This is my favorite episode of Season 2. Not that it's a series classic, but there are slim pickings this second year because the script quality took such a nosedive, I can't name any other installment I like better.
The plot is nothing unusual so the first act is kind of boring. Lucy needs money from Mooney (yawn) so Chris can get a new dress for the formal dance. But the banker's laid up with a broken leg and Viv and Lucy just HAPPEN to be hospital volunteers all of a sudden. It's a contrivance but like I said, this season doesn't have a lot of gems, so just go with it. Actually, they DID take up a collection for the Hospital Helpers Fund back in the "Lucy and the Bank Scandal" episode so I guess it didn't just come out of nowhere. They just never mentioned it before, much like Lucy all of a sudden not being on the police force anymore in Season 3. First she was, then it was completely forgotten. Same thing with the stewardess episodes in Season 6. But back to this one....
At the hospital, Lucy's plan surprisingly works - the pain meds must have mellowed ol' Theodore J. -- but of course, she bungles it by making the adjustable bed go haywire and dropping a tray of food on him. Mooney bellows for the head nurse, played by the no-nonsense Kathleen Freeman, who shines in the role. The bit with Lucy writing the phone message on Mooney's leg cast is funny. And Mooney's tirades would become increasingly grating on this show, but in this case, Lucy really deserves it so it's satisfying to hear Gale Gordon shout "Get her out!!".
The next act is IMO the best comedy scene of the season. Undeterred, Lucy disguises herself as a patient to regain access to Mooney. This sets up a hilarious wheelchair chase that almost plays like a silent movie. Mere words don't do it justice - you need to see it to appreciate. If that wasn't all, Lucy then dresses in surgical scrubs (Viv thinks she's being hit on by a doctor - great stuff) and is chatted up by a young intern (Bernie Kopell - is this where the LOVE BOAT's Doc got his medical training??).
Just seeing the ladies in their candy striper outfits brings to mind the "Angels of Mercy" episode of LAVERNE & SHIRLEY (which I had seen years before I first viewed this one). I think Gary Marshall studied this series for many of the early L&S episodes set in Milwaukee. Well, he DID have them relocate to California - just like Lucy did in '65 -- when they ran out of story ideas.
The plot is nothing unusual so the first act is kind of boring. Lucy needs money from Mooney (yawn) so Chris can get a new dress for the formal dance. But the banker's laid up with a broken leg and Viv and Lucy just HAPPEN to be hospital volunteers all of a sudden. It's a contrivance but like I said, this season doesn't have a lot of gems, so just go with it. Actually, they DID take up a collection for the Hospital Helpers Fund back in the "Lucy and the Bank Scandal" episode so I guess it didn't just come out of nowhere. They just never mentioned it before, much like Lucy all of a sudden not being on the police force anymore in Season 3. First she was, then it was completely forgotten. Same thing with the stewardess episodes in Season 6. But back to this one....
At the hospital, Lucy's plan surprisingly works - the pain meds must have mellowed ol' Theodore J. -- but of course, she bungles it by making the adjustable bed go haywire and dropping a tray of food on him. Mooney bellows for the head nurse, played by the no-nonsense Kathleen Freeman, who shines in the role. The bit with Lucy writing the phone message on Mooney's leg cast is funny. And Mooney's tirades would become increasingly grating on this show, but in this case, Lucy really deserves it so it's satisfying to hear Gale Gordon shout "Get her out!!".
The next act is IMO the best comedy scene of the season. Undeterred, Lucy disguises herself as a patient to regain access to Mooney. This sets up a hilarious wheelchair chase that almost plays like a silent movie. Mere words don't do it justice - you need to see it to appreciate. If that wasn't all, Lucy then dresses in surgical scrubs (Viv thinks she's being hit on by a doctor - great stuff) and is chatted up by a young intern (Bernie Kopell - is this where the LOVE BOAT's Doc got his medical training??).
Just seeing the ladies in their candy striper outfits brings to mind the "Angels of Mercy" episode of LAVERNE & SHIRLEY (which I had seen years before I first viewed this one). I think Gary Marshall studied this series for many of the early L&S episodes set in Milwaukee. Well, he DID have them relocate to California - just like Lucy did in '65 -- when they ran out of story ideas.
