May 31st, 2002 -- These notes are from Meira Fried. I'm so pleased that she was able to attend the first taping and that she took the time to send her impressions.

We were let into the studio at around seven. The sets were set up so that to the audience’s far left was the entryway and stairs. To the right of that was the living room/office set. To the right of that was the kitchen and the furthest right was Judith’s bedroom, which has never been seen in full before (there was a glimpse in season 8 when Penny and Stephen stayed over and Jean and Lionel were squeezing into Judy’s bed, but which was a different bed in this episode). Behind the kitchen set, out of our view, was Jean and Lionel’s bedroom and somewhere back there was a bar set. My mom and I were seated towards the front on the right hand side, so only part of the living room and none of the entryway was visible to us, except the top of the stairs.

The audience warm up was basically the same as in the accounts from the season 8 tapings. The cast was introduced. Geoffrey introduced Judi, both of whom made similar comments as in those accounts. She did add, however, along the lines that she had been in a play for a few months and neither Geoffrey nor Sydney (Lotterby) had come near her the whole time, which got a laugh from the audience.

The cast in this episode consisted of Jean, Lionel, Judy, Sandy, Alistair, Harry, and a bartender. I didn’t make scene by scene notes of action or dialogue but here’s the basics of what happened. A few days pass over the course of the episode.

Some have said that this picks up immediately from the end of season 8. I disagree with this, though I don’t think it was a large fast forward (the alternative is that it was meant to pick up immediately but continuity was way off). I disagree because, if you recall, at the end of season 8, Harry has broken his leg and given up rugby for the whole season. Well, when Harry comes into the house, his leg is not broken and he is playing a new position on his rugby team. Sandy also makes a comment about having not seen him “in ages”.

Judy and Alistair are back together when the episode starts, but Judy is frustrated with Alistair’s globe trotting- in his efforts to chase the big bucks and become a big player again.

Harry comes by the house to see Sandy but she and Judy are out shopping (there’s a location scene with them in a shop where they find themselves looking at baby clothes, sort of wistfully). He has news- he’s now a detective sergeant, he’s just passed his exam, but there’s something else too and despite Jean’s efforts, she can’t get him to spill it to her. He only tells them that it’s a “do I, don’t I, crossroads kind of a thing”. In order to find this other piece of information out, over the course of the episode, she makes up one of her infamous stories that gets somewhat but not entirely out of hand (compared to other stories she’s made up). She thinks maybe the news is that Harry wants to marry Sandy, though Lionel points out that a proposal is a question and not news.

There is a knock on the door late at night- the girls are asleep and Jean and Lionel are in bed. Jean is convinced it’s Harry (detective sergeants keep odd hours, don’t they) and tells Lionel to wake Sandy up. Actually though it’s Alistair, back from his latest trip. He’s very happy, though Sandy’s not at being woken up because of it, and Judy comes down as she goes back up. The big news is that Alistair’s done it- he’s a big shot again, on top, and so he’s ready for the big M- marriage. The subsequent exchange is along the lines of:

Judy: because you’re on top again?

Alistair: right!

Judy: WRONG!!!!

And she storms out of the room.

Then there’s a scene with Jean and Judy in Judy’s bedroom.

So now Jean is worried about Sandy (in relation to whatever Harry’s other news is) and Judy. She and Lionel got their happy ending- she wants Judy and Sandy to have happy endings too.

There’s a scene of Alistair at a bar. He’s trying to get the bartender to understand his position. He was globe trotting and chasing the money FOR Judy, because he loves her. He’s not quite understanding, though he’s about to after the conversation with the bartender, that Judy doesn’t care about the money and just wants him.

Harry comes again to take Sandy out and tell her his news. He tells her that he’s been offered an attachment for one year with the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). He doesn’t ask Sandy to come with him, and she is clearly disappointed. They leave to get a drink, and on the way out Sandy tells Jean Harry’s news and she can see how disappointed Sandy is. This leads to conversations with Lionel along the lines of “what’s wrong with that boy”. What struck me about Jean’s reaction to this was that given how she’s reacted every other time Sandy has mentioned moving out of the house, I expected her to be freaking out over the possibility of Sandy going to *Canada* for a *year*, rather than unhappy with Harry’s not asking her to go. Granted, this could occur in a later episode, if Harry does ask her later. So I’m not sure if this is a flaw in character consistency or if it just shows that Jean’s first instinct is Sandy’s happiness over her own happiness in having her close by.

While Sandy and Harry are out, at least I think Sandy was still out, Alistair comes back saying he has a big announcement. Judy comes into the room. He starts to talk and his mobile goes off- he puts it on the floor and stomps on it. He asks Lionel for a dustbin. He holds up papers and says they are the contracts worth the big bucks, but he doesn’t want them if Judy doesn’t want them- he had been doing it all for her but he finally gets it. He throws them in the trash can and lights a match. At the last moment, Judy blows the match out and hugs him, accepting his proposal, at last. Jean looks thrilled (one happy ending down) and tells her so. After Alistair is out the door (he and Judy are going out to eat) Lionel tells Judy that he’s happy for her too, except…he can’t help but wonder whether those papers were the real contracts. Judy says it ok because the same thought crossed her mind too, but she couldn’t very well go down on her hands and knees to read them and ruin the moment, but it didn’t matter because somewhere in there the real Alistair managed to say the right thing. Personally, I really liked this bit-Lionel happy but being cautious and not wanting Judy to get hurt (that’s how I saw it) and that Judy had the same thought. I think that said something good about her character’s growth.

A few random things: they do pay attention to the clock in the kitchen. It was set to appropriate times for the scenes and when there were retakes, the clock was moved back. The clock on the microwave was not set. Lines were flubbed and scenes re-shot, but I didn’t think that many times on the whole, not that I have anything to compare it to. The only time Judi appeared to be impatient was in the bedroom scene. Otherwise they all seemed relaxed and looked like they were enjoying themselves.

It was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to see how much of what we saw ends up in the actual episode and if anything comes out feeling different than how I interpreted it.