Mork & Mindy: Reflections and Regrets

Mork & Mindy: Reflections and Regrets
ABC
May 14, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B+

This Tenowich & Scharlach story is a solid B for the most part.  The entire cast is present (except, significantly, Orson), yet they're all given moments to shine, and it would in fact be the final appearances for Hecht, Staahl, and Thomas.  (Stephanie Kayano and Amy Tenowich also briefly make their last appearances, as Stephanie and Lola.)  They're all gathered to celebrate Mr. Bickley's 50th birthday.  (Poston was actually pushing 60 but didn't look it.)  He has many regrets, including that he's never told his 27-year-old son Tom the facts of life.  The others share their regrets, ranging from funny (Remo's that women only want him for his body) to dark (Fred's that he killed a man in self-defense during the Korean War).

Mindy avoids sharing hers until everyone has gone home, so that she can tell Mork in private that she regrets that her mother didn't have the chance to meet Mork.  She couldn't say this in front of their friends because she'd have to talk about Mork being from outer space.  It's a sweet, moving confession.  And then Mork says what he'd say to Mindy's mom, and it's unclear if she's really there (as she was in the episode set in the old house).  Mork says that he loves Mindy, and then he tells her directly.  She says, "I love you, too, Mork."  And I dissolve into a pool of emotions.  (No, seriously, I was sobbing!)  It's a lovely way to close out the third season, and to lead to the beginning of the fourth.

Other than this episode, Season Three ranges from C to B, and factoring the B+ in gives an average on the C+/B- border, slightly to the B- side.  And, yes, there are a lot of cuspy shows for '80-'81, a time when television and the world were in transition.  The eighties but not The Eighties, if you will.  As for M & M, this episode proves that there was still life in the series, although Season Four would take it to some unexpected places, Ork among them.