Last
year I discussed when a movie will suddenly change tone, so abruptly
sometimes that it can be jaring. A light funny movie suddenly gets
serious, or the plot does a total 180 and the movie becomes something
else. Sitcoms can do this also, usually with “very special episodes”.
You think you’re watching a nice happy little story and then…wham!
You’re crying. Take the classic Growing Pains episode when we suddenly
discover Carol’s boyfriend died between transitions. It wasn’t the
happiest episode but that endings till comes out of left field and is
still hard to watch.
A lot of shows don’t waste time setting the mood of the episodes. You know what you’re in for. Others, catch you off guard. Here are five classic examples of a show that started funny and light but didn’t end that way.
Golden Girls, “Brother can you Spare That Jacket”
This episode starts out as a light farce. The girls win the lottery, but proceed to lose the ticket. The first half of the episode is the girls chasing after the ticket. They end up in a homeless shelter, and then things take a dark turn. The four get into conversations with different people and by the end of the episode they’ve all figured out that they have pretty good. And give the ticket to the shelter. The episode is better than I am making it sound and touches on some very important topics. It won the Emmy for writing that year.
Mr.Belvedere, “Grandma”
This series actually managed some very heavy episodes. Like the one where Wesley is touched bu a camp counselor. This one however, is haunting. While volunteering at a nursing home Wesley makes friends with a nice lady. Turns out she has Alzheimer’s disease. Now plenty of episode touch on this horrible disease, what makes this episode different? The ending. Usually shows gloss over the disease, not here. Wesley goes to visit his friend one more time, and she has no idea who he is or anything. It’s gut wrenching.
Full House, “The Last Dance”
I can’t find where I talked about this one but I’m pretty sure I have. Either way, here we go. This episode starts as a nice fun reunion between Jesse and his grandfather Papouli. We get some nice scenes with him and the family..before the transition to the next day when we discover that he passed away. What I like about this episode is how serious they take, for a Full House episode this one was mighty sad. And I always like how they had the transition tell the story of what happened before we even see the characters.
Benson, “No Sad Songs”
This is another classic and it’s much like the Full House one. Benson’s mother visits and she is a sweet old lady who the entire mansion loves. Then she suddenly, and I mean suddenly, dies while Benson is talking to her. The rest of the episode is as you’d expect but beatifically done especially the last monologue by Robert Guiilaume.
MASH, “Abyssinia, Henry”
Oh my friends, we HAVE to talk about this one! I’ve made it no secret that this wasn’t my favorite show but when they got it right, they really got it right. And one of the most shocking turn around in any episode came in “Abyssinia, Henry”. In this episode Henry Blake, played by McLean Stevenson, was being sent home. In the real world Stevenson left because he wanted to move on, fair enough. His final episode is a sweet send off as we see our hero say goodbye to his friends and in the end board a copter for home. Then came the next scene, which according to reports was a surprise to the cast. I think you all know what happened, but in case here is the clip since that does more justice than any description I can offer.
Scrubs, “My Lunch”
This was supposed to be five episodes but I decided to do one a little more recent. Ok not really anymore but here we are. Scrubs was a lot like MASH in that the show balanced out the silly with the somber. This episode was a little different. It starts with JD having a crisis and you’d never guess where it ends. Dr.Cox makes a mistake that ends up killing two patients. It looks like there’s going to be the classic Scrubs ending but then his beeper goes off. A third patient has died, one that had a good prognosis! And he flips out and walks away in a way which feels different than usual. And the song “How to Save a Life” is playing and while I loathe that song it really does work here.
Plenty other examples out there, comment and let me know if I missed one.
A lot of shows don’t waste time setting the mood of the episodes. You know what you’re in for. Others, catch you off guard. Here are five classic examples of a show that started funny and light but didn’t end that way.
Golden Girls, “Brother can you Spare That Jacket”
This episode starts out as a light farce. The girls win the lottery, but proceed to lose the ticket. The first half of the episode is the girls chasing after the ticket. They end up in a homeless shelter, and then things take a dark turn. The four get into conversations with different people and by the end of the episode they’ve all figured out that they have pretty good. And give the ticket to the shelter. The episode is better than I am making it sound and touches on some very important topics. It won the Emmy for writing that year.
Mr.Belvedere, “Grandma”
This series actually managed some very heavy episodes. Like the one where Wesley is touched bu a camp counselor. This one however, is haunting. While volunteering at a nursing home Wesley makes friends with a nice lady. Turns out she has Alzheimer’s disease. Now plenty of episode touch on this horrible disease, what makes this episode different? The ending. Usually shows gloss over the disease, not here. Wesley goes to visit his friend one more time, and she has no idea who he is or anything. It’s gut wrenching.
Full House, “The Last Dance”
I can’t find where I talked about this one but I’m pretty sure I have. Either way, here we go. This episode starts as a nice fun reunion between Jesse and his grandfather Papouli. We get some nice scenes with him and the family..before the transition to the next day when we discover that he passed away. What I like about this episode is how serious they take, for a Full House episode this one was mighty sad. And I always like how they had the transition tell the story of what happened before we even see the characters.
Benson, “No Sad Songs”
This is another classic and it’s much like the Full House one. Benson’s mother visits and she is a sweet old lady who the entire mansion loves. Then she suddenly, and I mean suddenly, dies while Benson is talking to her. The rest of the episode is as you’d expect but beatifically done especially the last monologue by Robert Guiilaume.
MASH, “Abyssinia, Henry”
Oh my friends, we HAVE to talk about this one! I’ve made it no secret that this wasn’t my favorite show but when they got it right, they really got it right. And one of the most shocking turn around in any episode came in “Abyssinia, Henry”. In this episode Henry Blake, played by McLean Stevenson, was being sent home. In the real world Stevenson left because he wanted to move on, fair enough. His final episode is a sweet send off as we see our hero say goodbye to his friends and in the end board a copter for home. Then came the next scene, which according to reports was a surprise to the cast. I think you all know what happened, but in case here is the clip since that does more justice than any description I can offer.
Scrubs, “My Lunch”
This was supposed to be five episodes but I decided to do one a little more recent. Ok not really anymore but here we are. Scrubs was a lot like MASH in that the show balanced out the silly with the somber. This episode was a little different. It starts with JD having a crisis and you’d never guess where it ends. Dr.Cox makes a mistake that ends up killing two patients. It looks like there’s going to be the classic Scrubs ending but then his beeper goes off. A third patient has died, one that had a good prognosis! And he flips out and walks away in a way which feels different than usual. And the song “How to Save a Life” is playing and while I loathe that song it really does work here.
Plenty other examples out there, comment and let me know if I missed one.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air had a few like that. The ones I'm thinking about it is when Will's dad visits him and the one where Will got mugged and shot at an ATM.
ReplyDeleteThe one with his dad is kinda sad from start to finish but that ATM one definitely counts!
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