Project Rewatch: Season 2 Disc 1 Episodes 36-38
I had forgotten how weird the Rainbow Room sequences are. For the most part, Mike is fingersynching with a look of intense concentration, and everyone else is goofing the heck off. (There are exceptions, but that's the general rule.)
Onward
Season 2 Disc 1 Episode 36: Monkee Mayor
Synopsis: Several of the Monkees' neighbors from down the street arrive to take back things the boys have borrowed because they've been evicted from their homes; the city plans to put in a parking lot there. Mike, after determining that this violates the zoning ordinances, goes to City Hall to complain, and is given the runaround before getting a pep talk from the Mayor. We find that the Mayor is being bankrolled by a corrupt builder named Zeckenbush, whose plan is to surround the city with parking lots such that no one can enter or leave without putting toll money in their pockets. While temporarily letting their neighbors camp in their living room, the Monkees decide that the only way to stop the mayor is to run against him, and that Mike is the proper candidate, with Micky as the campaign manager. They campaign during a romp, and are beaten or otherwise harassed by several people paid off by Zeckenbush; when they arrive home, they find the place ransacked by the Mayor's goons. The guys go back to City Hall and sneak into the Mayor's office, where they find a literal skeleton in the closet. Taking its skeleton key, they open the files and find Zeckenbush's plan; they try to get a photo, but are interrupted by the arrival of the Mayor and Zeckenbush. They sneak out without their camera, and find that the film Peter took from the camera shows only the filing cabinet, not the plan. Zeckenbush doesn't know that, so he decides to snare Mike by sending him campaign money via intermediaries. The boys go an a media blitz, but Zeckenbush reveals that he owns them now just before Mike goes on the air with a campaign speech. Mike explains his motives to the viewers, admits to being tricked via the money machine, and withdraws from the race, but the Mayor runs onto the soundstage and declares that he's abandoning Zeckenbush's plan, leaving everyone jumping for joy. The boys go home and clear out their neighbors, only to have a wrecking ball mistakenly fall through their own ceiling. [Unrelated "Pleasant Valley Sunday" video follows.]
The gag of someone (in this case the Mayor) being unable to pronounce 'Nesmith' is reused in the Mayor's introduction - but then the Mayor calls him by his right name in the TV studio sequence, and Mike returns one of the incorrect names!
Micky incorrectly states when the cleaning lady comes and when the elections are held; either these are a continuity error and a factual error by the writing staff, or Micky says "Thursday" when he means "Tuesday" twice in the same episode.
Monty Landis, who I should have mentioned played the king in Episode 35, makes his first appearance here as a villain. He will be the episode villain a total of six times this season, the most famous of which is his role as Mr. Zero in "The Devil And Peter Tork." It may be amusing to see if I can interpret all of his roles, or at least all six turns as the episode villain, as actually all being Mr. Zero or at least one of his puppets.
Like most Mike episodes, this one is a little moralistic, especially in Mike's TV speech, but it comes across as earnest. Mike and Micky get lots of screen time on this one; Davy gets very little.
The Pad's neighbors who appear in this episode are Mr. Swezey, Mrs. Homer, and Mrs. Filchok.
At one point, the Monkees are hiding in the Mayor's office closet. Mike, Davy, and Peter are crouched in the corner behind the coats; Micky has replaced the skeleton! I'm not sure if this is a skinny joke or not; if so, it may be setting up the next episode.
Overall, a solid episode; the plot is linear as algebra, but the goofy bits are well-played and nothing drags.
