Seasons & episodes

Heather and Little Garth trade embarrassing secrets, and Mary catches them kissing over the kitchen table where Cathy gave birth. Harold Clemens misses the point in his interview with Mae and Wanda who want the world to know that foreplay is fairplay. Merle asks Mary to be the spokesperson for his Jump for Fitness campaign and watches with delight as she jumps rope in the kitchen. Violence is on the supper menu at the Gimble home.

After admitting his own childhood abuse, Garth confines Pat to a closet. George barges into the Addams house and threatens to tell Mr. Addams the truth about Cathy's baby unless Brian tells him first. Tom agrees to return to the plant, and Mary has a special gift to mark the occasion. Loretta urges Lou to sell the diner and take her where the action is.

Harold Clemens interviews Mary about the Olinski report, but she's more interested in gardening with garbage. Merle and Wanda disagree about her endorsement of Mae's research. Disgusted by Clemens' newspaper article, the men at the plant vow to organize a plan to win the battle of the sexes. Mac proposes marriage to Loretta. The Shumways discuss finances and the Olinski report. An excited Charlie shouts that Loretta has been found.

At the hospital, Charlie identifies the completely bandaged accident victim as Loretta when Dr. Osgood shows him Loretta's purse, which was found on the victim. Tom urges Mary not to intervene when Little Garth runs over and tells the Hartmans that Garth is knocking Pat down. Brian gives Cathy a check for $10,000 and a second to see her son. Mary suggests she and Pat explore the Women's Collective of Greater Fernwood, an organization helping battered wives. Mac tells Charlie about Lulu, but Charlie thinks she can't beat his Loretta. At the Capri, Mae finds the men from the plant drinking after work, and she attempts to make them understand her point of view, but battle lines are drawn.

Mary and Pat visit Rabbi Weintraub who agrees Pat should leave Garth...until he learns about Little Garth. Loretta tells Lou that she won't marry Mac if Lou makes her a better offer. Pat stops by Lou's Diner asking for directions back to Fernwood, but she manages to miss seeing Loretta. Mary asks Merle to help her save the Shumway home from foreclosure, and the their talk takes a very unexpected turn. Mae suspects revenge when Tom's commission for community standards orders a raid on Mae's room at the Bide-a-Wee Motel.

Mary solicits Grandpa Larkin's opinion in her argument with Tom about finding new ways to have sex. Tom denies Mae's accusation that he ordered her research work to be impounded by the police. Charlie and Martha pray over the bandaged accident victim, and think they receive a sign from God. Helen Dinsmore from BAD (Battered, Angry, and Determined)advises Pat that her home is a death trap she needs to leave at once. Just as George decides to accept Cathy's money, Cathy reveals she tore up Brian's check.

Tom confides to Charlie that he hates his job at the plant more than he thought, and Charlie encourages to relax at Lou's Diner up in Dayton. Clete shows up with his TV cameras when the Shumways barricade themselves in the house as the police arrive to evict them. Before Lt. Trask can order the force to storm the house, Merle saves the day with an eleventh hour solution. Wanda chastises Merle for the raid on Mae, and takes her feminist appeal to TV by suggesting a boycott of the bedroom. Mac and Loretta debate the Olinski Report.

Charlie is helpless to stop Tom from drinking. Garth tells Pat he wants her dead and doesn't care that he'll fry for it. Mary visits the bandaged accident victim and finds Martha working as a hospital "Gray Lady". Loretta promises Mac she's stringing Lou along but Lou gets angry when a diner patron points out that Loretta doesn't want him. While Loretta and Mac are making out in Mac's truck, a drunken Tom arrives at the diner and passes out. Lou puts an unconscious Tom in Loretta's bed. Pat gives Garth a taste of his own medicine, and it's fatal.

At the hospital, Martha and Grandpa Larkin meet Barbie, a fellow "Gray Lady". Mary tells Charlie about her visit with "Loretta" who Mary thinks will soon come out of her coma, and Charlie urges Mary no to worry about Tom's tardiness. Heather and Little Garth arrive and tell Mary about the terrible fight between Pat and Garth. Mary rushes over to the Gimble house and discover the police who arrest Pat for first degree murder. Mae confronts Merle and Wanda insisting she didn't a war between the sexes. Merle instructs the police to arrest everyone at Mae's town meeting tomorrow night. At Lou's Diner, Texas teases hungover Tom about his night with Lulu, and Tom does a double-take when Lulu/Loretta breezes past him.

Charlie wills the bandaged accident victim out of her coma, though he's dismayed when she scribbles a note telling him that she doesn't know who he is. Mary receives a call from Tom who won't explain why he didn't come home. Mae asks Mary to be an usher at the town meeting. Tom comes home and reveals he went on a drunken bender but neglects to mention he might have slept with Lulu/Loretta. Mac forces Loretta to answer his marriage proposal. Before Loretta rips up the photo she carries in her pocket, Mac recognizes him as Charlie Haggers. Attorney Nat Dearborn urges Pat to cop a plea in Garth's death since a jury will find stabbing-by-Christmas-tree an indecent act.

After Tom confesses to Charlie about possibly sleeping with Lulu, Mac reveals to Tom that Lulu turned up about three weeks ago carrying Charlie's photo. Merle gives Mary a toy wind-up chicken, while Heather and Little Garth wonder how to spell contraceptive. Tom goes to Lou's Diner, meets Lulu, and tries to make her remember her life as Loretta. Merle has Mae's town meeting raided, and she's arrested.

Mary admits to Nat Dearborn that Pat once mentioned wanting to kill Garth. Tom questions Charlie about his confidence that the bandaged accident victim is actually Loretta. Mac invites the guys at the plant to his wedding to Lulu. Mae grouses that Wanda is only interested in using the Olinski report to further her own political career. Clete performs a live TV interview with Mae from her jail cell. Mae explains her position and reveals that she's leaving Fernwood forever, but not before saying something that's never been said on television before.

S2 · E85Episode 215 1977-01-28 · 22 min＋

Charlie questions Tom about his fooling around in Lou's Diner. Mary visits the men at the plant. Merle returns Mae's pornographic research when she's released from jail to leave Fernwood. Charlie attempts to subtly warn Mary about Tom's behavior, prompting Mary to go to the diner in Dayton. Tom tells Loretta that she's Charlie's wife, but she becomes angry and rejects everything he says. After Loretta reassures him that they didn't sleep together, Tom embraces her, but Mary arrives and leaves upset after spotting him in the arms of another woman.

Charlie fights Dr. Osgood's plan to have "Loretta's" life support turned off, but it's rendered moot when the bandaged patient dies. Pat meets her new cell mate Cookie LaRue, who is arrested while passing through Fernwood. Mary avoids Tom in preparation for leaving him over his affair with the woman in Lou's Diner. Tom explains to Mary that Loretta is the woman he was embracing, and she has amnesia. Meanwhile Loretta's wedding ceremony to Mac is commencing in Dayton. Just as Charlie begins to accept Loretta's death, Tom tells him that Loretta is alive and getting married in Lou's Diner.

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.