Little is provided of Mrs. Lovey Howell's pre-marital history, so we are left to gather that she was a well-to-do socialite who latched onto a well-financed social climber. Yet her occasional acts of rebellion suggest that she knows there is something more for her in the dawn of feminism.
* The first image of male-female interaction presented on Gilligan's Island is in Episode 2, where the Howells argue so loudly as to cause the other castaways to build their own huts.
* Sadly, the only male other than Mrs. Howell who expresses outright affection to Mrs. Howell is a gorilla, who holds her captive.
* In Episode 62, when a fake Mr. Howell swims to the island and is uncovered, Mrs. Howell seems a bit too willing to accept the fake Howell as the real one, even after the fake has left the island.
* The closest Mrs. Howell ever gets to any kind of physical contact with the Skipper is in Episode 65, where the mad doctor forces her to exchange bodies with the Skipper. Her reaction when changed into the Skipper and chained up: "Oh, dear, I could never go anywhere dressed like this!"
* Mrs. Howell asserts her own identity the most in two episodes. In Episode 67, her marriage is briefly proven to have been administered by a fake minister. After a second, unfinished wedding ceremony to which Mr. Howell is indifferent, she briefly moves in with the girls and has a dinner date with the Professor before returning to Mr. Howell. In Episode 87, Mrs. Howell responds to Mr. Howell's teasingly sending her anonymous love letters by briefly throwing him out before later accepting his apology.
* In Episode 69, Gilligan imagines himself as a vampire, sleepwalks, and bites Mrs. Howell on the neck. She screams--but in fright or delight?
* At the close of Episode 74, when a party is thrown for Mr. Howell, Mrs. Howell has a brief burst of sexiness when she pops out of a cake (albeit fully clothed).
* One of the biggest unsolved mysteries of Gilligan's Island, right up there with "Where did the Howells get all that luggage?": In Episode 35, by way of adopting Gilligan as their son, the Howells claim to have no children. Yet in the third Gilligan reunion movie, a fully-grown Thurston Howell IV appears with no explanation. Can you say "love child"?
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