Season 2 Disc 1 Episode 37: Art, For Monkee's Sake
We are introduced to Peter's artistic skills as he is reproducing the back wall of the Pad on a large board. Micky mistakes the board for the back wall and walks right into it, prompting the others to suggest Peter practice at an art museum. He agrees, and the same gag plays out with a museum door and a guard; a second guard stops the first from throwing Peter out and insists that he could be useful for their plan. (I don't think the guards'/thieves' names are ever given in the episode, but the end credits call them Chuche and Duce, respectively.) Duce convinces Peter to copy another painting, which he does, except that he gives it Mike's hat; Duce insists that he change it. Meanwhile, the other three are having breakfast with Mr. Schneider in Pete's nightshirt; they finally admit Peter's probably in trouble, so they head to the museum to rescue him. The two thieves tie and gag Peter in the basement, telling him he needs to suffer for his art. After splitting up, the other three Monkees search the museum studios; Micky gets accosted by an artist experimenting with painting with his fingers and toes, while Mike watches guest artist Liberace demolish a piano with a golden hammer. Eventually, they make their way to the basement and untie Peter, who reveals that the guards have gone to switch the paintings. The curator refuses to believe them, and sets off the security system to demonstrate how safe the painting is. The guys decide to sneak in as cat burglars to replace the original painting, climbing down from the skylight via rope ladder. They're discovered (after one false alarm by Chuche) by Duce, which prompts a romp. Eventually, both paintings, all four Monkees, and both thieves end up trapped by the security system, and they're discovered the next morning by the curator. Afterwards, Peter gives up painting for woodworking, resulting in Micky taking yet another pratfall when a chair falls apart. [Standalone "Daydream Believer" follows, with a stinger of Liberace demolishing the piano again.]
This is one of my favorite episodes that doesn't involve any SF/fantasy/magical realism elements. That may be because Peter gets tied up again. (After I've finished the rewatch, I may have to do a post on Peter-as-Damsel-In-Distress.) Or because the cat burglar sequence involves seeing the guys in skintight outfits (and, in the sequences with the rope ladder, outfits that fail to cover heir stomachs). There really isn't much character development, but the four Monkees each get some good lines and some decent visual/physical comedy.
There's a repeated gag across several episodes where Mike falls over after he's been "frozen" for a while, which happens here when he imitates a statue. After learning that Nesmith was apparently dealing with back problems in Real Life at the time, this has become slightly less funny to me.
The cat burglar sequence is introduced by Mike in a voiceover sequence that names our heroes as the Manchester Marauder, the Connecticut Counterspy, the (Modest but) Towering Texan, and the Los Angeles Leopard. We already knew that character!Micky was from Burbank, character!Mike from Texas, and character!Davy from England, but I think this is the first time we get confirmation that character!Davy is specifically from Manchester and that character!Peter also shares his actor's origins.
Micky takes the "cat burglar" moniker a bit too much to heart; he mews and makes clawing motions throughout the next scene. He also seems to be enjoying the black leather gloves a bit much, IYKWIM. (Between the black leather gloves, Peter getting bound and gagged, and everyone ending up in a pile in a cage at the end of the episode, there's a fair amount of Fetish Fuel lying around this episode.)
Speaking of fanfic fuel goodness, there's a moment in the romp where Micky and Mike waltz with each other, and several moments where Davy, Micky, and Mike are so in synch they deliver lines in unison (usually mild insults to Peter, but still - and he's not there for most of them).
The fingerpainting artist grabs Micky's shirt when he thinks he's insulted him, then tries to charge him for the inadvertent painting. Micky then encounters the same painter during the romp, who tries to rip the shirt off of him. And in the tag where Peter takes up woodworking, Micky has just finished framing and hanging the shirt! (Micky does a lot of general gurning throughout the episode, but a big chunk of it is in his two encounters with the artist.)
In the same tag, Mike is vocally deconstructing "Papa Gene's Blues" until Micky trips over him.
I don't really have anything to say about the Liberace cameo except that (a) it's funny as hell, and (b) Mike's doing a lot of "perfectly good piano" reaction in the background.
