Maude: “Doctor, Doctor”
The second episode of Maude, “Doctor, Doctor” starts out with an atheist joke: Notre Dame is playing Southern Methodist, and God is making it rain. Ha ha. I don’t get it.
The phone rings, and Maude seems super annoyed about it. It seems that everyone has been calling her and alerting her to the weather in the Caribbean. It’s Hurricane Maude.
Whoa, Mr. Drummond walks in. He’s Arthur on Maude, and he’s a doctor. And a neighbor. Must be before he adopts those inner city kids. Art is politically the polar opposite of Maude, so I hope to see lots of him in the future. But right now, he’s got to go, as his newfangled beeper rings. Ah, those early, heady days of the first pager.
Seems Art was goading Maude into disagreeing with him on Proposition 17. He tricked her as there is no prop 17. Jokes on you, Maude. But then, Carol discovers that her son, Philip, has been caught playing doctor out behind the garage with Art’s granddaughter. Naked doctor. Nice.
Of course, the moral majority-lovin’ Arthur is freaking out about the situation between his innocent naive granddaughter; and Maude, Carol, and even Walt defend the kids’ natural curiosity. Somehow the argument takes a detour to discuss homosexuality in the State Department in the early 1950’s and Burt Reynolds’ centerfold picture.
Wow…
Ooh, a political Maude. I like it. Is it freedom of expression or a decay of morality? Naturally, Maude takes the permissive liberal view, against Arthur’s “fit” of suppression. Carol refuses to punish Philip, but agrees to say something to him. Arthur is incensed and calls them all degenerates. Maude takes offense. Art takes off, threatening to never return.
Cut to a drunken Arthur and Walt in a bar, and it seems that it is week later. Art gets to make a joke about Maude’s manly voice, because that will never get old. The drunken, yet deep conversation turns to Art’s God-complex due to his job as a doctor. Lots of odd close-ups and I’m not sure what is going on, but it’s going on for a while. Art finally comes to the point, and admits that Maude’s right about him having a hang-up about sex. He’s from Vermont, and I guess that is explanation enough.
Not the dress, but lookin' hot all the same...
Back at the Findlay House, and Adrienne Barbeau is lookin’ hot in a short dress. Maude focuses on the length, and the girls start arguing over nothing. Maude’s just in a bad mood, and admits as such. Carol suggests Maude go “put on her face.” But Maude already did. I feel like this is just filler until that lush Walt walks in.
Walt has invited Art over, but Maude is holding a grudge. The topic of sexual hang-ups come up, and Carol says something about it being a generational thing. Maude and Art’s generation have hang-ups, but Carol’s gen are free and natural with no hang-ups. Sure, Carol, is that why you are seeing a shrink?
Then things start getting weird. Walt starts stripping, to underscore his liberal attitude about the human body. The audience is dying, and maybe an older man in his boxers was a really big deal in 1972, but I don’t really get why this is so freakin’ funny. But the trick worked and Maude has relaxed about the Arthur thing.
And cue Arthur. Maude is giving the audience a deadpan look as she and Carol are caught putting Walt’s pants back on. Of course, this situation leads to Art declaring, yet again, that they are all a bunch of degenerates.
The next morning. Maude is so mad at Walt, she hid his Alka-Seltzer. But she has tea or maybe it’s coffee ready for him. She starts lecturing him, and guess what? Walt has no recollection of what happened the night before.
But I am left wondering, what will happen between Maude and Arthur? Tune in to find out, I guess.
Maude, Bea Arthur, classic tv, sitcoms, 1970’s television
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