This episode is an outlier. We've seen Helen get jealous before and if memory serves this kind of dynamic between Helen and Andy doesn't really fit in with the Mayberry ethos. More like stuff from the world outside of Mayberry. That said an old girlfriend of Andy returns to town and Andy doesn't stand up for who Helen is to him when the old friend and Helen meet. Instead of calling Helen his girlfriend he chooses to introduce her as Opie's teacher. BAD. Andy's core character isn't this dumb or, even, devious. But, the episode needs a quick setup so this is it. Smoothing things over by introducing Howard Sprague as Alice's date seems to work. Except the old friend is kind of keeping the door open to which a weekend retreat to the mountains for the two couples goes south. Again, Andy squirms, even lying which isn't the Andy we ever want to see. This episode is just too far from TAGS we love. Sure, writers must fill in for not having Barney, but not this way. No bad performances or anything of that nature, just a poor script for what we watch TAGS for. I don't even fault Helen's reactions because they're spot-on what a person in the kind of relationship we are led to believe is happening between her and Andy. Just a writer's mis-step that actually made an episode when it shouldn't have.
Review of Andy's Old Girlfriend
