In my review of the series at large, I called "Liv and Maddie" a contemporary, Disney version of "The Patty Duke Show," and dismissed the comparison to all other twin-coms. I still do, and as I've mentioned in the past the cast and crew did as well. Thankfully, they got her a guest spot in an episode that was intended for the second season, but wasn't released until the third.
The twins' grandmother Janice is supposed to be coming to Stevens Point to present Liv Rooney with a local award. And we find out that Janice has a twin named Hilary, who is also their great aunt... and both are on Karen's side of the family, who shows us a picture of Patty and Cathy Lane during one of those confessional scenes. Grandma Janice used to be an Olympic Diver back in the day, and now is a globe-trotting photographer. Maddie is convinced that Grandma Janice is her favorite grandchild, simply because they're both athletic and wore glasses, and Parker loves her because she always slips him $20 just because he's the baby of the family. However, when Grandma starts hanging out with Liv more often than Maddie, and Parker's cutesy act doesn't seem to get much of a profit, both suspect something is wrong, and Maddie believes that Great Aunt Hilary is masquerading as Grandma Janice.
Meanwhile, Joey wants to start a party for watching a local comet passing over town, and Artie invites himself and his minions over to try to get him to invite some girls to this party revolving around the comet, partially because he has a more sophisticated telescope. According to Oops Donuts-related legend, the comet they planned to watch is nicknamed the "Lover's Comet," because once that comet reaches it's apex, whoever you're with at the time will be your soulmate. So, Artie forces Joey to invite two girls he dated in the past, and one who partially invites herself. Of these three girls, the most interesting was Samantha, played by Gatlin Green. Even if you're not heavily into Shakespeare as her character was, her use of 16th Century English will charm the living daylights out of you. Brianne Tju and Joey Bragg's real-life girlfriend Audrey Whitby aren't worth ignoring in this episode either.
What we don't find out is Grandma Janice's surname, or for that matter Great-Aunt Hilary's. Perhaps Karen's maiden name will be revealed in the fourth and last season. I conceived this review before Duke's death, and I remember message boards claiming she didn't look like she was in the best shape. John Beck and Ron Hart must've been glad they gave Ms. Duke the chance to twin-it-up again. I think the only thing that could've possibly been bigger is if Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau got together in something with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. Short of raising the dead bodies of Hollywood greats, there's not much you can do in order to make something like this happen. So we should be glad we got a chance to see this episode while she was still alive. I'm not going to turn this review into a memorial for Patty Duke, but I will say we should be glad that the star of the technical inspiration for this sitcom got to return to a new version in a decent episode, with a B-Story that's as good if not better.
The twins' grandmother Janice is supposed to be coming to Stevens Point to present Liv Rooney with a local award. And we find out that Janice has a twin named Hilary, who is also their great aunt... and both are on Karen's side of the family, who shows us a picture of Patty and Cathy Lane during one of those confessional scenes. Grandma Janice used to be an Olympic Diver back in the day, and now is a globe-trotting photographer. Maddie is convinced that Grandma Janice is her favorite grandchild, simply because they're both athletic and wore glasses, and Parker loves her because she always slips him $20 just because he's the baby of the family. However, when Grandma starts hanging out with Liv more often than Maddie, and Parker's cutesy act doesn't seem to get much of a profit, both suspect something is wrong, and Maddie believes that Great Aunt Hilary is masquerading as Grandma Janice.
Meanwhile, Joey wants to start a party for watching a local comet passing over town, and Artie invites himself and his minions over to try to get him to invite some girls to this party revolving around the comet, partially because he has a more sophisticated telescope. According to Oops Donuts-related legend, the comet they planned to watch is nicknamed the "Lover's Comet," because once that comet reaches it's apex, whoever you're with at the time will be your soulmate. So, Artie forces Joey to invite two girls he dated in the past, and one who partially invites herself. Of these three girls, the most interesting was Samantha, played by Gatlin Green. Even if you're not heavily into Shakespeare as her character was, her use of 16th Century English will charm the living daylights out of you. Brianne Tju and Joey Bragg's real-life girlfriend Audrey Whitby aren't worth ignoring in this episode either.
What we don't find out is Grandma Janice's surname, or for that matter Great-Aunt Hilary's. Perhaps Karen's maiden name will be revealed in the fourth and last season. I conceived this review before Duke's death, and I remember message boards claiming she didn't look like she was in the best shape. John Beck and Ron Hart must've been glad they gave Ms. Duke the chance to twin-it-up again. I think the only thing that could've possibly been bigger is if Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau got together in something with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. Short of raising the dead bodies of Hollywood greats, there's not much you can do in order to make something like this happen. So we should be glad we got a chance to see this episode while she was still alive. I'm not going to turn this review into a memorial for Patty Duke, but I will say we should be glad that the star of the technical inspiration for this sitcom got to return to a new version in a decent episode, with a B-Story that's as good if not better.
