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Moonlighting

Blonde on Blonde (1)

Season 3, Episode 11, Aired Feb 03, 1987

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Maddie's strange mood has David worried so he spends the evening following her, but ends up involved in a murder.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Andrew Masset

Unknown
GUEST STAR
Jeff Osterhage

Unknown
GUEST STAR
Donna Dixon

Joan Tenewich

Allyce Beasley

Agnes DiPesto
Bruce Willis

David Addison Jr.
Cybill Shepherd

Madeline "Maddie" Hayes
Curtis Armstrong

Herbert Quentin Viola (seasons 4 - 5, recurring previously)

Fan Episode Reviews (2)

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Did the kiss at the end of "It's a Wonderful Job" mean nothing?

9.5

"Superb"

By silvermoore, Feb 18, 2010

As a kid, I loved loved loved Moonlighting, so I decided to rent and watch all the episodes again. I really am enjoying it, but I was disappointed that after kissing at the end of "It's a Wonderful Job", any kind of possible romance between Maddie and David seems to be only referred to obliquely. Huh? Shouldn't this have been a bigger deal? Anyway, now onto "Blonde on Blonde". Overall, I found this episode to be very enjoyable, but again, I was flummoxed by Maddie and David not acknowledging to each other the romantic/sexual element to their relationship. I thought the plot was great, and it was fun to watch David's desperate attempt to keep Maddie from hooking up with any other guy. Poor David though! At the end, when he finally is ready to admit to himself and to Maddie that he's in love with her, he ends up getting his heart broken when he knocks on Maddie's door in the middle of the night, only for another man to answer.

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A troubled David is out to save Maddie from the dangers of the singles scene, and from herself.

10

"Perfect"

By Lokar, Jul 29, 2006

From the beginning, we know we are someplace very different.

A mysterious blonde woman meets her lover for a tryst. Only one of these people leaves the room alive.

Cut to a view of Maddie in a most unusual situation. That's an understatement. She looks like an entirely different person in this scene, donning a strapless black evening dress and dancing in front of the mirror. We can guess what she's got on her mind, and it's certainly not paperwork at the office.

It is odd enough Maddie should act this way at all. What happens next is even stranger, as Maddie calls in and pretends to be sick.

It's not like her to lie, or show up late. She often blasts other peoplechiefly, her partnerfor doing just those things.

So why her, why now and what's coming next?

Eventually she does head in to work (albeit in a different dress), but even then, things are far from what they seem.

At Blue Moon headquarters, the crew enjoys a friendly game of cardsthe kind of game that leaves nothing to the imagination.

And Maddie thinks nothing of it.

She walks right by the craziness and into her office as if the people had been doing nothing more than sorting paper clips.

This sets off alarm bells in the head of our David.

He walks to her office to find out what could possibly be the problem. Maddie brushes him off and says everything is fine. Even after Dave confesses that some serious weirdness went on, Hayes still treats it like nothing much.

Uh-oh. This can't be good.

Although David always kids Maddie about being too serious, in some way he understands that's part of the way she is, and when she starts acting different, such as ignoring his tomfoolery, something's up. He won't let the matter drop.

What's wrong?

Maddie doesn't want to say. So the day drags on a little more. When work is done, David comes back to Maddie's office to see if things are still the same.

David tries the earlier question again. He goes to the point of kneeling in front of the couch and taking her hand. But she maintains nothing's the matter.

Addison does not exactly know how to leave well enough alone. He presses again.

And oh boy, does he hear it this time.

"I feel like I'm restrained, but I'm about to break free," Maddie begins.

She declares intent to go out and find some anonymous stranger for a night of debauchery. David, repulsed, bleats, "I don't want to hear this!" Maddie tells him he's being sexist because he wouldn't care if one of the men acted that way. That's the way Dave himself lives all the time (at least according to his own bragging). Even though Maddie is a few years older than David, he's talking to her like she's his renegade daughter or something, and he has no right.

David is adamant she doesn't know what she's getting into; Maddie doesn't date very often and certainly doesn't cruise the singles bars, so she has no way of telling the fun party people from the dangerous creeps.

