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I Love Lucy Season 2 Review

The second season of I Love Lucy is more of the same. It’s less contained as it is very indoors-oriented, but it still has its fair share of classic episodes to boot.

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“Ethel and I have decided that you

have married us and not a television set“

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The first of the thirty one episodes is Job Switching. This is a hilarious episode, especially in the context of seeing it today as it’s all about how 1950s technology made it easier to do house chores and yet their appliances are antiquated today. But seeing Lucy and Ethel desperately try to bake with no help and fail miserably was just so funny. This is among the best physical humor episodes of the season and one of the greatest overall.

The Saxophone is another one of those Lucy wants to be in a show episodes and it’s a trope that I am already sick and tired of. The Anniversary Present is a standard situational comedy based on a misunderstanding and it’s mostly well executed. The Handcuffs benefits from a terrific bit where Lucy and Ricky are trapped together with the titular device.

The Operetta is yet another forgettable music-based story. Vacation from Marriage has a great premise mostly very well executed, though they could have gone further with it. Still, is quite fun and mostly excellent. The Courtroom is absolutely hilarious. Seeing the Mertzes and the Ricardos suing each other was unexpected and fun. Whenever the two families are fighting, it’s always great television.

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Redecorating is a bit too complicated for its own sake. It also represents a serious issue with this season and that is an odd overreliance on furniture-based premises. I do not get why they included so many of those here. Ricky Loses His Voice is at its best when the wife is taking care of her husband, which is always a lot of fun as Ricky is a big baby in this scenario.

Lucy Is Enceinte is just wonderful. This is by far the most purely endearing episode of the entire show up until this point. It’s also the one episode that changed everything, though the implications will only be felt afterward. Lucy and Ricky are getting a baby. Yes, the baby is very much forgotten about after this episode, but the final scene with Ricky realizing it through song was just incredibly sweet and perfectly realized.

Pregnant Women Are Unpredictable deals with a solid situation, but is overall far from memorable. Lucy Shows Biz Swan Song is another annoying Lucy wants to be in a show episode. Yes, another one. Lucy Hires an English Tutor started off very strong, but it ended with the tutor wanting to be in Ricky’s show and I instantly started wondering why this show is so obsessed with his obsession.

Ricky Has Labor Plans is fun and silly that it works. Lucy Becomes a Sculptress is a very underrated episode that ends with Lucy literally becoming the sculpture herself in one of the funniest physical comedy bits from Lucille Ball yet. Lucy Goes to the Hospital is a sweet episode as seeing Ricky get so nervous was quite endearing. The Mertzes and Lucy trying to act all cool about it was very entertaining.

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Sales Resistance has Lucy get into buying shenanigans with some very amusing results. Inferiority Complex is basically one joke repeated over again, but it’s a great joke and Lucile Ball was particularly terrific playing it. The Club Election put Ethel and Lucy against each other to hugely entertaining results. They should fight more as this episode was very amusing.

The Black Eye is a perfectly executed bit of situational comedy that was emblematic of the time and still enjoyable to watch. Every single scene worked in unison and the writing was particularly superb here. Lucy Changes Her Mind is similar to the above entry, but much less memorable unfortunately, though it has its moments of course.

No Children Allowed introduces the recurring character of Mrs. Trumbull, which was important as the show by this point felt very limited in its number of characters. Lucy Hires a Maid is a pretty solid, self-explanatory episode and it was nice seeing the pair agree on something for once. The Indian Show is a giant mess. It’s by far the most dated episode so far on the show as it felt stereotypical and very racist toward Native Americans, though I guess it could have been worse.

Lucy’s Last Birthday is just wonderful. Lucy thinks that everybody forgot about her birthday, but in actually the three are planning a party for her. The ending was very sweet, but the moments leading up to it when Lucy was on the streets with other lost souls were genuinely hilarious. The Ricardos Change Apartments is forgettable, but Lucy Is Matchmaker is a lot of fun. Whenever Lucy tries to help somebody, the results are priceless.

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Lucy Wants New Furniture is another furniture-based story, though this one is at least quite amusing and pleasantly silly. The Camping Trip is a great episode that is finally set outdoors. Just seeing Ethel try to help Lucy to make her tough in Ricky’s eyes was so entertaining. The bird part was so funny. Ricky and Fred Are TV Fans is a bit too familiar, but Never Do Business with Friends is reliably strong in the war between the two families.