Season 2 Disc 1 Episode 38: I Was A 99-Lb. Weakling
Synopsis: Micky is lounging on the beach with his gum-chewing proto-Valley-Girl girlfriend, Brenda, when a bodybuilder (credited as Bulk, although I don't think we ever learn his name in the episode) shows up and kicks sand on him. After tossing Micky around a bit, Bulk gives him the heave-ho, where he is given a business card by a gym guru who goes by Shah-Ku. When he can't tear the card, Micky agrees to try the gym, where Shah-Ku sets him several impossible physical tests and tries to charge him $150 for membership, an amount Micky can get only by pawning his drums. Davy and Peter try to set up an exercise regimen that Micky can do for free instead, but this fails to impress Brenda. Davy and Peter then attempt to get rid of Bulk using underhanded tactics, including dressing as a doctor and rolling a lead volleyball at him; they finally hand him a kite string attached to a blimp. Micky puts on football pads under a padded jacket and tries to impress Brenda with his new physique, but once again Bulk shows up and tosses him over the next dune at Shah-Ku's feet. Micky adopts Shah-Ku's diet program, which involves fasting for two days, then living on a diet of fermented goat milk curds and mountain moss au gratin, which freaks out Davy and Peter. Shah-Ku arrives, insults the Pad and Davy, the spirits Micky away; Peter arrives, having snuck off to the hot dog stand to get something to eat - and reveals that Shah-Ku was just there before him. Davy and Peter sneak off to the gym to denounce Shah-Ku as a fraud. Micky recognizes them and tries to signal them to leave as they present fake testimonials. Davy elbows Shah-Ku and he falls over, prompting Bulk to come in from the back room to see if he needs help, which in turn prompts Micky to realize he's been set up, prompting a romp in which Davy, Micky, and Peter turn into the Monkeemen to defeat Shah-Ku's musclemen. The next day, on the beach, a nerd reading Proust accidentally kicks sand on Micky and Brenda leaves with him, declaring that she loves a man with a mind and leaving Micky gabbling incoherently. [Standalone "Love Is Only Sleeping" video follows.]
This is the second Micky-centric episode, and once again the team is short a man, this time Mike. His absence is not explained in the story, although he appears in a couple of clips in the romp (and of course the end video). There are several times Davy or Peter says "I wish Mike were here" (and, after the green goat cheese, one "I'm so glad Mike isn't here") to lampshade it, though. Possibly he's visiting relatives in Texas?
The absence of Mike puts Peter in the parental/nurturing role for the episode, and it works surprisingly well, possibly because Peter's actually the oldest. At one point, Peter declares that he's going to call Shah-Ku, and rather than searching for the phone, he just summons it in a rather more blunt than usual moment of Monkee Movie Magic.
Micky gets to gurn a lot in this episode, and has enough pratfalls in his beach scenes with Bulk that I stopped counting at ten. The whole episode depends on his physical comedy skills and his ability to show genuine vulnerability, and he delivers. His rapid-fire verbal flip-out in the end tag is especially nice (and includes the sequence, "She wants a mind? I have a mind! No, I don't, I lost it . . . ").
At one point in the romp, having failed to punch out one of the musclemen, Davy (in Monkeeman costume) opens a can of spinach and proceeds to take the guy out with ease - obviously a Popeye reference.
Mr. Schneider is usually voiced by drama coach and frequent director James Frawley, but here he's clearly being voiced by Davy. Guessing Frawley was off chasing Nesmith?
The hand gesture the three boys use for the word "underhanded" is needlessly complicated and absolutely fascinating to watch. Also, at one point Micky and Davy are cowering in a corner together, which is much cuter than it has any right to be.
During the beach sequence, Davy is wearing an oversized striped shirt - and swim trunks so short they're not visible underneath it. Between that, Micky being in swim trunks and no shirt for much of the episode, and Peter also appearing in shorts, there's a lot of rather nice Monkeeflesh on display. Bulk, Brenda, and the Nerd aren't bad either, if you're into that sort of thing.
(Yes, I'm aware that my use of the term "nerd" is anachronistic here, that it didn't really become common vernacular until the '70s. But that's the best shorthand to describe that character - unfashionably short hair, taped glasses, the works.)
The one scene we have of Shah-Ku and Bulk plotting together makes it sound as if Shah-Ku isn't just after Micky's money - that he's specifically interested in Micky pawning his drum kit, which Davy points out earlier in the episode would end the band as a going concern. There's no obvious reason for Shah-Ku to want that; he's just a scam artist. However, he's played by Monty Landis; him being an agent of Zero, trying to get Micky indebted to him, is plausible in an after-the-fact sort of way. I'm starting to like this "Monty Landis is always Zero" theory.
This is, I think, our first time seeing the "Love Is Only Sleeping" video in full; Micky is miming sleeping against the side of the Moog every time he isn't singing, and spends a significant portion of the rest of the video going all mad scientist on the synthesizer. Can I just say, I love this song? It's one of my favorite examples of Nesmith's and Dolenz's voices working perfectly together.
Three good, solid episodes; these are some of the ones I'm thinking of when I say the second season is stronger than the first. I kind of hate all the variations on the "Davy falls in love" plot, so any episode that isn't that, I think I cut a little more slack than I otherwise would. That might just be because episodes that aren't that usually have more Micky and Peter in them, though.
