Thoughts on Mad About You, episodes 21-25

via IMDB

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"It doesn't matter what I do or what you do. There's a quality you have. There's a certain 'youness,' you know? And that's what I'm in love with."
"No matter what I do?"
"Yes. Listen, if love depended on what you do, then I'd love this guy. But I don't. I love this guy."
"Because?"
"Because he has a basic Murrayness. So that's why I love him, and that's why I love you."
"I have a Murrayness?"
"You do. You really do."
"You were very close to the edge there."
"But I pulled it off."
"You did. You really did."

-- With this batch, Paul and Jamie go from newlyweds to married people. They'll stay in this category for the next 3-4 seasons, a period of the show that's my favorite. Almost everything feels more confident in this batch: the writing, the performances, the characterization. In-universe, the Buchmans' strength comes as the Devanows weaken.
-- "The Painter" and "Happy Anniversary," an unofficial two-parter*, begin this batch. Jamie hires her old friend Sherman Williams (Rick Rossovich) to paint the apartment. It turns out they dated for about a month in 1985, but it ended when he dumped her. "Now, what he said was he loved me so much he'd be destroyed if I left him so he had to leave me first." "I used that line once." "Yeah, but she bought it." Meanwhile, Ira's flirting with Lisa (we'll find out why in "Murray's Tale") and Fran's a little too into preparing the rooms.
*Both are directed by Barnet Kellman. "Painter" is by Danny Jacobson and Jeffrey Lane, while "Anniversary" is the last script from Sally Lapiduss & Pamela Eells.
-- While Lisa's attracted to Sherman and Jamie has some residual affection, the woman he really hits it off with is Fran. Paul discovers them having sex in his and Jamie's bed. He had to bust down the door to do so, creating evidence of what Jamie thinks was a jealous fight. Fran, after unconvincingly insisting her hookup was a spur of the moment thing, reveals Mark moved out two weeks ago. It happened after a fight over $7 mustard, but has more to do with Mark acting on how he feels inside. He needs something more in his life, just avoids finding out about Fran and Sherman ("Nice guy. Is he any good?" "(the ladies in unison) Yes.") and ends up leaving the apartment building in an off screen but increasingly clear and heartbreaking scene observed by Paul and Jamie.
-- Everyone's in an adjustment stage as "Anniversary" begins. Fran misses Mark and is hurt that Ryan wants the Little Mermaid to be his mommy. Paul and Jamie are enduring awkward dinners for three. Mark, nearing 40 and feeling like an infant when it comes to the world, is interested in a life of adventure. He wants to sorta re-enact Easy Rider. "You bought a motorcycle?" "No, a Range Rover. I can't ride a motorcycle. I don't have an ass."
-- Paul also wants to bridge the past-present gap. He's going to recreate his and Jamie's cake-cutting, since it's the only major event not included in their wedding album. That's what happens when you criticize the photographer until he quits. Jamie wants to cancel the party, which leads to a 2 a.m. conversation about what is a perfect couple, disagreements, criticism, correcting jokes and being tired. Her paranoia continues as the party begins. "We are not them." "They weren't them at first. They weren't them for years. Now they're them. *door buzzer* That's them."
-- And what a night it is. Ira learns about Fran being single, immediately following it up with whether she's dating yet**. Paul reveals his surprise to Jamie. Mark arrives late after having delivered triplets ("It's like pulling three pot roasts out of a Pringles can."). He and Fran are tense, each just keeping from making a scene. Warren temporarily quits the photography job. Mark (and Lisa & Ira) learn about Fran sleeping with Sherman, which also extends into why she has a key to the Buchmans' and he doesn't. Fran ends up learning about Mark's plans. She might not be there when he gets back, but it's a chance he has to take.
**FORESHADOWING!
-- Jamie's still scared about her and Paul's future, but he puts her mind at ease with an incredibly sweet speech. They're not growing apart, they're growing together. Nobody's going to work harder at their marriage than the two of them. And if that's not enough, they've got kitchen table sex, something their friends are now able to identify.
-- The Courtship of Warren & Connie: "Let me ask you something. If you're married for a million years, does your wedding album go platinum?" She's frazzled as ever and he burns for her. "I'm gonna play with her head like a drunk kitten." They might be an odd couple -- "It's like a David Lynch version of When Harry Met Sally ...." -- but there seems to be genuine attraction. Of all things, I got my biggest laugh at him telling her not to look at anyone else while he's a way. After a second, she looks at her feet. Alas, this was Meagen Fay's last appearance on MAY.
