Post by bertviola on Nov 1, 2018 16:57:34 GMT -5
I tend to avoid watching in their entirety any episodes that came after the third season (aside from MHGM, which is wonderful). But I hadn't seen FETAL ATTRACTION in ANY way, shape, or form for years. So today I fired up the old DVD player and landed in Century City at the beginning of this episode. I dove in remembering only vaguely that Terri was introduced and Maddie did not have much air time. Much to my surprise, it wasn't at all awful. The writers and director apparently reclaimed the tone of the show and of David and Maddie which got hijacked somewhere over ATTTM. And the early scenes between Herbert Viola and "Mr. Addison"? Funny, funny stuff. VIVA CURTIS ARMSTRONG -- who has his Emmy?
I don't have an issue with David's character arc in this episode insofar as preparing for fatherhood is concerned. He HAD to take a firm, forward step toward growing up. If not after his heart-to-heart with Mr Hayes, then when? I like that David seems to want to convey that he finally ran into something bigger than himself or Maddie and that ironically it is the sum of both their parts (if it is his part -- sigh -- b/c OF COURSE THE BABY'S HIS).
What did trouble me about David in this episode is a) how readily he questions his paternity of the child and, b) how easily he imparts his ambiguity to a virtual stranger. This is a very, very, very intimate disclosure about the love of his life and it is difficult to believe David, who holds his emotional cards so close to the vest he chances forfeiting the game, would divulge it so quickly to Terri. Maybe it is easier to share secrets with someone you perceive as a passing acquaintance but the delivery room ain't a stool in a bar or, Maddie and Walter Bishop notwithstanding, a seat on a train. Didn't like it. Was actually a little offended by it. I'm not implying David shouldn't have told Terri EVER, but earn the moment. If you don't earn it, nobody will buy it. At least not me.
No sooner had Points a) and b) semi-resolved when Point c) hit: Terri showed up at David's apartment at 4:30 in the morning to declare her feelings for him -- what, Terri, was 8:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. too logical or too convenient? I had not remembered that plot point at all! And it infuriated me. I know. These are not real people. Or real situations. I still found myself yelling at the TV -- DAVID LOVES MADDIE. GET OFF THEIR BED AND LEAVE HIM ALONE. Maybe I should seek help for that. Anyway, I am, as they say in the movies, shocked and appalled such a crucial part of Terri's character wasn't seared solid in my mind because it is not a small deal. Neither is David's response to it. Which I also hadn't remembered. He has feelings for her too?!! Okay, Maddie took off like a petulant teenager and has been MIA for about four months. So David, being David (and like plenty of other jilted lovers in the world) slept with Some Other Fill-In-The-Blank to salve his hurt feelings and salvage his ego. I get that. But FEELINGS? That he ADMITS having about Terri, TO Terri, practically tout de suite? This, when after three years of "is you is or is you ain't" he couldn't say "Maddie, I love you, Maddie" without the Ronettes singing over him? It is absolutely maddening. No, it doesn't rise to the level of Walter Bishop or Annie (what does?) but it took the wind out of me. And it is just so casually slipped in. Seems almost sweet. Until you come to your senses and get hopping mad. Then I started to think maybe it wasn't all that innocent or guileless. That maybe the scene was the writers' sly way of saying Maddie isn't so off-the-hook regarding her reservations about David. That maybe she does know him in some ways better than he knows himself (the inverse is IMHO certainly true). Maybe. In any event, it did not martyr David to me, nor did it endear him. It made me want to shake him while shouting "You falling fast for somebody else is the fear Maddie's afraid of. This is (partly) why she ran away!".
Maddie. She seemed almost sane again in this episode. It didn't hurt that Cybill looked very pretty and well-rested. I agree with the prior posting though about Maddie being inconsiderate and childish in her abrupt comings and goings. But at least she sounded like the Maddie of old in FA and took some responsibility for her dilemma/behavior. The speech made to her parents was great and all could have been forgiven...
...If only she hadn't walked back into Blue Moon with a ludicrous excuse for a Lothario on her arm. We have GGC to thank for that.
But that's another story.
The episode was funny, provocative, stirring, but most of all it is the catalyst for getting Miss Hayes HOME. And, okay, okay, David and Terri shared some undeniable chemistry -- not easy to pull off considering the Maddie factor. I rate it an 8.
I never understood, why most people seemed to dislike or even hate Curtis Armstrong as Bert. I think he's one of the nicest guys out there in Holly-Weird(from what I've seen from the way he talks to fans and such), he seems like a really nice, down to earth kind of guy. I mostly knew him through American Dad and when I first watched Moonlighting, I thought "Oh my god, that's Snot!". I always LOVED his scenes with Bruce and thought he really salvages a lot of the show during season 3-5. Agnes and him mirror Maddie and Dave(although they have the happy ending Maddie and Dave never get) and his loyalty to both Agnes and Dave are always quite touching. Not to mention that he's really, really funny:). To me, he just made Moonlighting better, not weaker.
As for Terri and Dave, I think I've to disagree. I don't think Dave meant he "falls" for her. It seems very natural that if you're doing such an intimate thing together as Lamaze class(think of the whole "tension" game) that you pretty much have to develop some feeling of care for someone else. I think that's what Dave is talking about. He admits to her that he isn't always sure about Maddie(who could blame him, he actually was right not to be sure in hindsight) and here's a woman who's so different from Maddie. She actually seems to know what she wants(unlike Maddie), but then comes to him and TALKS to him HONESTLY that she doesn't. Now that's so NOT Maddie! No one could blame him if he reached out to a person like that. But of course he doesn't. I think he does care about Terri, he might even "love" her in a kind of way. Not because he is romantically in love with her. But she's someone who makes things so much easier on him than Maddie does in season 4 and I think it's just normal that he'd develop some kind of feeling or emotional attachment to her. Such a shame that she was never really in the show again after that. It might have been great to see how Maddie is married to Walter(whom she doesn't love) and Dave dates Terri(who he might not love either, but it might show Maddie the mistakes she made). I gave this episode an 8(and my highest rating was a 9 for only one episode, Tale of Two cities).