By Kathryn Ware
Our tribute to the 35th anniversary of the debut of Maude continues.
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Season 1, Episode 8
Episode Title: Flashback
Original airdate: 31 Oct 1972
Plot: Maude and Walter are watching the early presidential returns come in. Maude is hysterical with worry that Nixon will defeat her candidate, George McGovern. This triggers a flashback to the last presidential election, when Maude and Walter were dating. Arguing about Nixon vs. Humphrey and Walter’s decision not to vote, Maude realized she loved Walter, which sent the thrice-married Maude into a tailspin.
First she panicked and kicked Walter out. There’s no way she’d get married again! But then a conversation with hipster daughter Carol gave Maude the idea that she and Walter could just live together. After all, it was1968! This idea didn’t go over well with Walter – who’s ready to make a commitment – and they broke up following a blowout argument.
For two weeks, Maude and Walter were miserable. Maude tried to get over Walter with a string of bad dates, including one with a storm window salesman who tried to tempt her with his $100,000 life insurance policy. (Apparently Maude was quite the catch there in Tuckahoe.) Walter got a dating pep-talk from Arthur, which was all the incentive he needed to get back together with Maude. Walter gave Arthur his little black book before heading over to Maude’s to move in. In no time, the lovebirds were arguing again and before you could say, “Humphrey loses,” Maude and Walter were off to see a justice of the peace.
Hot button social issue: Politics and love make for very loud bedfellows in the Findlay household.
Fashion statement: Maude is wearing another outfit that disguises itself as something else. In episode 3 (“Maude and the Radical”) she wore a bathrobe I initially mistook for a dress. A giant ugly dress, but a dress nonetheless. In this episode, she’s wearing a powder blue pantsuit with a long jacket that looks like a wool topcoat over matching wide-legged pants. I kept waiting for Maude to take her coat off until I realized that is the outfit. Looks like she should be standing guard somewhere.
Neckerchief count: One-plus-one (Arthur and Maude wear dueling neckerchiefs, again).
Welcome back to 1972 pop culture reference: Walter says he dated a girl who talked incessantly about the Jefferson Airplane. “It took me three hours to figure out she wasn’t a stewardess.”
Number of times Maude yells: 5
Memorable quote: When Maude asks Walter, how can “an intelligent man like you not vote?” he responds, “Because with Nixon and Humphrey it’s strictly Tweedle Dum or Tweedle Dee. And I personally have no favorite Tweedle.”
References to the Vietnam War: Arthur claims he was only for the war “if we were going to win.”
References to Nixon: Walter also trumpets Nixon’s 1968 election promise that his secret plan will end the Vietnam War in six months.
Keep an eye out for: Van Johnson as the horrible date who convinces Maude that she should marry Walter.
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Previously:
Season 1, Episode 1: Maude’s Problem.
Season 1, Episode 2: Doctor, Doctor.
Season 1, Episode 3: Maude Meets Florida.
Season 1, Episode 4: Like Mother, Like Daughter.
Season 1, Episode 5: Maude and the Radical.
Season 1, Episode 6: The Ticket.
Season 1, Episode 7: Love and Marriage.
Posted on October 10, 2007