"Green Acres? You mean Yuk Manor."
Welcome Elinor and the old Hoyt-Clagwell tractor!
Once again, there's no real main plot here. Lisa goes back to NYC to work on packing up their furniture. Oliver stays at the farm and, with the help of Eb and a wonderfully temperamental tractor, begins to plan out the farm. In the first half of the episode, everyone keeps offering Oliver their condolences...Lisa has finally left him. As with the last episode, folks seem to know exactly what's happening at the Douglas farm. The episode shifts in the second half as Oliver's Mom (Why does she dislike her son so much? I don't think we ever learn.) convinces Lisa to have an architect lay out their land with a swimming pool, tennis courts, projection room, etc. Meanwhile, Oliver uses an old piece of wallpaper to sketch out the crops on their land.
It all sounds pretty sitcomy but the joy of Green Acres is the way it uses these ideas to its advantage. The "Lisa has left Oliver" plotline is used as a conversation-starter. The other folks in Hooterville really feel for Oliver but Oliver is confused by their misunderstanding and, frankly, more interested in working on getting his farm ready. He has everything ready; his plans are grandiose. They're waiting on the "County Agent". (More about him in a moment.)
The parallel sequence of the very different plans for the farm being laid out is nicely done. Oliver's mother is perfectly willing to spend all of her son's money to make the 160 acres into a country club. Lisa wants to soup the place up, too. And, after initial reticence, she dives right in. Meanwhile, Oliver and Eb are setting out Oliver's dream on that old piece of wallpaper. There is a moment when the plans intersect. Lisa plans a croquet field. Oliver wants to use the spot for sugar beets. Eb points out that "That's where Mr. Haney used to play croquet!" In the end, the new Hooterville Country Club on the Douglas land is nixed but the script doesn't really care about the outcome. Oliver says no and Lisa shrugs and carries on. Another sitcom would have stopped and had them have a real heart-to-heart but Jay & Dick are smarter than that.
We know that they know that Oliver will never allow his land to be turned into a country club. So, they have fun with the set-up and treat the resolution as a forgone conclusion. If this plot had taken up the episode, maybe we would have needed more. But, at this point, the show is so much like a serial that it really doesn't affect anything. Oliver says no and we carry on. As I said, they're using sitcom conventions and doing their own thing with it. There were plenty of lazy sitcoms out there. GA will rarely become lazy.
The actual thread that runs though the whole episode is the "County Agent". He will arrive and he will tell Oliver exactly what needs to be done to the land. I thought this magic man would show up in this episode but I guess it's the next one. I think hindsight (or foresight) makes this constant mentioning of the "County Agent" important. I don't know that anyone watching this for the first time would think anything of it. But, I know who the man is that they are waiting for...
Hank Kimball.
(Oliver seems to anticipate Mr. Kimball's arrival when he says to Lisa that they have the richest soil...he pauses...and says "maybe not the richest...")
Every step of the way there's something getting in the way of Oliver's dream. This episode has a lovely feel of "Oliver may get everything in place. This will work out." Well, Mr. Kimball hasn't shown up yet. When he does, the dream will get another piece knocked out of it.
We meet Elinor the cow in this episode. Mr. Haney pulls off some chicanery to get her into Oliver's life. She's a homing cow. She keeps returning to her home: the Douglas's barn. In the end, Oliver won't buy Elinor so Haney tricks Lisa into buying her. (They do throw in an old joke here: Lisa saying she wants the house to be nice for the three of them. Oliver's eyes light up. It's not a child she's talking about but Elinor. You know....I never really thought of Oliver as the type who wanted a child, nor Lisa the type who would have the patience to raise one.) Elinor will now moo her way through the rest of the series.
The Hoyt-Clagwell looks more inanimate but is very picky/ tricky. This is the tractor. The tractor that is constantly falling apart or refusing to run. But, this time it's not Mr. Douglas who is causing the problem. Eb says that Mr. Haney used to have the same troubles with it. The tractor isn't named here. It's just "the tractor". "The tractor" that will acquire a life of its own. And, its history is far more convoluted than the history of your average tractor. I think. I've never owned one but I imagine I'm right.
I can't forget Ben Miller. He's the man who has the farm adjacent to the Douglas's. He grows a lot of apples. He's a congenial older man who seems to farm his 140 acres all by himself. Well, I never see anyone else. His house is one of the ones in the opening credits. I kind of almost forgot him because he'll be very important later in the season and then he'll be gone. Just keep in mind: Ben Miller. Owns the farm next door. 140 acres. Apples.
To return to the overall feel of the episode, it's an incredibly charming & relaxed episode. It never goes too fast but never gets too slow. The scene always shifts before something can go on too long. And, Eb is slowly beginning to become the Eb we know and love. His moment on the train is 100% pure Eb. Probably the first moment like that. It bodes well for a character who will become gloriously odd as we move through the series. I will say that, at this point, the show could possibly use some more supporting characters. It's really Oliver, Lisa, Mother, Eb, Mr. Haney and brief appearances by folks from Petticoat Junction at this point.
Never fear. The supporting characters are coming and they will be great. At the moment, though, we have a very small main group of characters. I could see someone watching and wondering where the show will go from here. The farm and the house stuff can go on for ages but some more supporting characters seem to be a necessity to keep the comedy flowing. And, in fact, they are and Jay & Dick know it. They'll be loading us up soon. The whole foundation is being set and we will be commandeering Mr. Drucker and the Ziffels for ourselves shortly. Sorry, PJ.
That's really the only drawback to this episode. If the show is going to continue as strong as it has been, it needs to open up a bit and include some more people. It will, my friend, it will. But, at the same time, it will not lose the central pillars of Oliver and Lisa. Who, by the way, have just spent their first month on the farm. Five left.
The show is slowly constructing its world while continuing to throw in good gags. Sometimes all it takes for a TV show to be that much better than the ones around it is to have folks working on it that are honestly good at what they do. Some shows, like Leave It To Beaver, never quite seemed to figure that out. Green Acres gets it right at the start and doesn't let up. Thank Goodness.
In the next episode, the County Agent arrives. Stay tuned.
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