Three's Company: A Friend in Need

Three's Company: A Friend in Need
ABC
February 16, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
C

Things wrong with this episode:

• Felipe (Gino Conforti) is not Jack's friend, and yet when he shows up and asks Jack to cover for him at the restaurant (where he got the head chef job after Jack was fired), Jack is happy to. 
• And Felipe is going to give his new baby (due in a few days) Jack's name as one of his middle names.  (Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers gets top honors.)
• Jack getting fired from Angelino's seems like something we should've seen, especially since the last we heard, Jack was waiting around to go back to work after the remodeling.
• Terry Kiser returns, as mobster Mr. Canon, who loves Jack's cooking, so Angelino wants Jack to replace Felipe, and then Jack decides to get himself fired again, and there are so many things wrong with this scenario that only on 3'sC would it sound at all plausible.
• Janet goes down to the restaurant with Larry (see below) to have Jack arrested for not supporting her as his wife, and then before we know it, we have Canon dismissing domestic abuse.  (Beating the nonexistent kids is definitely played for laughs, and he thinks Jack not respecting Janet's mother is worse than beating Janet black & blue.)
• Felipe's like and dislike of Jack turns on a dime in this episode.

Things right with this episode:

• By this point in the series, any addition of Larry is welcome, and he does a great little scene as the all too bribable detective, with a follow-up in the tag.
• It's not as good as the "God forgot to wind it" material, but Kiser does his best with things like his reactions to a heavily peppered plate of linguini.
• Felipe's oversized suits and some of the Spanglish.