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Original Air Date: October 28, 1984 Review completed December 3, 2005 "Parent's Night" Punky's eager to show off Henry at Parent's Night at her school, but Margaux convinces her that foster parents just don't love their kids as much. Henry unwittingly helps that assumption along by getting swamped with work and telling Punky that he'll have to miss this one. Betty sets Henry straight, but then he has convince Punky that he does care, something he fortunately manages quite well. I mention flaws, and I'll have to swat them out of the way now, for I am truly a fan of this episode. (Boy; nice, biased reviewing there.) But man, are they ever small. One of them is an unfortunate precursor to later episodes, and that's forced reactions to Punky. Punky, at one point, busts out probably the lamest joke I've ever heard (referring to Issac Newton's brother as "Fig Newton"), and the class just laughs and laughs. Yeah. I was a pretty easily-amused kid, but I don't think I would have laughed at that one. Fortunately, it's only this and another small bit, so there's not much of that here, and you can forget about it seconds after it happens. The other is the way that the secondary characters come about. The teacher flashes between amusing (stressed about Parent's Night...makes sense) and rather dumb. That's worked on in later episodes, but it's a hit-or-miss character trait here. (It's worth noting that the comedy surrounding her 'blonde moments' improves as the episode goes on. See, no biggie.) Betty is solid for the most part, but her key conversation with Henry at around the halfway mark has a couple of large, "oh-man-what's-my-line" kind of pauses in it, which is jarring given how well she and everyone else have been doing in the episode. Allan's parents are probably the worst offenders here. Okay, I get it, they're dumb. But as funny as some of those jokes would have been when I was younger, they're painful now. I know you can't please everyone, but hey, that's what I thought of it. Those are petty points, perhaps, but considering that some of my other favourites (like "Yes, Punky, There Is A Santa Claus") manage to avoid missteps of even that small margin, they need to be called out. It's all about standards. However, yes, they are small things overall, and once we get into the meat of the episode, the quality will show quite nicely. Hmm, where to start? Let's start on the overall theme. After flirting around the issue with stories like "Lost and Found", we finally have an episode dealing head-on with what's different about Punky and Henry's relationship compared to the usual nuclear family. Yes, I know that there's not much actually different; it's all in the perception of others. Still, there is a perceived difference, and one of the things that distincts Punky Brewster is that it can deal with the non-traditional family without changing a thing. I wouldn't go so far as to say that every episode needs to revolve around it, but ignoring that potiential is just a silly thing to do. Another nice touch is the role of Margaux. With a pampered, egotistical outlook on things and a knack for riling up her classmates, Margaux is a perfect antagonist for the tomboyish and quite different Punky. The story of their little rivalry throughout the episode is quite well told in classic fashion, with the evil little witch getting the best of the good girl in quite a few ways until our protagonist comes back from behind to win against the odds. That basic format is the one behind many stories of person vs. person conflict, and it works well because it shows you that the bad one needs to be taken down a peg, and makes you glad when the good one finally gets to do it. Next up; I've crucified the writing on a few episodes, but it gets a good mark here. There's the occasional off line (Punky's "Fig Newton" joke), but overall, the writers give us lots of nice one-liners and, finally, a real sense of build and flow all throughout. One thing I really notice about music and TV is how everything fits together, and how much thought is given to transitions to the next verse/scene. This episode is beautiful for that; the importance of Parent's Night to Punky is well-built from her opening scenes, Henry's actions early on are consistent with his motivations that we learn about later, and there's a nary a scene in the bunch that you could watch and say, "All that for a joke?" or "Well, that was filler." Everything has its place, and everything has its aim for enhancing the story, either by providing detail or showing us things about the characters that will be important. I've mentioned Henry, and now I'm going to have to talk about him. I'm noticing a trend that my favourite episodes tend to build Henry as a guy determined to do the right thing for Punky, and that still show his own vunerable side. Parent's Night is a perfect example; even though you'll guess it long before anyone actually says anything, it's still cool to hear about Henry choosing the course that would ultimately be best for Punky and sticking with it despite the criticism. Is it the wrong choice? In that situation, maybe, but it's still great reasoning, and you can very easily see why Henry would sacrifice the time he could spend with Punky that night for the greater good. Parenthood isn't a black-and-white thing, and seeing Henry learning that is interesting, not to mention something it's very hard to not identify with. Punky, too, is very identifiable in this episode. Not everyone has dealt with the loss of both parents at a young age, but everyone knows being alone, and that's the heart of the matter. Also, I found that many of Punky's choices and reactions were very realistic for a child, in that way that they have of being very wise and very simple. Some could argue that Punky wanting to shut the world out in the one scene is perhaps unrealistically complex for an eight-year-old, but her explanation goes a long way in helping that; a kid's not going to stay in an uncomfortable situation if they can help it in any way. Even her gags are pretty realistic; in particular, I was impressed with the scene where Punky tries to explain Henry's absence, in that she gets flustered, and Soleil Moon Frye gives a very good impression of improvising as she gets stuck on Margaux's argument and tries to use it ("...if he were on Earth!") That's just nice, and pretty high-brow for a kid's show. I've neglected some characters here, so let's make amends. Eddie re-appears here, and while the part isn't much better, the gag he gets of a delayed doorbell is worth a chuckle. (Although he appears extremely stupid when he answers it the second time.) Cherie starts to finally get some personality here; she comes across as more of a fun-loving slacker, not particularly inclined to bust her butt in the classroom and willing to roll with the punches; a counterpart to Punky's brashness. Allan... I knew that kid could be more than he was. While the goofy giggle isn't gone yet, it gets less emphasis, and he gets some really good lines that Casey Ellison delivers like gold. Allan works better as a scatterbrain and a goofball than an outright dummy, and slowly but surely, the writers are figuring that out. Plus, how do you hate anyone who comes out with, "I hit my dad in the head with a baseball once, and all he taught me was a bunch of words I can't use!"? Finally, we have the one thing that makes or breaks an episode; the interaction between Punky and Henry. With Soleil Moon Frye and George Gaynes proven by now to work well together, it's all up to the writers to give them material, and they did it. The final talk in the janitor's cloest (interesting setting...) gives the impression that there's much the two can learn from each other, and while we've known it forever, Punky finally getting the explanation of why she was adopted is a nice payoff for the build. You could argue that things wrap up a little quickly, but there's only so realistic you can go with Punky, and really, you need a happy, sticky-sweet ending for this kind of an episode anyway. Realism doesn't always equal a good story, so I'll definitely take the "fake" version. "Parent's Night" is a classical tale of overcoming odds, a strongly-characterised episode, and the first classic of the series since the beginning. This is a story that could have easily slipped into mundane, or boring, or overly relevant; instead, it's juuuuust right. If you don't like this episode, maybe Punky's not for you. - Jimmy Vibes Do the click |