-- In "Tale," Lisa's been using Murray to meet men. "It's not a secret." "Yeah, but why don't you get him a big hat and an El Dorado?" Paul finally allows this once Jamie says that if Lisa meets a man, she won't be over as much. Anyway, Lisa lets Murray off his leash, loses him and comes back with a lookalike dog who behaves normally and actually obeys commands. "Murray has a white spot and vacant eyes. This dog knows things." "Tale" was written by Billy Grundfest and directed by Thomas Schlamme, who helmed about a third of season two's episodes.
-- All hands are on deck to find Murray. Ira and Lisa search the park. Warren and Fran ride in her car. Paul and Jamie visit the police. Sgt. Panino (Jerry Adler, soon to be Mr. Wicker) turns out to be a dog lover mourning his late partner, Pete. Meanwhile, Warren reveals he's a "peripheral visionary" (i.e. someone making guesses). Ira, who has to augment his yelling to "Murray the dog! Murray the dog!," learns from Lisa that she doesn't really like him anymore. " It was a year and a half ago. I was drunk at my sister's wedding. And, frankly, I needed to punish myself."
-- Paul and Jamie do their reaffirmation of love routine under the guise of talking about lookalikes and their pet's "Murrayness." Soon after, Paul sorta has it out with Lisa, who also lost Ira, but her only takeaway is that he considers her family. After this, Paul and Jamie reunite with the real Murray. The Buchmans had Simon, belonging to Saul and Janey Beckner (David Elzey & Nancy Kerr). Having them be bizarro versions of Paul and Jamie was a good ending. "But you know who really held us together was Janey's sister. The woman is a rock."
-- Lee Shallat Chemel also tried her hand at directing MAY. She helms "Bing, Bang, Boom," a mostly three-hander (I'm counting Murray), written by Grundfest and Reiser. Thanks to his cameras breaking, Paul's home for an evening. He and Jamie are gonna have sex. Meanwhile, Murray is chasing after a nonexistent mouse and slamming into the walls while doing so. That's one way to spoil the mood. So's radio station after radio station with nothing but music from dead people, Jamie hitting her funny bone, Mrs. Stemple*** calling and talking about her bunion, Jamie's potential body insecurity, Murray watching, arguing neighborhood couples, Fran calling and uncertainty over whether the bing and the bang are needed. "Can either one of us shut up?"
***No clue who provided the voiceover.
-- The Total Filmmaker: New York at Night. New York. At night. The only things we know so far about this project are the title, that Paul goes on a ride along ("Bedfellows") and he tries something ambitious with a window ("Boom"). "It's not outside looking in, it's not inside looking out. It's inside looking out, looking back in which I don't think anybody's ever done." Until I know more -- what, does he go to clubs, talk to janitors or cabbies, get a few shots from a helicopter? -- I'm thinking this sounds like a slightly better episode of Cops. 
-- Fran arrives, having jogged 86 blocks from her place. Her ass feels great! She goes to the gym by herself, to museums by herself, to couples counseling by herself. "I'm gonna die by myself and that's just fine." Realizing what she walked in on, Fran sets in motion Paul's belated discovery that his ears get all red when he's turned on. He wishes he knew that in junior high, as he would have carried his books much higher. It turns out Paul and Jamie's second time having sex was amazing, largely thanks to the bing and the bang. They had champagne and pâté, not to mention watched Casablanca. She lied, though, about it being her first time seeing it. "You were the first guy to tell me it was produced by Hal Wallis."
-- Back to the buzzkills. Casablanca's been taped over. "Today on Oprah: Hookers predict the Oscars." Paul and Jamie realize they know each other too well to just boom, and the bing and the boom apparently just aren't happening. She ends up reading, he ends up working on the movie ... for a while, until they do run off to have sex.
-- She's heere! Cynthia Harris debuts as Sylvia Buchman in "Bedfellows," directed by Schlamme and written by Danny Jacobson. Paul and Jamie's early morning argument -- she thought they'd be sharing breakfast, which he had with the officers he filmed -- is interrupted by Ira. Burt collapsed at the store. He's in the hospital and Sylvia (who didn't tell Jamie any of that when they were talking) says he'll be okay. "Don't trust my mom. According to her, Grandma's still taking a nap."
-- Sylvia's in fine form at the hospital, driving everyone nuts. "Maybe your wife wants to sit down." "Wanna sit?" "It's okay." "I say black, she says white." The party includes Sharon Buchman (Randy Graff, in a one-and-done performance), Paul's divorced sister. She dropped out of graduate school to get married, which Sylvia didn't approve of. Anyway, Burt collapsed because he tried to move a (fiberglass) pool table by himself****. It was a mild heart attack. Paul and Sharon, meanwhile, immediately recognize why they're so screwed up. Reiser and Graff had great brother-sister chemistry. It's a shame she didn't hang around.
