REWATCHING: TAKE MY WIFE, FOR EXAMPLE

[jpen]

Hey, y’all, let’s hop in the teenymobile and take this eppy for a spin! Once again, we have a plethora of Q's, thanks to graycav and rose!!

Q1: The Teenymobile in this episode is actually a Yugoslavian built Yugo GV, imported to the US for several years starting in 1985. It was notoriously unreliable and dangerous. It was joked that they put in the heated rear window to keep your hands warm while you pushed it.

What was the worst car YOU ever owned?

Q2: One of the themes of this episode centers around gift giving. We see Nathan Craft going all out in purchasing gifts for his girlfriend. Did anyone ever purchase an expensive gift or gifts in an attempt to gain your favor? Did it work? Did YOU ever try it on someone else? How did THAT work out? What did you think of David's reaction to Maddie's gift?

Q3: One common complaint about the Season 5 writing is that it is no longer true to David and Maddie’s characters. Overall, how do you feel this episode ranks in that department?

Q4: What, if any, significance do you find in Betty Russell’s heart attack/epiphany? (And Colleen Dewhurst just rocks, doesn’t she?)

Q5: David does not want to take a job “crowbarring relationships…day in, day out.” Maddie guesses this is because his own marriage ended badly, but it’s pretty obvious that she’s wrong. What do you think really bothers David about being on divorce detail?

Q6: As they watch Nathan and Jolene in the restaurant, Maddie and David dissect the other couple’s body language. How do you think their comments connect to the current state of their relationship?

Q7: What do you think is the tone of David and Maddie’s conversation in the mall? Are we being led to believe that there’s a chance they’ll get back together?

Q8: “Well, I would’ve given you one if you’d given me one.” ;D Discuss.

Q9: How do you feel about David’s “experiment” with the female Wobblies? Do you think this is “very David,” or not?

Q10. And finally…THE KISS: significant or just a tease? Pretend you are the Head Writer in charge of Continuity (HA! HA!). How would YOU start the next episode?

[graycav56]

Q1: The Teenymobile in this episode is actually a Yugoslavian built Yugo GV, imported to the US for several years starting in 1985. It was notoriously unreliable and dangerous. It was joked that they put in the heated rear window to keep your hands warm while you pushed it.

What was the worst car YOU ever owned?

Tough call, but it had to be my 1983 AMC Renault Alliance. I bought it for a thousand bucks with only 29,000 miles on it in 1985. That bargain price should have given me pause, but I needed a daily driver to counter my Corvette that I bought just to impress the girls. Plus driving a Vette in Center City Philly is a chore.

Well, that car spent more time in the shop than it ever did on the road. Slow, rubbery shifter, crappy air conditioning, rattles galore. The engine revved itself every time you pushed in the clutch…for emissions purposes they tell me.

One time it was parked at a bus station in Cincinnati. Thieves broke the window and tore up the dash to get the crappy radio. Then they tried to push it into the Ohio River. Unfortunately they didn’t get it in.

If you think that is bad…I bought ANOTHER one, for another grand. It wasn’t quite as bad.

Never had a Yugo though.

[lin212]

Mar 17, 2009 18:50:28 GMT -5 jpen said:

Q3: One common complaint about the Season 5 writing is that it is no longer true to David and Maddie’s characters. Overall, how do you feel this episode ranks in that department?

Thanks for the questions, kids. I just finished my "rewatch", so I guess I'll dive into the questions.

Overall, this episode doesn't do too badly compared to most of Season 5. We have some light banter at the beginning which is pretty true to form. Maddie is trying to guide David into being more responsible and David is deflecting her comments with his bawdy inuendo. They go at each other a bit, but it is much more gentle than in times past. In a way, I can imagine their relationship very much like this at this point since Maddie has put a halt to the intimacy they once shared. They seem to talk easily about their past and still have feelings for each other. There is a certain warmth between them that is believable, for me anyway.

[graycav56]

Q2: One of the themes of this episode centers around gift giving. We see Nathan Craft going all out in purchasing gifts for his girlfriend. Did anyone ever purchase an expensive gift or gifts in an attempt to gain your favor? Did it work? Did YOU ever try it on someone else? How did THAT work out? What did you think of David's reaction to Maddie's gift?

Guilty as charged. My first girlfriend, Andrea. Well anyway, she was MY girlfriend, but I wasn’t her boyfriend. Only child. Mom was an executive with Bell Telephone. Used to the finer things. I was the baby of a family of modest means. I went to the community pool, she went to Hawaii. I had a 10 year old Chevy, she had a brand new New Yorker. I scrimped and saved and purchased her a silver engraved bracelet.

It didn’t work. It was never going to work. It was at that point I realized that money doesn’t buy you love.

Although it CAN purchase one hell of a lot of like!

I thought Dave tried at first to hide his, well, disappointment, and he could have done a better job. Maddie was beaming when she gave him the keys and he should have returned the favor. We have ALL been given a less than perfect gift and sucked it up.

But then this was TV and they had to work this into the script.

[graycav56]

Q3: One common complaint about the Season 5 writing is that it is no longer true to David and Maddie’s characters. Overall, how do you feel this episode ranks in that department?

As with Lin, I thought they were relatively proper in this episode. They took two opposing sides of an issue and tried to convince the other to see it their way. Dave shows up late for work, as usual. They fight over money, again. The fights were a tad weak, without the intensity of some of their earlier battles, but at least it was joined.

