Mission Hill Episode
Capsule
Episode #8
"BROTHER'S BIG BONER" (Or, "Unemployment Part One")
Some information taken from TV
Tome
Production Code:
pc: 3950-08
Original Airdate:
July 16, 2000 (The WB)
Written by:
Robin J. Stein
Directed by:
Scott Alberts
Guest stars:
None
Synopsis:
One day, Andy spends all the money in his bank account, money both he and
Kevin have to live by, on an electronic organ. Andy intends to use his
paycheque to refill the account, but when he goes to work the next day he finds
the waterbed store has been seized by the IRS. It seems Ron has been
cheating on his taxes.
After a series of failed jobs, Andy and Kevin are forced to live
on almost no money. Kevin only stands so much before he goes to visit Ron
in prison and make him sign a form so Andy will receive unemployment benefits.
In exchange, Ron gives Kevin the title to his car, a shiny new Ferarro, so the
IRS can't seize it.
The car proves to be a lot of trouble though, since Kevin is
forced to buy insurance from a shady dealer, and the car is very costly to
maintain. Andy becomes extremely jealous that Kevin gets to drive around
such a fancy car, even the organ loses its charm after a while, so he insists he
and Gwen use it on their date. Kevin ends up being their chauffeur, but at
a toll booth Andy discovers Kevin spent all their money on auto maintenance.
At that moment, the car's battery dies.
After pushing the car to the side of the bridge they're on, Andy
and Kevin argue. Meanwhile, the Ferrarro rolls away and gets hit by a
truck, and then falls off the edge of the bridge and into the water below.
Unfortunately, the insurance payoff from the shady dealer turns out to be only
$400. Despite all that's happened, Kevin and Andy visit Ron in prison and
tell him what happened to his car. He gets extremely angry, but it does
make Kevin feel better that at least he told Ron.
Notes
- What do the signs say:
-In the mall: Orange Julio, Flocks of Socks, Bulky Lady,
Kendall Organs, Ceramic Frogs Unlimited, Magnet Magnate (names of stores)
-On the movie theatre marquee:
Dylan McDermott, A Difference of
Opinion
Dermot mulroney, Differing Opinions
Melron McDilnott, My Opinion II - The
Differencing
-Inside Kendall Organs: Kiss My Organ (on a t-shirt), Finger
Me, Great for Home, Church or Roller Rink!
-At the employment office: Giving you back 30% of your
dignity, No Shirt No Shirt No Jobs?
-Inside the shady insurance dealer: Braille forms available
(why would a person who needs a Braille form need car insurance?).
-At the gas station: Gas Hog
-At the Ferarro dealer: Ask about trading in your home, Gucci
airbags.
- The newspaper Andy tries out for (and later runs away from) was 'The Weekly
Supremacist.'
- The man at 'The Weekly Supremacist' says 'heil', which is a German for
'hail', and is sometimes associated with the Nazis when used with the Nazi-era
salute.
- After Ron's car falls off the bridge, Andy does a dance similar to the
dance Snoopy does (most notably in 'A Charlie Brown Christmas').
- Just for fun, try to spot all the wierd stores at the mall. (Just
for sanity, don't do it.) A few of these are tough: Bulky Lady,
Ceramic Frogs Unlimited, Flocks O Socks, Handle My Candle, Magnet
Magnate, Orange Julio, Urban Trendsetter.
- BLING BLONG ANAL DETAIL: The organ salesman enumerates the
following musical styles: rumba, samba, bossa nova, mombo, waltz,
polka, foxtrot, tango. Jim observes that it also has super-samba.
- Scene: Living area. Interestingly, Gus and Wally leave the scene
immediately before Andy swipes Kevin's towel and cries "Hey,
you're
dripping on my organ!" Did the production team balk at
depicting a
naked teenage boy in the room with two geriatric gay men?
- We can infer the price of a bottle of Maestro Malt Liquour is $1.
- Scene: Weekly Supremacist newspaper office. Look at all the
paraphenalia while Andy nervously interviews for a cartoonist job.
Now why would an inner city supremacist newspaper need several bags
of nitrate fertilizer? Hmm.
- Scene: living area, after Andy faints at his job advertising ice
cream. Andy explains, "...and when I came to, there were all
these
kids standing around me crying." Posey replies in a very
peculiar
voice (it doesn't sound at all like Posey) "That's kind of
sweet,
actually." A crewmember suggested that the artist who voiced
Posey
(Vicki Lewis) had been stressed from touring with a musical or play.
I never established who posted that message, but from the user's
initials it was probably Shawn Petersen or Saulé Piktys. Whoever it
was, thanks for the info!
- Note that Ron drives a Ferraro. Is it a Ferraro Testosterone?
- Andy refers to Jim's car as a "crudwagon", and Jim admits
it's
a "bilgemobile". The crudwagon moniker was used in the
title of
episode 15 "Freaky Weekend in the Crappy Crudwagon", an
unfilmed
episode where the roommates embark on a road trip to grandmother's
house, then to a casino, then to grandmother's house, then to a
casino. They ultimately reach a field of sunflowers, where posey
dances under a rainbow.
- The tollbooth scene takes place on the Beetleboro Bridge, which
also turned up in episode 15, above.
- Fechstein (the red-haired guy in green sweats) delivers his
final "Finally!" in the tollbooth scene. He would have
returned with
this catchphrase in episode 15 and episode 16. After losing his job
at Ron's Waterbed Warehouse, we would learn that Fechstein got work
at Jon's Waterbed Palace.
- This episode marks Ron's last appearance in Mission Hill, and thus
the end of Ron's Waterbed Warehouse. Gwen would have found a job at
Don's Waterbed Warehouse in episode 16, "Pretty In Pink".
Don was
described as sleazy and sweaty like Ron, with a heavy New Orleans
accent and horn-rimmed glasses. Andy tries to impress Gwen with a
grand romantic gesture, but manages to demolish Don's Waterbed
Warehouse instead. (Gwen is impressed nevertheless.)
Music
-"Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot plays in the Ferraro when Kevin drives
Andy and Gwen on their date.
-"In-a-gadda-da-vida" by Iron Butterfly plays in the van that
Gwen leaves Andy and Kevin for.
