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Original Air Date: February 17, 1985 Review completed February 25, 2006 "I Love You Brandon" Henry has just brought a horrifically rare set of stamps at an estate sale, and Brandon swallows them. Punky takes him for a walk to get him away from a furious Henry, but a car comes along, and Brandon pushes Punky out of the way and gets hit himself. Punky receives some comfort from a fellow worried waiter at the clinic, but the news from the veteranian is not good; Brandon has a severe concussion and little chance of waking up, and euthanasia is recommended. Punky, after some struggle, ends up agreeing, but goes in first to implore Brandon to wake up one last time. He responds. The news soon follows that their new friend's dog has died, and Punky has some hard questions for Henry, ones that he can't answer. The Prince jokes at the beginning of the episode are one of the biggest examples of dating the show; only the young Michael Jackson poster in the first episode and the "What's a VCR?" question in the next one are bigger. No one actually watching this show is going to complain, of course; I'm noting it mostly because it's a good example of such. I really liked the pun on "Purple Rain"; it's a good line that somehow avoids making Henry sound out of it. The sequences with our exciting stamp adventures, on the other hand... yeah, I was almost asleep. I appreciate taking the time to set up the story leading into our main crisis of the day, but spending any time taking about freakin' stamps, of all things, is as exciting as it sounds. Then again, it gave me a great (and altogether unintentional) belly laugh when the "exciting discovery" incidental music came up for getting out a stamp book. Who in the heck decided on that one? "Oh yeah, he's getting those stamps, fuddermonstas!" Riiiiight. Likewise, there's something off about the sequence leading up to the accident. I can't even say what it is, just something unnatural-seeming about the little stamp fight that happens there. The best thing I can think of is Henry's sudden blow-up over Brandon's chewing habits; he's known about that for ages and has never performed any canine discipline outside of laying down the law in the first episode. Yeah, he's mad about the stamps, but the mood swing is just too far; it's seems out-of-character. It also make Punky sound preachy when she calls him on it, even though she's reacting quite naturally. A little note about the accident itself; obviously, such a thing would be tricky to shoot considering the budget, the inherent violence involved, and the fact that an animal is the victim. So, it's all done with trickery; off-screen sounds, a hurried appeal for help away from the scene, and a verbal explanation later. I thought that a very good job was done in conveying the accident without showing it; the reactions combine with your imagination and make it have far more of an impact than anything that could have been caught on video, even if a higher budget had been approved for the stunt. It also lays down the groundwork for the rest of the episode, because if the accident had felt unconvincing or weak, the rest wouldn't work. Speaking of the rest of the episode, we are now introduced to Grace Carnie, dog owner in... well, no distress, actually; she seems pretty calm. Her introduction is pretty smooth and natural, it is nice to note. Other than that, she's mostly here to play a calm matronly role. Good enough. More on her later, but for this point in the episode, she continues to make you think that there's no one in the Punky universe with a whole, stable family. I realize that the series is trying hard to represent the more unconventional families, but isn't there any stable ones besides Punky and Henry? I've done more than a fair share of ripping on the episodes so far, after epilitically saying in the intro that I liked it. So here's Impressed Moment #1; the talk of pet euthanasia. This episode takes a no-nonsense approach to the subject; there's no fancy talk of Doggie Heaven or anything of that sort, just geniune conflict over the decision to put a pet to death. I realize that that isn't a neutral statement, but that's the best I can do with a hard subject. However, the show does an amazing job at showing a little bit of why such a thing would have to be done, and all of it with real talk done as far as the guidelines of kid's television would allow. Very well done, sirs. Likewise, the decision is handed to Punky, rather than having Henry solve things; very respectful. It's a very emotionally-charged scene, but the most surprising thing about it is Soleil's performance. Most of the role of Punky is done in an overstated kind of way, which is okay given what the character is like. Here, however, it's a very understated acting job, and it showed that Soleil definitely had great natural skill on her side. It also makes it virtually impossible to watch the final appeal there and not feel anything. Wow. Brandon waking up at the end; well, what another ending was there; having Punky make an impassioned plea and have Brandon die anyway? Really, though, I think it's possible enough; people will themselves out of near-death in real life. Henry even gets a line in there to tie the action together. Nothing too impossible seeming for me here; those looking for realism rants had best move along. And although the event that sparks it off is suspect (see below), Punky's question about life and death is another thing I liked, entirely because of Henry's reaction. It's about time a show depicts a character that doesn't have all of the answers that doesn't make them look like a buffoon for it. Having Carnie's dog die at the end is something I have more negative feelings about. Quite honestly, I think it's cheap; it reduces her role to having another dog die so that the writers can keep Brandon and still explore pet death. That is sloppy writing and cheap emotional manipulation; why not just have her dog be the subject of the episode? It's a very sour note at the end of a lovely sequence that has explored some tough issues, and I think that it sucks. So, there's some uneven spots, but the overall episode comes out well, like someone took the format for "Punky Finds a Home, Part 3" and beefed up the climax. One thing to say for certain; it's not an episode that leaves you feeling neutral; it inspires reaction, and that's something to like. Television that has opinions. - Jimmy Vibes It has come to my attention through feedback (left on the forum linked on the front page... visit it) that my last point, about the death of the dog, was a vague and rather harsh point, and upon further review, even I have to agree. Don't expect this every time I get a disagreement, but I will open this one back up to clarify a bit and try to even things out. The point that really hit home about the counter-argument was an implication that I hadn't felt a thing about the death of the dog. Not true, and I suppose that kills a fair amount of my argument in the process of admitting that. But I do certainly admit to being a little saddened during that part. So, my statement about having negative feelings about the scene isn't totally true. Am I retracting that statement? No, not totally. The scene is effective in conveying the sadness of the dog's passing, and it does offer the opportunity to explore death in a way that won't change the course of the entire series. My problem arises in the timing of the scene, in that it's obviously constructed so that the death announcement will just happen to co-incide with Brandon's recovery. That is the manipulation I referred to, and it is one of my biggest pet peeves in any kind of fiction, regardless of how well done it is. Does that count as reviewer bias? Why yes it does. That does drag down the episode in my view, but it is not likely to concern very many other people. Therefore, the end result of all this is that my mind isn't changed, but I now freely admit that it's more of a personal thing. Your mileage will vary. Do the click |