[jpen]

Q1: The Teenymobile in this episode is actually a Yugoslavian built Yugo GV, imported to the US for several years starting in 1985. It was notoriously unreliable and dangerous. It was joked that they put in the heated rear window to keep your hands warm while you pushed it.
What was the worst car YOU ever owned?

The suckiest car I ever owned was definitely a Hyundai Excel. Great on the gas mileage, but the clutch was a sticky hassle and the road noise was, well, noisy (what can you expect from a tin can?).

My very first car was a classic...a '55 Buick Special, loaned to me by my mother's boyfriend (was he NUTS?). It was in cherry condition, and beautiful to look at, but a pain in the keister to drive, especially since I was 5-foot-3 and weighed about 90 pounds. (And that's no power steering, folks.) Not to mention that the gas tank swiftly depleted my meagre high-school student income. Ah, such is the callowness of youth...all I wanted was a zippy little Honda Civic, like all my friends were driving!

[sinceifell4u]

Gray, Gray, Gray, LOL~OMG, fabulous avatar, you are such and inspiration!

[lin212]

Mar 17, 2009 18:50:28 GMT -5 jpen said:

Q9: How do you feel about David’s “experiment” with the female Wobblies? Do you think this is “very David,” or not?

In the real world, David's experiment would have been quite outrageous. Btw, isn't this episode right after S&S, the whole harrassment thing? LOL Well, I guess we won't even get into the political correctness issue. In the ML world, however, David's experiment is not surprising. Maddie hit a sore spot when she criticized David's kissing technique...bruised his ego a bit. He couldn't let that go.

Anyone else want to volunteer to be a control subject ?? You don't have to answer this one, gray.

[graycav56]

Q4: What, if any, significance do you find in Betty Russell’s heart attack/epiphany? (And Colleen Dewhurst just rocks, doesn’t she?)

As I get older (note that I didn’t say OLD), I have seen this happen more than a few times. Buddies and acquaintances that have gone through some life changing event normally undertake some inventory of their life’s stock, to see if there are changes in order. Nobody, on their death bed, wishes they had worked just one more week. For many guys, this happens on your 40th birthday. I suppose Betty missed that by a tad.

[graycav56]

Q9: How do you feel about David’s “experiment” with the female Wobblies? Do you think this is “very David,” or not?

I thought it was quite clever actually. It was completely platonic and done in a very scientific way. He was only attempting, I suppose, to determine his smooching ability, to determine if he was a “hard kisser” as determined by a disinterested third party. Or fourth. Or even fifth. Perhaps he wanted to “improve” his technique, which was a valid by product as evidenced by Maddie in the final scene.

Interesting she would call HIM a hard kisser, especially after the way SHE inhaled him in Big Man on Mulberry Street among others. Talk about a Duo Directional Lipus Lockus!

[lin212]

Gray, I join with Since in saluting you AND your avatar! You and Maddie are looking mighty cozy these days!

[graycav56]

Thanks for the Avatar compliments folks! It was a quickie and I had some pixilation problems, but it gets the point across. Golly, if only I could get a REAL picture with Cyb, wouldn't THAT make a great avatar!

Q5: David does not want to take a job “crowbarring relationships…day in, day out.” Maddie guesses this is because his own marriage ended badly, but it’s pretty obvious that she’s wrong. What do you think really bothers David about being on divorce detail?

Boy, I didn’t get this at all. I though David admitted that was his beef with doing divorce work on retainer. I’ll have to rewatch that scene again.

[lin212]

Mar 17, 2009 18:50:28 GMT -5 jpen said:

Q7: What do you think is the tone of David and Maddie’s conversation in the mall? Are we being led to believe that there’s a chance they’ll get back together?

In a way, the tone of David and Maddie's conversation is sweet. They seem so comfortable with each other, discussing the case, relationships, dating, their past. They challenge each other and disagree, but it is without rancor...very matter-of-fact.

I don't get the feeling that they will get back together when watching this scene. Their relationship does seem to be in the past and they aren't emotional about it...almost detached. We don't see the hot tempers of yesteryear.

[manitobadesigner]

Q5: David does not want to take a job “crowbarring relationships…day in, day out.” Maddie guesses this is because his own marriage ended badly, but it’s pretty obvious that she’s wrong. What do you think really bothers David about being on divorce detail?

OK, I'm picking this one because it's one that I'm not sure of the answer, but I'll give it a shot!

I think that David knows it's going to be a long, drawn out post mortem on their relationship, and has just about had enough of that at this point. That would explain all the eye rolling he does in this one. When Maddie said that line about "Does this have something to do with your marriage going up in smoke?" My first reaction was, 'geez, what a strange assumption, David's never had issues with that before'. But I never stopped to analyze what it meant. Great Q!

[graycav56]

Q7: What do you think is the tone of David and Maddie’s conversation in the mall? Are we being led to believe that there’s a chance they’ll get back together?

I kind of liked it. It was a relaxed discussion that touched on many facets of their relationship, without being harsh or hurtful. I think this may have been the longest, most mature conversation they had in the entire series. Maybe it didn’t make for great TV, and if you tuned in to see the no holds barred banter back and forth you came out wanting, but if you want to see a scene that you have to play and replay tons of times to get the meaning….this is it partner.

I think there was always a chance at a reconciliation, until LE crushed it.