We know how common it is for Lucy, when she doesn't get her way, to accuse Ricky, the Mertzes, or anyone, of being unfair to her. But when was Lucy really treated unfairly? That occurred to me a couple of days ago in the oil stock episode. Lucy devises a plan (which would surely have been a risk of civil liability) of taperecording 'Mr. Johnson's' words about the new oil well and how likely it is to strike and how much money they could expect to make. She does persuade him to return the money, and they all give Lucy the accolades for 'getting them out of that swindle.' Then the detective friend of Fred's uses their phone to call his wife and tell her he bought the oil stock that 'somebody' had returned just 5 minutes before a wire arrived saying they had struck oil. Then Ricky, Fred, and Ethel block all the ways out of the living room and come at her threateningly. That's unfair; while it's not at all unfair for Ricky to refuse to put her in a show that requires a professional performer. For that matter, all 4 in this ep were childish and accusative to the point of lying ("Fred...the way you begged us to take the stock off your hands..."); crazily optimistic one minute, then, on no substance at all, think they've been bunkoed. But then why would Johnson (a cartoonish stereotype) act like he wants to hold on to their money after Lucy accused him to his face (since he must have had all the equipment and personnel needed for his drilling operation)? Why not let those dumb suckers lose while he himself just gains more net for himself?

Perhaps that ep stands out for Lucy being treated unfairly because all the 'fab four' were unfair, but especially toward her. But in that one and (it seems) any other, she did, at least partly, bring the unfair treatement upon herself. There was also being arrested as a counterfeiter in Paris (because she accepted a real bunko scheme and thought she was getting more francs for the dollar than AmExpress would give her); and being accused of doing something awful to her "baby" (which was the cheese she was smuggling-- but in the end she must not have been [i]that concerned about taking to her mother); and there were a few 'even-up' examples-- having the water turned off with soap on her face because they wouldn't regulate Little Ricky's drumming, Miss Grundy taking off without her and Ethel because the 2 parties independently jumped to the conclusion they were traveling with a hatchet muderess, et al.

I suppose it's just "what goes around comes around." Schemers get schemed, and the outrageously egotistical get out-egoed.

It always got on my nerves how the Mertzes easily resorted to lying (exaggeration) when something occurred and it affected them, such as the washing machine episode where we hear Ethel say some ludicrous comments to Mrs. Trumbell as to how they (the Mertzes) did the Ricardos a favor by taking that broken down piece of junk. :lol: And as you pointed out in your post above how Fred said, "You BEGGED us to take the stock off your hands." :rofl:

Even though there was unfairness and false accusations, I can understand the feelings expressed in this episode. I am in on a stock deal myself which has risen greatly, is still rated a 100% buy by an analyst firm, and though it is still a few pennies per share, is up 100x in less than a year. I will look hard at doubling my holdings early next week by selling a tech stock I have held for about 5 years for a $3000 gain; so, if this were to turn out to be a bust, I would probably look for somebody to be mad at. In the meantime, I found a message board of investors in this company, and they say things that compare to what our 'fab four' thought about the oil stock deal... "this is ready to explode" ; "we'll be bought out for $1.50 premium per share" ; some say it will reach $10, ... et al. And there are also bashers claiming it's a "sham." This all sounds so familiar, that I suppose that's why I paid particular attention to the Oil Stock ep this week-- it's like I'm right in it with them. But at least my stock is publically traded (OTBB) and the company management has put out youtube Q&A's, and they have 3rd parties evaluate the results of their testings.