A moving story-line: a woman suddenly reappears from Addison's pre-Maddie life. She was a girlfriend with whom David had shacked up, until, one day, he returned home to their shared apartment in LA, and she, and all of her belongings, were nowhere to be found. This lady's apparently accidental convergence into the lives of the two detectives of the "Blue Moon Detective Agency" moves the heretofore hard-bitten David, who, it is obvious, never got over this "girl that got away." Maddie too is affected by the femme fatale played Dana Delany, who is at the height of her beauty in this story. Maddie, to the once-again-love-stricken Addison's glee, seems genuinely jealous of David's new-old flame. The use of the Isley Brothers' 1966 tune, "This Old Heart of Mine (is weak for you)," in a key moment in the episode makes this a truly memorable "Moonlighting" entry.
3 Reviews
Cherchez-la-femme
FlorianLaur14 August 2023
This episode had great potential. Like many of the best film noir, it features a greedy femme fatale, a painful memory from the past, money and murder.
Dana Delaney does a good job playing David's old flame, although it's clear why her and David wouldn't have worked: Unlike David who seems to be a happy go lucky guy who doesn't care that much about wealth, wealth is paramount to her. That's why she married a man just for his money. And she now claims her husband is out to kill her.
And as Maddie and Dave (mostly Maddie) investigate, it becomes clearer and clearer that for once, Maddie might be right in her assertion of the people involved when she pegs Gillian's husband as less of a potential culprit and more of a victim himself.
The episode peaks in the romantic and very noir scene of Gillian and Dave meeting at night. There's stars, there's the city lights, there's beautiful music...and Gillian's husband? Gillian still has a lot of influence over David as he seemingly feels the need to side with and protect Gillian, although there's no proof so far.
This also doesn't seem to matter anymore as Gillian's husband is dead just moments later, seemingly dying as Gillian uses self defense.
And this is where I start to have my problems with this episode:
Maybe it's partially due to the 40-45 mins any episode has, but this just seems like an episode that would work better if it was longer or a two parter. We never really get to know too much about Gillian and even less about her husband. We do find out that Gillian has been very selfish and reckless with David in the past (which is interesting in a way for those of us who are romantic and maybe thought things were better in the 80s, they weren't). It also doesn't help that the overall dark tone of the episode becomes too goofy and comical towards the end with the chase and music.
I do like the episode for showing us a different side to David we hadn't seen that much yet (maybe in episode 1 of season 2) and to let Maddie shine. But overall, it's "just" a 7/10 for me.
Dana Delaney does a good job playing David's old flame, although it's clear why her and David wouldn't have worked: Unlike David who seems to be a happy go lucky guy who doesn't care that much about wealth, wealth is paramount to her. That's why she married a man just for his money. And she now claims her husband is out to kill her.
And as Maddie and Dave (mostly Maddie) investigate, it becomes clearer and clearer that for once, Maddie might be right in her assertion of the people involved when she pegs Gillian's husband as less of a potential culprit and more of a victim himself.
The episode peaks in the romantic and very noir scene of Gillian and Dave meeting at night. There's stars, there's the city lights, there's beautiful music...and Gillian's husband? Gillian still has a lot of influence over David as he seemingly feels the need to side with and protect Gillian, although there's no proof so far.
This also doesn't seem to matter anymore as Gillian's husband is dead just moments later, seemingly dying as Gillian uses self defense.
And this is where I start to have my problems with this episode:
Maybe it's partially due to the 40-45 mins any episode has, but this just seems like an episode that would work better if it was longer or a two parter. We never really get to know too much about Gillian and even less about her husband. We do find out that Gillian has been very selfish and reckless with David in the past (which is interesting in a way for those of us who are romantic and maybe thought things were better in the 80s, they weren't). It also doesn't help that the overall dark tone of the episode becomes too goofy and comical towards the end with the chase and music.
I do like the episode for showing us a different side to David we hadn't seen that much yet (maybe in episode 1 of season 2) and to let Maddie shine. But overall, it's "just" a 7/10 for me.
One of the best episodes
racerman24 April 2008
This episode is so good it stuck in my memory for better part of 20 years until I was able to view it again. The scene with The Isley's version of "This Old Heart of Mine" is pure magic. Night time. Element of danger. Romance. This was the first time I had seen Dana Delaney in anything. (pre China Beach) Just blew me away. Still does to this day. Dana is one of the most beautiful and talented performers of our time.She seems to get better with age. Chemistry between Bruce and Dana is very believable. Bruce Willis was as always on this show great. After this show Dana appeared on two memorable episodes om "Magnum P I". She later went on to fame in "China Beach". She has appeared in numerous feature films and television programs. Currently she is appearing in "Dangerous Housewives"
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