Episode 2: Home, Sweet Hut

It seems that this episode has mostly slapstick. Yeah, yeah, I know the entire series relies on slapstick, but this one has too many prolonged slap-stickish moments.  Like building the hut, Gilligan manages to piss off the other three men. And the hammock scene is way over played. Even for Gilligan's.

So the episode is almost a continuation of the previous one. The castaways find themselves in need of shelter, and the conflict becomes do we build one communal hut, or individual huts?












They begin with one, and real-time dynamics take hold. 7 strangers, thrown together in one hut. The Howells have a marital spat which quickly involves the rest.

And that sly professor....we see him come from behind a curtain, buttoning his shirt, followed by the girls in blankets! Nice!! So three huts now get built. Gilligan manages to expose the shortcomings of each, they build a communal hut which withstands the storm, and all is well.
Or is it? At the beginning, the skies were clear, then opened up into a deluge which precipitated (no pun intended) the whole "hut" idea. Meteorologist Roy Hinckly even proclaimed that the oncoming rainy season not only started early, but will be fierce. Yet at the end we again see clear skies, but this time, the "end of rain" is proclaimed! Only in the Gilligan Universe!

Some firsts:

• First time we see Mr. Howell's teddy bear
• First time Ginger tries to use her willowy charms to seduce one of the hapless men (Gilligan this time) for benefit. Tools, this time.

Other notes:

• Professor is a lefty
• The Marubi tribe, last discussed less than a week ago, is apparently forgotten
• They have not only tools on the island, but a tool box. Tools include a saw, which will dissapear later in the series as they build needed saws out of bamboo, shells, etc.

Fun quotes:

• Mr Howell, on his father, not worrying during the great market crash of 1929: He "Laughed and joked all the way down to the pavement"
• Skipper, quoting his dad: "A job done well is a job well done" and "Hurried work is worried work"

And we also learn a bit more about the Mary-Ann vs. Ginger debate....while Mary-Ann was a Girl Scout, Ginger dated a Boy Scout! And yes, in this episode, Mary-Ann still rocks the short-shorts!