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Butterflies - Nov 17, 1978 Episode 1-2,   Grade A- Detailed Summary by John T Burt 2001 Main Butterflies Page

    Food Disasters:
A wood like apple sponge (cake) with the lumpy, runny bad tasting custard to put on top of it. Boiled eggs with no yolks to be seen.

    Mini Cooper use:
Musical cars with Leonard following Ria and then her following him.

    Special Events:
The apple sponge is hilarious and carries through the whole episode tying things together. An excellent food disaster.

    Summary:
In his robe, Ben bellows he is going to have a bath, hoping to have one in peace. Everyone agrees he can have one but it turns out the hot water is gone because they all bathed. Adam and Russell can't find the yolks in the eggs Ria boiled. Ben moans about it being better in the past. Adam says Ben has sexy legs as he is leaving and things get worse until Ria finally gets upset. She says she can't cook, doesn't like cooking and never has. It depresses her. She stabs the wood like apple sponge (cake) she baked and waving it around says she is going to serve it later and if anyone makes even one complaint, she will pack her bags and leave forever. When she leaves, the guys make a mutual assistance pact in case one gets injured eating it and Russell starts talking to Ben saying "Hi Dad."

Musical cars when Leonard follows Ria until she insults him and she has to follow him. At lunch, Ria destroys the flowers while relating cooking problems to Leonard. She puts the last flower in her purse under a ton of stuff to protect it. Leonard relates his dissatisfaction with his latest female conquest.

The guys watch in silence as Ria pries out and breaks off pieces of the apple sponge. The custard to go with it is lumpy and runny and tastes bad to boot. Adam dumps it all on his sponge and Ria has to redistribute it. When Russell and Ben talk directly to each other, Ria is overwhelmed with emotion, almost to tears and tells Russell to say something to his Dad. Seeing their opening, the guys say what they really think about the sponge and get away with it.

Cleaning house later on, Ria talks to a pillow with Ben's hat about making life more interesting via shop lifting, adultery, suicide, rape, wild naked romps and more - all illustrating her boredom. She ends up calling Ben at work and saying she loves him.

Days later, Leonard sees Ria shopping, buys her flowers and tries to take her out. She won't go and he mocks her mundane married look.

Back at home, Ben is upset because Russell broke his butterfly net trying to get something out of his exhaust pipe. With them fighting Ria tells them not to talk at all, she wants silence, and they leave. Ria sits down and finds the damaged flower in her purse. Ben steps back in and tells her he loves her too.