Episode 3: Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her

Episode 3: Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her
Grade: D

Airdate: November 5, 1951

Oy, this lives down to its title! Lucy is reading a murder mystery (with a huge title and no picture on the cover) and, combined with Ethel's sudden interest in fortune-telling (a much more intriguing subplot), she decides that, yes, Ricky is trying to murder her. To make matters worse, even Ethel doesn't go to the police, and Fred says that all wives think their husbands want to kill them, and the wives are usually right! And the ha-ha twist is Whew, Ricky wasn't poisoning me, he was only giving me a sleeping powder that Fred uses on Ethel! I did like the bi joke about Theodore, and the dogs were kind of cute, but this is a reminder of how bizarre '50s misogyny looks now, or even in the '70s when I first saw this.

Jerry Hausner returns as Ricky's agent Jerry. Oh, and this is another episode where we see Ricky's hairy chest, but I don't know if I'll make that into a tag.