My Thoughts - The Andy Griffith Show: Up in Barney's Room (1963)

Synopsis: When Barney (Don Knotts) is caught cooking chili in his room, his landlady, Mrs. Mendelbright (Enid Markey) evicts him. A few days later, she reveals she is going to marry her new tenant (J. Pat O'Malley) and Barney suspects she is about to be the victim of a con man.



My Thoughts - 

I think Barney is in need of a significant pay raise. He is the only full-time deputy in Mayberry and, based on the number of times he had to stay overnight at the courthouse guarding a prisoner, something you never see Andy (Andy Griffith) do, should be collecting all sorts of overtime. Yet the best he can do is a $6/week room? Considering property values in Mayberry should be relatively low, I would think he'd own a house by now if he was getting paid what he was worth.

And while I understand it might be because he prefers that I'm also not totally convinced that's the case. He obviously wanted a place where he could cook his own meals, etc. but still had to settle for looking for a similar situation to what he had with Mrs. Mendelbright. In fact, one of the main reasons he went back to her place and discovered her new love interest was his lack of choices.

Is Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn) allowed in his room? I ended up asking that after their make out session in the courthouse. If Mrs. Mendelbright doesn't allow hot plates, how does she feel about visitors of the opposite sex? Does he need to go to Thelma Lou's place all the time instead? On a similar note, why not just go to her place rather than risk getting caught in the courthouse?

Barney is known for his comic relief, but this episode has a very memorable serious moment when he realizes Mrs. Mendelbright was like a mom to him. I think it was a very heartfelt and believable moment that added a bit of depth to him.

That being said, I wish the episode wouldn't have spoiled that a bit by having him accidentally getting drunk. Just because it is a comedy series doesn't mean every scene needs a joke.

Final Opinion: I wasn't really sure what to think about this episode at first, but I did like the way Barney chose to look after his friend despite having a falling out and would recommend taking the time to watch it.

My Grade: A

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