"Where Europe's elite who face defeat retreat to eat!"
-Samantha [Eugenia Bremer (Mary Stout)] in "From the Pen of Gertrude Reece"
If I've concluded one thing throughout season three so far, it is
this: Rupert Holmes is -cruel-. How taunting. Oh, well.
This episode is -cool-. And I mean -cool-. You could
say it was -swell- or -nifty- or -dandy- (if you're extremely weird), but I think this was -cool-.
I don't call many things -cool-. Manhattan Transfer is -cool-. This episode is -cool-. And I mean
-cool-. Just in case you didn't get that point.
What? No radio shows? That's okay. What?
No... regular characters? Okay, we get some scenes with Gertie, some scenes with Betty, and some scenes
with Hilary. Of course, Scott Sherwood becomes Scot Sherwood and Betty Roberts becomes Roberta,
among many other character changes. What? A play within a play? Okay by me -- especially if this is the
play and this is the play within it. That is, Casablanca within Remember WENN. Combine two swell
things, and you get one -cool- episode. And I mean -cool-.
The play (the one within RW) is
actually "Rendezvous at Rabat" (which happens to be ironically close to Casablanca, Morocco). This
has, you know, the idea of the coincidentally, I'm sure, like movie, Casablanca, but it deals with
WENN issues -- meaning Betty's affairs. And how wonderfully the play meddles! Not only is it packed
with puns, inside jokes, and, heck, funny stuff ("3 easy payments of 37 francs...." hee hee), but it's
even more wonderfully romantic. (Have I used that before?) But it appears that our pen-person Gertrude
Reece has the same problem the Casablanca writers did -- how to end it? We get several observations on
that key. Very exciting. And if only to tantalize a bit -more- (just what we need), Betty types up who
-she- would choose. "Mrs. Roberta...." Then she silently enters eight more letters of wisdom. But as
she hands her decision to Gertie, she takes it back and recommends finding and ending by herself. Some
of Hilary's wisdom is revealed. "I counted... and she typed eight letters. It so happens that there are
eight letters in 'Comstock'." Some of Gertie's wit. "There are eight letters in Sherwood as well." It
was a nice attempt, Hilary.
E-mail
me with comments, questions, corrections, or anything else! Or, in Rippy mode, "I'm
completely open to any suggestions, as long as they don't result in any changes." =)