Onward
Season 2 Disc 1 Episode 36: Monkee Mayor
Synopsis: Several of the Monkees' neighbors from down the street arrive to take back things the boys have borrowed because they've been evicted from their homes; the city plans to put in a parking lot there. Mike, after determining that this violates the zoning ordinances, goes to City Hall to complain, and is given the runaround before getting a pep talk from the Mayor. We find that the Mayor is being bankrolled by a corrupt builder named Zeckenbush, whose plan is to surround the city with parking lots such that no one can enter or leave without putting toll money in their pockets. While temporarily letting their neighbors camp in their living room, the Monkees decide that the only way to stop the mayor is to run against him, and that Mike is the proper candidate, with Micky as the campaign manager. They campaign during a romp, and are beaten or otherwise harassed by several people paid off by Zeckenbush; when they arrive home, they find the place ransacked by the Mayor's goons. The guys go back to City Hall and sneak into the Mayor's office, where they find a literal skeleton in the closet. Taking its skeleton key, they open the files and find Zeckenbush's plan; they try to get a photo, but are interrupted by the arrival of the Mayor and Zeckenbush. They sneak out without their camera, and find that the film Peter took from the camera shows only the filing cabinet, not the plan. Zeckenbush doesn't know that, so he decides to snare Mike by sending him campaign money via intermediaries. The boys go an a media blitz, but Zeckenbush reveals that he owns them now just before Mike goes on the air with a campaign speech. Mike explains his motives to the viewers, admits to being tricked via the money machine, and withdraws from the race, but the Mayor runs onto the soundstage and declares that he's abandoning Zeckenbush's plan, leaving everyone jumping for joy. The boys go home and clear out their neighbors, only to have a wrecking ball mistakenly fall through their own ceiling. [Unrelated "Pleasant Valley Sunday" video follows.]
The gag of someone (in this case the Mayor) being unable to pronounce 'Nesmith' is reused in the Mayor's introduction - but then the Mayor calls him by his right name in the TV studio sequence, and Mike returns one of the incorrect names!
Micky incorrectly states when the cleaning lady comes and when the elections are held; either these are a continuity error and a factual error by the writing staff, or Micky says "Thursday" when he means "Tuesday" twice in the same episode.
Monty Landis, who I should have mentioned played the king in Episode 35, makes his first appearance here as a villain. He will be the episode villain a total of six times this season, the most famous of which is his role as Mr. Zero in "The Devil And Peter Tork." It may be amusing to see if I can interpret all of his roles, or at least all six turns as the episode villain, as actually all being Mr. Zero or at least one of his puppets.
Like most Mike episodes, this one is a little moralistic, especially in Mike's TV speech, but it comes across as earnest. Mike and Micky get lots of screen time on this one; Davy gets very little.
The Pad's neighbors who appear in this episode are Mr. Swezey, Mrs. Homer, and Mrs. Filchok.
At one point, the Monkees are hiding in the Mayor's office closet. Mike, Davy, and Peter are crouched in the corner behind the coats; Micky has replaced the skeleton! I'm not sure if this is a skinny joke or not; if so, it may be setting up the next episode.
Overall, a solid episode; the plot is linear as algebra, but the goofy bits are well-played and nothing drags.
Season 2 Disc 1 Episode 37: Art, For Monkee's Sake
We are introduced to Peter's artistic skills as he is reproducing the back wall of the Pad on a large board. Micky mistakes the board for the back wall and walks right into it, prompting the others to suggest Peter practice at an art museum. He agrees, and the same gag plays out with a museum door and a guard; a second guard stops the first from throwing Peter out and insists that he could be useful for their plan. (I don't think the guards'/thieves' names are ever given in the episode, but the end credits call them Chuche and Duce, respectively.) Duce convinces Peter to copy another painting, which he does, except that he gives it Mike's hat; Duce insists that he change it. Meanwhile, the other three are having breakfast with Mr. Schneider in Pete's nightshirt; they finally admit Peter's probably in trouble, so they head to the museum to rescue him. The two thieves tie and gag Peter in the basement, telling him he needs to suffer for his art. After splitting up, the other three Monkees search the museum studios; Micky gets accosted by an artist experimenting with painting with his fingers and toes, while Mike watches guest artist Liberace demolish a piano with a golden hammer. Eventually, they make their way to the basement and untie Peter, who reveals that the guards have gone to switch the paintings. The curator refuses to believe them, and sets off the security system to demonstrate how safe the painting is. The guys decide to sneak in as cat burglars to replace the original painting, climbing down from the skylight via rope ladder. They're discovered (after one false alarm by Chuche) by Duce, which prompts a romp. Eventually, both paintings, all four Monkees, and both thieves end up trapped by the security system, and they're discovered the next morning by the curator. Afterwards, Peter gives up painting for woodworking, resulting in Micky taking yet another pratfall when a chair falls apart. [Standalone "Daydream Believer" follows, with a stinger of Liberace demolishing the piano again.]
