanted to stay home instead of go out b/c thirtysomething had an episode about childbirth.  thirysomething returned the favor when Hope/Michael visitied Arizona for parents 40th anniversary and mother told Hope and Michael that LA Law's on."
• Ted and Ruth have known each other for 43 years
• Grendel appears
• Hope once dated Stuart Stern, the son of the family doctor

• Sara Stubbs notes that "In 'attack of the killer parents', Hope's father says that they have been married for 32 years, but as you may see they celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary only a few years later!

--"I can't believe your parents sleep in twin beds." --Michael

--"They've always had twin beds. My father jumps." --Hope

"In space, no one can hear you scream." --Michael at the golf brunch

"If God had wanted us to fly, he would not have invented time zones." --Michael, up with Janey at 4 A.M.

"I want somebody like you, only nicer." --Hope, crying hysterically, to Michael

• Very interesting. I have always found Hope's parents annoying to the gills, but I think that's the point. Still, some good points were made about superficial marriages that settle into a routine and what can happen when the spouses stop being honest with each other.
• The fights and problems between Hope and Michael seemed quite sudden and a little too bitter to work since they sorta came out of left field. If, like Nancy and Elliot, they had been prefaced through several episodes, it might've had more punch. As it was, it just seemed unsettling.

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