4-3 “The Sounds of Silence”
Regular readers of this blog will recognize that I often pick which episodes to recap based on their relationship with what’s going on in my life. I thought of this episode today because I am very very close to, on the advice of my therapist, pursuing additional testing toward a potential diagnosis that they think might be appropriate, but I fear the consequences of both finding out that I really do have this diagnosis and finding out that I am not diagnosable at all. Thanks to Geri for reminding me that it’s always better to find out whether something treatable is going on; only then can one choose a competent management program.
We ease into this episode’s theme with some gags involving Jo waxing the floor. Creepy Roy comes in and says creepy things. I just sent a message to the actor who played Roy asking if he’d talk to me for a spotlight piece I’m doing on the character. Watch this space.
Roy exits, and Tootie and Natalie enter. Natalie accuses Tootie of sabotaging her play, and Tootie accuses Natalie’s play of being dumb. They argue, and as Tootie stomps across the floor, Jo reprimands her for getting in the way of her wax job again. Tootie spins, heads back the way she came, and exasperates, “What’s this?” Jo: “Didn’t you hear me?”
After pausing and nervously looking around, Tootie makes a stupid joke that no one but her laughs at. Hmm.
Enter cousin Geri, who excitedly informs everyone that she’s going to be playing the lounge at the Howard Johnson’s. Some might not be aware that the HoJo was once a fancy-ish hotel. Anyway, if it’s a regular, paying gig, then I have no doubt she’d take it.
Geri jokes that if she gets people to laugh, they’ll connect her TV. Yep, that’s stand-up material. Also so delightfully dated. What a trip.
Natalie declares that they have a perfect opportunity to test her material in front of a professional comedian and she informs Tootie that they’re doing the scene again. Tootie: “I don’t do garbage!”
Doth Tootie protest too much? Hmmm.
Natalie asks Mrs. G for support. Mrs. G:
“Awww, be a good sport. Do the garbage.”
Cheap gag, but pretty funny. As is Natalie’s scene; it’s just the stereotypical married couple being stereotypical cis men and women arguing about stereotypical things, but it’s amusing. Indeed, Mrs. Garrett likens it to an old radio show called The Bickersons. What’s remarkable, though, is not the content, but Tootie missing cues and acting weird. Geri takes special notice.
Tootie tries to continue to insist that the material isn’t funny, and when that’s no longer a tenable position in this crowd, she accuses Natalie of overacting and being impossible to work with.
We get a couple more gags regarding Jo’s waxed floor, but the real story is Tootie, who has stalked upstairs to be indignant. Natalie follows her and they continue to argue about minutiae. Natalie becomes increasingly frustrated as Tootie continues to react unreasonably.
Geri interrupts their argument and tells Tootie that she’s noticed her acting weird. Specifically, she has noticed Tootie trying to compensate and behaving irritably when she can’t hear people. Geri shares that she has a hearing loss too as part of her cerebral palsy, and straight-up asks Tootie if she’s having any trouble with her hearing. Busted, Tootie admits that she is indeed having trouble hearing.
Geri: “What did the doctor say?”
Tootie: “I don’t know”
Natalie: “You couldn’t hear ’em?”
But it turns out that Tootie has not sought medical assistance. Geri admonishes her not to mess around, and Tootie promises that she’ll call the doctor that afternoon. Geri says that’s a good idea and leaves for her lunch with Blair.
Natalie: “No wonder you were being such a jerk, you couldn’t help it!”
The laugh track (or is it a studio audience? I have no idea.) laughs, but the scene turns unfunny quickly as Tootie doesn’t hear what Natalie says and continues to downplay the magnitude of the situation. Natalie tries to drag Tootie to the infirmary immediately. Tootie resists and ultimately “wins” as she coerces a promise out of Natalie not to tell anyone about this.
Our next fade is to the cafeteria, where Tootie and Natalie – not in their uniforms so it must be a weekend – clear dishes. Tootie wears headphones; her music blares.
Mrs. G tries and fails to get Tootie’s attention. Tootie blames the music and makes another weak joke. Mrs. G, concerned, asks Tootie what’s going on with her, commenting that lately she’s been “like a stranger in a Tootie suit.” Tootie tries to brush it off, telling Mrs. Garrett to stop taking things so seriously. Mrs. G retorts that Tootie doesn’t take some things seriously enough. We learn that Tootie’s English teacher told Mrs. G that she asked Tootie who wrote Catcher in the Rye and Tootie said Johnny Bench. Tootie defends that it’s funny, which it is, but “clowning around in class,” as Mrs. G puts it, is almost never a way to a solid future. Tootie claims that it’s just a phase she’s going through.
