This episode had me laughing a lot during the first 18 minutes or so, but the finish was really weak. I think I'd like to give most of the episode a 9 and the finish a 1. That average gave me a 5 total score.
Henry gets a bonus from work right about the time of the Wilsons' wedding anniversary. John has remembered a promise to take Eloise to Hawaii, but is pretending to have forgotten, just to tease her. He is loving the way she is all upset with him, waiting for the 12th--their anniversary date--to surprise her.
So with Dennis beside him, he arranges for the travel agent to send the tickets to Hawaii to Henry, to keep the secret. Dennis has assured, accurately, that his mom never opens mail addressed to dad.
But a large envelope from a travel agent makes Alice so curious she phones the agency and learns about tickets to Hawaii. The agent should have kept her mouth shut, or should have told the whole story because she heard what John and Dennis had said and knew it was supposed to be a secret.
So Alice is delighted to think Henry is surprising her with a trip to her dream vacation spot, using the bonus money. Seeing how excited she is, Henry can't break the news to her that he just wants to buy a new car for the family.
We can all guess how this goes wrong--Mrs. Wilson learns about Alice and Henry going to Hawaii and is doubly mad at John, who is still thrilled to be fooling his wife.
(I need to tell about part of the plot from the latter part of the show, so special spoiler alert here:)
Henry forces John to tell Alice the truth, but Eloise winds up beating him to the punch, via the telephone. Alice is surprisingly understanding and happily goes with Henry to buy a new car and Eloise is happy to learn about her trip to Hawaii.
Then Henry decides to reverse himself and forgo the car and take Alice to Hawaii as she'd like. So far, so good. It should have ended there.
But at the airport, Eloise tells John she can't bear the thought of Alice not being able to go, so she makes John trade in their tickets--not knowing that as they go out to retrieve their bags, the Mitchells are at the airport, all three ready to go to Hawaii.
If they had just had the Wilsons returning home and finding out the Mitchells went to Hawaii it would have been O.K.
Instead, it gets really dumb. The meet at the airport, learn about each family's changed plans. Next we see the Mitchells at home, saying it was better for the Wilsons to have gone, with Alice saying, "We really needed a new car." Then we see the Wilsons back home too, with Eloise saying "It wouldn't have been any fun without our best friends." There is no logic in this. They weren't going to a big game where lack of available tickets--a small part of the plot--mattered. Either couple could have just gone a few days or weeks later. John and Eloise had only planned on going themselves all along--no reason to feel they needed the Mitchells with them. And after meeting at the airport and learning only one group could go on that flight, someone should have gone.
Most of this show = pretty funny. Last five minutes = terrible.
Henry gets a bonus from work right about the time of the Wilsons' wedding anniversary. John has remembered a promise to take Eloise to Hawaii, but is pretending to have forgotten, just to tease her. He is loving the way she is all upset with him, waiting for the 12th--their anniversary date--to surprise her.
So with Dennis beside him, he arranges for the travel agent to send the tickets to Hawaii to Henry, to keep the secret. Dennis has assured, accurately, that his mom never opens mail addressed to dad.
But a large envelope from a travel agent makes Alice so curious she phones the agency and learns about tickets to Hawaii. The agent should have kept her mouth shut, or should have told the whole story because she heard what John and Dennis had said and knew it was supposed to be a secret.
So Alice is delighted to think Henry is surprising her with a trip to her dream vacation spot, using the bonus money. Seeing how excited she is, Henry can't break the news to her that he just wants to buy a new car for the family.
We can all guess how this goes wrong--Mrs. Wilson learns about Alice and Henry going to Hawaii and is doubly mad at John, who is still thrilled to be fooling his wife.
(I need to tell about part of the plot from the latter part of the show, so special spoiler alert here:)
Henry forces John to tell Alice the truth, but Eloise winds up beating him to the punch, via the telephone. Alice is surprisingly understanding and happily goes with Henry to buy a new car and Eloise is happy to learn about her trip to Hawaii.
Then Henry decides to reverse himself and forgo the car and take Alice to Hawaii as she'd like. So far, so good. It should have ended there.
But at the airport, Eloise tells John she can't bear the thought of Alice not being able to go, so she makes John trade in their tickets--not knowing that as they go out to retrieve their bags, the Mitchells are at the airport, all three ready to go to Hawaii.
If they had just had the Wilsons returning home and finding out the Mitchells went to Hawaii it would have been O.K.
Instead, it gets really dumb. The meet at the airport, learn about each family's changed plans. Next we see the Mitchells at home, saying it was better for the Wilsons to have gone, with Alice saying, "We really needed a new car." Then we see the Wilsons back home too, with Eloise saying "It wouldn't have been any fun without our best friends." There is no logic in this. They weren't going to a big game where lack of available tickets--a small part of the plot--mattered. Either couple could have just gone a few days or weeks later. John and Eloise had only planned on going themselves all along--no reason to feel they needed the Mitchells with them. And after meeting at the airport and learning only one group could go on that flight, someone should have gone.
Most of this show = pretty funny. Last five minutes = terrible.
