To avoid screwing up again, keep repeating...

"Don't lie, don't lust. Don't lie, don't lust. Don't lie, don't lust. Don't lie, don't lust."

`This episode is where it all turns around for Danny and Breaking Bonaduce, or so it would seem. The turmoil of the first few episodes of this season is virtually nowhere to be found here. In its place is Danny's effort to be a better husband, a better father, a better person. All along, all he had to do was try. Imagine that!

What this means for our purposes is that there are few signs of melting down this episode. There isn't any nudity or red-facedness, even! Danny does, however, approach the brink once...

Danny examines his behavior

Before Danny can improve his behavior, he has to reflect upon it. Of course, being in the business of excess, Danny makes as big a show of this as possible. His mess, our gain.

The episode starts with Danny talking about Gretchen as soberly as he ever has (no pun intended there, although...). "By far, I need Gretchen more than she needs me. I don't know that Gretchen needs me at all." We'll just see about that!

Danny visits a doctor for the results of the drug test that his sober buddy Jason mandated. It turns out that Danny was right all along: there are no traces of any drugs in his body. Great. Well sort of. In yet another streak of amazing self-awareness, Danny points out: "There are behaviors that I unleashed on some of the people I love and people that work on the show, that it's fair for them to think, 'That guy must be on drugs.' Which do you think is worse, that I'm not and behave that way...?"

Danny's doc doesn't even need to open his mouth to answer...

In the car, Danny continues riffing on that idea, with enough increasing mania to earn him his Level 2 on the Meltdown Meter...

"I can see why people would want a drug test for me, because of the way I behave. But once you've seen me behave a certain way a dozen times, and I'm not on drugs, it should come to somebody's attention: 'Oh, well, that guy's crazy. Let's talk to him like he's crazy. Let's stop wasting time making him pee in jars.' Unless you got a drug strip that says, 'lunatic' on it, I don't see how this is a time-saver." Crazy is as crazy rants, and, once again, at least he's aware of this.

And that's it for the meltdowns. The rest of the episode is devoted to Danny's  self-improvement , though, true to BB form, sprinkled with good quotes...

When his psychiatrist, Dr. Kumar, tells Danny that he should be taking the Campral he was prescribed to take away the cravings for alcohol, Danny counters with: "You wanna find me a pill? Find the pill that takes away the cravings for women." What, like, birth control?

Later, Danny spends time with son Dante...

...and separately, Isabella. On the way to an ice-skating date, Isabella asks Danny for a lighter, saying she'll set her hair on fire and Child Services will have to come and sort things out.

Yeah right. "Honey, if Child Services didn't come and get you after last season, they're not coming. They just don't care about you." Not only is that a zing, it's a self-referential zing. A new dimension in the world of reality TV just opened up.

On the Gretchen front, it's all good, too -- they appear on Strictly Dr. Drew together and she acknowledges that Danny's trying to put their marriage back together.

The episode ends with the entire family reunited at a dinner...

Danny's still not back in the house, but with his current personal upswing, how long can that last? Maybe more importantly: with so much of the BB season left, how long can the personal upswing itself last?

Comments

[fp]

I lost the love of my life to drugs, he is now back in Norway, deported. and all due to his addiction
he was so beautiful,kind, crazy. lots of fun, friends, but no one was there to help. and i knew nothing about drugs. this show is helping me put closure on this nightmare. many blessings to this loving couple. i hope they make it

[James Gleason]

This message is for Danny Bonaduce. I think you belong in prison. Exposing yourself in front of your child. Photocopying your penis and then handing the photo to your child is a crime that is punishable through out this country. The best thing your wife could do is divorce you and never let you see your children again. I find you to be a discusting waist of skin and I don't care if you were a child star or not. You are a pervert and your actions lead me to believe that children are not safe around you. You have no self respect so you think it is OK to raise your children to be the same way. Children services should come into your home and remove your children. If I have anything to say they will be notified.