Seasons & episodes

Mary arrives at Lou's Diner in the middle of Loretta's marriage to Mac. Lou speaks now rather than forever holding his peace. A brawl erupts and ends with Loretta getting hit over the head and regaining her memory. Nat Dearborn agrees with Cookie that Pat's choices are either the death penalty or life in prison. Cookie urges Pat to join her in a prison break. Merle warns Wanda that if she doesn't satisfy his urges, he'll stray. Wanda introduces Merle to Lila, the new housekeeper, and Merle offers to join her in the linen closet. Loretta says a very sweet goodbye to her admirers in the diner.

Loretta and Charlie are reunited in Mary's kitchen, but Charlie's doubt over what Loretta did as Lulu creates tension in their marriage. Grandpa Larkin plays checkers alone, while Tom hustles to get his family's finances back on track. Reverend Buryfield officiates at Garth's funeral, where Charlie and Loretta realize they're being petty, and Merle presses Mary for a closer relationship.

Merle plays a new fetish with Mary, hand puppets called Little Merle and Little Mary. George visits Martha at the hospital and has a conversation with a corpse. Mary confesses to Tom that she's been hired as a ticket taker at the Bijou theatre, but reassures him that he's still the head breadwinner. Leaving Fernwood for a new life in Chicago, Mae stops by the Hartman home to say goodbye. Mary's job at the Bijou comes to an abrupt conclusion when she's robbed at gunpoint.

Hired by the Fernwood jail, Mary gets on the matron's bad side by fraternizing with Pat. Wanda is non-plussed to catch Merle and Lila getting passionate on the sofa, and Merle is appalled that Wanda hired Lila to satisfy both of their needs. Cathy and Martha explain to Harold Clemens that they plan to make extra money by giving tours at the Shumway house, which has been designated an historical landmark. Pat is tormented by a nightmare in which Garth taunts her while she awaits death in the electric chair. Cookie strongly urges Pat to join her in breaking out of jail.

Grandpa and Barbie learn a lesson of their own while lecturing Heather and Little Garth about keeping their relationship a secret from parents. George bristles as Cathy and Martha prepare to make a tourist center of the Shumway home where visitors can see the famous Marquette Rock in their yard. Tom attempts to comfort Mary who cries in the night for no apparent reason, but he makes a statement he may later regret. Cookie forces Pat to break out of jail with her.

George loses his temper when a group of tourists invade his kitchen. Harold Clemens introduces his friend Howie Freeze to the Shumways. Mary interviews with Vernon Bales at the auto plant and gets the job. Charlie is surprised at Loretta's new role as the perfect housewife. Pat wants to turn herself in to the cops, but Cookie blackmails her into staying on the lam.

George is incensed when he discovers that Grandpa Larkin and Barbie had illicit sex in his house. Heather and Cathy have a candid chat about sex. Mary reveals to Tom that she's been hired to work on the assembly line. Vernon assigns Mary to work between Texas and Tiny, and Mary instantly causes problems on the line by depressing Tiny. Cookie forces Pat to help her hold up the Capri Lounge, but Pat only manages to steal a jar of maraschino cherries, buttered popcorn, and free drink tokens.

Charlie and Mac clear the air about what Loretta and Mac didn't do while she had amnesia. Howie asks Cathy out to dinner, and after a crazed George destroys the Marquette Rock, she agrees. Mary stops by the Capri for a very uncomfortable after-work drink with the guys from the plant. Heather teases her hair, wears too much makeup, and talks back Mary and Tom. Tom blames Mary for Heather's behavior and isn't happy with their role reversal when he's forced to cook while she's out drinking with the boys.

Mary is angry when Cathy admits that Heather went out on a date. Pat reaches out to Mary for help. Heather and Little Garth slip into the Gimble home and sleep together. Lila defends Wanda to Merle, and proclaims she's saving her kisses for the right man. When he comes on very strong, Cathy insists that Howie court her with picnics and miniature golf. Mary tells Pat that Little Garth is cured of bed-wetting, and the fugitives meet gypsies Zorrina and Godza in the woods outside Fernwood.

Heather and Little Garth awaken in the Gimble home and feel good after not doing anything but sleeping. Tom and the police berate Mary for being a working mother with a missing daughter. When Heather comes home, Tom lays down the law, but Mary goes to work. Loretta feels awkward, and awkwardness spreads with Mac's arrival. Mary rails against Cathy for influencing Heather, and the Shumways all take sides in the fight between sisters. Merle pours out his heart to Wanda but is shocked to find Lila in their marriage bed.

Wanda explains to a disgusted Merle how Lila provides something that he doesn't, but when Merle suggests it's grounds for divorce, Wanda retires to the bedroom with him, leaving Lila alone on the living room sofa. Loretta orders Charlie's favorite pizza and puts on her shortest nightie, but Charlie rejects her in favor of a night out with Mac. A real estate agent tells Mary that he's been given approval by Pat's mother Mrs. Welch to sell the Gimble home. Mary invites Texas, Tiny, and Vernon over for a game of poker, and the evening turns into a total disaster when she spills employee secrets to Vernon.

Tom warns Mary that there's gossip at the plant about resentment brewing against Mary, who's trying too hard to break with traditions. At the plant, Texas is annoyed when Mary stops the conveyor belt to have coffee cake and a chat. Two cops visit the plant and grill Mary for information about Pat, who's still a fugitive. Merle's attempts to get close to Wanda are thwarted by Lila's presence. Merle intimidates Wanda into having sex with him.

