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Weekend at Muriel's

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"Everyone likes the oldies."
"Actually, I like the newies."
"You’ll learn."
―Miss Finster and Spinelli

"Weekend at Muriel's" is the eighteenth episode of the second season of Recess, which was first broadcast on November 21st, 1998.

Plot[]

 Spoiler Warning: Plot twists, ending details, etc. are included in the plot. You have been warned.

Summary[]

Spinelli is forced to spend a weekend with Miss Finster while Spinelli's parents, Bob and Flo, are away for the weekend.

Main Story[]

Thursday night, Spinelli's parents made her go to the supermarket with them when suddenly, Spinelli bumped into Miss Finster shopping there. There is a baby-sitters' convention in town the following weekend, and Mr. and Mrs. Spinelli cannot find anyone to watch their daughter. Miss Finster, having known Spinelli's maternal grandmother Aggie as a family friend, volunteers to help.

One Friday morning, Spinelli does not even want to discuss it with her friends, but after she does, her friends remind her of the time she called Miss Grotke "mama", especially Gretchen, who explicitly asked if she remembers it. This gains Spinelli's confidence. After school, Miss Finster interrogatively threatens the Cornchip Girl with detention for the rest of her life for yawning without covering her mouth. As she brings Spinelli to her house, she turns on the radio with a song from "The Men from over There" and sings along after telling Spinelli that "she will learn (to like the oldies like 'everyone'", though actually, Spinelli likes the "newies", those more recent).

Now at Miss Finster's pad (apartment), Spinelli notices a cat door for strays (and Miss Finster tells her she is kind of a stray herself this weekend, but does not stuff her through it because "[she did] upset the saucer of milk on the other side"). When Miss Finster gets dinner started, Spinelli says she is so hungry she can eat a horse. For this, Finster tells her that they are having horse liver with Brussels sprouts and Lima beans, much to Spinelli's dismay. They do not get dessert. Next, they watch McManus the Vet Detective, much to Spinelli's dismay, as she wanted to watch wrestling. In the bathroom, much to her disgust, Spinelli is asked to put Finster's fake teeth back in the jar. Looking at a picture with two women, one of whom she thinks is Madonna, Spinelli learns that it was really Miss Finster and Aggie (Spinelli's grandmother) in Guam back in 1952. Spinelli is unable to sleep because of Finster's snoring.

At 5 AM on Saturday, Miss Finster lifts a barbell 20 times, and then will not let her watch cartoons for it being "kid stuff". They run errands, and Finster skips the shower due to not having any time for it. First, they are in a beauty salon, and then Miss Finster, after introducing Spinelli to her old friends in a podiatrist's office, gets a bunion scrape (causing the doctor to smell her stench after she removed one of her shoes because "someone didn't shower this morning"), and then they bring home groceries.

Miss Finster decides to prepare another horse-liver dinner, but Spinelli asks to use the bathroom. Miss Finster then intends to offer her a choice between creamed asparagus or creamed beets, and so, she begins to check on her. While Spinelli is staying in the bathroom on the phone talking to T.J., she (unaware that Miss Finster is overhearing her) says she knew that Finster was mean, but had no idea she was so boring. This hurts Miss Finster's feelings, and asks herself in the picture of herself and Aggie if she had gotten boring. Later, when she offers to help, Miss Finster declines and has her go watch some television. So, she watches Commander Blaine. Later, as the show is ending, Miss Finster turns off the TV and tells her it is dinner time. They are having a luau and doing the hula, like Finster and Spinelli's grandmother used to do it back in Guam. She turns on the record player and shakes her grass skirt, Spinelli joins in. T.J. and his friends are watching, but due to embarrassment, they promise never to talk about it.

Monday, as Miss Finster is driving Spinelli back to school (late), talking about an unforgettable Sunday consisting of batting practice, a mini golf tournament and eating chili dogs in the park, the former reminds the latter that the latter herself will be the student again and the former will be the teacher again. Because of this, when Spinelli gets out of the car, Miss Finster yells at her for being late. As Spinelli attempts to explain the reason, Finster denies any excuses and sends her into the school building.

Timeline[]

Goofs[]

Animation error in Weekend at Muriel's

The blue circle is the diamond that is missing.

  • Animation error: While Miss Finster is talking to the Spinellis, one of the diamonds on her dress disappear for a frame.
  • Coloring error: While Miss Finster is talking to the Spinellis, one side of her glasses flashes her skin color (instead of being transparent) for a frame.
    Another animation in Weekend at Muriel's
  • Dialogue/grammar error: When the narrator of McMannus: Vigilante Veternarian is reading the title card of "Hare's Looking at You, Punk", he reads "Punks" instead of "Punk" like it says on the screen.
  • Animation error: When Spinelli says "Yeah, same here", her eyelids are not drawn correctly, and one of her eyes is pointing at a different direction, making her face look strange.

Trivia[]

Regular[]

  • This is April Winchell's personal favorite episode of the series.
  • This episode was part of Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street.
  • It is possible that Miss Finster takes care of stray cats, as her door has a cat door, and in the kitchen, before she goes to ask Spinelli if she would like creamed asparagus or creamed beets, there is a bag of cat food on the floor.
  • Friday night at bedtime, Spinelli assumes the blonde lady to be Madonna. The real Madonna would not be born for about six years after the picture was taken.
  • On the DVD of Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street, this episode is titled "Muriel's Secret" in the scene selection.
  • "We're the Man from Over There" and "Hula Hula Baby" were both heard in the Recess Gag Reel.[1]

Allusions[]

  • Gretchen references "Mama's Girl" in this episode.
  • The title is a play on the 1989 film "Weekend at Bernie's".

Parodies[]

  • McManus The Vet Detective: Vigilante Veterinarian is a parody of a TV drama starring Dick Van Dyke, Diagnosis Murder which ran from 1993 to 2001. The main character is subsequently designed to look like him.

Cast[]

Reference[]

  1. ↑ Recess Gag Reel: 3:24-3:28 & 3:33-3:43

Gallery[]

The Recess Wiki has a collection of images about Weekend at Muriel's
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