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original airdate: October 18, 1965 Goober enters the barbershop proclaiming that Warren has ESP (extrasensory perception or "extra-sensitive perception" as Barney once called it). Floyd agrees and here, for the first time, we learn that Warren is Floyd's nephew. Now, before cries of "conflict of interest" are launched, let us all remember that Barney Fife was introduced as Andy's "cousin" at the beginning of the series which was a blatant case of nepotism. Anyway, Warren enters the barbershop and, after admonishing Goober for dog-earing his magazine, reads a passage from an article about a girl in Poland who saved lives when she correctly predicted an avalanche. Warren believes he has the same gift, but Andy is unconvinced. To prove he has ESP, Warren asks Floyd, Goober, and Andy to pick an object in the barbershop and focus their minds on it and he will "attempt to identify said object." While Warren is out of the shop, Floyd, Goober, and Andy choose the table. Warren then waltzes into the barbershop and begins to concentrate on the thought waves around him. Floyd starts tapping on the tabletop until Warren motions him to stop. Warren decides on the mirror [or "mirra," as the Bostonian deputy pronounces it] and Floyd exclaims, "Wonderful!, wonderful!" in honor of his nephew's impressive triumph. Andy then reminds Floyd that they chose the table and a deflated Floyd sighs, "Oh, yeah." The ever astute Warren recognizes that the table can be seen in the mirror, a demonstration of "reflective thought waves," and proclaims the test to be evidence of the "unbelievable" gift he possesses. Andy, of course, remains "what we call" a skeptic. |
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Later, at the courthouse, Helen convinces Andy to
go with her to Myer's
Lake for a picnic the next day. Warren is lying on the
cot in cell #2 reading when Andy informs him of their plans.
Helen asks Warren what he is reading and
an evasive Warren replies, "Just a book." Interested [it must
be the school teacher in her],
Helen presses him and Warren admits, "Well, it happens to
be on a subject that your boyfriend and I don't see eye-to-eye
on." He hands the book to Helen who reads the title, The Fundamentals
of Extrasensory Perception, and seems intrigued. Andy explains
that he does not question the existence of ESP, he just has not seen any
proof that his deputy has it. Warren tells Andy, "I don't want to discuss
the matter anymore; as a matter of fact, I never intend to mention
it again. I'll just proceed with my research and keep it to
myself, all right." Warren smugly strolls to the back. Andy
quietly mentions to Helen, "You notice he didn't know we were going to
Myer's Lake." |
 a subject that he and Andy "don't see eye-to-eye on." |
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Sitting at the diner counter with Goober, Warren is troubled. He explains
in a mysterious voice, "There
is a vision out here before me somewhere." Warren sees
blue, masses of green, a man, a woman, and danger. Goober thinks
Warren is trying too hard, so Warren begins to relax and eat his
hamburger until, suddenly, the vision becomes clear.
He grabs Goober and they rush out of the restaurant.
Warren and Goober drive to Andy's house in the middle of the night and bang on Andy's door to inform him that danger awaits if Helen and he go to the lake the next day. Irate for being disturbed from his sleep and stubbing his toe in the process, Andy tosses them out. The next morning, Warren makes a final plea to Helen and Andy to cancel the trip and even suggests the couple have their picnic in Andy's backyard (a sensible solution) but Andy will have none of it. Despite Warren's genuine concern for their safety, Andy becomes more and more irritated with him. Warren tries to prevent Andy from leaving by first having Floyd call in a fake bank robbery threat and then having Goober sabotage the patrol car. Ignoring Warren's warnings, Andy commandeers Goober's truck and heads out to the lake (why was Andy taking the squad car anyway? Wouldn't his deputy need it?). Warren takes Goober along to follow them. |
 here before me somewhere." Warren receiving a message of danger. |
 Floyd to try to sabotage Andy and Helen's plans. |
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Warren is now certain the danger involves something
"shiny" and is even more vigilant in protecting Andy and Helen.
After interrupting the couple's solitude a few times,
Warren notices they are about to take a canoe ride. Realizing
that the lake is "shiny," Warren and Goober try to pull
Andy out of the canoe. The canoe turns over, dumping
Helen and Andy in the lake and spraining Andy's
wrist in the process. Once out of the water, a furious
Andy picks up Goober and tosses him into the lake and
stares down Warren. Seeing the look in Andy's eyes,
Warren does the honors by voluntarily jumping into the
lake. After the incident, the gang goes out to dinner
and Warren announces that he will no longer practice
ESP. Offering to cut the physically-challenged Andy's
steak despite his boss's protests, Warren accidentally knocks
the plate in Andy's lap.
He quickly pays for their meals and exits the restaurant. |
 limb to protect Andy and Helen. |
 shiny object of doom. |
 not amused. |
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Was a 'Thank you' Warranted Rather Than an Apology?  Fans of TAGS will relate this episode to similar storylines where Barney interrupted Andy's alone time with his girlfriends. Andy and Helen Have Their Day, from the previous season, was one such example. In this episode, Barney gave Andy and Helen a Saturday alone together by the lake while he completed all their weekend errands. As expected, Barney continued to break into the couple's quiet time with such insignificant issues like what movie Opie should see and whether Helen wanted the T.V. repairman [played by Ernest T. Bass actor Howard Morris] to fix her set when, obviously, she did or she would not have called him. For the latter, Barney waved in Andy and Helen who were already well into their boat ride. Unlike Barney, Warren did not intervene on Andy and Helen's time for asinine reasons; he sincerely believed they were in danger. Most TAGS veiwers will conclude that Warren caused the accident rather than predicted it, but were Warren's actions to blame or were Andy's excessively angry reactions to Warren's warnings the cause of the accident? As explained in the analysis for The Bazaar, Andy was suffering from a mid-life crisis during this time which caused him to often react to Warren irrationally. Maybe Andy did not get his full 8-hours sleep due to Warren and Goober's late-night door-pounding, but did that warrant Andy slamming the trunk door of the squad car repeatedly until he crushed a grocery bag of picnic supplies? Andy was definitely in an angry and flustered emotional state. Moreover, who's to say something worse than a dunk in the water and a sprained wrist awaited Andy and Helen if they had taken the canoe ride out on the shiny lake? Maybe Andy should have thanked Warren in that restaurant scene and accepted Warren's gracious offer to cut his steak for him? Food for thought, anyway.  hence, people will be reading about me on some cyberspace Internet thingy, ya know what I mean? Huh-huh-huh? Warren never wavered from his belief that he had ESP. He said that he would no longer use ESP because "predicting the future is too much responsibility for a mortal man," not because he was unable to predict the future. The question is: Did Warren really have ESP? I believe that this question was never sufficiently answered. Warren's self-professed passing performance in the table test was dubious; however, who's to say that Goober and Floyd, with their often mercurial minds, did not think of the mirror at one point during the test? Upon choosing the mirror instead of the table, Floyd immediately congratulated his nephew as if he had already forgotten which object was chosen. Warren's point about reflective thought waves was also believable. What if Andy had encouraged Warren to further explore the possibility of predicting the future? What a coup to the sheriff's department that would be! Warren would have been able to solve crimes before they occurred! He might have prevented scores of jaywalkers and litterbugs. Alas, Andy did not even entertain the possibility and Mayberry probably suffered as a result.
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huh? huh? huh? Sure ya do! |
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