This episode is wonderful from start to finish! Them starting out all cozy, singing, and complimenting one another, to fighting, threatening to move out, and breaking the lease in the greatest way possible! This is one of those episodes I'd suggest for anyone to watch if it's their introduction to the show! Ethel and Fred covered in sheet rock and chandelier is just icing on the cake!
4 Reviews
Ricardos and Mertzes rival beginning
angelahptrio30 July 2020
Nertz to The Mertz!!
HarlowMGM18 October 2010
Warning: Spoilers
One of the funniest I LOVE LUCY episodes, "Breaking the Lease" starts off with longtime friends Lucy & Ricky & Fred & Ethel enjoying a long night of singing around the piano and reminiscing about their wonderful friendship. Sometime after 2 am the Mertzs decide to go home and go to bed and after Lucy and Ricky decide to sing a duet, call up and let them know the Ricardo "noise" is not appreciated. Incensed, they also decide to go to sleep but not before a spat about keeping the bedroom window open or close which results in another sharp phone call from the Mertzs. The final straw is when the Ricardo's leaky bathroom faucet keeps them up and Ricky's noisy attempts at fixing it result in yet another testy call which the Ricardos respond to in kind, insulting the Mertz's about their antique plumbing system. The Ricardos announce they are moving out which the Mertzs are only to pleased to hear but when Ethel coldly informs Lucy she will be expecting the full five months rent for the remaining months on their lease Ricky concocts a scheme that the Ricardos will be the loudest, most disagreeable tenants the Mertzs will gladly tear up the lease.
This episode is hilarious and fun and one of the classic Ricardo/Mertz feuds with the "boys" just as bad as the girls this time around. Indeed, Ricky is the one to come up with the sneaky break the lease scheme which normally would have been from Lucy's brain! Lots of good laughs as Lucy, Ricky, and their mysterious guests stomp away to "The Mexican Hat Dance" (the other players include Lucille Ball's longtime friend actress Barbara Pepper in one of her many bit appearances on ILL and Lucy and Desi's stand-ins, Hazel Pierce and Bennett Green.
This episode is hilarious and fun and one of the classic Ricardo/Mertz feuds with the "boys" just as bad as the girls this time around. Indeed, Ricky is the one to come up with the sneaky break the lease scheme which normally would have been from Lucy's brain! Lots of good laughs as Lucy, Ricky, and their mysterious guests stomp away to "The Mexican Hat Dance" (the other players include Lucille Ball's longtime friend actress Barbara Pepper in one of her many bit appearances on ILL and Lucy and Desi's stand-ins, Hazel Pierce and Bennett Green.
Funny premise, but don't try this in your own home.
mark.waltz10 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
What all these people the first thing that bothered me about this episode was the fact that Fred and Ethel would spend an entire night going into the early morning singing songs at their piano, and when they leave, Lucy and Ricky continue for a little bit, causing Ethel to call and demand they stop the noise. Fred later calls while Lucy and Ricky are having an argument about the window, and later they both call back while Lucy and Ricky are dealing with a leaky bathroom pipe. When Fred refuses to break the lease, the Ricardos decide to get them to change their mind which leads into a plot line involving harassment. I had hoped that this would end being a dream sequence, but it's one of the few episodes where I really don't like any of the characters, and certainly how it all ends. They are all acting very childish, especially when Lucy begins making pranksterish phone calls. The fault is in the script because the premise makes absolutely no sense. This is more than just about pride controlling the brain. This is about humanity at its worst, and it was too early in the series for them to show theirs.
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