Season Two: Introducing Mildred, the Loft and the Auburn

[BkWurm1]

I love in Red Holt Steele when he loses it and tries to rough up the dude for info.  It doesn't happen to him too often and it's always meaningful.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

5 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

I love in Red Holt Steele when he loses it and tries to rough up the dude for info.  It doesn't happen to him too often and it's always meaningful.  

Yes, because he's so debonair and smooth. He usually likes to talk his way out of a situation or to get information.? But I won't lie-I do so enjoy when he gets physical.??

[GHScorpiosRule]

So as I'm watching, it just occurred to me that Mildred did a very quick 180 once she joined the agency. She was this tough woman who Steele failed to charm. Yet, from the second episode, she turned into a smitten...fan and into a helluva lot of blind adoration and hero worship.

It doesn't bother me per se, but it certainly didn't make sense. I know I kept getting irked on Laura's behalf, because as much as I loved their intimate and romantic moments, I was and am, a Laura fangurrl, and she's my hero. I knew it was played for comedy, but I didn't care for how insensitive Steele was and in the end, almost always, it's Laura who solves the case. Despite the accurate movie references. At least she had Murphy and Bernice whenever Steele would run roughshod over her and the cases. Or maybe I just answered my own question-the first season, Laura had the support, so when they left, and we got Mildred, this time Steele got the support, if you will. Though he got it a lot longer, heh.

[Bastet]

Over the course of the Acapulco episode, we see Mildred fall in love with the excitement of Steele and Laura's work, after her humdrum time at the IRS, which I think accounts for the general shift in her personality -- she no longer has to play the role of humorless auditor, so she doesn't.  But her adulation of "the boss" was rather trying, yes.  It would definitely have been nice if she'd hero-worshipped the woman who was forging a life she couldn't have dreamed of instead of fawning over the charmer.  And when they sat her down to explain that while Steele is the boss, Laura is in charge, that should have been something she recognized well -- a woman having the ideas and doing the bulk of work, and a man getting the accolades for it.

But at least she wanted to have "gal to gal" bonding moments with Laura, and she did - slowly, and with some regressions along the way - come to see and accept what was really going on.  

[BkWurm1]

The dynamic was better IMO when Mildred was finally in the know but as frustrating as it was for Laura at times, I did like Mildred's devotion to Mr. Steele.  It helped that he didn't pit Mildred against Laura, it just sort of turned out that way.  And I think Mildred's hero worship also let him see himself as the man she already saw him as, if that makes sense.  

[Irlandesa]

23 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

So as I'm watching, it just occurred to me that Mildred did a very quick 180 once she joined the agency. She was this tough woman who Steele failed to charm. Yet, from the second episode, she turned into a smitten...fan and into a helluva lot of blind adoration and hero worship.

 At least she had Murphy and Bernice whenever Steele would run roughshod over her and the cases. Or maybe I just answered my own question-the first season, Laura had the support, so when they left, and we got Mildred, this time Steele got the support, if you will. Though he got it a lot longer, heh.

I think the worship started in Mexico but I too didn't love the hero worship dynamic Mildred had for Steele.  It was one of the changes the show made in the second season that I didn't love. I wish the reruns had started in the first season so I could watch that again.  IIRC, PB was already co-lead.  They didn't need to "retool."

But someone above mentioned that Michael reconsidered what the character had to be and hired Doris.  What did he think the new character should be like?

[WendyCR72]

IIRC, Gleason wanted another younger woman in the mix.

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

 

But someone above mentioned that Michael reconsidered what the character had to be and hired Doris.  What did he think the new character should be like?

If I recall correctly, the original idea was to have her be some twenty-something sexy thing, who would be or cause some kind of triangle/obstacle to Laura and Steele. I'm Soooo glad he, they, whoever, changed their minds and decided to call Doris back and tell her they wanted her after all. We'd discussed this in one of the other threads here, or was it over on TWoP?

I know in Mexico, Mildred lightened up in the second part-saw what Laura and Steele were doing was exciting, but didn't see any of the adulation and hero worship that hit and fell like Giant Anvils from "Altered Steele" until the season four premiere when she finally learned who he really was.

[Bastet]

Yes, he envisioned the new character as a hot, young thing - so the believing Steele to truly be the boss and fawning over him would really bug Laura - (and how generic and stereotypical does that scenario sound?!), so when Doris Roberts initially expressed interest in reading for the role, Gleason said she's a good actor, but not right for it.  She persisted, he gave in, and after the reading, he hired her and re-tooled the character.

[BkWurm1]

On 6/3/2017 at 8:04 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

hero worship that hit and fell like Giant Anvils from "Altered Steele" until the season four premiere when she finally learned who he really was.

No denying the moments that were over the top, but I felt there were enough honest moments between her and Steele, even before she found out the truth, that their relationship worked more than it didn't work.  The real moments kept her character from being a caricature.   

[Sarah 103]

On April 3, 2014 at 4:41 AM, BkWurm1 said:

I had a massive crush on the Auburn.  It was a character in its own right.  I can still ID a 1936 Supercharged Speedster on sight. Or at least the replica they drove around.  That car...it was perfect casting.  And in contrast we have Laura's VW Rabbit. Both white, both convertibles, both kinda shy on the seating space, but otherwise as different as any two cars could be.  Symbolic much? 

I want that car. When my father confused this show with Moonlighting and talked about the great car, I thought he meant the Auburn, but he was talking about Maddie's BMW.