User Reviews

This episode would have been much different with Alice Pearce as the nosy neighbor rather than Sandra Gould who appears here. Abner (George Tobias) only appears briefly, once again poo-poo'ing his wife's suggestions that something funny is going on over at the Stephens house. Samantha is too busy taking care of baby Adam to really pay any attention to Tabitha who wants to go to the local amusement park. Tabitha, realizing that she's lost mommy to the new baby, decides to conjure up her own mommy who will have no idea about any baby and will spend all her time paying attention to her. Gladys happens to run into fake Samantha and Tabitha at the amusement park, is dismayed that Samantha doesn't even seem to know who she is, let alone her baby boy, and disturbs Darrin at work to warn him about things going on. Knowing some funny business must be underway, Darrin leaves the office, and when Samantha realizes what has happened because of her sending Tabitha to her room to be out of the way, begins to blame the unseen cousin Serena. But this ain't Serena, and it's a touching realization for the real Samantha who understands why Tabitha did what she had to do and goes out of her way to make Tabitha understand.

Fans of this show got awfully tired of Gould's braying performance as Gladys Kravitz over the more subtle Alice Pearce, but Gould does only as she is directed to do, and over the years, I have met many a character like her who feels that they are the head of the neighborhood watch. This could have taken serious turns had Gladys accused Samantha of neglecting her baby, and when Samantha and Darrin have to deal with her presence in their home, they treat her subtly as to not cause any more suspicion. Kay Elliot makes a one time appearance as Aunt Hagatha (mentioned most of the time, but not usually seen), and it has to be assumed that Hagatha can change her appearance to go looking like the slim Elliot or the portly Reta Shaw whose character on the show went from Bertha in the first season to Hagatha later on. There's not too much of Darrin's office, although Larry does appear with a client and his wife, with the focus of the story on Tabitha and her two mommy's. Decent special effects show the fake Sam hiding in the closet as the real one coming in, then vice versa when the real Sam leaves.