"Thelma's Brief Encounter" finds JJ in gumshoe mode, anxious to learn more about Thelma's lunchtime paramour, who always manages to give him the slip. Michael wonders how his sister could fall in love over a hamburger - JJ: "in the words of that great poet Rodney Allen Rippy, happiness is a warm bun!" The voice of experience, Willona concludes that Lloyd Williams (James A. Watson Jr.) is a married man, which gets Thelma to consider the facts, such as never seeing him at night and being told that he has no phone number. She makes a dinner invitation difficult for Lloyd to avoid, but JJ finally learns where he goes at night, serving out a prison term for bigamy! Not so veiled references to his jailbird record ends with JJ's pronouncement that Lloyd is a bigamist: "married to two women at the same time, and if you marry him that'll make him a trigamist!"
2 Reviews
Thelma cries. So does Bern Nadette
gregorycanfield1 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I used to watch Good Times religiously. Recently, I've gotten away from the show. I just watched this episode, and was reminded of why I liked the show in the first place. J J is suspicious of Thelma's new boyfriend, since she sees him only during the day and knows little about him. The guy turns out to be a bigamist, and J J is not sure how to tell Thelma. When he finally does tell her, some strong emotions come out. Not wanting to believe it, she tells J J that she hates him. Absolutely the opposite of how she really felt about JJ. She apologizes, and winds up crying on JJ's shoulder. We actually see tears. JJ and Thelma constantly argued and insulted each other. They also loved the living hell out of each other. The Thelma character was interesting. Sometimes, she looked good. Other times, not so much. In this episode, she looked nice. Good episode. I'll have to get back into Good Times.
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