Martin is shocked to open the door for Ronald Dawson (Steve Franken, "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis), a 20-something, mustachioed, smoking stockbroker who says he has a date with Patty. He wishes to take her on a drive to New Jersey. Natalie thinks Patty is old enough but Martin reinforces her usual midnight curfew. They instead go to a movie followed by chatting in his parked convertible. As midnight draws near, two men from Diamond Loan Company approach him about being three months behind on his car payments. They repossess the car and Patty asks the lead man (familiar character actor Frank Gerstle) to drop her off at her home they'll be passing. Meanwhile, Martin and Natalie have gone on to bed. When he sees it's 1:30 and the porch light hasn't been turned off, he goes to check her bedroom. Patty had indeed been home and got up just before Martin, remembering she hadn't turned off the porch light. A restrained, but angry Martin addresses his daughter at the breakfast table the next morning. She insists she was in bed by midnight and he insists he saw she wasn't in bed when he looked. He won't listen to any explanations. Martin insists Patty is lying, and she leaves hurt, feeling he doesn't trust her. Still insistent on her stance, Martin punishes her by grounding her from dates for two weeks. Patty plans to keep her previous date that evening with Richard, however, and when Martin says 'no' the divide between the father and daughter deepens. Will the damage be lasting? A nice lesson in trust.
Two previous reviewers had extreme opposite perspectives of this episode, ranking it a 10/10 and 3/10, respectively. Indeed, if you're solely looking for laughs, this dramatic offering is not for you. But when your young star has won an Academy Award for a powerful dramatic film performance, a dramatic episode may be even better. I think that's the case here. While the comedy writing has been better to this point in the final season, this is a nice change of pace that gives depth to our characters. Patty Duke was such a fine dramatic actress and gives a great performance here with an emotional side we'd yet to see from her character. William Schallert also displays his talents, and the two hit home with a tender scene near the end.
