Gilligan's Island All About Eva (1964–1992) watch online HD

"All About Eva" offers Tina Louise the opportunity to play a completely different character from Ginger, as the neurotic and plain looking Eva Grubb, whose disappointment with men has driven her away from civilization to a deserted island to live alone for the rest of her days. She's quite willing to give the castaways the key to her boat, so long as they leave quickly and never come back, but the Professor advises that in her present state of mind it might not be wise for her to be alone, intending to send a boat back for her once they reach the mainland. Gilligan accidentally spills the beans about their plans, so Eva buries the spark plugs so that no one can leave the island. At this point Ginger suggests a complete makeover for Eva so that she'll want to return to civilization, but in creating a replica of herself unleashes a monster eager to make the moves on all men, even Gilligan. By the time of the going away party, Eva believes herself to be such an effective actress that she can sail away as Ginger and no one will ever suspect the truth. Tina is excellent as Eva, as Ginger a little more soft spoken than usual.

Here is the third and thankfully the last of the three doppelgänger episodes. The only wrinkle this time is our 'guest' shows up as herself and is transformed into a lookalike by the castaways. Outside of that difference, the entry is as preposterous, contrived, and desperate as the other two. The cleverest part about it is its title.

Gilligan blunders upon a pair of woman's pumps at the lagoon. Next he finds their owner, a drab, shrewish woman in glasses. She is the very aptly named Eva Grubb, who has fled to the island to escape all men, so naturally the first two people she comes across are our lead and the Skipper. We get her underdeveloped backstory told through whiny sobs, and soon we couldn't care less what happens to her. In exchange for being left alone, she agrees to give the castaways the keys to her boat.

With everyone happy with the exchange, the episode should end right here with the castaways sailing off into the sunset. But the nosy group can't leave Eva well enough alone. The Professor frets that in her current depressed state, she may do something drastic, so the group agrees to send the boat back for her to be rescued. Their generosity is spurned, however, when Gilligan blabs their plan. Eva spitefully hides the boat's sparkplugs so that they're all stuck on the isle together. Misery does love company.

Typically, the castaways would hatch another scheme to get the sparkplugs back. But, no, that would make too much sense, and maybe even lead to comedy. Instead, they soft pedal their response, believing if they make Eva feel better about herself, she'll have a reason to return to civilization.

Their solution is to glam up plain Eva. Their makeover is a bit too much on point, however, as she comes out of it looking identical to glamorous Ginger. Identical!

And we have our third doppelganger. (Or doppelginger).

Eva's adjustment in the second half to her new image fails to be interesting. The only lively scene is when she learns she's man crazy and tries to ravage Gilligan. Her other scenes are mainly awkward. She overhears the other girls say that underneath her new beauty is her old dull, Grubby self, and she'll have the same boring lifestyle back in the States.

A random encounter with Mrs. Howell without her glasses on gives her the loopy idea to replace Ginger. She continues the doppelgänger trope of knocking out the real McCoy, tying her up, and taking her place at a castaway party. (Yes, back to back tropes).

To inject some energy into the proceedings, we're given the gag of Eva quick-changing between herself and Ginger at the party. The quick changes are dull, repetitive, and accompanied by sped-up camera work and silly music to convince us how funny it is. The castaways remain oblivious until the real Ginger somehow frees herself in time to blow the whistle on her understudy.

Is Eva punished? No, of course not, because that would make too much sense. The soft-hearted castaways instantly forgive her and let her wander off to think about how ashamed she feels. They're rewarded for the naiveté with the same exact result they received in The Kidnapper.

But at least the audience doesn't have to endure anymore lazy, limp, lethargic lookalikes.

COCONOTES:

Last episode written by veteran Joanna Lee, who wrote two of the three doppelgänger misfires. In this case, two out of three is bad. There are very few laughs and the 'two' Gingers approach is undermined by awkward split-screen effects.

This episode shows why Tina Louise is much better suited to her usual supporting role. She just isn't adept enough to carry an episode as a comedienne. Her Ginger this week is subdued and awkward, whereas her Eva is shrill, boring, and completely unlikeable.

Ginger wears a weird Monroe-like hairstyle that makes it harder to distinguish between them.

Why did they use the exact same hair color in Eva's makeover?

The ominous music at the end of the first act signals how we should feel about her transformation.

"You'll never get away with this." Seriously? Also, Ginger can talk through her gag, but doesn't think to call for help.

Once again, no one guards the boat.