"Where There's a Will" opens with an ailing Mr. Howell suffering from a tummy ache, and overwhelmed by the compassion of his fellow castaways. Thinking of them as family, he decides to rewrite his will to leave each of them something special to remember him by. Mary Ann, being a farm girl, gets her own plantation; Ginger and her lovely throat earn a diamond mine; the Professor with his mechanical mind gets a railroad; Gilligan is gifted an oil well; and the Skipper receives 40 acres in Colorado - downtown Denver! All appears well until the beneficiaries begin to act strangely, the Skipper nearly shooting Mr. Howell with an arrow, the girls digging a pit into which he falls, and the Professor sending a huge rock over a cliff to crash at his feet. Convinced that they're out to kill him for their inheritance, Mr. Howell listens to a private conversation about killing 'that old bore,' unaware that a surprise party is planned in his honor, with barbecued spare ribs from a wild boar. The climactic festivities don't go exactly as planned, not such a bad thing when the guest of honor turns up at his own funeral! The beloved Jim Backus even puts in a plug for his Ohio hometown: "I haven't felt so wonderful since I foreclosed my mortgage on the city of Cleveland!"
3 Reviews
WHO WANTS TO KILL MR. HOWELL???
tcchelsey24 September 2023
This clever episode was more of a mystery, and that's always fun! Ray Kammerman wrote this with Sidney Mandel, best known for LOVE AMERICAN STYLE.
Mr. Howell, feeling on the ill side one day, begins to realize that even with all his money, his time will come. What to do? He naturally draws up a new will, leaving EACH of the castaways a chunk of his fortune! The Skipper, for example, gets a "little" track of land, known as DOWNTOWN Denver, Colorado. Since Ginger loves diamonds--she gets a diamond mine.. and so on.
Then Howell begins to think the castaways may want to get him out of the way SOONER... and the fun really starts. This is kooky stuff, and especially Mrs. Howell gets into the action, setting up a mock funeral for her husband! Howell, in the meantime, ditches everyone and tries to hide in the brush! There's some terrific one liners in this one.
Again, the proverbial question.... HOW did Ginger and Maryann bake a GIANT cake for Mr. Howell???
Did they bring a stove in their luggage??
Good stuff from SEASON 3, remastered dvd box set.
Mr. Howell, feeling on the ill side one day, begins to realize that even with all his money, his time will come. What to do? He naturally draws up a new will, leaving EACH of the castaways a chunk of his fortune! The Skipper, for example, gets a "little" track of land, known as DOWNTOWN Denver, Colorado. Since Ginger loves diamonds--she gets a diamond mine.. and so on.
Then Howell begins to think the castaways may want to get him out of the way SOONER... and the fun really starts. This is kooky stuff, and especially Mrs. Howell gets into the action, setting up a mock funeral for her husband! Howell, in the meantime, ditches everyone and tries to hide in the brush! There's some terrific one liners in this one.
Again, the proverbial question.... HOW did Ginger and Maryann bake a GIANT cake for Mr. Howell???
Did they bring a stove in their luggage??
Good stuff from SEASON 3, remastered dvd box set.
Gilligan meets an old bore of a plot.
Ralphkram10 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers
After three solid outings in a row, the third season takes a step back with its second clunker of the year. This episode is standard issue, only marginally funny, and relies too much on misunderstanding and the idiot plot to be successful. It's very uneven; for every scene that works, there are two that misfire. But what really hurts it is, like in Waiting for Watubi or Gilligan Gets Bugged, it's simply too somber and downbeat to be enjoyable. Even the always reliable Howell presence can't help this one find a way.
The cold open establishes the tone of the episode as Mary Ann delivers a floral bouquet to the Howells, accompanied by some really sad musical notes. Mr. Howell is bed-ridden with what he thinks is a terrible, mysterious malady, and his end is near. But that plot was already taken by Gilligan Gets Bugged, so this time his diagnosis is a simple tummy ache.
He is so overwhelmed by the others' compassion that he decides to amend his will to leave them all something valuable. In a very good scene, Mr. Howell presents them with his tokens of appreciation, the best being his gift to the Skipper: forty acres of downtown Denver. It's a certainly better scene than the endless squabbling by the castaways over their deeds, acting like kids at Christmas. After all, their benefactor is still very much alive.
