Tying the Not

"**Tying the Not**" is the is the tenth episode and Season 1 finale of *Bless the Harts*.

## Plot

In order to prove that she’s not afraid of marriage, Jenny decides to take things to the next level with Wayne. Meanwhile, Betty attempts to expose Crystalynn as a liar after seeing her claim to have encountered a strangler on a popular crime show.

## Full Story

The episode starts out with the foursome eating pizza when suddenly, something starts burning. Everyone runs to the source of said fire in the dryer from Violet's room, with Wayne putting it out with Betty's wine box. It's revealed that the fire was ignited by an uncleaned lint trap, much to Wayne's annoyance. Jenny and Betty rebuttal that they see cleaning the lint trap as unnecessary, while Violet is simply surprised that the pile of extension chords and plugs didn't catch on fire instead.

The Harts sit at a table outside, where Wayne tells them that cleanup will take a week, so they'll have to sleep over at his house for a while. Everyone is unsure about Jenny since she has a habit of acting up at Wayne's, which is recalled through multiple flashbacks. Jenny, however, replies that Wayne's uptight, but she'll try to be on her best behavior.

Arriving at Wayne's place, Wayne informs Betty that he has cable thanks to his neighbor, allowing her to scroll upon channels she couldn't at home. She decides to settle on *Unsolved Mysteries* on the Christian Crime Network. Wayne looks over at Betty eating yogurt with a fork in the kitchen, which he points out to her. Jenny continues doing so anyway and spills yogurt on the kitchen carpet, irritating Wayne further. After a brief argument between him and Jenny, Wayne decides to step outside to cool off.

Over at The Last Supper, Louise reveals that she head about Jenny moving into Wayne's place and teases her about marrying him. Jenny asserts that she is not getting married; she's just staying over until the mess at her house gets cleared up instead. Louise continues to bring up the idea of marriage anyway just to get into Jenny's head. Later that night, Betty talks with Jesus about how stressful it is living with Wayne momentarily. Jesus presumes that these feelings come not from Wayne, but from the fact that her last marriage was a bust.

While checking *Unsolved Mysteries* on Wayne's television, Betty finds Crystalynn guest-starred on the show. At first, Betty shows up unexpected at Crystalynn's home demanding answers, but the latter refuses to give any. Violet says the guy Crystalynn encountered was in a prison in South Carolina, but before she can finish talking, Betty takes off. Betty finds out the guy in prison is too short, exposing Crystalynn for her lies. Betty then blackmails her with the coat Crystalynn got as a courtesy for guest-starring on the show.

At the Australian steakhouse, Wayne angrily proposes to Jenny. They head off to the courthouse to officially get married, but Violet writes some vows, stating that they should be happy the way they are and don't need a marriage paper to define their relationship (although they'd be missing out on huge tax benefits). They reconcile and dance while they have the room for 10 minutes.

## Notes/Trivia

* This episode was originally scheduled to air on January 5, 2020, but was moved to January 12, 2020, to lead-out the NFL Divisional Play-off game with *Bob's Burgers* on Fox. As a result, this episode aired nationally at 10:39PM ET and 7:39PM PT.
* This is the first episode to air in 2020, and also the first episode in the show's history, to be aired in the 2020s.
* The title is obviously a spoof of "Tying the knot."
* This is the last episode to premiere before 20th Century Fox, *Bless the Harts'* parent company, got renamed to 20th Century Studios. Due to a restructuring at Disney Media Networks, on August 10, 20th Century Fox Television was renamed to 20th Television.
* Wayne's ostriches reappear in this episode, a callback to the production pilot episode.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20200102fox05/
2. ↑ https://www.foxflash.com/releases/view/week-of-jan-12-19-2020

## External links

* "Tying the Not" press release via The Futon Critic
* "Tying the Not" at the US Copyright Database
* "Tying the Not" on IMDb
* "Tying the Not" script via TV Show Transcripts