Isabel 

The whole Phyllis the Turtle leitmotif doesn't really work. Of course the turtle is going to get lost. I did like the way Vinnie kind of slipped on it at the end, though. 

Good physical comedy from PB when he puts LH's fender into the front seat with him, instead of chucking it in the back. 

The attire at the gym: Yes, I always wear fuchsia pumps, leg warmers, and skin tight lycra when I work out. The exaggerated costumes of the gym customers provided a nice contrast to the un-pumped RS and LH. I like how RS finds lots of things to look at in the gym. 

One odd thing that I noticed was in the background of two scenes. At Nedra's house there is a shelf unit with white knicknacks, including a porcelain cow creamer/ pitcher. The same cow appears in Frances's kitchen on the spice rack. Why notice such a thing? My mother has one in our kitchen. We never use it because we find it totally gross that the cow spews cream from its mouth. Very unappetizing! The props department does this with other items in other episodes, like the cuckoo clock that appears from time to time. 

The scene in the bus reminded me of the end of Ferris Bueller's Day off, when the principal is stuck riding the bus and the little girl offers him a warm, squishy gummy bear that has been in her pocket all day. The girl in this episode had a much more pleasant view. That scene is also a head-scratcher. How did 4 random adults hitch a ride on a school bus without arousing suspicions? 

Voilà. 

-The first scene at Laura's loft is one of my favorite beginnings. It's so wonderful to see Remington and her spending an intimate, quiet evening at home with the Piper's pets. They don't need to spend a fancy evening out on the town to have a wonderful time together-they can just as easily have a fullfilling and enjoyable evening relaxing at home in their casual wear. And I like their "matching" outfits in this opening scene - they fit the 'evening at home' theme perfectly. 

-I love Remington showing his protective side and Laura actually allowing it! Notice how close Remington is sitting to Laura on the couch as they listen to Vinnie's explanation. R even puts his arm on the back of the couch behind Laura. And then later, Remington shows that protectiveness again when he joins L at the door while she's talking to Swaggenhoff. 

-I love the way Laura listens to Remington's explanation about why he wants them to help Vinnie and then goes along with him. She trusts his instincts and stands behind him, in spite of any nagging doubts she may have: 

Laura: 'Why are you so determined to help this man?' 
Remington: 'Well, let's just say he reminds me of a young man I once 
knew who was in trouble and on the run, eh?' 
L: 'You really believe he's telling the truth, don't you?' 
R: 'Yes, yes I do.' 
L: 'Alright. We'll take the case.' 

-I love Laura and Remington sipping tea on the couch in the wife's house as Vinnie comes crashing through the sun roof. 

-I love poor Vinnie's pitiful attempt to explain to the cop why he's hiding in the Rabbit. (First, he says his name is RS. Then he says LH is his sister, then his aunt...) 

-Love the scene where Laura and Remington finally locate the car after Vinnie's wrecked it. I love the way Remington calmly cleans his sunglasses and rolls up his car window, even though the top is down, and basically just ignores Swaggenheel. Also love it when R & L start to drive away and the front right fender falls off with a klunk. R never loses his cool as he silently and calmly retrieves it and holds it in his lap as they drive away. 

-Love the continuity references to the Pipers and the way Vinnie and Mildred hide out there and cook spaghetti. Love Laura's horrified expression when she sees Frances' wrecked garage and when she enters her sister's house and finds it over-run by cops. I especially love Remington telling Swaggenhoof to 'lock up when you leave'. Also love him calling R "Mr. GQ". 

-Love the phone call Laura gets from Frances, who wants to know if what a neighbor told her about her wrecked garage is true. Even funnier is the way R refuses to talk to Frances on the phone and makes Laura do it. 

-Absolutely love Remington attempting to 'show off' for Laura in the gym. Poor guy...he better try something other than chin-ups and dumb bells if he wants to impress her. Especially love the way she 'encourages' him with her hand motions as he attempts his chin ups. R's little talk with Lance about how to attract 'the chicks' is a riot, as is the way Laura comes back into the room to find out what's keeping him. 

-Love the continuity provided by the scene with Weasle in the pool hall, especially him referring to Laura as 'Mary Magdalene' and L telling him that 'Cruella DeVille was busy.' It's always fun to see Remington obtain information from his old mates. No mention was made of money - R just laid it on the pool table. Glad to see R hasn't lost his touch handling a pool cue. Also love the way Laura throws Weasle a kiss as she and R leave. 

-Love the scene on the school bus where Remington and the little girl with glasses have a 'stare off' and he even asks her "What do you think?" Love her delayed reply of "What an idiot!" 

-Loved Laura's fedora!!! 

Debra 
 

What's with the clothes in the opening scene? Though the clothes were nice, they are somewhat different for both Laura and Remington. I liked Laura's outfit, but the shirt on Mr. Steele is too big and too colorful. However, I loved Laura's sweater in the ending scene and of course the fedora. 

I found this episode boring, and there was not one appealing co-star. I cannot even think of any interesting or funny one liner. 

Even the tag scene is lacking the usual "Laura and Remington moment". 

Isabel 
 

I will have to agree with Isabel that it doesn't remind me of a Mr. and Mrs. Steele episode either, but I did like the fedora too!!! I also liked the belt Steele was sporting in most of the episode. It draws attention to....well I won't say it...you get the idea!!! I guess I'm really missing XENOS' posts!!!! Xenos where are you!!!!!!? 

Okay, the episode starts with questions for me... 
How did Vinnie know where Laura lived? I mean how did he even know that he needed or wanted to contact RSI?!!! and on top of that....RS is the name of the agency and supposidly everyone knows RS but never reconizes LH!!! So, how did he track down RSI through Laura!!! I'm totally confused with that. The only thing I can think of is contacting Mildred at the office, but even then, I would hope that Mildred wouldn't give out Laura's address to just anyone. 

