Three's Company: She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

Three's Company: She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
ABC
October 4, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
B+

I don't have an easy explanation for this.  I mean, the last B+ I gave to a Three's Company episode was "Larry Loves Janet," which was back in the Chrissy era.  And this is a combination of two previous Lana episodes, although admittedly they are ones I gave B's: "A-Camping We Will Go" and "Black Letter Day."  It should feel stale but it doesn't.  In fact, I remember enjoying it very much at the time and it is certainly one of the most farcical episodes in the series, although in a different form because this is the Terri era.

Two writers who have absolutely no other IMDB credits came up with Larry reading a magazine quiz about whether someone would want to have an affair with his/her opposite-sex roommate, as opposed to Lana reading an advice column where the roommates are already involved.  Larry suggests Jack take the interested girl to his boss's cabin in the woods, but Jack accidentally invites both, and this time we're not getting any extra people, just the four of them.  (Larry goes along to help distract "the other girl," and it soon becomes clear he's hoping he'll get the roommate who's not interested in Jack.)  The girls go along with the trip because it sounds like fun and they think Jack needs to relax.

The cabin is much larger than Larry's boss's previous cabin, and we also get a "lake" set, both used to good effect for physical humor.  The sets give the farce a different, more open-air feel than usual.  And it's fun to see the four characters interact.

As in the previous episode, Jack has his morality but he's certainly tempted, especially, it appears, by Janet.  More time is spent on him figuring out how to let her down gently than Terri, and whether he'll be able to resist, this episode's symbolism being a burning match in Jack's hand.  Larry remains the devil on his shoulder, or his Eddie Haskell if you prefer.  We're teased with the possibility of what would've happened if either girl had filled out the quiz.  (One of Terri's elderly patients did, and Larry has a classic reaction.)  Of course we find out the truth early on, and of course both girls are shocked by the idea that Jack got them up there to find out.  This may well be the ultimate in the tease of the series' premise, with Jack believing it would ruin everything to be involved with one of the girls, but nonetheless kinda sorta wanting to ruin it.  And note the blurring of love and sex in the title.

By the time this aired, I was reconciled to Terri and I do think she's used well here, from the way she reacts to the guys falling in the lake to what she sees in the flames of the fire.  But it was Janet that I rooted for, against all common sense.