Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, Howard goes on a mission to save Marlene.

Episode 2.14 “Let’s Get Metaphysical”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on January 25th, 1987)

Marlene’s been showing up late for work!

Christian thinks that it’s a big deal that Marlene isn’t showing up for work.  I’ve never had a retail job or a job where I had a boss who required me to do things but I do have to say that I think Christian has a point.  Since it appears that Cobb’s only has seven employees and it appears to be a rather large store with several different departments, I imagine it is a bit difficult when one of them doesn’t show up.

(Actually, two of them.  For some reason, Edna is not in this episode.)

Howard, however, says it’s no big deal because Marlene is only late because she’s in love with a new guy and this guy apparently likes to stay up all night and discuss philosophy.  (Bleh!  Sounds like she’s dating a real bore.)  But when Marlene starts lecturing at her register about how unfair it is to charge people for food, Christian feels that he has no choice but to fire her.  Marlene thanks Christian for setting her free and then leaves the store for her new home at the local commune.

Uh-oh …. MARLENE HAS JOINED A CULT!

Wanting to free her from the Order of Eternal Light, Howard decides to go down to the commune.  Accompanying him is Viker and I was happy about that because, as played by Gordon Clapp, Viker was a character who made any scene funnier by his very presence.  The head of the cult is a bearded man who calls himself Solar (Sam Moses).  Solar preaches a life of simplicity while living in a mansion and driving a Ferrari.

Howard decides that the best way to free Marlene is to go undercover and pretend to join the cult.  Over the next few days, Howard doesn’t show up at work but Marlene does.  Marlene explain that she left the cult after talking to a strange man with a beard.  She also says that she never saw Howard at the cult.

Suddenly, Howard shows up, wearing love beads and speaking in an Indian accent.  Marlene throws water on his face, which magically sets Howard free from Solar’s brainwashing.  Marlene tells Howard that she left on her own after talking to the bearded man.  Howard reveals that he was that bearded man….

Wow, it sounds like a lot of interesting stuff happened off-camera!  In fact, that’s the main problem with this episode.  Almost all of the interesting stuff — Marlene getting brainwashed, Howard going undercover, the police raiding the commune and arresting Solar — happens off-screen.  What we’re left with is okay but never quite as funny as it potentially could be.

Still, at least Marlene’s back!  Someone has to keep the sharp insults flying in that store and no one’s better at it than Marlene.