"Look me in the eye and tell me you're not going to do this," he hectors. It's no use. Out the door she goes.

David catches up with Herbert Viola and asks the accountant to come along on a surveillance trip. Bert is overjoyed. David makes up something about "national security" and doesn't let him know who it is they will really be after. They take Bert's car.

They tear off through traffic and stop at that universal symbol of excitement, the grocery mart. And guess who it is buying food.

Bert realizes they're trailing Ms. Hayes. David rambles again about protecting her from spies, or whatever, but the next place they are off to bears much more of a resemblance to the theme of Maddie's original plan.

It's Metropolis, a singles bar. To put it more bluntly, a pick-up joint. The perfect place you'd go if you wanted a night of unscrupulous freedom. Honor calls, so Bert and David settle in for the task of observation.

Bert drinks. David does not. For some reason, he stays cold sober even though he's in his normal milieu. Perhaps he's so scared of the role reversal now going on between him and Maddie that he just can't bring himself to relax. In any event, he perches on a barstool and tries to keep an eye on Ms. Hayes.

Maddie gets to meet a few of the 'gentlemen' of the crowd. One is out there cheating on his wife. Another spills his drink on her. This is not so much fun after all, Hayes decides, and heads to the restroom.

She winds up meeting one of the crazy people Dave should rightly have been worried about! Only it isn't a date for the evening, it's another patron-the lady from the mysterious scene with the paramour. Maddie does not know that, so strikes up a conversation, sharing some misery over the lousy course of the evening.

Hayes puts her coat and hat on the sink. The other lady helps herself to them. Maddie only notices after the woman's gone.

Dave, in spite of the fact that he has not touched alcohol all day, has trouble telling the difference between the two people. Although the second lady is wearing a black dress, while Maddie's in white-hello, Wild West symbolism-now that the other has stolen Maddie's hat and coat, she looks very similar in passing.

We never actually see Maddie herself walk out of the building, but David thinks that's who he's watching. Off to the races again. David leaves Bert behind and rushes to save the day.

He chases the woman outside, down the block, into a hotel and to a perch on the railing outside her room; the lady gets into some pretty interesting activities with another man. David, hiding on a ledge outside the window, is a little too slow to move back out of danger and is pulled indoors by the none-too-happy gentleman.

The fellow throws him up against the wall and brandishes a gun. David shrieks for help.

Only, the person at the other end of the room is not his boss.

A conk on the head sends David to the floor.

He wakes up, after a most pleasant reverie about getting back together with his missing supervisor, to find that pistol in his hand and the police on their way.

Surely this is not how he'd prefer to spend his nights out.

David lands in jail. A crazy man yells Three Stooges lines and the other 'guests' are none too savory either. Addison sits there wondering how he's ever going to salvage this trip to hell, when a new inmate is placed in the cell next to his.

It's the blonde lady, Joan Tenewich.

Furious, David screams that he knows this woman and the guards better do something. Joan scolds him to sit down. David reluctantly goes along.

So, wonders Joan, "Who's Maddie?"

David mumbles a response and Joan continues to coax him. "She must be pretty special. I mean, look at you." It's true: David had his head kicked in six ways 'til Sunday, and nobody would let that happen for someone about whom they didn't care a great deal. But it's Joan's next question that really throws on the light switch in David's mind.

"Does she know you *love* her?"

Ah. *That* word.

David can't quite bring himself to repeat it. Joan chides him, "Yes you do," then orders, "Tell her." And she brooks no compromise. Even the nutcases in the cell on the other side agree. Looks like it's finally time, and the fates have it lined up.

Tenewich had promised to confess to the crime. Dave is questioned by the detectives. He identifies Maddie's coat and hat and tells the cops, "She's someone I care about. I think I'm in care with her."

"She'll confirm this?" one of them asks.

"I don't know" David wonders.

In any event, the truth comes out, and Addison is soon free to go. There's only one problem. Bert long since abandoned, how is David going to get to Maddie's place?

