1.14.: What Happened in Scranton

How to apply fertilizer

"There are three methods for applying...No, there are two. No, there are three."

"Well, what are they?"

"Well, one is a a rather primitive method of applying. It was used back in the early settlers days back in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and certain sections of the Delaware Water Gap. They called it shoveling."

"Shoveling?"

"Yes. They'd get a shovel with a big bag of fertilizer and just sort of shovel it around."

He never makes it to the other ones.

Ahh, things have picked up again. The first ten minutes are spent watching Oliver milk a cow, Alice laying eggs and Mr. Kimball ramble about fertilizer and The Chief. ("Like he said to me, 'Mildred', he said...") It's only when they hit Drucker's store that the main plot hits: there is no beauty parlor in Hooterville! And, the Ladies Every-Other-Wednesday-Afternoon Discussion Club convenes to set up the beauty parlor on the Cannonball!

Meanwhile, Oliver just wants to fertilize his wheat.

Lisa calls Mother ("Lisa darling, you're in new York! You escaped!") and Claude (also known to Mr. Haney as Clyde) is sent from the City to help the ladies. Why? Because of something that happened in Scranton... So, the ladies are done up beautiful with huge bouffants and spit curls and their men are very confused. They won't work with their hair done up! Oh comedy!

It's nice to get back to the way the shows were before the past couple episodes. When something is this early on, the slightest pattern can throw everything out of whack. Remember when the Munsters went from being slightly dark and macabre to just another sitcom about 10-13 episodes in? Well, luckily, GA doesn't drop down that road. The laughs are back. The goofiness is all around. The limited supporting cast is starting to run us in circles a bit. We are very slowly expanding out, however. With the next episode, luckily, things will open up rather nicely.

It's nice to have Mr. Kimball back. He's got a nice long scene where he rambles all over the place and accomplishes nothing. Arnold shows up briefly. Mrs. Ziffel gets her hair done up. Mr. Ziffel is confused by his wife's hair. Sam has a nice moment. Eb shows up in the opening. Everyone is here, almost, but they're not quite interconnecting properly yet. Soon...

A strange episode. It's got back on track but it sort of fades as it goes. Claude arrives and the hair gets done and the comedy sort of fades, apart from the great hairdos. Luckily, this is only a brief bump. And, we may be getting a break from Mother soon. That's something to be happy about.

Just some random bits:

Lisa's speech at the end takes an amorous twist , which can only double the population of the Valley.

"Mr. Ziffel, when was the last time you told your wife she was beautiful?"

"1929!"

I do love Lisa using "Scranton" on Oliver at the end to get him to do go out for dinner. It doesn't work, of course, but it's as cute as a kitten. And, Lisa's hair looks nice. And, the episode ends with them kissing and a cut to the exterior of the house...where the lights go out. Ummm...racy anyone?

This episode works better watched randomly than where it is in the run. But, it's still a good one.