Moonlighting 2.04

The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice

The episode opens with an introduction by Orson Welles. He informs the viewers that part of the episode will be not be in color.

Maddie and David meet with a client (Mr. Bigelow) at the Flamingo Cove, an old run down nightclub. Bigelow wanted them to get evidence that his wife is cheating on him. They followed her around for days but were unable to come up with any evidence to support his claim. He is not pleased.

David and Maddie strike up a conversation with the guy who is trying to sell the Flamingo Cove. The subject quickly turns to the murder that happened there, decades before. There was a love triangle. A married woman and her lover killed her husband, or at least that's the story. They both went to the electric chair. The truth behind the murder was never resolved. They both died swearing that the other was the one who killed her husband.

Maddie and David leave the nightclub arguing about who killed who. That night they both dream about the case, not the case they were working on but the Flamingo Cove murder.

Maddie dreams that she's Rita Adams, a nightclub singer. Jerry, her husband plays the clarinet in the band. Zack McCoy, the band's new coronet player, looks just like David. He has eyes for Rita from the first time they meet. They have an affair. It goes on for a couple weeks. Zack kills Jerry. They stage it to look like he died by accident but the police are suspicious. Maddie's dream ends with Rita getting arrested and Zack getting off scot free.

David dreams that he's Zack McCoy, just like in Maddie's dream. She comes on to him, unlike in Maddie's dream. Rita is married to the clarinet player, just like in Maddie's dream. They have an affair that lasts for a couple weeks but Rita decides they have to do something about her husband, like kill him. Zack can't bring himself to do it until one day Rita comes to work with a black eye. Later than day he kills Jerry. He gets arrested and is sent to the electric chair. Rita is the one who throws the switch.

Maddie and David show up at the office the next day. They are both feeling much better.

Thoughts

This episode was dedicated to the memory of Orson Welles. He introduced the episode and died a couple weeks before it aired for the first time.

Agnes DiPesto shows up in Maddie's dream briefly but not in David's dream.

Maddie sings Blue Moon in her dream. She sings I Told Ya I Love Ya, Now Get Out in David's dream. She sings both song more than once.

Jerry is played by the same actor who plays the nameless guy who is trying to sell the Flamingo Cove. Sloan, the band leader, is played by the same actor who played Bigelow.

There is a brief glimpse of David's apartment, in between the two dream sequences. I believe it is the first time his apartment has been shown.

I think this is probably my favorite episode to date. I watched the dream sequences twice. I've watched little clips of episodes but this is the first time that I more or less re-watched a whole episode. I loved the homage to film noir and the humor in it, especially in David's dream sequence. I love the way it is shot and the different ways that Maddie/Rita and David/Zack are portrayed differently in the two dreams.