He gets a ride from L.A.'s finest and is dropped off at the curb in front of the house. In an amazing gesture, Dave stops to pluck a bundle of flowers from one of the plant holders in front of the sidewalk. No doubt with heart in his throat, David reaches the door and gives it a good punch. Or ten. Giddy and terrified at the same time, he looks up at the window, then back to the entranceway.

He yells and yells until finally a figure approaches the other side of the door.

"Look, Maddie, I know it's four in the morning, but I"

will have to explain it to somebody else, because that's not Maddie.

At the door instead is a handsome dark-haired fellow in his mid-thirties. And he's looking groggy

as if he were just awakened from somewhere

and he's hastily buttoning up his shirt.

*Doom.*

Poor David can only stare in bafflement as the man fixes up his shirt.

"Maddie's sleeping," the stranger says. "I can go get her. If it's important."

"No," says Dave, from the depths, "it's not important."

The conversation dies and David turns to walk away. He drops the flowers a few feet away from the door and strolls on.

The rain is coming down in buckets.

David bursts into tears.

No doubt he is wishing the ground would open up and swallow him.

It does not oblige.

This day has moved David Addison from confusion, to worry, to disgust, to hopethen finally down to the pit of sorrow.

It remains to be seen if he'll make it back to the land of the living.
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Although the first three episodes in this four-show cycle take their names from the world of music, none of the artists or records involved actually have their songs played. Blonde on Blonde is a Bob Dylan album. Sam and Dave were a singing group. "Maddie's Turn to Cry" borrows from the title of the song, "Judy's Turn to Cry." Not one of these will have a tune played during the shows, nor will there be any other references to them other than the name-checks in the episode titles.
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- When David is in the strangers' room and turns around to see the woman, he yells, "You're not Maddie!" He is clearly looking in the direction of the woman, who turns out to be Joan Tenewich. However, later on when they're in jail, Joan asks (something to the effect of), "So, this Maddie you're looking for. Who's he?" She should already know David was not looking for a "he."
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QUOTES (18)
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- (As David just settles in to his jail cell) Joan: Powder or spray? David: Excuse me? Joan: Powder or spray? Infestation preventative. David: Spray? (Looks at inmate, who nods.) Joan: Good. Because believe me, two weeks from now, powder gets into places you don't even want to think about.
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- (In Maddie's office, as he's trying to figure out what's wrong with her) David: C'mon, Maddie, it's not like we met yesterday!
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- (As he walks out onto the railing outside the hotel window) David: What am I doing?
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- (David tries to bum a ride from Bert so he can follow Maddie) David: Come with me, Bert, on this big, urgent, emergency case! Bert: You and me? On a case, together? David: Yeah, the three of us. You, me and your car. It'll be great. It'll be terrific. It'll be better than sex. (puts on his coat, walks to door; Bert follows) Got any money for gas?
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- (At Maddie's house; David knocks on the door) David: I know it's four in the morning, but… (A man answers, in hastily thrown-on shirt and pants) David: Hi. Sam: Hi... Maddie's asleep. If it's important, I can go get her... David: No. It's not important. (Turns and walks away)
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- (The police ask who David was looking for-- 'your blonde, not the other blonde'-- of course, Maddie) David: She's someone I care about. I think I'm in care with her. Officer: And if we find her, she'll back up your story? She'll corroborate the fact that the two of you are in care? David: I don't know. I don't know if she's aware of the fact that I'm in care with her.
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- (As David is being led out for questioning, Joan offers him a last line of advice) Joan: Write to me. Let me know how it turns out.
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- Joan: So, why were you following this Maddie? David: I guess I was just trying to make sure she didn't get in any trouble. Joan: Does she know you love her? David (startled): What? I'm not… Joan: Yes, you are. (As David stalls) You are. It's just... so clear! Tell her. David: But… Joan: Tell her. Crazy Inmate (from across David's cell): Go ahead, tell her! What've you got to lose?
