Episode Guide

Season 4

Episode 49- Eek! A Spouse!


The Case

Finally, Blue Moon gets a case! Lauren Baxter hires Blue Moon to pay off her husbands mistress to go away and stay away forever. Dave and Maddie bring the offer to the mistress, Bridget Graves . After thinking about it, she decides to take the offer. David and Bert deliver the money but find that Mr Baxter has just left in a rage with a gun to find his wife. Dave and Bert rush to the Baxter's but it's too late, Mr Baxter is dead. Mrs Baxter shot him in self-defense. Later, while Maddie and David argue on the phone, Bert figures out what really happened.

What's Really Going on Chris?

Maddie arrives at Blue Moon happy to be back in her routine. David is not in yet and Agnes says that it is unusual, since Maddie's been gone he's usually in by now. Agnes and Maddie discuss the possibility of David never coming in or wanting to leave the agency now that Maddie is married. While they discuss this, David comes in, happy as a lark, singing "lightening's striking again." Maddie follows him into his office, worried that he doesn't seem upset. He insists that he is not upset and thinks that Maddie's marriage is, "terriffic, a little out of left field, but terriffic." She does not believe him and wants to talk. He doesn't. He claims that there is nothing to talk about, as she wouldn't have married someone else if she were having his baby. He asks her again if the baby is his and she says no as she looks away and then down at the floor. They are interupted by Lauren Baxter. During their consult with Mrs. Baxter, David calls Maddie "Mrs Bishop." Maddie asks David to step outside. David thinks they are going to argue about whether to take the case, but Maddie informs him that she is going by Maddie Hayes, not Bishop. David questions her decision and asks if her husband is aware of Maddie's break with marital tradition. Maddie is obviously agitated by this whole conversation and David accuses her of being "tinged with defensiveness" about her marriage. Maddie accuses David of browbeating her about getting married. They are again interrupted by Lauren Baxter and they agree to take the case.
In the car, Maddie again tries to get David to talk about his feelings and admit he's upset, but he refuses to do it. Maddie becomes upset when she realizes he is telling her the truth and really isn't upset. When she asks him why he isn't upset, he admits it's because he really doesn't believe she's married. When she insists she is married, he claims to know why she got married- to spite him. Maddie vehemently denies this and insists that the only reason she married Walter was love, that Walter swept her off of her feet. David asks her what color Walter's eyes are, as if this is a way for Maddie to prove what she just said. She doesn't know what color Walter's eyes are, and David tells her that she can get back to him on that (much to Maddie's irritation.)
While talking to Bridget Graves both Maddie and David look at the other or look wistfully away when she describes the Baxter's relationship as hot and cold, always arguing, very passionate. Her relationship with Mr Baxter is calm and comfortable and sane.
Back at the office, Maddie asks Agnes why everyone (including the audience?) is so angry at her. Agnes explains that they were all "let down" by Maddie marrying Walter, that they all thought what she and Mr Addison had was "more real" and that they would never marry anyone else. Maddie launches into a long speech about why she married Walter and not David. She claims she didn't marry David because he would try to reinvent himself into the perfect husband and father and that would make them both miserable. She said that by marrying Walter she knew it would hurt David, and that he might leave and that would hurt her, but at least he'd still be David. Being David, Maddie says, is a wonderful thing, like a first kiss all the time. It's exciting but scary. Walter is not like a first kiss, he's more like the white stuff you put into coffee. Maddie claims that she likes the white stuff because it is dependable and always there hot or cold, but she also tells Agnes that doesn't mean she stopped loving real milk. Agnes cries and Maddie swears Agnes not to tell anyone about their conversation.
Later that night David asks Bert to accompany him on the Baxter case when Maddie leaves early. Bert tries to comfort David by offering him egg sandwiches or anti-depressants. David insists he is not upset by Maddie's marriage, but Bert is not convinced. Bert then offers to investigate Walter Bishop in the hopes of finding a checkered past. David insists that if Maddie married him, he must be an upstanding guy and redirects Bert back to the case at hand. At 5 am Bert and David return to the office after being grilled by the police all night about the Baxter case when Mr Baxter turns up dead. Maddie is calling around looking for David and finds him at Blue Moon. She wants to talk, David doesn't. She asks him to put aside his "poor spited ego" so they can talk. David gets mad and insists that the reason she is calling at 5 am is not because of his ego, but hers. He believes it's driving her crazy that he isn't suicidal about her getting married. They scream at each other, then hang up on each other. Bert solves the case while they're arguing, and David calls Maddie back to tell her to come to Blue Moon as they have to confront the guilty. On the way to Bridget Graves's place, Maddie again brings up how David feels about her marriage. She realizes that if she would stop constantly asking him, he would stop denying it, and they would stop fighting. She tells David that she knows how he feels. She tells him that what they have is something she's never heard of, and that maybe she's afraid of it or isn't strong enough. But it doesn't matter if they never get married or have a child, because what they have is "beyond licenses and vows." Only he knows and only she knows, that it is in their hearts and in their minds. She grabs his hand. David looks at her holding his hand, smiles and says, "as long as it doesn't mean I've got to quit trying."
After the case is solved, Maddie tells David that it seems like old times. David gets a look on his face and Maddie asks "what?" David tells her that he wants her to wear her wedding ring and finds it in her purse. He puts it on her finger while telling her what a lucky guy Walter Bishop is.

