Where There's a Will

Where There's a Will is the 74th episode of Gilligan's Island and the sixth episode of the third season. It first aired October 17, 1966.

Synopsis
After waking up sick in bed one morning, Mr. Howell is visited by each of the Castaways on the island wishing him well. To show his gratitude to their concern, he writes everyone into his will and grants everyone their own copies. When he's feeling better after his illness, he's walking in the jungle with Mrs. Howell when an arrow just barely misses him after talking to the Skipper and Gilligan. He starts to suspect they're trying to kill him, especially after falling into a pit covered in palm fronds while chasing after the girls. When he goes searching for the Professor for advice, he narrowly misses getting crushed under a boulder after the Professor disappears on him. It turns out everyone is actually putting together a party to honor him with spare ribs after catching a wild boar, and when Mr. Howell tries to confront them, he overhears them talking about killing the "old boar" and thinks they're talking about him. Packing his things into a suitcase, he flees for the other side of the island, but by now, Mrs. Howell has learned the truth. When she reveals that Mr. Howell has fled to the other side of the island, everyone goes looking for him to bring him back. By now, Mr. Howell has found a quicksand pit and uses it to fake his death, leaving his hat behind. Believing him lost forever, the Skipper has a funeral for Mr. Howell where everyone eulogizes him fondly with genuine grief while ripping up their copies of his will, all the while declaring that none of them can accept his wealth after losing him. Eavesdropping on them, Mr. Howell now realizes how much they all loved him before revealing his location by falling out of the tree. Proven alive, he gets his party after all with Mrs. Howell popping out of the cake.

Message

 * "He who is suspicious of his friends has a tiger by the tail."

Highlights

 * The Castaways praising and announcing their love for Mr. Howell
 * Gilligan talking to Skipper about what he's going to do with his will money.
 * Mr. Howell mistakenly thinking the castaways are plotting against him.
 * The line: "He was like a husband to me!" by Mrs. Howell.

Credits
Main Cast
 * Bob Denver as Gilligan
 * Alan Hale Jr. as The Skipper
 * Jim Backus as Mr. Howell
 * Natalie Schafer as Mrs. Howell
 * Tina Louise as Ginger
 * Dawn Wells as Mary Ann
 * Russell Johnson as The Professor

Guest Cast
 * None

Trivia

 * Mary Ann enters the Howells' Hut with a vase of flowers, but the interior shot must be a different take because the flowers have changed.
 * This episode shows off the Professor's cleverness in inventing - he has made a stethoscope which he uses to diagnose Mr. Howell and a thermometer from the barometer of the S.S. Minnow.
 * This episode uses a shot of the old Season Two version of the Boy's Hut as an exterior shot.
 * Mr. Howell says "And a one-a and a two-a and a three-a," which is a reference to a phrase heard often on the 60s-70s series, "The Lawrence Welk Show," and reused several times on other TV shows and performances, all the way down to the 1964 Christmas Special, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Mrs. Howell also says it in Music Hath Charms.
 * In his will, Mr. Howell leaves Gilligan an oil well; he previously tried scamming Gilligan with the Tehechapuku Oil and Mining Corporation in Three Million Dollars More or Less. As for the other Castaways, he leaves the Skipper forty acres in Denver, Colorado, Ginger a diamond mine, the Professor a railroad and Mary Ann a cotton and sugar plantation.
 * In Agonized Labor, Mrs. Howell claims she doesn't know how to sew, but in this episode, she is doing petite point.
 * Before fleeing for the other side of the island, Mr. Howell can be seen closing his suitcase twice.
 * The Castaways believe Mr. Howell is dead after finding his suitcase in quicksand. The also jump this conclusion in X Marks the Spot and in Slave Girl, both times over Gilligan.
 * Mr. Howell does end up making the Castaways his heirs by giving them shares in the resort he later builds on the Island.
 * Syndicated versions of the episode omit the end with Mrs. Howell popping out of a cake during a party for Mr. Howell.

Quotes
Mr. Howell - "I have?" Mrs. Howell - "Yes, I distinctly remember you saying that you gave your partner the business!"
 * Mrs. Howell - "That's true, dear, but you've always had the spirit of giving."

Mrs. Howell - "No?" Gilligan - "They usually fall in the quicksand."
 * Gilligan - "Mrs. Howell, don't worry about the wild animals."

Gilligan - "It should be... it's six and seven/eighths."
 * Skipper - "Gilligan, are you sure the grave is big enough?"

Mary Ann - "He was like a father to me!" Ginger - "He was like a father to me!" Mr. Howell - "He was like a husband to me!!"
 * Gilligan - "He treated me like a father!"