Just saw Grandma Comes Home. Not sure if I've seen it between today and when it first aired. My memory did not do it justice. It was better than I remembered—by a lot.
The main plot is about, just what the title says. After many months in the hospital after having a stroke, Grandma Walton (Ellen Corby returned to the series many months after having a real-life stroke). The producers and writers did a great job of providing some happy homecoming scenes for her, without letting it drag so much the viewers were saying, "Come on, let's move ahead with the show!" Grandma has almost no speech after her stroke, but she can write in a journal she keeps. She keeps trying to do some little things to be useful, but every time she does, someone else steps in to "help." Everyone keeps helpfully leading her to her rocking chair on the porch so she can sit and rest.
Her frustration is shown to the viewers, but not to her family. She smiles and looks happy and is in no way ignored. Mary Ellen brings John Curtis out to see her, and Ben lets her hold his baby nephew. The smiles on Grandma's face here, holding her great-grandchild, were a joyful moment for the series. That one didn't make me cry, but a couple of other scenes did.
Zeb is the worst at not letting her do anything, trying so hard to help her. She shows so much patience with him that he begins to realize something is wrong. He finally figures it out, and takes steps to correct it, letting her do some things for herself.
The minor plot dealt with Elizabeth's 4-H project, raising a small pig given to her by a classmate. The pig keeps running back home. The classmate is a boy who is clearly interested in Elizabeth, but she is not thinking of him in that way because he is heavyset. It's easy to ignore the lesser plot on this series, but many times these are just as good as the main plots, even if they aren't nearly as heavy in the subject matter. Such is the case here. I thought Kenny Marquis, who played the young boy, Clarence, did a very fine job.
But the joy for fans of the series in seeing a main character return after so long away, and seeing some humorous and serious scenes with her were truly the key to this heart-warming episode.
I would say most people who cared about the characters on this series would find this to be one of its most memorable and best episodes.
The main plot is about, just what the title says. After many months in the hospital after having a stroke, Grandma Walton (Ellen Corby returned to the series many months after having a real-life stroke). The producers and writers did a great job of providing some happy homecoming scenes for her, without letting it drag so much the viewers were saying, "Come on, let's move ahead with the show!" Grandma has almost no speech after her stroke, but she can write in a journal she keeps. She keeps trying to do some little things to be useful, but every time she does, someone else steps in to "help." Everyone keeps helpfully leading her to her rocking chair on the porch so she can sit and rest.
Her frustration is shown to the viewers, but not to her family. She smiles and looks happy and is in no way ignored. Mary Ellen brings John Curtis out to see her, and Ben lets her hold his baby nephew. The smiles on Grandma's face here, holding her great-grandchild, were a joyful moment for the series. That one didn't make me cry, but a couple of other scenes did.
Zeb is the worst at not letting her do anything, trying so hard to help her. She shows so much patience with him that he begins to realize something is wrong. He finally figures it out, and takes steps to correct it, letting her do some things for herself.
The minor plot dealt with Elizabeth's 4-H project, raising a small pig given to her by a classmate. The pig keeps running back home. The classmate is a boy who is clearly interested in Elizabeth, but she is not thinking of him in that way because he is heavyset. It's easy to ignore the lesser plot on this series, but many times these are just as good as the main plots, even if they aren't nearly as heavy in the subject matter. Such is the case here. I thought Kenny Marquis, who played the young boy, Clarence, did a very fine job.
But the joy for fans of the series in seeing a main character return after so long away, and seeing some humorous and serious scenes with her were truly the key to this heart-warming episode.
I would say most people who cared about the characters on this series would find this to be one of its most memorable and best episodes.
