Who's the Boss?: The Christmas Card

Who's the Boss?: The Christmas Card
ABC
December 16, 1986
Sitcom
DVD
B

Mindy Glazer's first of three WtB stories is, as the title tells you, another Christmas episode, with the family closer than they were two years ago, and yet threatened by the presence of Geoffrey (Robin Thomas).  Tony is planning a big Christmas dinner, but Geoff's mother, "Mother Wells," has invited Angela and her family over.  Mona chooses Tony and makes clear throughout the episode where her loyalties lie, as when she tosses Geoffrey's stocking into the fireplace and is catty about his mother.

Meanwhile, Tony is knitting a scarf for Angela, until he finds out that Geoffrey is getting her diamond earrings.  He wants to give her something special.  Dr. Ferguson (Jim Jansen, although IMDB does not list him elsewhere for this episode), who had wanted Tony's autographed baseball, now wants his baseball card, which Tony claims not to own.  He tells Sam that he's saving it for her children so they'll know what their Grandpa Tony used to do.

Angela goes to a sports memorabilia store and the Dealer (Phil Rubenstein, who would return as "Phil") promises to get it for her for $325.  So he calls up Tony, initialing offering $25 and going all the way up to $250.  Tony at first is reluctant to sell part of his history, but he can't resist the final offer, which he spends on a crystal vase for Angela.  In an O. Henry touch, he gets his card back.

Things going on at or just below the surface here, other than Mona's dislike of Geoffrey and preference for Tony:

• Sam seems to dislike Geoffrey, too, whether on his own terms or because she ships her dad with Angela.
• Jonathan seems unaware of the undercurrents and gets along OK with Geoffrey, if not as well as he did with his new stepmother.
• Angela wants to give Tony something to show how she feels about him but she can't articulate it to her mother or herself.
• Tony doesn't understand that Angela would've loved the scarf just as much if not more.  He thinks that her relationship with Geoffrey, who casually refers to caterers as "the help," has made her more materialistic than she is.
• Tony and Angela share an awkward kiss under the mistletoe after exchanging gifts, awkward both because their gifts have touched each other (it's not the money but the sacrifice that Angela appreciates, while he's moved that she understands how important his past is to him), and because they're in front of the family and her boyfriend.
• Geoffrey seems oblivious here and elsewhere to what's between Tony and Angela, even as friends.
• We get a quick glimpse of the baseball card, and the title of the episode is a multiple pun, if you throw in that Tony was a Card (Cardinal).