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Original Air Date: January 12, 1986 Review completed January 29, 2007 "Girls Will Be Boys" Henry comes home from his Buffalo meeting with a package for Punky; the brand-new contest prize of... a remote-controlled race car? Apparently, the sponsors for the contest couldn't decide on whether "Punky" was a boy or a girl. Nonetheless, Punky wants to keep the car and race it, much to Henry' chagrin. And with her not being allowed on the boy's track to race, it seems everyone is against her. She and Cherie take matters into their own hands, dressing up as boys to gain access, though they accidentally reveal themselves just before the race. Henry appears to argue Punky's right to race, which she does, and wins. Do both of those sound familiar? Look up at the summary. Then mix liberally with the most vicious characterization of Henry ever. Welcome to a very irritating episode. If you go onward into the next two seasons of Punky Brewster, you'll see that this episode is the kick-off point for one of the few carried-over plot threads from the original seasons; Henry's memberships in the Benevolent Order of Buffalo (the name changes a few times). Uh, right. It's an excuse to laugh at Henry a few times. At least George Gaynes runs with it full tilt when he has to do these bits. What I want to know is why, exactly, Henry is so quick to put down Punky's ability to handle a car. Before I cued up the episode, I wrote a blurb from memory about how Henry made a good point in mid-episode and had it ignored. Well, that would be a good case study as to why I sit with the computer on one side and the TV on the other. I realize attitudes have changed quite a bit in the past twenty years, but the attitudes expressed here are more at home in sitcoms out of the 60s and 70s. There's no way this episode was written before 1985, so that makes for some embarrassing dating before the episode even aired, never mind watching it in 2007. Oh, there's a cute scene, Allan and Henry laughing at Punky like heels out of an old WWF event. Is there any reason for this? Storywise, I realize that they need a hard case to soften up for story purposes, but Henry? Why Henry? It goes so far out of character that he sounds like a huge dick. That makes tons of sense, really it does. Ah, apparently sarcasm can be flammable. Be right back after I get the extinguisher. Watching onward, I can think of a hundred other things to write, but they're all variants on the above paragraphs. Except: The race scenes are pretty good given the time and budget of the show. The commentary going on during the action is a nice touch (even reflecting that it's not a neutral party doing the job), and the racing itself actually does look fun. If I were ten years old again, I'd be digging this. Granted, I'm not ten, and I'd have to go down to the sad-sack model raceway to do any of this stuff today. So let's leave that one to the 80s. Also, quick note: this guy playing Richmond is an awful actor. I realize I'm talking about a group of child actors from the 80s, but jeez, he stutters all over bunches of his lines and sounds like he's reading half the time. Of course, watch as I check later and find out that the guy died later on or something, like what happened when I ranted all over Spud on the forum. (No, it's even worse; Peter Billingsley is playing Richmond?! The guy from A Christmas Story?! What happened there; mailed-in performance for Punky or something?) Now, here's a thought. At heart, Henry's point isn't completely invalid. As far as equality has come and may yet go, men and women still have their differences, and both sides need to seperate every once in a while. Granted, it's not an excuse to keep the ladies out of legitimate opportunities, but there is some truth there. If the point were made a little more fairly, this could be a well-balanced episode. Is it made fairly? Heck no. Punky and Mike make good points for their side of things, but everyone on the con side is nothing but a complete jerk. Henry starts the episode by sneering at the thought of Punky building a race car and doesn't look back until his complete 180 at the end, which makes little sense given how much of an unjustified hardass he's been up until that point. Anything for Punky, I'm sure, but what happened to him being more kind towards her viewpoints in the first place? Allan... don't take this the wrong way, gentle reader, but for some reason Allan's attitude doesn't surprise me as much. For one, he's a ten-year-old boy. They're like that. Second, he's got some huge peer pressure going, given the group he hangs out with. Richmond? Probably gets it from his dad. Richmond's dad? Well, okay, he's a jerk too. But he's a funny jerk because he relents under far less pressure than Henry, which just makes Henry look worse. And hey, where's Betty for most of this? Why hasn't Henry caught a right hook somewhere in this episode? I hate to invoke this phrase, I really do, but now is the time like no other: This episode actually offended me. Was I looking for something like a debate? Heck no. But there's no reason for Henry to be an ill-informed asshole the entire time. I'm not going to lie and say that there's no problem today with gender issues, but the real problems are worlds apart from what's here. The show had its "villains" in Richmond and his father, and that would have been fine, but then the need was felt to villify Henry. Screw that. That's cheap, pro-wrestling style heat that should have never came near a Punky Brewster episode. This episode can go away. The heelish Henry can go fight Hulk Hogan or something. As for me, I'll psych up for better episodes to come. - Jimmy Vibes |