After Anthony's sudden marriage to Etienne, the women agree to have a bridal shower for his new wife. To compliment the wedding's Las Vegas motif, Carlene rents a pair of thrones for Etienne and Anthony to use while opening presents at the party. Arriving with Anthony in tow, Etienne asks that everyone call her E.T. and, to help them with gift suggesions, provides a list of things she wants along with sizes and color preferences. However, after being left at work, Anthony worries that his marriage is a mistake, and panics when the strong willed Etienne announces she is ready to start having children.
While preparing for the shower, Anthony claims that the pressure of being married is beginning to get to him. Although Mary Jo insists that pressure is what marriage is all about, Anthony notes that Etienne's urge to reproduce has him frightened, especially since he doesn't want any children for several years. Admitting that he hasn't tried talking to her about his fears, Anthony is prodded to do something about it before it is too late.
When Etienne arrives after taking a fertility test and asks him to go to bed then and there, Anthony accompanies her to Julia's bedroom and finally says it is too soon for him to be thinking about children. Admitting that he hates to be called Tony and expressing he reservations about the marriage, Anthony is calmed by Etienne's suprising degree of flexibility and her commitment to the relationship. So, after making love on Julia's bed, they return to take up their thrones, much to the delight of Julia and her friends.
Additional Comments:
In spite of what is says in the summary above, Anthony and Etienne definitely do not have sex in Julia's bed in the finished episode -- Anthony knows better.
Classic Scenes:
CARLENE: Y'know, there is nothing more romantic than love at first sight, is there? Anthony locked eyes with a Las Vegas showgirl across a crowded casino and -- BOOM -- less than 24 hours later they're joined together in wedded bliss. It's like something out of a romance novel.
JULIA: Well, at least the classic comics version.
CARLENE: You don't have much faith in this marriage, do you, Julia?
JULIA: It's kind of hard to have faith knowing that Anthony and Etienne were united in the Isle of Capri Wedding Chapel by a Justice of the Peace who moonlights as a female impersonator.
MARY JO: I hope he doesn't really think he's made the biggest mistake of his life, and I really hope that he doesn't ask me if I think he did.
ANTHONY: I've always looked at my life as a logical sequence of events, but somehow the events have been shuffled out of order. I mean, we got married before we had our first date!
JULIA: Etienne seems very happy.
ANTHONY: I know. That's why I feel so bad. She has decided that she is going to be Mrs. Anthony Bouvier with a vengeance. And while she may not exactly be Donna Reed, what she does do. . . she does well.
JULIA: We don't need the personal details.
B.J.: No, go ahead, Anthony. Describe your sex life, and get real graphic. I love to watch the blood drain from Julia's face.
JULIA: It's so refreshing, B.J., with all your money it's still the simple pleasures that amuse you.
Etienne enters with shopping bags.
ETIENNE: Bon jour, everybody! Hi, Tony! Feast your eyes -- it's me! (after kissing Anthony) Don't you just love the way he lights up when I'm in the room?
MARY JO: We were just commenting on that.
ETIENNE: Well I have had the most productive morning. I was in the drug store, and I had the most wonderful vision standing at the feminine hygiene counter. All my life I've seen these visions in my head, and then I make them happen. I know what I want. When I was five years old and had buck teeth and my hair in braids, I knew that someday I was going to grow up to be one of the most beautiful women in the whole world.
MARY JO: Excuse me, I'm intrigued. Can we get back to the "feminine hygiene vision"?
ETIENNE: Of course. Ooh I like you, Mary Jo. You're so focused. Anyway, I was standing there at the counter and thinking to myself. "What can I do as the perfect wife for my darling husband, Tony?" And then it came to me. We need to make a baby.
(Anthony looks around in a nervous panic...)
ETIENNE: Yes, a little boy first, followed by a little girl -- and then we'll have you snipped because any more than two babies and you just never can get your figure back.
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