Originally Broadcast May 8, 1984 on ABC
“Happy Days”, like all good things (including those things that were at one point really, really good but are now not quite so good) must come to an end. “Passages” finds our favorite Milwaukee residents (you heard me, Laverne and Shirley) at important milestones of life.
Joanie and Chachi, who have been splitsville since the end of Season 10, find themselves dating dopplegangers of each other. They decide that faux Joanie and faux Chachi (Judy and Tony by name) are just no substitute, and plan a “get-together”–not a date!- for tomorrow evening.
Meanwhile, Fonzie enters Arnold’s with little orphan Danny (played by future “Hogan Family” member Danny Ponce). Fonz has been Danny’s Big Brother and is now looking to take on a larger role in Danny’s life. He brings the idea up to the Cunninghams:
FONZ: What do you think about me being a daddy?
MRS. C: Oh Howard…if he’s asking, it’s probably too late.
Mr. and Mrs. C are in favor of the idea, but try to gently prepare Fonz for the challenge of an unmarried man adopting a child.
Joanie and Chachi meet up and quickly commence to smooching.
JOANIE: I’m glad we got it out of our system.
CHACHI: I may have a little bit left.
Meanwhile, Fonzie is finding the road to adoption to be a bit rocky, despite glowing letters of recommendation from, among others, Roger Philips:
ADOPTION AGENCY REP: He describes you as having heroism of a mythic proportion.
FONZ: And I thought he was a friend of mine.
When Fonz tells the rep that he’s unmarried things get thorny. “There’s a lot that you can give to Danny without adopting him,” she offers. Fonzie explains that he has a full, happy life…but “there’s a hole…that’s just the size of that kid.”
ADOPTION AGENCY REP: Mr. Fonzarelli, you are an exceptional man.
FONZ: Thank you.
ADOPTION AGENCY REP: Anyone who can get a one day escrow has to be.
The rep promises to go to bat for Fonzie with the adoption board.
Fonzie is building a toy plane and Chachi is clutching flowers as they both face monumental moments in their lives. Fonz is awaiting the (phone) call of destiny from the adoption agency, and Chachi is preparing to pop the question to Joanie. But! Jenny Piccolo, making her first appearance all season, tells Chach that Joanie has no interest in restarting their relationship. To paraphrase Pete Campbell, “Not great, Jenny!”
Chachi storms into the Cunningham house and hashes things out.
CHACHI: I came over here tonight to ask you to marry me!
JOANIE: Oh! Well here’s one for you, smarty pants! I would have said yes! So there!
CHACHI: Yeah, it figures!
JOANIE: Jerk!
Eventually the signals get uncrossed. Chachi gets down on one knee. Joanie says “Oh Chach, yes.” There’s a reason they call the show “Happy Days”.
MR. C: Chachi…I’m only gonna say this once so listen up.
CHACHI: Yes sir?
MR. C: I like you. Welcome to the family!
Unfortunately, the phone call Fonzie receives at Arnold’s is not good news. He has not been approved by the adoption agency. Fonz leaves Arnold’s in a rage, and when he gets home little Danny is waiting for him, bags packed. At first, Fonzie tries to explain to Danny that rules are rules. But eventually his anger and sadness get the better of him.
DANNY: Are you taking me back to the orphanage?
FONZ: No.
DANNY: Then where are we going?
FONZ: I don’t know, but wherever we go, there’s no rule that says I can’t be your father.
This is where the syndicated reruns insert the “To Be Contnued” freeze frame.
The second half of the 60-minute series finale finds wedding planning in full swing. Chachi mentions that Al will be catering the wedding, foreshadowing the cavalcade of old friends who will show up for the nuptials.
The lady from the adoption agency visits the Cunninghams to report that Danny is missing. She implores Mr. and Mrs. C to get in contact with Fonzie…who just happens to be on the phone Mrs. C is cradling.
The Cunninghams come to the adoption agency to stand up for their friend, just as Fonzie shows up with Danny in tow. Danny threatens to run away again, but Fonzie has a heart to heart talk with the lad, exhibiting to everyone in attendance that he would make a fine parent regardless of marital status.
“They can stop me from being your father”, says the Fonz, “but they can not stop me from loving you. You understand that?”
Fonzie and Mrs. C leave the room in tears. And then Mr. C drops the hammer on these bureaucratic stuffed shirts!
“I think your policies stink! Just because Fonzie isn’t married that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t make a great father! There’s no one in the world that understands that kid better than he does. He was abandoned himself so he knows exactly how it feels. And if your policies won’t allow a man like Fonzie to be Danny’s father, then I say to HELL with your policies!”
Tom Bosley bringing the heat in the finale! Boy is he effective in this scene…turning from gentle and consoling for Mrs. C to believably escalating anger and frustration when talking to the man from the adoption agency. And yet, Tom Bosley’s most effective moment in the finale hasn’t happened yet!