Another thing with the beginning....How in the world did that turtle get on the floor in the first place!? Was Laura handling it when Vinnie broke through the window? I get sick everytime that turtle gets squeeshed!! Eweee!!!! 

I really liked the scene at Vinnie's wife's house when Steele knew for sure about Vinnie's innocence and Laura trusts him! Yeah!! Best scene in the episode IMO. 

The famous line of the episode...."We've got trouble." Two people died because of it! 

If anyone was paying attention to the car driving away after Tony was killed...it was the same car that that Detective who did it was driving!!! 

Wasn't that detective afraid of eating glass in that sauce?!!! I would be!! 

I didn't see a need for the other storyline...Wolf, the downstairs neighbor and Vinnie's wife. There wasn't a need for it. 

Didn't particularly like the tag scene for reasons mentioned above! 

Not one of my favoirte episodes. In fact, probably on the bottom 10 list. 

Jilly

I love the matched costumes (and Steele looks wonderful in a shirt no other man could carry off) and the way Steele smiles at the door, looking like a proud husband. 

I would have liked to see how Laura sorted things out with her sister, but I suppose that's what fanfic is for. 

A nice, romantic episode, with Steele enjoying showing Laura off and Laura very relaxed about it. He looks positively smug both at the loft and at her sister's house. He's also adorable with the pets in the first scene. Laura's not the only one who is kind to animals.

I with some of you in that I can't stand Laura's outfit in the opening scene. It's the same one she wears in the tag of Blushing Steele and I didn't like it there either. 

I do like Steele's shirt in the opening scene thought I may be a bit warped because my husband has a thing for loud "Hawaiian" type shirts:)

Regarding the episode, this one ranks in the bottom three in my book. Very, very little material to save this episode. Only thing that would have made it any worse than it already was would have been bringing back Rocky Sullivan to sing "Who's Sorry Now" at the end...LOL! 
 

Very funny Judith!! HAHA!! 

Jilly 

HOWEVER, I don't think Pierce's shirt would fit into any time period - YUCK! 

This episode was OK - not fantastic, not terrible. Like most of Season 3 and 4 episodes, there was a real lack of "spark" between Remington and Laura. Where was the banter, the chemistry, the melting looks? I don't like them "comfortable" with each other - too boring... doesn't say much for married life if this is an example of a "Mr and Mrs Steele" episode imho. 

I think this episode cries out for some fanfic - especially to explain them being in Laura's loft at the beginning :-) Maybe the fanfic could also explain Remington's shirt as well - maybe his original shirt was torn off and he had to use one from her wardrobe :-) Any takers? 
 

As to the "lack of spark" in S3 and S4, I have been writing about that for 
a long time, so I am pleased that FINALLY someone feels like I do about it. 

Isabel

Jilly

Memorable Stuff 

- One of the most memorable things about this episode for me is: the number of squished turtles 
- I laugh as Mr. Steele rolls up the window to shut up Zweigenhoff, even though the Rabbit's top is down 
- Couple of cute moments in the gym and the aerobitorium where Mr. Steele tries to show off a bit. Love how Laura's embarrassed the first time (with the dumbbells) and is amused the second time (when he tries to do the leg raises). 
- Once again the Piper kitchen is the site for spaghetti! 
- I crack up at Laura blowing Weasel a kiss goodbye. 
 

Character Development 

- Kinda nice to see our duo doing something mundanely domestic like pet sitting. 
- As Vinnie relates the story of how he set himself up, it's cute to see Mr. Steele following his logic and even smiling in appreciation for what Vinnie had done. 
- Good to see Laura's willing to take the case just because Mr. Steele believes in Vinnie 
 

Favorite lines 

As they're leaving Tony Petz: 
L: Thank you Mr. Pecs 
-------------- 
The line Xenos longed to say to Mr. Steele is instead uttered by Mrs. Tuttle: Unzip me 
-------------- 
R: Clean living, Weasel. Does wonders, mate. (Ah, if only Robert Pastorelli had listened....) 
 

Hair & Clothing 

- Another set of matching (well, same colors anyway) outfits for R&L in their first scene. Her shirt & trousers were also seen in Steele Blushing. 
- I like Laura's turquoise suit and the hat is stylish, though not quite the same color 
- Coordinating outfits again in the tag scene. What's with that?! 
 

Goofs, Headscratchers & Misc 

- Would Frances Piper *really* have that much stuff in her garage that wasn't car- or yard-related? 
- Xenos! Were those your real glasses? That WAS you on the school bus staring at Mr. Steele, wasn't it? 
- If the guy who played Mike Ito (in You're Steele The One For Me) was the worst guest star, Daniel Greene (Tony Petz) is a close second, IMHO. 

- SueJue found some missing scenes from the episode: http://krebsfiles.com/kickingscrap.html 
- While Angie's fic relates to the episode only slightly (that wasn't its purpose), it's a great excuse to re-read it: http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/remingtonsteele/fanfic/new/Fiddling.html 

Guest Cast Trivia 

- Shannon Wilcox (Mrs. Tuttle) was also Charlotte Knight in Etched in Steele. (I like her shorter hair) She's the mother of Kelli Williams who played Lindsay Dole for 7 seasons in The Practice. 
- Richard Reicheg (?) was also in A Pocketful of Steele 
- This is the late Robert Pastorelli's second episode as Weasel. The first was Now You Steele It, Now You Don't. 
- Daniel Greene (Tony Petz) and LaGena Hart (Heather LeBlanc) are married to each other. I wonder if Jamie Lyn Hart (the schoolgirl) is their daughter? 
 
 

Jilly