Previously on The Flying Nun, Revisited…
“The Flying Nun is a hip sixties woman named Sister Bertrille from New York and she just began working at a convent in exceedingly windy San Juan, Puerto Rico. She weighs ninety pounds and her cornette is shaped in such a way that makes it aerodynamic when countered with a large gust of wind. She sings songs to children like The Sound of Music and there’s a local sleazy rich jerk named Carlos that Sister Bertrille is always running into whenever he’s about to kiss a woman. She usually gets into some sort of scheme that involves using his vast wealth or losing his vast wealth. The Flying Nun has a warm but begrudging friendship with the Reverend Mother. She’s also a good mechanic, and allergic to Hibiscus. Her real name is Elsie, and she comes from a family of doctors. She’s good friends with Sister Jacqueline, who narrates the episodes, as well as Sister Sixto. And she’s friendly with birds, whether they talk or have crushes on her.”

We’re thirty-five episodes in to The Flying Nun and five episodes into season two. We’ve laughed and cried. And we’ve watched this show. Or at least I have. Cut to present day!

The Flying Nun IMDb

Introduction –
In the modern day, no concept, TV show or movie is ever forgotten. Everything, no matter how stupid, has a fanbase of some kind and ends up getting a sequel, a revival, or a recap podcast with people laughing at jokes they made five to thirty years ago. Why has the long forgotten Sally Field sitcom, The Flying Nun, been left behind? There isn’t always a reason for her to fly or work at a convent, because the plots vary wildly in topic and tone. But isn’t that what TV should be? Based on a very loose premise with no real narrative thread or reason for being? I would watch The Good Doctor if it wasn’t a badly written hospital show with a very offensive interpretation of autism, but about a young nun played by Sally Field who flies of her own volition. It would make about as much sense. I mean, I prefer a show where anything can happen.

The Flying Nun, 2.6: “A Star Is Reborn”
I was thrown off in writing this review because, for whatever reason, the episode order on Prime Video is different from the release order on IMDb. Even though this came out in January, well after the other episodes, I’m going to keep it where it is. I don’t care. Our episode starts with a movie star, apparently, named Sabrina Lewis, who sneaks onto Carlos’s yacht wearing a hat, trench coat and fake mustache, but immediately takes this off to make out with him, in plain view. What’s the point of a disguise if you get rid of it right away? Her fiancée made out with a woman, so she ran away from him. She ends up recovering from fainting mid-swim at the Convent San Tanco after Sister Bertrille flies by her, and, being an incredibly over-dramatic actress, falls in love with the role of Nun and asks to become one.
In practicing her interview with the Reverend Mother to become a Nun, Bertrille plays the role of the Reverend Mother, doing an excellent impression. But also, one different from the episode where they were hypnotized. Sally Field is a great actress. Sabrina’s fiancée and her agent are slimy creeps. The fiancée may truly love Sabrina, but he helps her horrible agent send process servers. Remember, she must finish making the film she’s on. Conveniently, Bertrille learns a server will be sent under the guise of a Priest, just as an old Priest friend of the Reverend Mother, who also conveniently isn’t there, visits the Convent. Carlos convinces the fake Priest not to visit, meanwhile the Nuns deafen the genuine Priest, feed him spicy food, make him drink vinegar, and throw a pie in his face. It’s not very Nun-like, is it? In the end, Sabrina leaves the Convent, pitching a Flying Nun movie as she goes.
Episode Rating – 7.2 Sally Fields

The Flying Nun, 2.7: “The Organ Transplant”
The Convent organ falls apart, so Sister Bertrille flies to an estate sale where the Sister manages to negotiate a frenzied businessman’s $500 asking price down to $0. Carlos helps the Sister tow the organ home which, sadly for him, prevents him from auditioning his attractive step-cousin for a performance at the Casino. The new organ seems almost to be a living breathing thing, one that pumps exhaust into the Convent and makes wheezing noises that sound like a human man. They realize that manually working the organ feels much like a biking marathon, so they hook the organ, who they now refer to as Ziggy, to a vacuum cleaner. When Ziggy hits his C above High C, you see, he shatters glass. If you have Prime Video, find this episode and go to the eighteen minute mark to see the Reverend Mother’s angry face when her glasses and watch shatter. If I could screenshot this moment I would.
Carlos has been trying to romanticize his step-cousin, who only wants to audition for him, and jumps at the opportunity to take the organ he had to construct back to his Casino. She is a great singer, it turns out, and clearly this music was recorded elsewhere by someone else. Carlos takes it back and sends them a new one. Yet Sister Bertrille neglected to tell him of Ziggy’s explosive powers. So we end on a bit of an explosive finale. At the end of this episode I finally read the credits and learned this show is based off a book called “The Fifteenth Pelican”. What a fun time.
Episode Rating – 6.4 Sally Fields