Meanwhile, wedding preparation continues. Jenny Piccolo, reminding us of her longstanding record of trampy debauchery, helps Joanie get ready.
JENNY: Joanie, couldn’t you just show a little bit of cleavage? If you wanna sell the merchandise ya gotta put it in the window!
JOANIE: Jenny! I’m about to get married! The store is closed!
JENNY: All right. Be traditional. But do yourself a favor…open my present before your honeymoon.
(MR. and MRS. C enter.)
MRS. C: Oh Jenny, would you check on your gift? I swear I saw it shimmy across the table!
Uhhhhhhh….okay, then!
Fonz visits the bride and gifts her with his lucky blue scarf. “I can’t say ‘shortcake’ anymore. I gotta say ‘Mrs. Shortcake.'”
Meanwhile, Roger Philips utters a line about his wedding gift to Joanie and Chachi that is so pointless and boring…well, it perfectly sums up his four years on the series. Roger never really became the “substitute Richie” the writers seemed to be going for, because his stick-in-the-mud character just didn’t hold interest. It’s almost a similar situation as that on “The Andy Griffith Show”, when the departure of Don Knotts as Barney Fife left Andy Taylor without a reasonably sane friend. (Goober and Floyd, like Ralph and Potsie, were exaggerated “character” types whereas Barney, although a very funny character, had a solid base of recognizable humanity.) Roger Philips was the “Happy Days” equivalent of Howard Sprague. Fairly dull, humorless, but necessary to connect plotlines and give the lead character a peer.
The doorbell rings. It must be a wedding guest! Nope. It’s the fellow Mr. C bawled out from the adoption agency…to deliver Fonzie’s son Danny.
DANNY: Do I still call you Fonz?
FONZ: What else are you gonna call me?
DANNY: Mmmm…Dad?
FONZ: Yes. I like that.
It’s about time for the Arcola/Cunningham wedding to get underway! The wedding is held in the C’s backyard, as were the hilariously botched vow renewals of Howard and Marion in Season 7’s “Here Comes The Bride Again”.
Chachi’s Mom Louisa, and her husband Big Al, have front row seats. It’s great to see Al on “Happy Days” again but he won’t have much to do here.
Richie and Lori Beth are back! And late. Richie does one of his patented nervous yammering runs before Fonzie delicately tells them to sit down and shut up.
The wedding ceremony will be conducted by Father Delvecchio. Hence the lack of any big part for Al. But the Father strongly resembles his brother:
“Dearly beloved…this is a very happy day. We are gathered here to join together Joanie Louise Cunningham and Charles…Chachi, Chachi, Chachi….Arcola in the bond of holy matrimony.”
Aside from Father Delvecchio’s name-dropping, the wedding is treated completely straight, with frequent cutting to close-ups of Al & Louisa, Howard & Marion, Richie & Lori Beth, and single friends Fonzie and Jenny.
The vast majority of “Happy Days” episodes end with a “tag”, a short, funny scene that puts a capper on the story and ends the show with a big laugh. “Passages” decides to end with emotion, and it’s one of the most memorable series-ending moments in television history.
Random Notes:
-Joanie and Tony, and Judy and Chachi, are all sporting “Kinks World Tour ’65” T-shirts, a rare but welcomed visual cue to the quasi-reliable “Happy Days” timeline. This would put the first season at 1954 which is just about right.
-The episode just before “Passages” concerns the Cunninghams possibly moving away, and Fonzie being forced to consider moving out of his over-the-garage apartment. The C’s eventually decide not to move but Fonzie, having already planned a relocation to a singles apartment complex, realizes it’s time to make the move. (I have to wonder if this episode was written as a bit of pipe=laying for the finale; one can’t imagine any adoption agency letting a kid live in that little room over a garage.) Oh, and in that episode everybody says Fonz has been living over the Cunningham garage for six years. It was actually nine years. Unless “years” and “seasons” aren’t the same thing.
-Hard to spot but standing next to Roger in the final scene: Fonzie’s Grandma Nussbaum, played by Frances Bay! Bay is best known by younger audiences for her role as Happy Gilmore’s Grandma.
-Nowhere to be found in this episode: Potsie! Anson WIlliams, depending on which source you read, either left the series just before the end of the season; or was only signed for a limited number of episodes for the final year and the finale was not one of them (that makes no sense whatsoever). Whatever the reason, it seems sad that Anson is smiling in the opening credits and not part of that closing toast. He, along with Tom Bosley, Marion Ross and Henry Winkler were the only 4 actors to appear regularly in every season. (Erin Moran has the “Joanie Loves Chachi” asterisk.)
-Although “Passages” is recognized by all sources as the intended series finale of “Happy Days”, it was not the last all-new episode to air on ABC. The 1984 WInter Olympics bumped the show a few times, which left a handful of unaired new episodes that were burned off in the summer of ’84, one as late as September of ’84.
-And that’s it. Happy Days Epics! All of them! If you read all or any of these, thanks for putting up with my love of this silly sitcom.
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