I've been watching TV now for about forty years - that's four decades of staring blankly at the tube. You might say I'm a seasoned veteran in television viewing, so I speak with some degree of authority when I say that Darrin is a bastard and Samantha should lay some black magic voodoo on his sorry ass.
I'm sorry. Did that sound a bit harsh? Well, I've hated Darrin since I was in diapers (the cloth kind - no synthetic resin diapers back then), so this is coming from about two scores of years, and was bound to erupt at some point.
So what's my beef with ol' Darrin? For one, he is constantly on Samantha's ass. But most of all it's because he never wants her to do magic.
I know this is the days of Mad Men, and you're probably thinking that if I'm picking on Darrin, I should pick on all men of that era. This isn't about gender equality. This is about Sam bailing Darrin out of trouble each and every episode, and Darrin rewarding her by not allowing her to do magic. Without Sam, Larry Tate would've canned Darrin a loooong time ago. But she always bent over backwards for her man.
Let's look at this logically, Darrin. And I'm talking to both Dicks, Sargent and York. What's the downside? Let's say that hot headed cotton top, Larry, finally throws you to the curb. Tell Sam to twitch her nose and PRESTO! a million greenbacks sitting on the coffee table. Problem solved.
Some might argue that Darrin just places value on making ones own way in the world. Magic is the easy way - with magic you don't need hard work, determination and good character. And I definitely see that perspective..... however, Darrin is a complete fuck up, so he can't claim that's his reasoning. Sam bails him out of trouble 24-7.
Another argument might be that magic can create trouble of its own. What seems like the easy way, may actually create more problems than it solves. For instance, on the day Darrin has an important client over to the house for dinner, there's a cow in the living room!
Well, newsflash Darrin: you married a witch! You don't marry the Green Lantern and tell him to put away his ring. But with these powers comes some degree of baggage. If you wanted a perfectly normal suburban life, perhaps you shouldn't have married a witch!
Yeah, that's some kind of attitude. I don't deny he loves her, but he just needs to get a clue. Maybe a little marriage counselling from Doctor Bombay? Whatever the case, it's only a matter of time before Sam gets sick of his crap and goes medieval on his ass. That would've been one fine final episode, and I'd finally have the closure I need after all these years.