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- (After the hotel misadventure, David winds up in a jail cell next to the 'mystery' woman from the room.) Joan: No offense, but you look like hell, baby. Who's Maddie? David: What? Joan: When you were climbing in from the ledge, you said you were looking for Maddie. Who's he? David: She. He's a she. I thought you were her. Joan: Well, she must be someone you care about. I mean, look at you!... I know whereof I speak. That man I murdered tonight? I would have killed for him.
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- (Bert and David have trailed Maddie to a supermarket; the men watch her from outside the front door) Bert: There are some of us at the office who think there's a... personal thing... between you and Ms. Hayes. David: You have been laboring under a severe delusion, my friend.
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- (At Maddie's home--after dancing in an evening dress in front of the mirror, she goes back to bed and calls the office) Maddie: I won't be coming in today. I'm…sick.
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- (In Maddie's office; she is sitting on the couch, David leaning on furniture nearby) David: Will you just talk to me? Tell me what it is! Maddie: You don't want to hear this. David: What are you talking about, 'I don't want to hear this'? That's crazy! (kneels in front of her) Of course I want to hear about it. If something's bothering you, or causing you pain, I- I want to hear about it! I absolutely want to hear about it! Maddie: No, you don't want to hear this. David: Yes I do, of course I do! (Argument repeats) David: Yes, I do! (pause; looks very distraught) Yes, I do. Maddie: Do you really want to know how I feel? David (whispers): Yeah. Maddie: I feel reckless. (David looks baffled; Maddie stands, David follows suit) Never mind, you don't want to know, do you. David: Don't 'never mind' me, I want to hear about it! Maddie (sharply): All right, if you really want to. (Walks a few paces, turns away from him; David watches) David, I feel alone, and surrounded at the same time. David: Okay… Maddie: I feel restrained, yet like I'm about to burst free. David: Okay, now, you see, I figured it was, uh, something like that. Maddie (turning to face him): You want to know what I really want to do? You want to know what this is really all about? I'd like to go out there and… find some man, and not even ask his name, and just go to a hotel or something, and not even know his name, and… David: I don't want to hear this! Maddie: And just be bad, be wonderful! Just— David: I don't want to hear this! Maddie: All night long! (David is shocked. Maddie grimaces in disappointment.) Maddie: Well, it's nice to know we can confide in our friends.
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- David (to Maddie): Look, every morning, it's the same. Fall out of bed, drop in the Visine, have a knock-down, drag-out with Maddie Hayes. It's the shine on my shoes, it's the syrup on my pancakes, kinda completes the day! And when I don't get it, I gotta wonder why.
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- Maddie: David, believe it or not, there are things that happen in this world that have nothing to do with you! David: You can't prove that. You don't know what I do when I leave this office.
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- (Having 'lost' at strip poker, Agnes hides behind the desk and picks up her clothes) Agnes (to Maddie): Your mail, Ms. Hayes. Almost dressed, Ms. Hayes.
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- (Maddie walks obliviously past a strip poker game in the front office; David is worried by her nonchalance) David (to the office workers): Now let's not all panic, I'm sure she meant to scream at us.
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- Maddie: What makes you think you know me so well? Just because you think something means something, doesn't mean what you think it means! David: Well put.
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- David: Why are you looking so...unhappy? Maddie: My chastity belt is pinching me. Goodnight.
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NOTES (2)
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- "Since I Fell for You" plays over the closing credits instead of the usual theme song.
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- Music: "Nasty" by Janet Jackson; "C'est la Vie" by Robbie Nevil; "Runaround Sue" by Dion; "Stormy Weather"; "Since I Fell for You" by Al Jarreau with Bob James and David Sanborn (included on Moonlighting soundtrack).
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- In the jail scene, an inmate, played by Robert Wuhl, yells at David Addison, "Slowly I turned..." David tells him, "Shut up, everybody knows that bit." This is a reference to lines from the 1944 movie "Gents Without Cents," starring David's favorite comedians, the Three Stooges. They in turn borrowed it from a vaudeville routine. The quote is a nod from the show to a classic inspiration. It's also ironic, because at the moment, David is miserable: he was arrested for a crime he did not commit.
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