This is one of my favorite episodes that doesn't involve any SF/fantasy/magical realism elements. That may be because Peter gets tied up again. (After I've finished the rewatch, I may have to do a post on Peter-as-Damsel-In-Distress.) Or because the cat burglar sequence involves seeing the guys in skintight outfits (and, in the sequences with the rope ladder, outfits that fail to cover heir stomachs). There really isn't much character development, but the four Monkees each get some good lines and some decent visual/physical comedy.
There's a repeated gag across several episodes where Mike falls over after he's been "frozen" for a while, which happens here when he imitates a statue. After learning that Nesmith was apparently dealing with back problems in Real Life at the time, this has become slightly less funny to me.
The cat burglar sequence is introduced by Mike in a voiceover sequence that names our heroes as the Manchester Marauder, the Connecticut Counterspy, the (Modest but) Towering Texan, and the Los Angeles Leopard. We already knew that character!Micky was from Burbank, character!Mike from Texas, and character!Davy from England, but I think this is the first time we get confirmation that character!Davy is specifically from Manchester and that character!Peter also shares his actor's origins.
Micky takes the "cat burglar" moniker a bit too much to heart; he mews and makes clawing motions throughout the next scene. He also seems to be enjoying the black leather gloves a bit much, IYKWIM. (Between the black leather gloves, Peter getting bound and gagged, and everyone ending up in a pile in a cage at the end of the episode, there's a fair amount of Fetish Fuel lying around this episode.)
Speaking of fanfic fuel goodness, there's a moment in the romp where Micky and Mike waltz with each other, and several moments where Davy, Micky, and Mike are so in synch they deliver lines in unison (usually mild insults to Peter, but still - and he's not there for most of them).
The fingerpainting artist grabs Micky's shirt when he thinks he's insulted him, then tries to charge him for the inadvertent painting. Micky then encounters the same painter during the romp, who tries to rip the shirt off of him. And in the tag where Peter takes up woodworking, Micky has just finished framing and hanging the shirt! (Micky does a lot of general gurning throughout the episode, but a big chunk of it is in his two encounters with the artist.)
In the same tag, Mike is vocally deconstructing "Papa Gene's Blues" until Micky trips over him.
I don't really have anything to say about the Liberace cameo except that (a) it's funny as hell, and (b) Mike's doing a lot of "perfectly good piano" reaction in the background.
Season 2 Disc 1 Episode 38: I Was A 99-Lb. Weakling
Synopsis: Micky is lounging on the beach with his gum-chewing proto-Valley-Girl girlfriend, Brenda, when a bodybuilder (credited as Bulk, although I don't think we ever learn his name in the episode) shows up and kicks sand on him. After tossing Micky around a bit, Bulk gives him the heave-ho, where he is given a business card by a gym guru who goes by Shah-Ku. When he can't tear the card, Micky agrees to try the gym, where Shah-Ku sets him several impossible physical tests and tries to charge him $150 for membership, an amount Micky can get only by pawning his drums. Davy and Peter try to set up an exercise regimen that Micky can do for free instead, but this fails to impress Brenda. Davy and Peter then attempt to get rid of Bulk using underhanded tactics, including dressing as a doctor and rolling a lead volleyball at him; they finally hand him a kite string attached to a blimp. Micky puts on football pads under a padded jacket and tries to impress Brenda with his new physique, but once again Bulk shows up and tosses him over the next dune at Shah-Ku's feet. Micky adopts Shah-Ku's diet program, which involves fasting for two days, then living on a diet of fermented goat milk curds and mountain moss au gratin, which freaks out Davy and Peter. Shah-Ku arrives, insults the Pad and Davy, the spirits Micky away; Peter arrives, having snuck off to the hot dog stand to get something to eat - and reveals that Shah-Ku was just there before him. Davy and Peter sneak off to the gym to denounce Shah-Ku as a fraud. Micky recognizes them and tries to signal them to leave as they present fake testimonials. Davy elbows Shah-Ku and he falls over, prompting Bulk to come in from the back room to see if he needs help, which in turn prompts Micky to realize he's been set up, prompting a romp in which Davy, Micky, and Peter turn into the Monkeemen to defeat Shah-Ku's musclemen. The next day, on the beach, a nerd reading Proust accidentally kicks sand on Micky and Brenda leaves with him, declaring that she loves a man with a mind and leaving Micky gabbling incoherently. [Standalone "Love Is Only Sleeping" video follows.]