****The others are right to criticize Burt. My kid brother's a mover and he doesn't do that sort of thing alone.
-- Speaking of that, Sylvia accepts Jamie's offer. The Buchmans end up staying over at her and Burt's place. "That's yesterday's (coffee)." "I know but yesterday was a good day, so I thought I'd relive it." "Very funny. Meanwhile, your father's in the hospital." "Did you talk to Lisa?" "She said she'd walk Murray." "Oh, that Lisa, she's so sweet." "Yeah, I guess she is." "You two are so different." It's not much different from the standard in-laws are a pain jokes, but the performances make the difference. Jamie tries to break through Sylvia's shell, which just makes Sylvia ask about Paul's health before she mentions that his old classmate, Larry Black, has to have a testicle removed. "... but supposedly, he's very successful." For her part, Sylvia insists she's lovely to Jamie and Burt is crazy about her. She then ends up manipulating Paul into eating some turkey before mentioning that he looks heavy.
-- I think I'm going to give my crown to this episode, although really, there's not a bad one in the batch. There's the fun of seeing Paul and Jamie in his old room. I do have to ask: outside of sitcoms, does any parent really keep a room the way their kid left it? Will Paul and Jamie have sex in the room or won't they? "In 17 years in this room, I never got past this point. I'm begging you." They move a dresser against the door to keep out Sylvia, then a mattress onto the floor to allow for more space. Underneath the mattress was a Playboy from 1975. The lead model isn't actually a blonde. Sylvia's at the door again. They end up not having sex.
-- Back at the hospital, the kids realize Burt's heart rate is affected by his proximity to Sylvia. She's away, it's stable. She's near, it's elevated. Sharon: "Oh my God. She's gonna kill him and come live with me." Sylvia also pulls off a truly impressive one-two-three punch of consecutive insults. "You're becoming a bitter divorcée. Maybe Jamie knows someone for you. You must meet plenty of nice men working all the time. Your brother meets nobody but film people." Jamie learns her lesson. She never wants to be that kind of wife. As for Burt, of course his heart races when Sylvia's near. "The love of my life's here. When I see her, my heart goes pitter-patter."
-- I've got nothing against Lisa, per se, but if you're bringing a brownie to the guy whose dog you lost, a guy whose brownie you ate earlier, it's maybe a good idea not to eat it yourself. And no, "it's the thought" does not apply in this situation ("Tale"). "Do you want to find Murray or beat up my sister?" "Frankly, I'd like to do both."
-- Fun Meta Humor: Mark: "Did you ever see that movie Alien?" Paul: "Only the first one." ("Painter").
-- Continuity Corner: The bad blood between Ira and Jamie's grandmother was because he pinched her at the Buchmans' wedding ("Anniversary"). Ira and Paul first found Murray, in a situation involving turkey sandwiches ("Tale"). Jamie noticed Paul's aroused ears on December 28, 1989, when she wore a green miniskirt ("Boom"). Paul and Jamie are six blocks away, although it's unclear if that's from the hospital or Buchmans Sporting Goods ("Bedfellows"). Debbie Buchman is in Barbados and ends up sending a get well soon gift ("Bedfellows").
-- Hey, It's the Electronic Era!: Jamie has a computer diary ("Boom").
-- Different Times: The same cheap animation used for the Moby! marquee is back in the Chelsea Plaza establishing shot ("Painter").
-- Fanservice Junction: Sherman's got a cute little belly button, according to Paul. Ira: "He's a statue with pants." ("Painter"). Jamie asks Fran about his gorgeous chest, but she admits they had anal sex. "Who noticed? Most of the time I was facing the pillow" ("Anniversary").
-- Words to Live By: "A whistling Frenchman is no Frenchman at all." ("Boom").
-- Before the Credits: Unable to get Murray off the couch, Paul and Jamie decide to go to a movie ("Tale"). Jamie tricks Paul into re-checking if the front door's chained ("Boom"). Jamie's moved by In a Lonely Place, but it's almost ruined as Paul goes by singing "Wooly Bully" ("Bedfellows").
-- During the Credits: Leila Kenzle gets promoted to third billing for season two, with John Pankow behind her. Anne Ramsay keeps her "and" billing at the end.
-- Under the Credits: Photos of Paul and Jamie cutting the cake ("Anniversary"). In "Tale," they try getting Murray off their bed while in "Boom," Paul and Helen let viewers know that he wasn't actually hurt or abused. It segues into assurances that Helen's elbow is fine and Paul's hair will grow back.
-- Ratings Roundup: A range of 9.1 (for "Anniversary") to 12 (for "Tale"). Starting in fall 1993, MAY led NBC's Thursday lineup. It faced Missing Persons on ABC, In the Heat of the Night on CBS and The Simpsons on FOX. So far, the sitcoms are near-equal adversaries.