Under orders from Mrs. Welch, Colonel Fleck arrives from the military academy to escort Little Garth back to school, which upsets Heather. The war between Mary and Cathy results in more casualties when it leads Martha and George into the mother of all married fights. Merle visits Mary and requests a very personal item of hers to help him get back his "force". Cops descend on the gypsy camp and arrest Cookie, but she remains a true friend to Pat. Zorrina feels that Pat is the son she no longer has, and Pat declares Zorrina the mother she never had.

Due to Martha and George fighting, Cathy convinces Howie that he should let her and Baby live with him in a platonic way while he romances her. Lila declares her love for Wanda and decides it would be better if Merle were out of the way. Loretta feels like a third wheel at the Capri when Charlie and Mac discuss Paul Newman and weekends in the wilderness. Mary receives an urgent phone call from Merle, who's deathly ill. Mary finds Merle unconscious and mistakenly believes that he's attempting suicide.

No one believes that Merle didn't try to commit suicide, and Clete shows up in the hospital to interview him. Mary attempts to get all the men in the plant to sign a petition for more pleasant working conditions. Catholic nuns arrive to escort Heather to their convent after receiving a letter from Mary, forged by Heather, requesting that she be taken in as a novitiate. Mary smuggles food to the gypsies who convince Pat to leave Fernwood with them.

After Wanda brings Merle home from the hospital, Lila blackmails her into not sleeping with him, insinuating that she could reveal their affair to voters. Later, Lila slips poison into Merle's vitamin capsules. Vernon visits Mary on the assembly line and after she insists the petition was solely her idea, he throws it in the trash can. Texas privately asks Vernon when their secret meetings will begin again. Charlie and Mac continue to bond at the Capri. Vernon holds a mysterious meeting of the Twilight Teachers of Truth, a white supremacist type organization. Disturbed by a lack of members in Fernwood, they decide to change their name to the Glorious Guardians of Good with Tom and Mary as their new image of all that's good and decent in middle-class America.

Vernon and the newly formed Glorious Guardians of Good (GGG) decide to change their outward appearance while keeping hate in their heart. Howie encourages Cathy and Mary to reconcile at the Capri, where Merle collapses again in agonizing pain. Lila adds more poison to Merle's pills. Raymond and Barbie agree to sow their wild oats before settling down together, but being macho is taking its toll on him. While making love on the kitchen floor, Tom and Mary spot a Peeping Tom through the doggy door. Mary is stunned at the identity of the peeper, who confesses that he saw Garth beating Pat and witnessed the accident that led to Garth's death.

Tom and Mary force the peeper to confess to Nat Dearborn that Pat was abused and Garth's death was accidental. After Wanda's confession that she kissed Merle and declaration that their situation is changing, Lila promises that she always gets what she wants. Pat prepares to leave Fernwood with Zorrina and Godza. During a drinking game with Charlie and Mac, Loretta admits that she's jealous of their friendship. Mary arrives at the gypsy camp with news that Pat is being cleared of murder charges, but Pat still has to decide whether to stay with her old life or leave for a new one.

Charlie reassures Loretta that it's just the two of them, but Mac interrupts with breakfast and a declaration that they're one big, happy family. Texas and Tiny give Mary the unwritten rules of assembly workers, and she breaks them. Howie reveals to Martha that he's an investigative reporter working on a story about underground groups. Mary pays a very crowded visit to Merle, Wanda, and Lila. Baby disappears while Cathy washes clothes at the launderette.

Mary and Martha argue about Cathy who arrives with news that she lost Baby. At the gypsy camp, Zorinna shows Godza the infant she snatched while tumble drying her babushkas at the laundromat. The Shumways lament their losses. Heather spies on Tom and Mary making out. Lila hides in the armoire in Merle and Wanda's bedroom and becomes enraged when the couple begin to make love. When Merle asks for one good reason why he shouldn't kick Lila out, Wanda soberly reminds him that she could destroy their lives.

Officer Malloy from the Fernwood police department questions Mary about Baby's disappearance. Howie unsuccessfully attempts to comfort Cathy. Vernon promises Texas that there are many unhappy families in Fernwood, and the GGG will happily give them a scapegoat for their anger. At Pat's disastrous welcome home party, Vernon surveys all the despondent guests intently.

At the plant, Mary and the men debate whether noxious fumes are a safety or grievance issue. Vernon invites Tom for an after-work drink to get to know one another better. Howie tries to interview an elusive Merle. Lila attempts to sabotage Merle and reminds him to take his pill, which she poisoned. Before leaving Fernwood forever, Pat shares a very heartfelt goodbye with Mary.

Grandpa Larkin asks Barbie to live with him. Vernon offers Tom and Charlie free lifetime memberships to the GGG. Howie tells Cathy that he's stuck in boring Fernwood and wants to track down the TTT. Loretta helps Mary write a song for the disgruntled workers, while Martha's one of the miserable housewives of America. George forbids Barbie from moving in but changes his tune when he realizes he needs Grandpa Larkin's social security check to help with the rent. At Wanda's dinner party for the Hartmans, Lila poisons a piece of pie for Merle, but Mary gets it mixed up and served to the wrong victim.

Mary and George convince Jess Davis to hire a depressed Martha as a part time bartender at the Capri. Cathy and Mary discover Martha's secret life as a thief. Wanda calls Lila's blackmail bluff, but Lila has a trump card: Wanda's personal diary. Vernon and Texas initiate Tom, Charlie, and Mac into the GGG.