In comes Jo: “Hey Tootie, for dinner tonight to you want to clear?”
Tootie: “No, it’s raining.”
Natalie covers up for Tootie, claiming that she never clears when it rains and how doesn’t Jo know that?
Mrs. G, who earlier heard Tootie laugh off an incident by saying she was struggling in her French class, suggests that maybe Blair can help her with French. Blair says sure, and asks Tootie if she’s having trouble in French. Tootie doesn’t hear her.
Blair: “Tootie, are you having trouble?”
Natalie: “Tootie’s doing so great in French, she doesn’t understand English anymore!”
Enter Geri. After announcing her arrival with a joke, she approaches Tootie, who quickly makes an excuse to run off to the library.
Mrs. G muses about how odd Tootie has been lately, and contemplates calling her parents. Geri confronts Natalie about whether Tootie has been to the doctor yet, and Natalie makes more excuses. Before Geri has time to continue, Roy returns with Tootie.
Roy hit Tootie, not with his truck, thank heavens, but with his bike.
Roy: “I was just riding along, and suddenly, there was Tootie right in front of me! I rang my little bell! I yelled, but she didn’t stop!”
I reproduced that quotation in its entirety because to this day, every time I use my bell when biking, I think to myself, “I rang my little bell!”
Roy overdramatizes until Mrs. G tells him to go sit down in the kitchen. She insists that Jo go along and get him something to drink.
But Roy’s predation of Jo is but a side-story in this episode, as Mrs. Garrett asks Tootie if she’s sure she’s all right, and in spite of Tootie’s protests, Natalie spills the beans.
Tootie is pissed that Natalie narced, and tells her that she’ll never forgive her for this; that she thought they were best friends and now she knows what a promise means to Natalie. Geri points out that Tootie promised her that she’d go to the doctor. Burn.
Now that Mrs. G is involved, the doctor is a foregone conclusion. She orders Tootie upstairs to wash and bandage her scraped knee. Geri follows.
Upstairs, Tootie continues to be obstinate, refusing to talk about anything and insisting that she won’t go to the doctor. Geri nails that Tootie is terrified. She tries to tell Tootie that getting a diagnosis and getting treated is better than not. Tootie resists, worried about what will happen if the doctor says her hearing loss is permanent,
Tootie: “I don’t want to be handicapped!”
Tootie: “Oh Geri, I’m sorry. But I don’t.”
Geri: “It’s OK. Who does? You think they showed me what they had and I took Cerebral Palsy?”
And, the use of an outdated term aside, this is one of those little moments that make me love this show so much. I know so many people who twist themselves into knots trying to avoid mentioning someone’s disability, or to try to “Oh, gee I wouldn’t even have noticed” something obvious. You shouldn’t make it the entire focus of your interaction with a person, but a person with a visible disability typically knows they have a disability, and they would typically rather not have a disability if given the choice. It’s OK to talk about these things. It’s OK to say out loud that being not disabled is better than being disabled, and that a disabled person deals with shit that an able-bodied person is glad they don’t have to deal with.
Geri entreats Tootie to remember that she can’t control everything that happens, but what matters is what a person does about the bad things when they happen. Mrs. Garrett comes upstairs to fetch Tootie to head to the doctor. Tootie asks Geri if she’ll come along, and Geri supportively agrees.
Later in the cafeteria, Natalie moans self-righteously about how she knows she did the right thing, but she still lost a friendship over it and she’s not convinced yet that it’s worth it. Blair tells her that Tootie will come around, but Natalie is not mollified. When the trio returns from the doctor, Natalie immediately begins begging for Tootie’s forgiveness. At high volume.
Tootie tells Natalie that she doesn’t have to yell. The doctor checked her out and she’s going to be OK. She explains that some fluid got trapped in her ear when she had a cold last month and the fluid became infected. Jo is super-interested in learning about the fluid and the drainage process. Tootie has to go back to the doctor to get the drainage checked, and Jo wants to come with.
Tootie also thanks Natalie for breaking her confidence. The doctor told her that if she’d waited much longer, there could have been permanent damage. Natalie is indignant that she told Tootie not to go outside with a wet head, which gave her the cold that caused the fluid to get trapped. That’s an old wives’ tale, but anyway, everyone promises not to mock Natalie for telling them to go outside with wet heads, and all is right with the world.
