This is a bizarre episode in the series and i'm sure viewers were scratching their heads back when it originally aired wondering if they accidentally tuned into a drama instead of the slapstick comedy of Laverne & Shirley.
That aside, if the writers were determined to write a serious episode that dealt a devastating and tragic blow to one of the main characters, more time was definitely needed to craft the story.
The show opens with Laverne's first date with fireman Randy and they hit it off wonderfully. Then their relationship is sped up within 3 minutes and suddenly we're at the 2 month point in their relationship and they're in love.
There's just no time given for the viewer to invest much in the Randy character or really care when he dies in a fire. Had this been a 2 part episode where the first part builds up Laverne & Randy's relationship, it would've given the audience time to care about Randy and the whole relationship.
It could've ended the first part with Randy asking Laverne to marry him and in part 2 we find out her answer and then the tragedy occurs.
The aftermath is dramatic, and well done by Penny Marshall but felt too rushed. More time should've been given to that as well as the previous buildup.
I know this was the dawn of the 80's where the new trend in sitcoms was to have "very special episodes". I watched a lot of them and some were good, but others made me cringe.
This episode didn't make me cringe, but it felt too rushed and I wish they had stretched it out to 2 parts to tell the story more slowly. It's still a bizarre episode in the midst of the whole series where nothing too heavy or bad ever happens to the main characters. You're left wondering "Why do that to Laverne?!" It's just too much for such a lighthearted show and really comes out of nowhere.
It was probably done as a ratings grabber to get viewers back because at this time L&S was moved from it's highly successful Tuesday night time slot to Mondays where it was losing a lot of viewers.
If I recall correctly, they were bumped from Tuesdays to make room for the abysmal Three's Company spinoff "The Roper's" and when that turd bombed, L&S went thankfully back to their Tuesday home.
When i'm in the mood for L&S I will definitely skip over this episode in the future. I prefer the comedy and slapstick of the girls. I'm still giving it 6 stars only for Penny Marshall who did very well in her dramatic scenes. But Laverne is a beloved character and doing that to her was just too cruel.