Writer:  Tom Hertz
Director: Andy Cadiff

Episode Length: 22:02

Guest Stars:

Rating: n/a

Rating:  TV- PG - D

First Broadcast: March 11, 1998

Storyline #1: Breaking Up is Easy to Do
The story picks up where we left off last week (I'll bet you picked that up by the Roman numeral in the title.) and we see Mike and Laurie start to plan their future.   After another romp in the hay, they begin to talk about the big day.  Later on, Mike says he wants to get married that Saturday.  He figures that as long as they're going through with it, they might as well get it over with.  In order to speed up the process, Mike asks The Mayor to be his best man.  Mayor Winston tries to impart some Best Man wisdom to Mike, but considering The Mayor's marriage record, the advice isn't needed. Meanwhile, Paul has to buy a new ring, since his first one is currently being worn by Laurie.  He plans to try to propose again that night at Mike's engagement party.  The party starts off great, but runs into a snag when Laurie takes off the ring to admire it.  She notices that Claudia's name is on it.   Claudia, at the party, tells Paul she wants to marry him, but Paul can't stand the fact that things aren't going according to plan and he runs out.  After the party, Mike apoligizes to Laurie and said he only ran with it because he is in love with her.   Laurie lets him off the hook but demands a real ring and a real proposal.  A couple of days later, the two couples find themselves at the Landmark for lunch.  As a show of how well they know each other, Paul orders for Claudia and Claudia orders for Paul.  Mike and Laurie try the same trick, but they end up screwing it up, showing that they really don't know each other that well yet.  Paul takes Claudia to the Press Room, where they first kissed, and proposes.  She accepts.  At Mike's apartment that night, Laurie realizes that it's best that they break up.  And Mike tries to put up a fight.  However, he doesn't fight hard enough and Laurie walks out of his life, obstensibly forever.

Storyline #2: Dream a Little Dream
After Mike's announcement that he's no longer "in play", the women on the Staff daydream about what it would be like to be Mrs. Flahrety.  Nikki dreams of a scenario similar to I Love Lucy, complete with Black and White photography.   Janelle's vision involves Mike becoming the First Man when Janelle wins the Presidency.  Stacy's dream is reminiscent of Ghost with the Clay sculpting and disappearing people.  Carter even gets into the act by dreaming about being together with Mike.  And in the end, Mike dreams of getting over the relationship by having a sex-in with Jannelle, Stacy, and Nikki.  When Carter enters the picture as well, Mike wakes up screaming.

Review: 1 Wedding and a Funeral

Overall, a dreamy episode.  First of all, I knew that that poll at the end of last week's episode wouldn't make a lick of difference.  After "4 crazy days", the new couple decide to break it off.  Great move having Laurie taking the high road and Mike weaseling out.  It was the exact same scenario a few months ago when Mike wanted commitment and Laurie wanted out.  It's a shame, because I kind of liked Paula Marshall.  However, I don't think anybody was looking forward to another Gugino situation.

Well, Paul finally popped the question to Claudia and she said yes.  As nice as this relationship has blossomed, it is about time they go ahead and get on with it.   Paul has had a distraction girlfriend for long enough.  It's time he had a distraction wife.  Besides, it will give the viewers the impression that not every single person living in New York City is single.

I realize that there was not necessarily a second plot to speak of, but there is something to say about weaving an interdependant storyline and keeping the audience focused.  Not that I have anything against divergent plots, but not all the time.

Well, Mike's finally single again.  I hope that with this latest story arc that he's got all of the dating out of his system for a while.  Relationships are clearly not this show's strong suit.  They need to get back to governing the city, or something.

The dream sequences were certainly inspired and probably my favorite part of the show.   Nikki had a classic, nuclear family vision that certainly remains true to her character.  Janelle showed a never-before-seen political ambitious side that was very intriguing.  If she's dreaming of running for President, I'd like to see the writers explore that more.  (And memo to the producers:  Please give her a last name.)

Stacy, of course, is only in it for the hot sex.  And isn't it always a bonus when one of the Staff members is seen sans shirt.  (In this case Stuart.)  Finally, Carter probably had the funniest dream of the night.  I'm a little suprised that Michael J. Fox let himself play gay, even if it was only in a dream.  Kudos for courage.  The end dream of course was almost exactly the same as Chandler's dream sequence from a few weeks ago on Friends, but I let that one go by.

All in all, a quality episode.  Not necessarily a classic, laugh-out-loud episode.   But with the amount of material covered, it certainly was worth of being in February sweeps.

Rating [5 pt. scale]: 4.0

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