Sam is recruited to write the script for a community theater pageant about the Civil War to which Endora advises her to "write mortal, think witch!" Sam must've been thinking witch alright -- but unfortunately here, she's thinking more like poor dear Aunt Clara!This is an odd little episode. The premise is creative: Sam brings to life some characters in her mind to help her write a play. But once the characters arrive, this promising plot turns into a one-joke show with nowhere to go while relying on the already overused subplot of "Gladys-saw-something-through-the-front-window!" Scriptwriter Paul Wayne thankfully doesn't emphasize that aspect too much but curiously decides to sustain the plot elsewhere -- inexplicably conveying Samantha as not able to control when and where the figments of her imagination materialize! "Yoo Hoo ... SAMANTHA?!?!" Involuntarily conjuring up fanciful characters without any control at the most inopportune times is expected from Aunt Clara (and later, Esmeralda) but I'm sorry... it just doesn't work when it's coming from our famously level headed heroine.
Alice Pearce is fun and the trio of make-believe characters (Chet Stratton, Tom Nardini, Eileen O'Neill) are a spirited bunch. But try as they might, Montgomery and York's performances here seem unusually detached. Then again, who can blame them? Having a writer who didn't write for the characters they'd already established must've been difficult for anyone to act out convincingly.
Watch this for the dancing vaudevillians at the end...now THAT'S entertainment!.
GUEST STARS: Olan Soule (Dr. Passmore) will go on to appear in Elizabeth Montgomery's 1975 TV-Movie, "Legend of Lizzie Borden".
OOPS!: Sam leaves Darrin to go make sandwiches while he reads her script. Time-wise only minutes have gone by but when we see her in the kitchen she's changed her dress and hairstyle while Darrin remains in his same clothes.
© Review Copyright 1999 by SCOTT VIETS