myfairdavid
2nd Level
"I hate you, David Addison." ~ Maddie "I know. I hate you, too, Maddie Hayes." ~ David
Posts: 473
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Post by myfairdavid on Feb 14, 2011 17:07:51 GMT -5
This is my favorite ML episode from ALL the seasons. So cute and funny. I love me some David Addison!
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Post by dedaved on Jun 25, 2012 23:29:41 GMT -5
Rating 9This episode IS Moonlighting! if you don't like this episode then move on to another show, nothing to see here. The opening sequence where David and Maddie concoct the "bet" is one of the best two hander scenes ever put in a TV show. This scene amazes me on so many levels. It's this complete, almost twelve to fourteen minute long, superbly crafted one-act play that serves as merely the set-up. There are plenty of wonderful epic office scenes that take full advantage of Moonlighting's fifty minute running time but this one stands out to me as the best. I loved it so much that back when I was studying acting I transcribed this scene (remember the DVDs didn't come with subtitles ) and presented it in class (the classmate i got to play Maddie is now a Moonlighting fan because of me). We did the ENITRE scene and rehearsed it for at least two weeks. While we were expected to find scenes from various sources to present for class this was purely for our own amusement! I even bought a ley and toilet paper roll! Anyway the case in this episode is terrific. Just the right amount of tongue in cheek as D+M make their way through the preposterous plot. I have to say this is episode also features Cybil looking especially gorgeous! She is just stunning in this one. My Fair David: The quintessential Moonlighting episode BUT one demerit for an especially poor music score. Not Clausen's finest hour.
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klr
1st Level
Posts: 3
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Post by klr on Dec 15, 2012 19:59:37 GMT -5
It actually is possible to like Moonlighting and not like this particular episode, "My Fair David", because I am a fan of this show, but I don't particularly like this episode.
There are many things within the episode that I like, but not the episode, as a whole.
Upon reflection (and, yes, I probably have spent way too much time thinking about this), I would say I divide the episode in two in this way: the comedy and the underlying premise.
There are comic bits in "My Fair David" that are really funny. Like when David isn't flustered by Maddie's fury and just nonchalantly assures the rest of the staff that they'll be able to have fun again later in the week. "Hang loose, kids. She gotta a hair appointment Thursday."
In addition to funny dialogue, there are hilarious moments of physical comedy, too, like when Maddie extends her hand to agree on their bet, saying, "Shake?" and David starts to shake, physically. (And, of course, BW's endearing little grin as David does so.)
A few minutes later, she's carrying on a normal conversation with David and he's cutting up behind her back. As soon as she turns around, he snaps back to "normal". I think that's really a classic piece of comic timing.
So, yes, all that is very funny. But, the underlying premise is not.
Maddie's initial point to David during their first argument about what a client walking in would think about the limbo scene was entirely correct, in my opinion, but was never addressed. As usual, David blew off her concerns.
I think this is one of the episodes that really highlights the different viewpoints Maddie and David have concerning the office and how to run Blue Moon. And, that would be perfectly fine if they were equal partners -- but they are not.
Bottom line: David doesn't have the right to blow off Maddie's concerns and do things any way he wants to. He's not the boss, she is, and this episode illustrates perfectly why he's not the boss and why he never could be. He doesn't want to do the hard stuff.
His tepid offer of an apology right before they made their bet was only to shut her up and stem the flow of her fury. He wasn't sorry at all and he didn't even try to see her point.
Truthfully, I think this was one (of many) passive-aggressive attempts on David's part to mark his turf. I say this because there would have been nothing wrong with taking everyone out to a bar after work and doing the limbo contest there. That's practically what after-hours bars were invented for! He knew all the time, on some level, that he was doing something he shouldn't do in the workplace. But, he still, even though Maddie is the boss, wanted to be "Top Cat" and have his own way.
If Cybill Shepherd said (as I believe I read here on this site, somewhere) that Maddie was often written like she was bipolar because her character went up and down and back and forth so much, I think the same is no less true of David. He's all over the place. A few episodes before, he showed real caring by getting Maddie money to save her house and wanting to spare her dignity when she confronted her cheating accountant. Then, he turns around in this episode and acts like a spoiled five year-old: walking away when she's talking to him, disregarding her authority, etc.
As watchers of the series know, the limbo incident gets mentioned a few more times in following episodes. I would go one step further. I think David's transformation during the bet may (subconsciously) have been on Maddie's mind when she gave in to her fears during season four.
What was Maddie's dread? That David would try to become the perfect husband and father and turn himself inside out doing it until he wound up like Pat Boone.
Now, by mid-season four, we in the audience know that David is sincerely changing because of Maddie and the baby. But, Maddie doesn't know that. True, if she'd stuck around to see the metamorphosis, she would have known -- and that part's her fault. But, going on past evidence, she had every reason to think David changing would result in disaster because she already witnessed a time when it did. That bet. David became un-Daved and she, he and everyone else became miserable. Naturally, she didn't want that to happen again.
Personally, I don't think this lets Maddie off the hook for her rash life decisions in season four, but in light of what she's experienced, I can understand where she's coming from, a little.
David showed her, during this episode, that he has to be all or nothing. And, if you look at the scene where they construct the bet, she doesn't actually ask him to turn into some dour, homourless, vest-wearing square. That was all David's idea and all on David. So, he kind of gave her reason, later on, to think he couldn't handle real maturity without his personality going out the window, too.
For me, this episode is a 5.
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