This is the second Micky-centric episode, and once again the team is short a man, this time Mike. His absence is not explained in the story, although he appears in a couple of clips in the romp (and of course the end video). There are several times Davy or Peter says "I wish Mike were here" (and, after the green goat cheese, one "I'm so glad Mike isn't here") to lampshade it, though. Possibly he's visiting relatives in Texas?
The absence of Mike puts Peter in the parental/nurturing role for the episode, and it works surprisingly well, possibly because Peter's actually the oldest. At one point, Peter declares that he's going to call Shah-Ku, and rather than searching for the phone, he just summons it in a rather more blunt than usual moment of Monkee Movie Magic.
Micky gets to gurn a lot in this episode, and has enough pratfalls in his beach scenes with Bulk that I stopped counting at ten. The whole episode depends on his physical comedy skills and his ability to show genuine vulnerability, and he delivers. His rapid-fire verbal flip-out in the end tag is especially nice (and includes the sequence, "She wants a mind? I have a mind! No, I don't, I lost it . . . ").
At one point in the romp, having failed to punch out one of the musclemen, Davy (in Monkeeman costume) opens a can of spinach and proceeds to take the guy out with ease - obviously a Popeye reference.
Mr. Schneider is usually voiced by drama coach and frequent director James Frawley, but here he's clearly being voiced by Davy. Guessing Frawley was off chasing Nesmith?
The hand gesture the three boys use for the word "underhanded" is needlessly complicated and absolutely fascinating to watch. Also, at one point Micky and Davy are cowering in a corner together, which is much cuter than it has any right to be.
During the beach sequence, Davy is wearing an oversized striped shirt - and swim trunks so short they're not visible underneath it. Between that, Micky being in swim trunks and no shirt for much of the episode, and Peter also appearing in shorts, there's a lot of rather nice Monkeeflesh on display. Bulk, Brenda, and the Nerd aren't bad either, if you're into that sort of thing.
(Yes, I'm aware that my use of the term "nerd" is anachronistic here, that it didn't really become common vernacular until the '70s. But that's the best shorthand to describe that character - unfashionably short hair, taped glasses, the works.)
The one scene we have of Shah-Ku and Bulk plotting together makes it sound as if Shah-Ku isn't just after Micky's money - that he's specifically interested in Micky pawning his drum kit, which Davy points out earlier in the episode would end the band as a going concern. There's no obvious reason for Shah-Ku to want that; he's just a scam artist. However, he's played by Monty Landis; him being an agent of Zero, trying to get Micky indebted to him, is plausible in an after-the-fact sort of way. I'm starting to like this "Monty Landis is always Zero" theory.
This is, I think, our first time seeing the "Love Is Only Sleeping" video in full; Micky is miming sleeping against the side of the Moog every time he isn't singing, and spends a significant portion of the rest of the video going all mad scientist on the synthesizer. Can I just say, I love this song? It's one of my favorite examples of Nesmith's and Dolenz's voices working perfectly together.
Three good, solid episodes; these are some of the ones I'm thinking of when I say the second season is stronger than the first. I kind of hate all the variations on the "Davy falls in love" plot, so any episode that isn't that, I think I cut a little more slack than I otherwise would. That might just be because episodes that aren't that usually have more Micky and Peter in them, though.