Moonlighting 2.14

Every Daughter's Father Is a Virgin

Alexander and Virginia Hayes, Maddie's parents, come to Los Angeles for a wedding. Maddie's mother suspects that Alexander is having an affair. Maddie hires David to follow her father and see what he can find. David follows Maddie's father to a hotel, finds out his room number, and knocks on the door when he knows that he isn't there. A woman answers the door who isn't Virginia.

David reports back in to Maddie what he found. Maddie feels like she has to tell her mother but doesn't know how to do it. Maddie and David go to dinner with Maddie's parents the next night. Maddie can't bring herself to tell her mother but after dinner, when she gets a moment alone with her father she gives her father a piece of her mind.

Maddie goes to see her parents the next morning, before they fly back to Chicago. She still can't bring herself to tell her mother about what she discovered about her father. She gets a moment alone with him. They reconcile. He's glad to see that she isn't still mad at him.

Thoughts

Eva Marie Saint played the part of Virginia Hayes. I've seen her in a few things including On the Waterfront (1954) for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She turned 100 in 2024, is still around, and has a few screen credits in the past 10 years.

This episode has some laughs in the early going but after David discovers that Maddie's father is having an affair the laughs taper off fairly quickly, until the very end of the episode.

Miss DiPesto demonstrates a new ability in this episode. On two occasions she shows that she can hear when someone is approaching the office by putting her ear to her desk. I don't recall seeing this trick before and wonder if it will ever be seen again.

This is a solidly good episode. I'm impressed that they went there with this one given how silly this show can be at times.