Mooney has bought a gift for his unseen wife Irma and entrusts it to Lucy for safe keeping. I know it's only Season 3 but you'd think he'd already know by now! By this time, I say he deserves what he gets, but if he wasn't a glutton for punishment, we wouldn't have a show.
Lucy's dying to find out what's inside, Vivian objects. This basically leads to a game of keep-away between the two and before you can say "curiosity killed the cat", the contents are shattered.
The ladies' attempt at re-assembly is fruitless since they don't know what was in there in the first place and so, they are left with a "ceramic jigsaw puzzle". They do, however, glue it back into one piece anyway, rewrap it and Viv hatches a genius plan.
They will give Mr. Mooney the package and cause HIM to have an accident --breaking the gift (again), getting Lucy off the hook. The scene with the ladies trying to cause the "accident" is hilarious. Mooney's big scene fiddling with his hat and then the glue-covered door handle goes on too long though, so I'm removing one star for that.
At least they are able to discern where it was bought. So next, it's on to the gift shop where Karen Norris plays a saleslady who has EXACTLY what they are looking for - a hideous ceramic cat - but, as only can happen in Lucyland - it's JUST been sold to another customer. So, off they go to Bigelow's Department Store but they find it closed when they arrive. There just HAPPENS to be one of those ceramic cats in the display window - and Lucy just has to get it. It's not very realistic but it's so entertaining you just have to go with it.
One of the best physical bits of the Season occurs in this scene where Lucy ends up in the display window where a mechanical man is "performing". From accidentally knocking the head off a mannequin, to "freezing" when a cop walks by unexpectedly, to her being kissed by the robot, this whole routine is a highlight of Season 3 and a fan favorite.
Lucy actually pulls this one off, but (NO SPOILERS) it doesn't look like Irma will be getting her present after all.
IMO, this is one of the Top Ten color episodes of the series. 9/10.