Seems like heathenx must have a video of the in his 85+ videos, but I'm too lazy to page through like 12 pages of his blog to find it

http://screencasters.heathenx.org/

I'm not clear exactly what problem you're having. But a couple of thoughts come to mind.

-- For the smoothest of curves, the node handles should be Smooth and extended (not retracted).
-- If both handles of a node are retracted, then you cannot achieve a smooth curve by dragging the node. Well, not without the use of many, many nodes to achieve the curve.
-- You can achieve a smooth curve with with Cusp or Corner nodes, but the handles need to be positioned just right.
-- On the Node tool's toolbar, there's a button for "Show Bezier handles of selected nodes". Maybe you will find it useful?

I did episode 069. I have always battled with the bezier tool in Inkscape. However the way I do things now has made things significantly easier (for me anyway). Now I simply trace or form an "approximate" shape with the bezier tool in a series of single clicks. Then, I either just click and drag on the line segments between nodes to approximate the curve shape(s) that I need or I highlight all or some of the nodes and hit the curve nodes to smooth out all of the initial sharp corners. I also double-click on the line segment to add nodes on the fly or delete single nodes to obtain the curved shape I want.

I find this method *much* simpler for me than trying to get the shape exactly right as I create the bezier curve node by node.