Babalu

I Love Lucy S02 E13 – Lucy Hires an English Tutor

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Original Air Date: December 29, 1952

Well, well. A lot has happened since the last post. Welcome back, ballers.

I’ve been out on the campaign trail with my dad (yeah, true story), and all I can say is it’s a mad, mad world. I’m so grateful for the messages, tweets, etc. It’s good to be back. 

Last we met, Ricky and Lucy were expecting a baby, Fred and Ethel were bickering, and we were giggling at how archaic this show feels.

Now they’re building a wall around Ricky, Fred has joined the alt-right, and Lucy’s life is all of us. 

Sigh. Let’s have at it.

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I Love Lucy S02 E09 – Ricky Loses His Voice

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Original Air Date: December 1, 1952

It was 6am when we watched this week’s episode, and that theme song made me want to die. I love this show, but I don’t recommend enjoying it before 10am. It’s like setting “Trump rally” as your wake-up alarm tone.

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I Love Lucy S01 E31 – The Publicity Agent

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Original air date: May 12, 1952

We open on Ricky playing cards in the living room. Lucy just finished doing all the dishes, but somehow it’s Ricky who’s in a shitty mood. He doesn’t want to hang out with the Mertzes and doesn’t want to play cards.

He’s your average six-year-old at the end of summer.

Lucy: I’ll get you a gun, you can shoot yourself.

Well, that escalated quickly.

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I Love Lucy S01 E20 – The Young Fans

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(Or: Stalking can be fun!)

**Get the background story at this week’s Episode Watch Party.**

Happy 20th episode, Ballers! We open on Lucy reading a New York Times about Hitler.

Actually, the person on the cover is Gen. Sir Gerald Templer, who was put in charge of British forces in 1952 during the “Malayan Emergency.” But, being Jewish, I can’t go five sentences without mentioning Hitler.

Lucy is a highly educated woman with a strong handle on world affairs... as long as Ricky's not looking.

Lucy is a highly educated woman with a strong handle on world affairs… as long as Ricky’s not looking.

Ricky comes in totally creeped out by a perverted teenage psychopath named Peggy. She lives next door, she’s “like a spook,” and she’s legit stalking him. Lucy thinks it’s hilarious, and reminds Ricky that teenage girls are totally unreasonable.

I used to have a massive crush on Ricky myself, and considering he was a) fictional and b) 80 years old by that point, I have to side with Lucy on this.

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I Love Lucy S01 E017 – Lucy Writes a Play

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(Or: Lucy writes two plays)

**Get the WTFacts here first!**

OMG, Ballers. OMG OMG. This week Lucy writes a play. And when I’m not making the big bucks writing Lucy satire, I have a lucrative career as a playwright.

This is going to be so. much. fun.

We open on Lucy surrounded by books and a typewriter. It looks like “Lucy Goes to Medical School” but that episode never happened because it would have been a break in natural law.

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I Love Lucy S01 E06 – The Audition

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(Or: Lucy Pursues Her Lifelong Dream of Fetching Ricky’s Slippers)

Get all the WTFacts at the Episode watch party!

Why hello, Ballers. I didn’t see you there. Shall we?

This week we open on Ricky sleeping in because he works late at a nightclub and absolutely not because the writers are stereotyping Cuban-Americans. 

Lucy comes in beautiful and ready to face the day. We can assume she’s been up since 7am and has already vacuumed, mopped, and prepared breakfast from scratch. Ricky will not care.

To wake Ricky up, she plays “Babalu” on the conga drum. This is the first time we hear Desi’s signature song on the show, and I’m pretty sure he’s super pissed she gets to sing it before him. At least that might explain why he’s about to be such a total asshole. 

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