You Only Hurt the One You Love

You Only Hurt the One You Love is the 18th episode and Season 3 of The Cosby Show, also the 67th overall episode in the series.

The episode was directed by Jay Sandrich and written by John Markus and Carmen Finestra.

It originally aired in the United States on NBC on February 19, 1987. Rita Moreno guest-starred in this episode as Mrs. Granger.

Plot Summary

Rudy gets injured by Theo while playing; Cliff learns that his favorite employee is being laid off at the hospital.

Trivia

• Sabrina Le Beauf does not appear in this episode.
• Starting in this episode, Phylicia Rashad returns as a full-time cast member after giving birth to her daughter Condola.
• Mrs. Granger tells Cliff that her husband's name is Ennis which also the name of Bill Cosby's late son.

Quotes

[Rudy has hurt herself badly during play and Cliff wants to examine her]

Rudy: [crying] I want to see a doctor.

Cliff: I am a doctor.

Rudy: [still crying] No, you're not! You're Daddy.

Clair: [about Rudy's injury] Cliff, now this is serious. We have to call a doctor.

Mrs. Granger (to Cliff): I asked my grandson what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said a grandma. I asked him why a grandma? He said, "Because grandmas always give you presents."

Cliff: So did you give him one?

Mrs. Granger: Yeah, I love what he has to say about grandmas.

Cliff: What's he say about grandpas?

Mrs. Granger: Nothing, he never knew his.

Cliff: Oh I'm sorry.

Mrs. Granger: I'm not. He's not missing anything. I got married when I was 16.

Cliff: Sixteen? That I didn't know.

Mrs. Granger: Yeah, I was pregnant and that you didn't know. It took me 5 months to tell my father. When I did, the next day, he marched us up to the Justice of the Peace and we were married. On the night of our first anniversary, he said, "I'm going to the store for a pack of cigarettes, I'll be back soon." Well, there must've been a long line at that store because he never came back.

Cliff: Oh, no.

Mrs. Granger: Yeah. For three days, my father and I looked for that boy. Then I finally said to myself, "What am I killing myself for?" But you know what, it's true what they say, it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

Clair: Theo, since you enjoy playing circus so much, you can be part of one: the Huxtable circus. This is the big top and you get to clean the big top from top to bottom, stating with those windows. Then you can do the floors.

Cliff: Look at it this way, son. Here, no elephants.

Mrs. Granger (to Cliff): My daughter said to me, "Ma, since you worked to put me through college, now that you're retiring, how about if I pay for you to go?" Can you imagine that? Me going to college?

Cliff: Yes.

Mrs. Granger: Come on. Can you see me bopping around a college campus?

Cliff: Yes.

Mrs. Granger: And sitting in class with my grandson on my back, giving him homemade cookies?

Cliff: It would be beautiful.

Mrs. Granger: Yeah, I can see that happening.