Chris's Obsessive Analysis

I love this episode (all right, I'll admit I love many "Moonlighting" episodes). Why? Let me count the ways.....
1. David comes into the office singing that lightning strikes again song. I think he's referring to the fact that he and Maddie are "playing games" again but this time with Walter "the pawn" Bishop instead of Sam.
2. David asks Maddie again if the baby is his. I don't think David believes that she is married, or that the baby is Sam's at this point. Her answer is interesting. She doesn't look at him but looks down when she says it. The Sam Jr. comment before the chase was really sarcastic, like he doesn't believe it.
3. The case mirrors their relationship. Maddie and Dave are like the spouses with the volatile relationship. Walter and Terry are like Bridget Graves (the other woman), the relationship there is comfortable and easy. Both Dave and Maddie are doing what Mr. Baxter is doing. When Bridget describes her relationship with Mr. Baxter, Maddie looks at David several times and David looks away as if this story sounds familiar.
4. The case contrasts with the Johnson case when Sam was here. In the Johnson case, the mistress was worried that the husband was falling back in love with his wife (kind of the same way David was worried that Maddie was falling back in love with Sam). Both cases were love triangles, but the roles that represented Maddie and David have changed. In the Johnson case David was like the mistress. Now he and Maddie are like the spouses.
5. David Addison is at his manipulative best in this and the next episode. He spends this entire episode denying that he is upset about Maddie's marriage. He's testing Maddie to find out if she's really married. When he's convinced she is, he tests her to see if she loves Walter. She fails all of his tests.
6. Maddie's speech to Agnes and to David in the car tell us three things. She does not love Walter, but is still in love with David. She married Walter because she was afraid of David changing into Pat Boone, and she is afraid she is not strong enough for a relationship with David. It's interesting that after David says,"as long that doesn't mean I've got to stop trying" Maddie doesn't discourage him. She's married, she should've told him to stop trying. But she doesn't. David just shakes his head and smiles. She failed that test too, so he moves on to the next phase of his plan.
7. The ring business at the end. Maddie says "it seems like old times." David forces her to put the ring on to remind her that it is not like old times. She got married and David is going to make sure that she can't have it both ways (love David and be married to Walter). He pushes this further with the wedding in the next episode. She made a choice and David wants to see if she can live with it.
I just love the Walter Bishop arc. I used to hate it. Now I think the Sam storyline was about their passion and the Walter storyline was about their love.

Memorable Moments

Links

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The next episode, "Maddie Hayes Got Married"
Brian's "Eek! A Spouse!" page
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