User Reviews

It's been fifty years or so since this episode aired and it shows it. Jerry, the orthodontist, tells Bob that he is engaged. The Hartleys have been vacationing in Mexico. Jerry has only known this woman for a few days, and now the two are going to get married in a few days. She is a very controlling individual and Jerry is going along like a cocker spaniel at the end of a leash. Bob sees trouble but doesn't know what to do. This is a good episode despite the woman being portrayed as a bit much. I mean, you wonder what's in it for her. Jerry is a nice guy but why the bum's rush. There is a funny scene where Jerry tells Bob he will be the head usher and he had to really negotiate to get him the job. Decent episode.

Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart) and his wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) return from a much needed vacation in Mexico. On his first day back at work orthodontist Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz) whose office is on the same floor as his office, and who is a good personal friend informs Bob he is engaged. The swinging bachelor is ready to settle down with devastatingly sexy dental hygienist Cynthia Freemont (Elaine Giftos) - a woman he has known all of ten days. Bob was out of town for those ten days so he has little sense of who Cynthia is, or what she is like.

Cynthia has very swiftly gotten Jerry on an ever-tightening leash where she dictates what he does, whom he does it with and when. His appointments schedule and his social life are under her full control. This is expressed most explicitly in her interactions with Carol Kester (Marcia Wallace) - the receptionist on the floor of private doctor's offices. Cynthia bullies the peppy secretary with the most detailed demands for Jerry's itinerary including a luncheon reservation.

When Jerry tells Bob he is set to get married on Sunday it seems a little fast for Bob. Professionally Bob would advise a patient to take time to be sure about his choice. But Jerry isn't a patient, he's a friend (And a form of co-worker) and Bob is confused about what place he has in looking out for him. He has already set a pretty decent example for Jerry in his own marriage but he would never be so presumptuous as elude to it.

Bob and Emily, by contrast to Cynthia and Jerry, have a more balanced dynamic in their relationship and they value it. Emily gets her way a lot and anyone can see she is the physically attractive half of their partnership. But Emily does not overtly use that as currency. Bob also stands up for himself more efficiently than Jerry can with Cynthia. Their give and take is more cooperative and more fun. Most of the other couples we see depicted on the show are nowhere near as happy.

They had something here in this episode. They really did. They just didn't go very far with it. Cynthia has all too brief appearances in three scenes in which she looks great and but never acts quite overbearing enough for Bob to come off as fully correct about her when he refers to her as a 'back-breaker'. They could have brought her back for multiple episodes. It was a missed opportunity to build the backstory showing more of Jerry's life and contrasting it with Bob's giving both a greater depth of subtext.

Cynthia is a dental hygienist with what could interpreted as a form of obsessive compulsive disorder and perhaps a touch of Asperger's. That is not necessarily a bad combination for a dental nurse. But is there more to it? Is she a woman used to getting her way over the wishes of others because of the power of her sensuality? The tone of the way she is presented suggests that as does her wardrobe including an exceedingly provocative hygienist's uniform which looks as though it was dreamed up as a kind of ribald cosplay version of what hygienists really wear.

The scenes in which Cynthia imposes her will upon Carol is what I would view as productive for the arc of that supporting character. It was a long time before the Carol Kester character would really begin to develop beyond some kind of cover-version of Carol Burnett-come-Lily Tomlin-as-Ernestine hybrid. Most episodes in which she appears she seems superfluous i.e. engaged in tasks that Bob does not really need her for like, for instance, showing a patient in - a task Bob can handle by getting up from his chair and walking less than fifteen feet to open his door to the waiting area.

Seeing Cynthia interact so callously with Carol serves to give the audience concern about Cynthia and what Jerry is in store for. But seeing Carol trying to balance an appointment book for the doctors with offices on her floor makes it look like Carol is actually necessary. Cynthia also actually makes Carol appear underappreciated.