Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman’s “Episode 35” uses much satire when dealing with hot topics of the 70s. First and foremost, we see Mary mock Tom, who never seems to catch on. Next, we see other examples of satire in regards to religion, especially in regards to a faith healer, Dorelda Doremus, As well, Mary seems to have many smiles and questions for Loretta when it comes to her religion; yet, Loretta seems to be unaware or so it seems. This broadcast offers a satirical, crazy look at some hot topics of the 70s.
To begin, Tom is mad when a mechanic rips him off.
“I’ll settle with Ben. He’s got a nerve coming at me like this. I don’t like being jipped,” Tom says in an angry manner.
However, Mary doesn’t care if Tom is upset because she feels Tom’s priorities are messed up.
“I don’t understand you. I don’t understand how you can be that interested in a fuel pump when Loretta is sitting next door in a wheelchair. You want some cream?” Mary says as she calmly switches the subject.
Nevertheless, Mary wonders if they are getting along. Mary tells Tom: “Fighting with each other is proof we care about each other?”
That being said, Tom sees fighting as a sign of getting along.
“Certainly, if we didn’t care, we wouldn’t take the pain to fight,” Tom points out to Mary.
After a brief moment, Mary wonders if Tom could be right. “What you’re saying is it’s normal to fight all the time,” Mary asks.
Tom admits relationships need work. “You have to work things out,” Tom tells Mary.
When the the Hartmans are about to go to bed, after an evening of fighting, Mary has a one question. She asks Tom: “I just want to know, should I tell her not to go to Dorelda Doremus?” Loretta is on Mary’s mind and stressing her out.
Meanwhile, at the Shumway household, George is creeped out. “You know when that guy comes around the house, it’s very spooky. She can’t talk to him. She can’t talk to me. It’s like being in a wax museum,” George shivers.
Elsewhere, Mary arrives at Loretta’s place to an unlocked door.
“Aren’t you afraid to leave your door unlocked? Because you know with this crime wave going on, you never know what kind of person is liable to break in. I mean some maniac might be attracted to a woman in a wheelchair,” Mary jokes as if referring to Charlie.
Despite this fact, Loretta feels protected by God. She reassures Mary, saying, “I am under the protection of the the Lord.”
Mary seems to be reluctant about divine protection. She asks Loretta a question: “You are? How can you tell?”
With that, Mary isn’t convinced of God’s love. Mary looks at a crippled Loretta in the wheelchair, saying, “Because he loves you? You sure Loretta?”
On the other hand, Loretta sees her present situation as a test from God. Loretta says: “Oh yes, a test of my faith.” But God doesn’t test people with evil things according to the bible.
On top of that, Loretta’s savior is Dorelda Doremus, an evangelical faith healer. Loretta points out to Mary, saying, “He sent me a sign. He sent Dorelda Doremus to raise me out of this wheelchair.”
At this point, Mary finds it difficult to believe that Derelda Dureemus can make Loretta walk. Mary asks Loretta: “Loretta, do you really believe in Derelda Dureemus?”
In this episode, Mary and Loretta have a chat about Dorelda Doremus. Loretta starts by talking about Dorelda on TV and asks Mary if she saw her too. However, Mary only watches championship bowling on TV, so Mary isn’t familiar with Dorelda. Besides Mary only heard about Dorelda through a magazine article. That’s the sum of Mary’s and Loretta’ talk on Dorelda Doremus.
Interestingly, Mary doesn’t have an answer to the most important thing in life. We learn this when Loretta asks Mary: “Mary Hartman, what is more important? Rolling a bowling ball down an alley or rolling your soul on the road to heaven?” Mary just stares at nothing and then says she’ll ask Tom.
Next, Mary and Loretta discuss faith. Loretta says she believes that faith make miracles which she tells Mary. Moreover, Loretta wishes Tom and Mary had faith, since they don’t do anything or attend church. Loretta continues to go on about faith in her wheelchair.
At one time, however, we learn Mary did attend church. Long ago, Mary tells us she did go to church when she was asked by the Reverend Standfast to join choir. It’s at this point, Loretta wondered why Mary stopped attending church. However, we learn at Tom’s insistence, Mary stopped going to church when the Reverend didn’t want her to wear a bra for choir singing. After that incident, Mary never returned to church.
Next, in this broadcast, Mary and Loretta discuss long flowing gowns. In particular, they start a talk by discussing the gowns of the Apostles. With that, Loretta discusses a long flowing gown which she has for the live Dorelda Doremus TV show. At this point, Mary wonders why the Apostles never tripped over their long flowing gowns. However, Loretta tells Mary that she has never heard of Apostles tripping in the bible, so Mary chalks it up to something left unwritten in the bible. Finally, Loretta concedes that a long flowing gown could get caught in a wheel of a wheelchair. “Episode 34” seemed to have a strange focus on long flowing gowns.
At the end of this episode, Mary can’t believe Loretta actually believes in faith healers. Mary asks: “Loretta, do you really believe that Dorelda Doremus is going to get you to walk again?”
At this point, Mary tests Loretta to see if she actually knows who Dorelda Doremus really is. Mary asks Loretta:
Oh this? This is just something that I brought over. It’s a recipe for gelatin froth that I thought I would make for you and Charlie. It’s a recipe by Erma Pearlmutter from Brooklyn!
Finally, after some pressing questions, Mary sees there’s nothing to be worried about Loretta. “Hey Loretta, I just realized something. You don’t have to worry about tripping over that gown. You can’t walk. I feel much better about that,” smiles Mary.
In summary, this episode was all about satire. Where it dealt with Tom, Mary showed satire when she mocked Tom who was totally unaware of it. Also, there was a lot of satire in regards to religion. This episode had lots of cutting satire in it.
