Of all the characters introduced in episode one of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", the one that never really appealed to me was Bess. I certainly DON'T blame the young actress playing the part...she was very talented. But the way she was written seemed very unusual and difficult to believe as a real person. Also, I never really found her quirky qualities particularly endearing or fun to watch. This is personal taste...and perhaps others might feel very differently.
Lars, Phyllis' husband you NEVER see on the show, has chicken pox. So, Phyllis asks Mary to do her a favor...to watch Bess until Lars has recovered. Mary agrees but at first finds it tough going with Bess, as the child is precocious...too much so. It's obvious that Phyllis is a strange sort of parent and has a very 'modern' style of parenting. As a result, Bess is a weird kid and Phyllis treats Bess like a mini-adult. Eventually, this strangeness causes problems as Bess decides to stay with Mary forever...and dopey Phyllis seems okay with that!
The weirdness of Bess combined with an odd montage make this a most atypical episode of the series. While episodes one and two were very good, this one seems pretty awkward by comparison. An okay episode but not a funny one.