Gadget Corner on Tool Time features a demonstration of an air-powered furniture mover, showing how to easily convey a fridge without lifting it. Naturally, Tim has to go one better and bring out a "slightly tweaked" furniture mover. In short, the fridge blows out of control and probably ends up killing a guy. At home, Jill tells Tim about her friend Patty, who's in her early forties, and is now pregnant, and her whole world is coming apart. Tim wonders why they didn't just use protection, to which Jill responds they used the same kind she and Tim did...which I guess was none. So in light of this occurrence, Jill broaches the subject of Tim possibly getting a vasectomy. But why Tim, and why doesn't Jill get her tubes tied? Apparently because that's major surgery, as opposed to a vasectomy done right in the doctor's office. Naturally, Tim is very uncomfortable with that prospect, as all us guys would be, and he books it down to Harry's Hardware, where unfortunately, Marty somehow found out about Tim's appointment with the urologist and blabs it to the other guys. Marty and Benny joke and rib in a very mean spirited way, as only they can, relating Tim's operation to a dog getting neutered. The only support Tim has is Al's, who calls it a "loving thing" he's doing.
Tim is extremely dismayed to find out the urologist is a woman doctor, and she explains the procedure to him in explicit detail, including "shaving" and getting a shot of local in the sac, but reassuring him it will not in any way affect his "performance." But what really hits close to home is when he's informed he won't be able to drive home that day, so he gets up and leaves. There's a B plot about Randy making the girls' "best/worst" list at school, and he made "best butt", which he can't seem to stop checking out in a mirror. But that doesn't go anywhere...so Tim and Jill come home, bickering like little siblings over Tim's refusal to listen to reason and being adamant about keeping all his parts in tact. The fight gets to a head when Tim says Jill doesn't understand about "the pain down there", to which she reminds him of all the torture she went through having three boys, having them ripped out, getting torn and such. So Tim retreats to the backyard, where thankfully Wilson was also outside, and they have one of their world famous talks. He points out to Tim that there's more to being a man than just procreation: how he lives his life, raises his boys and how he treats Jill. However, Tim still wasn't so sure. It wasn't until he got a surprise visit from Harry, who not only came to apologize for Tim's treatment the other day, but to reveal to him a previously undisclosed secret: Harry himself had a vasectomy. It seems after they had 4 children, Deloris was going to get a tubal ligation, but she was scared about the surgery, and since Harry is a 'Nam vet, he felt he could take anything, so he made the commitment. He assures Tim it's nothing to worry about...and it even enhances your sex life. I think he's sold. So he and Jill talk, this time like adults, and Tim eventually goes through with it and has the vasectomy done, and now they'll be doing it like rabbits.
Okay, other than being an excuse to throw in as many vasectomy jokes into a script as possible, this was yet another sitcom episode that deals with the issue of a couple not wanting to have more kids, and so the basic solution is: get an operation. Yeah, that's all well and good, but, um, isn't there something put on the market that can be used as protection for a couple who don't want to get pregnant? Some kind of elastic invention that fits like a glove...oh, what is it called? Oh yeah, a CONDOM?! Why can't people wear condoms? Tim could just start wearing Binford 6100 condoms made out of croc skin and you tie them on with a bungee cord. Why must people ultimately decide to go to a doctor and get something tied?? Speaking of which, and yes I know a tubal ligation is a bigger effort than a vasectomy, but how about a compromise? It shouldn't just be limited to the man. If Tim got the vasectomy, Jill could get her tubes tied. It's a pain, but...still! If I were in Tim's shoes, I'd have suggested that. Oh, and I'm reminded of an All in the Family episode where Gloria pushes Mike to get a vasectomy after she gets a false alarm. That episode was far worse than this Home Improvement one, because there it tried to seem like Mike was in the wrong, but on HI we saw both sides. I don't really recommend The Vasectomy One, aside from being teeth-gratingly unfunny, it will leave you feeling very angry and frustrated...and crossing your legs.
Tim is extremely dismayed to find out the urologist is a woman doctor, and she explains the procedure to him in explicit detail, including "shaving" and getting a shot of local in the sac, but reassuring him it will not in any way affect his "performance." But what really hits close to home is when he's informed he won't be able to drive home that day, so he gets up and leaves. There's a B plot about Randy making the girls' "best/worst" list at school, and he made "best butt", which he can't seem to stop checking out in a mirror. But that doesn't go anywhere...so Tim and Jill come home, bickering like little siblings over Tim's refusal to listen to reason and being adamant about keeping all his parts in tact. The fight gets to a head when Tim says Jill doesn't understand about "the pain down there", to which she reminds him of all the torture she went through having three boys, having them ripped out, getting torn and such. So Tim retreats to the backyard, where thankfully Wilson was also outside, and they have one of their world famous talks. He points out to Tim that there's more to being a man than just procreation: how he lives his life, raises his boys and how he treats Jill. However, Tim still wasn't so sure. It wasn't until he got a surprise visit from Harry, who not only came to apologize for Tim's treatment the other day, but to reveal to him a previously undisclosed secret: Harry himself had a vasectomy. It seems after they had 4 children, Deloris was going to get a tubal ligation, but she was scared about the surgery, and since Harry is a 'Nam vet, he felt he could take anything, so he made the commitment. He assures Tim it's nothing to worry about...and it even enhances your sex life. I think he's sold. So he and Jill talk, this time like adults, and Tim eventually goes through with it and has the vasectomy done, and now they'll be doing it like rabbits.
Okay, other than being an excuse to throw in as many vasectomy jokes into a script as possible, this was yet another sitcom episode that deals with the issue of a couple not wanting to have more kids, and so the basic solution is: get an operation. Yeah, that's all well and good, but, um, isn't there something put on the market that can be used as protection for a couple who don't want to get pregnant? Some kind of elastic invention that fits like a glove...oh, what is it called? Oh yeah, a CONDOM?! Why can't people wear condoms? Tim could just start wearing Binford 6100 condoms made out of croc skin and you tie them on with a bungee cord. Why must people ultimately decide to go to a doctor and get something tied?? Speaking of which, and yes I know a tubal ligation is a bigger effort than a vasectomy, but how about a compromise? It shouldn't just be limited to the man. If Tim got the vasectomy, Jill could get her tubes tied. It's a pain, but...still! If I were in Tim's shoes, I'd have suggested that. Oh, and I'm reminded of an All in the Family episode where Gloria pushes Mike to get a vasectomy after she gets a false alarm. That episode was far worse than this Home Improvement one, because there it tried to seem like Mike was in the wrong, but on HI we saw both sides. I don't really recommend The Vasectomy One, aside from being teeth-gratingly unfunny, it will leave you feeling very angry and frustrated...and crossing your legs.