The Flying Nun, 2.8: “Two Bad Eggs”
It’s hawk-hunting season in San Juan, causing Sister Bertrille, and later, a hawk, to get shot at. So the Sister has to care for the two eggs left in the dead Hawk’s wake. There’s a man who sees Bertrille flying and talking to her eggs and mistakes her for an alien invader. Heh. His wife thinks he’s an idiot. Because why would something that looks like a Nun fly and talk to eggs? “You won’t laugh when those eggs hatch and we find ourselves surrounded by Nun-like creatures from outer space!” Meanwhile Carlos is dodging a fiancée who didn’t realize he’s never serious about engagements, but also happens to be an Olympic level sharpshooter. It seems we have quite the farce on our hands.
The eggs hatch and the birds are granted sanctuary by the skeptical Reverend Mother. Meanwhile the shotgun-wielding jilted fiancée makes her way to the Convent to find Carlos, who is now living there as the gardener to avoid her wrath and teaching the children how to gamble. Classic. Captain Fomento brings the alien-suspecting Americans to the Convent as well. FARCE! The Olympian is engaged to someone else, and wants to give him a shotgun he once admired as a gift. Carlos runs away, dressed as a Nun, while the idiotic Captain Fomento stands by and yells. The alien-suspecting dimwit, in turn, believes he is being chased by the aliens, as Carlos makes his getaway behind him. This is an episode full of stupid people, which is necessary for a farce, but still. The hawks get a new home, at a zoo. “Please, do not ask me where they came from. Because if you ask me I will tell you, and if I tell people then we will both have a nervous breakdown. And if that happens? Who will run the Zoo?”
Episode Rating – 7.5 Sally Fields

The Flying Nun, 2.9: “All Alone By The Convent Phone”
This episode has a fun beginning, with white words on the screen: “Do not adjust the audio on your television set. There is nobody at the Convent to make noise. Everyone is at a charity event. Well, almost everyone.” Our beloved Sister Bertrille is alone at the Convent with a sick child. And the radio claims an escaped convict is on the loose. Ooooh. What a great premise. We mostly spend our time alone with the Sister and her inner narration. Then she goes for a flight. And then… sigh. Captain Fomento shows up. One could say that characters like David Spade in Rules of Engagement or the entire casts of The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, and Entourage put together are the worst in sitcom history. One would be me and I would say that. But I also hate Captain Fomento. When he shows up and wanders around, you know a misunderstanding will be afoot. When she returns she finds his cigarettes and assumes the convict is loose. Fomento claims this convict is armed like an army regiment, yet he believes that he, the world’s most incompetent and unlikeable man, could capture him.
Of course as soon as he leaves, our criminal arrives, and, tipped off by the radio, shaves his mustache. So Bertrille suspects nothing and insists he stay so she feels safe. She actually convinces him it would be wise to hide out there. They cast the right guy, he seems very quietly menacing. When the sick boy wakes up, the robber is frightened and reveals himself to the Sister. Soon the world’s biggest idiot returns. Our robber disguises himself as the Mother General, giving us two “Men disguised as Nuns farces” in a row. Even when this thundering dumbass is being held gunpoint by the “Mother General” he decides to read him his rights and refuse to walk. I despise this man. He also chooses to be a hero and stand up for himself purely because he’s sick of his mundane life. Bertrille gets hit by a sudden gust of wind and flies behind him as Fomento says “You will know the true meaning of police brutality.” Dear God. And he gets interviewed as a hero. A good episode has been ruined by a relentlessly unlikeable character. Thankfully he shows his true cowardice at the end and faints when he finally considers the danger he put himself in.
Episode Rating – 2.7 Sally Fields

The Flying Nun, 2.10: “It’s An Ill Windfall”
At the start of the episode, the Convent is gifted a $5,000 check from a man named Juan Hernando. The question is, how will things go wrong? The answer is they have to deposit the check at the bank, and it’s incredibly windy in San Juan today. The check is blown into a bird’s nest, where Bertrille yells at a thieving bird “You can’t even cash that! It’s non-endorsable! Give that back, you embezzler!” Now plot-wise, I should mention the check lands in a fireplace and the signature gets burnt off, leading the Nuns to seek out several Juan Hernando’s on the island. But I’ll also mention that you can see the string the check is connected to as it flies through the air. Heh heh heh. Of course there’s a misunderstanding and they find a Juan Hernando who ran for Mayor and hit bankruptcy and now thinks he’ll be paid. The discussion with Hernando at his campaign speech confuses the Nuns and the charlatan politician, just as the actual Juan Hernando arrives to sign the actual check, and the Reverend Mother is confused by the Bishop into believing she should refuse the money of the real Juan. What a bummer. And even though the misunderstanding is quickly cleared up, the Reverend Mother’s words convince the real Juan that his money also was procured using ill-gotten gains, and negotiate their check down from $5,000 to $100.
The episode ends with Mayoral crook “Honest Juan Hernando” telling his constituents that he will not in fact be able to abolish all taxes, build a highway, and a giant stadium in their small town with 260 donkeys. Funny, I guess. This season has been more focused so far and less scatter-shot weird in terms of episode plots but this one was a bit of a dud.
Episode Rating – 5.8 Sally Fields