Although it begins with a played-for-chuckles bit when his adopted family first discovers his attackers were women -- "What was it Monroe, a street gang? How many were there, four, five?" Mr. Rush (Ted Knight) asks. "Two women," the effete tenant responds, to uproarious (canned) laughter, from there the episode takes on a serious and thoughtful tone -- a requisite sitcom touch -- with Mr. Rush treating Monroe with utmost respect and sensitivity. The shock for me was that it was the women rather than Mr. Rush who are so skeptical of the crime, and don't believe it's even possible. "It's the same crime whether the victim is a man or a woman," Henry tells Muriel, who replies, "You know a woman is helpless in that situation. But a man? I just don't see how it could happen without his cooperation." Daughters Jackie (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) and Sara (Lydia Cornell) concur. Mrs. Rush (the lovely Nancy Dussault, whom I grew up watching on "Good Morning America") later says that it "just doesn't seem as serious when it happens to a man," to which Henry indignantly states: "You three are always talking about equal rights and now suddenly only women are attacked? When it happens to a man he's a willing participant." (Nicely played, Mr. Rush!)
What surprised me most is that after a few minutes of funny faces and euphemisms about what "happened," the word "rape" is used for the duration of the show, first by Monroe -- when he tells Mr. Rush he's afraid of going to the authorities because he's seen what happens to "all those rape victims in movies" -- and later by Mr. Rush and a detective.
Although I can see why it was pulled out of syndication and left off the DVDs -- this was seven or eight years after the chilling episode of "All in the Family" in which a man tried to rape Edith on her 50th birthday, yet even after finally seeing it last night the idea of a sitcom doing an episode about male rape still seems inconceivable today -- for what it was (a mediocre sitcom to begin with), this Very Special Episode holds up remarkably well, and offers some true insights into the largely misunderstood topic of the sexual abuse of men. (I won't even touch on the fact that when we finally meet Monroe's attackers -- it's a sitcom, of course
I have reached out to several of the show's principals and am hoping to update this post with their comments. So far just Lydia Cornell has responded, lamenting that she actually doesn't even remember the episode. (Her part was being diminished as the series went on, so she was barely in this one.)
Mr. Rush confronts Monroe's attackers, one of whom was played by a man in drag.
Watch and let me know what you think:
UPDATE: The episode has been removed from YouTube.
But you can see bits of it in this clip ...
This is the greatest episode of television ever. Why didn't I write my thesis on this?
ReplyDeletewow...what a great post! I had no idea this even existed.
ReplyDeletethat was really disturbing. Monroe had such childlike innocence I couldn't laugh at anything in this episode. It was just so creepy.
ReplyDeleteIf it had been two hot women then I wouldn't have had a problem...Attack me all night...But those two behemoths? Yeah I would have reported them.
ReplyDeleteMonroe was so Gay! He would've enjoyed if it were two guys instead. I'm not making a homophobic comment. I'm gay. I'm just saying...
ReplyDeleteI think I have seen that tall woman in other shows (one of Mimi's dock worker friends on Drew Carey, possibly?). She always wore rouge and a perm and played female strongarm bit parts in the 90s.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the IMDB page for this episode only shows the regular cast and the police inspector as a guest. The two women are not credited.
ReplyDelete@IMDB Sleuth: I totally noticed that too! Was dying to try to contact the duo.
ReplyDeleteYou can see the episode on pluto tv it has all the seasons 1-6.
ReplyDeleteThank for this article. Young people will not understand the "very special episode trauma" of this show, "Blossom", "Different Strokes", "Saved by the Bell", etc
ReplyDelete