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Reviews
Leave It to Beaver: Beaver Runs Away (1958)
A very realistic episode
So often LITB is regarded as being an unrealistic portrayal of a "perfect" middle class family, with Ward and June being the "perfect" parents. People tend to overlook the fact that many episodes show Ward and June making the exact same mistakes all of us parents make. "Beaver Runs Away" is a perfect example.
Beaver and his friend Larry are fooling around in the garage with Ward's power tools, which Beaver knows are supposed to be off limits. Larry drills two holes in the wall of the garage and leaves Beaver to deal with the consequences by himself. Ward is understandably upset about the holes but quickly turns Beaver's disobeying him into Beaver not respecting HIM or HIS rules or HIS efforts to provide a nice home for the family. (Ward fails to mention the fact that if there had been electrical wiring inside the garage wall, Larry could have been seriously injured or worse.)
Beaver and Ward then engage in a battle of the wills with Beaver threatening to run away and Ward becoming even angrier that Beaver is threatening him. Ward decides not to attempt to stop Beaver from leaving and even politely holds the front door open for him to walk out. When June discovers what's going on she very upset and in a rare display of defiance against Ward gets the car out and goes looking for Beaver. After Beaver is located and brought home, Ward is forced to examine his own role in the standoff and realizes that his way of dealing with it was not in the best interests of anyone.
One of the things I especially liked about this episode was that it realistically showed the difficulty often involved in disciplining children, and how stressful it can be on the entire family. So often caring parents dig in their heels over a method of dealing with misbehavior that they know in their hearts is not going to work, but it's so important not to be seen as "giving in" to the child.
Frankly, I'd have been just as upset as June if my seven year old had run away after dark and my spouse was determined to let him come home on his own. June knew Ward was being unreasonable and somebody needed to be the adult in the room and take charge before the situation got worse.
Again, an excellent episode about the pitfalls involved in parenting, and there are many. :)
I Love Lucy: Ethel's Birthday (1954)
Actually, Ethel could have used a new coat...
This is my all time favorite "I Love Lucy" episode. Ethel enlists Lucy's help in reminding Fred that her birthday is coming up. Ethel tells Lucy that she'd rather have an awful present than no present at all and they both laugh at the gift Fred gave Ethel the previous year. It was "too long to be a stole and too short to be a volleyball net."
To Fred's credit, this year he asks Lucy to purchase Ethel's gift for him as Ethel never seems to like the presents he gives her. After laughing with Ethel earlier about Fred's lousy taste in gifts, Lucy ends up buying Ethel a garish pair of hostess pants, a completely useless gift for practically minded Ethel. She wanted a toaster. Now Lucy and Ethel have been good friends for over a decade. Shouldn't Lucy also have known by now what kind of present Ethel would appreciate?
The girls get into an argument after Ethel laughs about the pants and "the idiot" who talked Fred into buying them. But all is well as they make up with each other during the play they all attend that evening.
Just as an aside, earlier in the episode we learn that Ethel is always borrowing Lucy's coat to wear when she goes out on special occasions, as her own coat is "so tacky." Wouldn't a perfect gift for Ethel have been a new coat? I think so! 😊
M*A*S*H: Good-Bye Radar: Part 2 (1979)
I wish I'd skipped this one
I don't understand all the high ratings for this episode unless perhaps many diehard fans of the MASH series just couldn't bring themselves to give any episode a low rating? Completely understandable. I recently decided to watch this sitcom from beginning to end as I'd basically stopped watching it decades ago after the seventh season. I wish I'd skipped over this two parter where Radar O'Reilly goes home.
The character of Radar was like a different person! Gary Burghoff looked different, his voice sounded different, and he seemed angry throughout the entire episode. It was jarring, like they'd brought in a different actor in order to bring some closure to Radar's character. Again, I wish I'd skipped over this one but the ratings were so high. I appreciate fan loyalty but this episode is not good.