It's here that the plot finally presents itself. Mr. Howell goes to check in on his adoring beneficiaries and finds them acting strangely. He narrowly escapes an arrow from Gilligan and the Skipper. He falls into a pit dug by the girls, then dodges a boulder seemingly pushed by the Professor. His pretty reasonable conclusion is the others are trying to collect their bounties a little bit early by, you know, trying to kill him.
From that shockwave, though, the episode begins its steady decline. The castaways decide to throw the Howells a surprise party (another well-worn trope) to show their gratitude and have a wild boar as their evening meal. Mr. Howell overhears them talking and jumps to the conclusion that he is their quarry and barricades himself in his hut. His misunderstanding can be cleared up by a few simple questions, of course, but is prolonged for comedic effect and goes on until Mrs. Howell gets to the bottom of it.
What little fun there is during this tone-deaf episode is Mr. Howell on the run from the men's search party and the odd one-liner. It doesn't last long. There is another misunderstanding where he fakes his own demise, and the entry goes back to being dour and mournful. There are no chuckles in watching the castaways weep away at a fake funeral. Mr. Howell's clumsy pratfall out of a tree brings the service to a close, and the mourners are so grateful he is still alive they give him a pass on the whole fake 'I've gone to that great big mansion in the sky' deal.
If only we could give a pass to the whole episode.
COCONOTES:
Mr. Howell has apparently never had a stomach ache before.
The Professor has a bamboo stethoscope that's never seen or used again.
Once again, the castaways' supplies mysteriously continue to grow. In the medical scene, the girls have matching nurse outfits and Mr. Howell has his own ice pack.
For the second time in the series, Gilligan is gifted an oil well by Mr. Howell.
Just wondering how the Skip is going to use a fleet of yachts in downtown Denver.
Also wondering how a wild boar wound up on the island.
The cold open establishes the tone of the episode as Mary Ann delivers a floral bouquet to the Howells, accompanied by some really sad musical notes. Mr. Howell is bed-ridden with what he thinks is a terrible, mysterious malady, and his end is near. But that plot was already taken by Gilligan Gets Bugged, so this time his diagnosis is a simple tummy ache.
He is so overwhelmed by the others' compassion that he decides to amend his will to leave them all something valuable. In a very good scene, Mr. Howell presents them with his tokens of appreciation, the best being his gift to the Skipper: forty acres of downtown Denver. It's a certainly better scene than the endless squabbling by the castaways over their deeds, acting like kids at Christmas. After all, their benefactor is still very much alive.
It's here that the plot finally presents itself. Mr. Howell goes to check in on his adoring beneficiaries and finds them acting strangely. He narrowly escapes an arrow from Gilligan and the Skipper. He falls into a pit dug by the girls, then dodges a boulder seemingly pushed by the Professor. His pretty reasonable conclusion is the others are trying to collect their bounties a little bit early by, you know, trying to kill him.
From that shockwave, though, the episode begins its steady decline. The castaways decide to throw the Howells a surprise party (another well-worn trope) to show their gratitude and have a wild boar as their evening meal. Mr. Howell overhears them talking and jumps to the conclusion that he is their quarry and barricades himself in his hut. His misunderstanding can be cleared up by a few simple questions, of course, but is prolonged for comedic effect and goes on until Mrs. Howell gets to the bottom of it.
What little fun there is during this tone-deaf episode is Mr. Howell on the run from the men's search party and the odd one-liner. It doesn't last long. There is another misunderstanding where he fakes his own demise, and the entry goes back to being dour and mournful. There are no chuckles in watching the castaways weep away at a fake funeral. Mr. Howell's clumsy pratfall out of a tree brings the service to a close, and the mourners are so grateful he is still alive they give him a pass on the whole fake 'I've gone to that great big mansion in the sky' deal.
If only we could give a pass to the whole episode.
COCONOTES:
Mr. Howell has apparently never had a stomach ache before.
The Professor has a bamboo stethoscope that's never seen or used again.
Once again, the castaways' supplies mysteriously continue to grow. In the medical scene, the girls have matching nurse outfits and Mr. Howell has his own ice pack.
For the second time in the series, Gilligan is gifted an oil well by Mr. Howell.
Just wondering how the Skip is going to use a fleet of yachts in downtown Denver.
Also wondering how a wild boar wound up on the island.
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