This episode is my most current episode in my rotation from the the Shout Factory collection. I thought it was one of the weakest of the Eastland year era shows from my memory. It didn't seem all that funny and didn't have that must see serious "special" issue that captured my attention.

I like "Give and Take" a lot; Mrs. Garrett's plight, losing her pension and worrying about her future, is something many retirees started having happen to them during the "greed is good" era of the 1980s... and we still see it to this day. I also like how human Mr. Parker comes across. I feel like the episode was dealth with in a realistic manner.

The only thing I don't like about the episode is that Mrs. Garrett consciously makes the reference to "eating dog food" in front of the girls. That should never have happened; instead, Mrs. Garrett should have said it in front of Mr. Parker, and the girls could then have overheard. This is the one time I think Mrs. Garrett makes a huge mistake in revealing things to the girls in a way that isn't professional.

I absolutely agree with Retro!

'Give and take' is one of the greatest episodes from season 3: it shows how close and dependent the girls have become towards MRS G, and the fear they have in losing the one person who truly became a mother figure to them.....

And yes: this is the one episode where i truly love seeing the human side of MR PARKER! ( MR BRADLEY is my number one headmaster though)

I absolutely agree with Retro!

'Give and take' is one of the greatest episodes from season 3: it shows how close and dependent the girls have become towards MRS G, and the fear they have in losing the one person who truly became a mother figure to them.....

That's true: they're devastated when they learn they could be losing Mrs. Garrett.


And yes: this is the one episode where i truly love seeing the human side of MR PARKER! ( MR BRADLEY is my number one headmaster though)

Mr. Bradley is the best headmaster, for sure. Yet here we get to see the human side of Mr. Parker: we see he's a number cruncher, but when push comes to shove, and he sees the harm in his number crunching, he softens, and goes to the board on the behalf of Mrs. Garrett. He earns my respect, by the end of the episode.

In some ways, Mr. Parker is a bit of an echo of Mr. Bradley. In "Molly's Holiday", we see Mr. Bradley originally go off on his vacation, not concerned about Molly. But Mrs. Garrett's words eventually convince him to return to Eastland. In the same way, Mr. Parker isn't concerned about Edna... but her words gradually cause him to realize he needs to take care of his staff, and he metaphorically ""returns" to what he should have done in the beginning: he gets Edna a raise.

This would have been a cool episode to see the Lost Girls in, as well as Terry, Brenda, Jenny, Miko, and Emily #6,120, all rallying behind Mrs. Garrett getting a raise. With half the school there to rally around Mrs. Garrett, Mr. Parker would have finally seen the light. That's how this episode plays out, in my dreams. :)

That's true: they're devastated when they learn they could be losing Mrs. Garrett.



Mr. Bradley is the best headmaster, for sure. Yet here we get to see the human side of Mr. Parker: we see he's a number cruncher, but when push comes to shove, and he sees the harm in his number crunching, he softens, and goes to the board on the behalf of Mrs. Garrett. He earns my respect, by the end of the episode.

In some ways, Mr. Parker is a bit of an echo of Mr. Bradley. In "Molly's Holiday", we see Mr. Bradley originally go off on his vacation, not concerned about Molly. But Mrs. Garrett's words eventually convince him to return to Eastland. In the same way, Mr. Parker isn't concerned about Edna... but her words gradually cause him to realize he needs to take care of his staff, and he metaphorically ""returns" to what he should have done in the beginning: he gets Edna a raise.

This would have been a cool episode to see the Lost Girls in, as well as Terry, Brenda, Jenny, Miko, and Emily #6,120, all rallying behind Mrs. Garrett getting a raise. With half the school there to rally around Mrs. Garrett, Mr. Parker would have finally seen the light. That's how this episode plays out, in my dreams. :)




Once again, i totally agree with you Retro!!!!

MR PARKER also earned my respect after that episode, and this is when i began considering him as a possible suitor for MRS G (of course that never happened cos he was already married, and he didn't seem to be the type of guy to go behind his wife's back).

And more important: our 'feisty red haired' wasn't romantically interested in MR PARKER lol!

And yes: MRS G absolutely had a great influence on both headmasters,MR BRADLEY and MR PARKER (in fact, she had influence over everyone lol!) and was the master in manipulating people for good purposes, as it has been said before.

PS: i like your dream wish, but who's EMILY?

popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:

This is one of the best episodes from the Eastland years! And the dog food reference is powerful - how can we ever forget Edna screeching, “I don’t want to eat dog food!”. There were multiple episodes where serious problems happened to guest characters, but this one is so strong because the serious problem is happening to one of the lead characters.

This is one of the best episodes from the Eastland years! And the dog food reference is powerful - how can we ever forget Edna screeching, “I don’t want to eat dog food!”. There were multiple episodes where serious problems happened to guest characters, but this one is so strong because the serious problem is happening to one of the lead characters.



I love this episode too, cos it's one of the best performances MRS G did, and the scene when she starts to cry, realizing she might have to leave 'Eastland' and her girls is a very heartbreaking one......
:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:

Once again, i totally agree with you Retro!!!!

MR PARKER also earned my respect after that episode, and this is when i began considering him as a possible suitor for MRS G (of course that never happened cos he was already married, and he didn't seem to be the type of guy to go behind his wife's back).

And more important: our 'feisty red haired' wasn't romantically interested in MR PARKER lol!

And yes: MRS G absolutely had a great influence on both headmasters,MR BRADLEY and MR PARKER (in fact, she had influence over everyone lol!) and was the master in manipulating people for good purposes, as it has been said before.

Yep. We see this in quite a few episodes: the administration around her is wrong, but Mrs. Garrett sets them straight. We saw this with Mr. Crocker, Mr. Bradley, Mr. Parker, and even with Mr. Harris, who was only in one episode. It's too bad Edna didn't stay at Eastland longer, or we might have seen her straighten out the next Eastland headmaster, too!


PS: i like your dream wish, but who's EMILY?



I think the easier question to answer is " Who wasn't Emily?" :lol:

The name emily was soooo overused on FOL. It was the name of both Miss Emily Mahoney and Helen Hunt's character in the first season. It was the name of Allison's infant daughter. In the case I was talking about, it was the name of a recurring Eastland student who graduated alongside Blair and Jo in "Graduation". The name Emily continued to be used in later seasons as well, any time they had a character and couldn't think of an original name.

This is one of the best episodes from the Eastland years! And the dog food reference is powerful - how can we ever forget Edna screeching, “I don’t want to eat dog food!”. There were multiple episodes where serious problems happened to guest characters, but this one is so strong because the serious problem is happening to one of the lead characters.

I agree that the "dog food" line is powerful, but she never should have said it in front of the girls. No matter what your financial difficulties are, bringing them up in front of students is just not professional.