This episode is bound to provoke much discussion. A grease-covered Bud tells his parents of how he was driving on the highway recently and helped a man change a flat tire; the man had two children, a 10-year-old boy and a pretty girl about Bud's age. The man was very grateful to Bud and promised to return him the favor sometime.
Meanwhile, Betty has become infatuated with a wealthy, popular young man at college and has invited him to come to the house. But she is ashamed of her brother Bud's appearance and lack of social graces. She repeatedly insults him and tells him to make himself scarce when her friend arrives, at one point even referring to him as a "thing." Betty's behavior towards her brother is abominable; yet Jim and Margaret simply stand there amusedly watching it without saying a word. As if all this weren't enough, the writers of the episode repeatedly subject Bud to being banged and slammed by various doors in the house, as if he were a human punching bag. Whether this was because Billy Gray genuinely enjoyed doing rough physical comedy or because the writers wanted to make Bud into a butt of every joke, I can't say.
It transpires that the young man Betty is interested in is none other than the older son of Mr. Wickett, the man whose tire Bud changed on the road. Mr. Wickett invites Bud over for dinner; Betty may come too. To compound everything horrible she has done thus far, Betty lies to Bud about the nature of the invitation, telling him that SHE is the one being invited and that he may come if HE wants to. Bud learns the truth by overhearing a phone conversation of Betty's.
Instead of being a social outcast, Bud is actually the man of the hour. This Cinderella-like reversal of fortune offers Bud the opportunity to enact revenge on his sister. Will he take it, or take the moral high road?
If you disliked Betty for her snobbishness and ambition in previous installments of the series, this episode will not change the impression.
Without revealing the conclusion, suffice to say that it emphasizes reconciliation rather than justice.
Meanwhile, Betty has become infatuated with a wealthy, popular young man at college and has invited him to come to the house. But she is ashamed of her brother Bud's appearance and lack of social graces. She repeatedly insults him and tells him to make himself scarce when her friend arrives, at one point even referring to him as a "thing." Betty's behavior towards her brother is abominable; yet Jim and Margaret simply stand there amusedly watching it without saying a word. As if all this weren't enough, the writers of the episode repeatedly subject Bud to being banged and slammed by various doors in the house, as if he were a human punching bag. Whether this was because Billy Gray genuinely enjoyed doing rough physical comedy or because the writers wanted to make Bud into a butt of every joke, I can't say.
It transpires that the young man Betty is interested in is none other than the older son of Mr. Wickett, the man whose tire Bud changed on the road. Mr. Wickett invites Bud over for dinner; Betty may come too. To compound everything horrible she has done thus far, Betty lies to Bud about the nature of the invitation, telling him that SHE is the one being invited and that he may come if HE wants to. Bud learns the truth by overhearing a phone conversation of Betty's.
Instead of being a social outcast, Bud is actually the man of the hour. This Cinderella-like reversal of fortune offers Bud the opportunity to enact revenge on his sister. Will he take it, or take the moral high road?
If you disliked Betty for her snobbishness and ambition in previous installments of the series, this episode will not change the impression.
Without revealing the conclusion, suffice to say that it emphasizes reconciliation rather than justice.
