Post by Subspace on Feb 8, 2007 21:08:15 GMT -5
I just re-watched this Season 2 episode and was a bit perturbed at various points:
1) Roger, agreeing with Tony (in the office scene) that Jeannie was nothing but trouble? That just doesn't seem like Roger. Roger's a pretty persistent guy, in this episode he seemed to give up way too easily.
2) Tony giving examples to Jeannie about how she had wreaked havoc in his life... (in the evening scene in the house, just before Tony went out on his date) - while there were plenty of legitimate examples of Jeannie actually making his life harder or causing problems, the examples Tony raised were actually completely opposite. Why did his logic suddenly go out the window? He raises an example from How to be a Jeannie in Ten Easy Lessons which was actually primarily Roger's fault and secondarily Tony's own fault. Did Tony suddenly forget that Jeannie was begging him all along to not make her do the things in the book? And how he kept ordering Jeannie to do exactly as the book said? It was primarily Roger's fault for deceiving Tony about the book, but it was also Tony's fault for refusing to listen to Jeannie's reasons for not wanting to follow the book. (He kept cutting her off before she could explain.) But by no means was it Jeannie's fault for doing the things she did, in that episode.
He also raises an example from Who Needs a Green-Eyed Jeannie? and while his examples are valid there are two problems. One, the time he was imprisoned by Jeannie in the jail cell, he was lying to Jeannie. He wanted her to imprison him or do something similar - so that he could go out with 'Charlie Suzy' the next night in peace. He purposely led Jeannie to do that, by lying about the identity of his friend, by stuttering and pretending to be nervous, and by changing his story (first he said his friend was from Chicago, then later said his friend was from Ohio). If he had been completely upfront and honest with Jeannie, he could have gotten her to promise to leave him and his date alone - he's her Master after all. But he had to lead Jeannie to do that.
Jeannie then counters that she allowed him to go on the date the next night - and Tony raised the example that she turned his date into an ape. He uses this to draw the conclusion that he can't afford to have Jeannie in his life. What Tony forgot is that without Jeannie, he'd have gone out with Charlie Suzy or whatever her real name was without any problems (since his original date was for 'the next night' anyway - he had only told Jeannie his original date was for the previous night, in order to trick Jeannie), and the woman's husband would have come in and killed them both. If he hadn't had Jeannie, his life would have ended right then and there. Unless he somehow believes that the mobsters wouldn't have killed him? If Jeannie hadn't intervened when she did, I find Tony still being alive after that episode, highly unlikely. For that alone - Jeannie saving his bacon from near-certain death - he should be grateful enough to keep Jeannie around. Besides, who's to say that he won't be in a similar situation in the future?
I mean, sure, Jeannie often got him into trouble with Dr. Bellows and other folks, but she always got him out of that same trouble by the end of the episode, didn't she? Compared to saving his life, the small inconveniences she sometimes caused Tony, were nothing. And both Jeannie and Roger were fools for not reminding Tony of that little fact. Would Tony rather have had a bland, peaceful year and half that would have ended abruptly when he got killed by the mob? Or would he rather have had a loving, helpful genie by his side, that was mischievous and caused some small problems, but would save his life so that he could keep living and keep being an astronaut?
I thought this episode [There Goes the Best Jeannie I Ever Had] would have been better if those examples from above hadn't been used. He could have used examples such as from The Yacht Murder Case where Jeannie really did unwittingly get him into trouble. But for some reason Tony used examples where it was either his (or Roger's) fault, or Jeannie was actually saving his bacon.
I also thought Tony was rather mean at the end when he told Jeannie that he wanted her to spend a lot of time in her bottle from now on... I had to remind myself that Tony did end up marrying Jeannie, albeit years later, after all. ;D
1) Roger, agreeing with Tony (in the office scene) that Jeannie was nothing but trouble? That just doesn't seem like Roger. Roger's a pretty persistent guy, in this episode he seemed to give up way too easily.
2) Tony giving examples to Jeannie about how she had wreaked havoc in his life... (in the evening scene in the house, just before Tony went out on his date) - while there were plenty of legitimate examples of Jeannie actually making his life harder or causing problems, the examples Tony raised were actually completely opposite. Why did his logic suddenly go out the window? He raises an example from How to be a Jeannie in Ten Easy Lessons which was actually primarily Roger's fault and secondarily Tony's own fault. Did Tony suddenly forget that Jeannie was begging him all along to not make her do the things in the book? And how he kept ordering Jeannie to do exactly as the book said? It was primarily Roger's fault for deceiving Tony about the book, but it was also Tony's fault for refusing to listen to Jeannie's reasons for not wanting to follow the book. (He kept cutting her off before she could explain.) But by no means was it Jeannie's fault for doing the things she did, in that episode.
He also raises an example from Who Needs a Green-Eyed Jeannie? and while his examples are valid there are two problems. One, the time he was imprisoned by Jeannie in the jail cell, he was lying to Jeannie. He wanted her to imprison him or do something similar - so that he could go out with 'Charlie Suzy' the next night in peace. He purposely led Jeannie to do that, by lying about the identity of his friend, by stuttering and pretending to be nervous, and by changing his story (first he said his friend was from Chicago, then later said his friend was from Ohio). If he had been completely upfront and honest with Jeannie, he could have gotten her to promise to leave him and his date alone - he's her Master after all. But he had to lead Jeannie to do that.
Jeannie then counters that she allowed him to go on the date the next night - and Tony raised the example that she turned his date into an ape. He uses this to draw the conclusion that he can't afford to have Jeannie in his life. What Tony forgot is that without Jeannie, he'd have gone out with Charlie Suzy or whatever her real name was without any problems (since his original date was for 'the next night' anyway - he had only told Jeannie his original date was for the previous night, in order to trick Jeannie), and the woman's husband would have come in and killed them both. If he hadn't had Jeannie, his life would have ended right then and there. Unless he somehow believes that the mobsters wouldn't have killed him? If Jeannie hadn't intervened when she did, I find Tony still being alive after that episode, highly unlikely. For that alone - Jeannie saving his bacon from near-certain death - he should be grateful enough to keep Jeannie around. Besides, who's to say that he won't be in a similar situation in the future?
I mean, sure, Jeannie often got him into trouble with Dr. Bellows and other folks, but she always got him out of that same trouble by the end of the episode, didn't she? Compared to saving his life, the small inconveniences she sometimes caused Tony, were nothing. And both Jeannie and Roger were fools for not reminding Tony of that little fact. Would Tony rather have had a bland, peaceful year and half that would have ended abruptly when he got killed by the mob? Or would he rather have had a loving, helpful genie by his side, that was mischievous and caused some small problems, but would save his life so that he could keep living and keep being an astronaut?
I thought this episode [There Goes the Best Jeannie I Ever Had] would have been better if those examples from above hadn't been used. He could have used examples such as from The Yacht Murder Case where Jeannie really did unwittingly get him into trouble. But for some reason Tony used examples where it was either his (or Roger's) fault, or Jeannie was actually saving his bacon.
I also thought Tony was rather mean at the end when he told Jeannie that he wanted her to spend a lot of time in her bottle from now on... I had to remind myself that Tony did end up marrying Jeannie, albeit years later, after all. ;D
Especially during the times he asks Jeannie to stay in her bottle and out of his life.
