NOW FEATURING...THE SECOND GINGER GRANT

[lm]

What do you think of Ginger's acting job as Maryann?
It always seemed a bit much to me that Gilligan "as Maryann" would think it
were possible to walk into the boys' hut by mistake--but then again he's
not the real Maryann!
It seems farfetched to me that Ginger would make that "fish pie."
Hey, maybe Maryann was doing Ginger a favor by cutting down her gownon
a tropical island! Why would Ginger want them still as they were? Is
this perhaps a clue that she was not really so famous back home (I've
brought up this question before) and couldn't just buy some new ones
with her celebrity salary?
I have always found this episode a little confusing regarding MAG. Gilligan
seems alternately interested and not interested in Maryann in a way.
There are, of course, all kinds of possible explanations that I have gone
through but it's nevertheless a little weird/complicated. Even when he
peeks in the bushes and clearly sees her dressed like Ginger (and he
knows about the whole thing), he is aghast and resistant when she
opens them up. That whole "Scott" scene seems to have Gilligan on
the surface going both ways. Even if he doesn't like Maryann as
Ginger, he sometimes seems as if he still does. It is either
inconsistent or very complex, it seems. It's also weird in terms of
MAG that Gilligan would suggest the Skipper "help" Mary-Gin, unless
he foresaw the Skipper helping her in a different, non-romantic way--
but, of course, the love scene was what he was just doing!
Why do you think Ginger moves Gilligan's hand away when he is tending
to Maryann after she faints? Maybe Ginger feels responsible?

[JWood201]

Oh, LM, don't get me started on Second Ginger Grant, haha. I have a love/hate relationship with this episode. First, I think it's FASCINATING from a psychological standpoint. However, I'm not sure the writers meant it as deeply as it could be interpreted.

Ginger doesn't do a very good job pretending to be Mary Ann. She's an actress, so it should be easy, but she seems more annoyed and put out by it than willing to play along to help her friend. I understand it's disconcerting to see someone else walking around thinking and saying that they're you, but Ginger's smart, she should understand what's going on.

I think Gilligan in the "rehearsal" scene is very interesting. That poor guy, he's so confused. He's nervous because she's acting more forward like Ginger and that always makes him nervous even when it's Mary Ann as herself flirting with him. But he's also confused because it's not Ginger, it's Mary Ann claiming to be Ginger and she's his friend and he wants to help her. After he runs away and the Skipper sends him back, he could have just sat down on the rock. He didn't have to stick his head in her lap and do the cliched, "Where were we?" He wasn't as opposed to her rehearsal as he let on.

Which brings me to the observation that Mary Ann wasn't acting very much like Ginger. We've brought this up before, but Ginger never rehearsed love scenes. She was a tree and shot the Professor that time or would vamp Gilligan to get something from him, but she never rehearsed true love scenes.

If Mary Ann truly deep down thought she was Ginger, wouldn't she have done the old tree act? Or at least dragged the Professor away? Mary Ann was in there somewhere deep down, possibly using "being Ginger" as something to hide behind to feel more free to act out her feelings, probably unconsciously.

So does Mary Ann actually think this is how Ginger acts? She's no dummy, she's watched Ginger for three years now. Or is Mary Ann's subconscious wishing she could be more confident and forward like her friend and using this as an opportunity to do so without embarrassing herself?

I think there's potential for Gilligan and Ginger to both blame themselves (and each other) for the whole debacle. I tried to explore this in a fic, which some people saw as out of character, but that's what experiments and artistry are for. Perhaps I was a bit strong in my characterizations there, but I was playing with this idea.

I think the episode is interesting psychologically. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the writers saw it this way - perhaps they were just putting a spin on the classic sitcom amnesia episode. Shrug. I hope I'm underestimating them.

[Teebs]

What do you think of Ginger's acting job as Maryann?

It was just Ginger in gingham!

It always seemed a bit much to me that Gilligan "as Maryann" would think it were possible to walk into the boys' hut by mistake--but then again he's not the real Maryann!

He didn't start out in that scene as Mary Ann. He was Gilligan until the Skipper said the words "Mary Ann" and triggered the hypnosis command.

Hey, maybe Maryann was doing Ginger a favor by cutting down her gown on a tropical island! Why would Ginger want them still as they were? Is this perhaps a clue that she was not really so famous back home (I've
brought up this question before) and couldn't just buy some new ones
with her celebrity salary?

What I want to know is, in the episode Not Guilty it transpires that Ginger spent the night before the 3 hour tour with Randolph Blake and got on the boat still wearing the same dress. So when did she go home to pack all these gowns, and why didn't she change her clothes at the same time? But that's another story.

Going back to The Second GG. Quite frankly it fries my brain!

Mary Ann bangs her head and thinks she's Ginger. But she can't *really* be Ginger, she's only the Ginger her subconscious tells her to be.

Also in her subconscious is the fact that she likes Gilligan. So when she decides to rehearse, it's natural that she should choose him rather than the Professor. (But who knows, the real Ginger might also have chosen Gilligan because he's more malleable.)

So even though the real Ginger doesn't normally rehearse love scenes, Mary Ann does, because her subconscious is trying to get her with Gilligan.

Gilligan however, is confused and terrified because he can't tell who she is. She's not acting either like Mary Ann OR the Ginger he knows. He just sees this sultry man-eater making advances on him.

Skipper sends him back to 'keep her busy', which he does (whomp whomp). And brings her back to camp several hours later, when it's dark, grinning sheepishly and saying "Here she is, everybody! Here's Ginger!" while she declares she's starving.

After that, we have some hypnosis going wrong, and my favourite bits, Gilligan running around in a pink fluffy towel. (THAT bit confuses me. If he was Gilligan to start out with, what was HE doing with a pink fluffy towel??)

I've lost track of myself now.

Okay, Mary Ann was not really being Ginger, she was being Mary Ann's subconscious inner vamp, disguised as Ginger because as JWood201 points out, Ginger was her only role model in that respect.

And now I need to lie down because my head is spinning again.

[Steve Carras]

The Prof.notably says Mary Ann wants to be Ginger and thus thinks she is, never even seeming to NOTICE the BUMP on the HEAD...what an inffectual professor, yet once again..but we love him all the same.

[Teebs]

Originally Posted by Steve Carras

The Prof.notably says Mary Ann wants to be Ginger and thus thinks she is, never even seeming to NOTICE the BUMP on the HEAD...what an inffectual professor, yet once again..but we love him all the same.

He's not a very good hypnotist, either