Moonlighting, Those Lips, Those Lies

Those Lips, Those Lies

Air Date: 2 Apr 1989

Synopsis:

On the surface, this is a straightforward story in which David's brother Richie (whom we have met in several past episodes) has met the love of his life, a woman named Carla McCabe. He has asked her to marry him even though they both have no money – all of hers was stolen by a former business partner named Benny Largo. Richie turns to Blue Moon for help, they go to various modeling agencies to look for him and finally discover that he's not a modeling agent after all, but instead he runs a call girl outfit named Pinnacle. As it turns out, Benny and Carla used to run the place together before they split up.

David returns that news to Richie, only to learn that Richie had known all along that Carla had been a prostitute. But what he didn't know is that Carla had been using Richie all along, pretending to be in love with him, as part of her plan to take revenge on Benny for taking all her girls and all of her clients and leaving her with nothing.

What is more interesting than the surface story is the chance it gives us to see signs of David's affection for his brother. Although outwardly he complains to Maddie that he'd rather be working on the Anselmo case, and although he tells her that his memories of growing up with Richie are "no big deal," in fact we see unspoken signs that the two brothers do love each other deeply. When David believes that his brother's life is in danger, he rushes impulsively to Richie's rescue and starts a brawl which lands both of them in jail. While there, David confesses to Richie that he looked up to his older brother when they were younger. At the end of the episode, after Maddie and David expose Carla as a fraud, David and Richie go out on the town together and get a little crazy. We don't hear a spoken word during these scenes, but we get the message that they're both looking out for each other.

Directed by Dennis Dugan

Written by James Kramer and Chris Ruppenthal

Guest Starring:
- Rita Wilson as Carla
- Stephanie Dunnam
- Debra Sandlund
- Stephen Burleigh
- Dan Gilvezan
- Charles Rocket as Richard Addison
Co-Starring:
- Shannon Farnon as Woman
- Ed White as Man in Restroom
- Michael Speero as Benny Largo
- Zack Phifer as Waiter #1
- Rafael A. Nazario as Waiter #2
- Lisa Stahl as Model (the one who asks Maddie for an autograph)

Memorable Dialog and Additional Links:

Music:

Dave, Maddie and Bert try their hand at singing the opening theme, because "nobody told Al [Jarreau] about the move to Sunday night"!

Heat Wave by Martha & The Vandellas

Girls! Girls! Girls! by Elvis Presley

It's In His Kiss, by Betty Everitt

Take Time To Know Her, by Percy Sledge

David sings a bit of Bobby Vinton's Blue Velvet

Richard sings a bit of Chapel of Love by The Dixie Cups

David is singing along to the radio in his apartment. The song is Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, Pt. 1 by James Brown.

Maddie and Richie slow dance to the song I Only Have Eyes For You by The Flamingos.

David and Richie start singing Funky Nassau in the jail cell by Beginning of the End; the song went as high as #15 on the Billboard charts in 1971.

Notes:

References to the Anselmo case abound. At the beginning of the episode we learn that Blue Moon has been providing round-the-clock surveillance of the Anselmos, which has caused David and Bert to be up all night. David complains that he'd rather be working on the Anselmo case than wasting time looking for Benny Largo. And when David and Maddie are about to visit Pinnacle for the first time, David reminds her of the Anselmo case and she responds, "The Anselmo case, the Anselmo case! I'm so sick of hearing about the Anselmo case! The Anselmo's can solve their own case!"

Date of last change: 16 December 2000

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