"SOLDIER'S RETURN"

The son of Mrs. Whipple returns to Walnut Grove after serving in the Civil War. To forget his painful past, he takes morphine. His addiction to this eventually ends up killing him.



This was an interesting episode. Mrs. Whipple is so sweet... it was sad to see how her son's problem affected her... she wanted so much to help him.

I can't watch this episode. Seeing him by the tree towards the end and knowing he's dead is just too disturbing. A good message, just hard to watch.

I don't remember Granville grabbing Roy, Jr. by the arms like that. Could it be that TBS deleted a scene to make room for the commercials ? No, they would never do that (hah hah!).

I Don't like this Episode Very Much

I do like it. But it is so sad that it hurst me every time I watch it. Miss Whipple is a so lovely old lady that it makes me sad to see her to lost her only son.

Vanesa.

JW wrote:

I Don't like this Episode Very Much

JW- I've noticed you've made general comments like this about a couple episodes. Can you try to explain why you feel a certain way about a particular episode? What did you like or not like about it?

I liked it that they gave Mrs. Whipple a slightly different role in this episode. It was nice learning more about her.

I never look forward to watching this episode as it's not all that uplifting.

Pa: "What are you learning about in history?"
Laura: "The same thing: dead people."

I had to laugh when Charles and Grenville are playing the violin and banjo. Charles is holding the violin *so* low. That would make it difficult to play!
I'm also amused that when the cameras zoom out that Charles's violin mysteriously has moved up a great deal!

I never did think ML's fiddle "playing" was convincing.

Lori wrote:

I never did think ML's fiddle "playing" was convincing.

Me neither, but Isaiah's harmonica playing wasn't much better. You know who did look convincing was Doc Baker on his accordian.

Hahaha....Yes! It's noticeable that Michael Landon doesn't play the fiddle in real life. It's just the same for Isaiah...

But Doc Baker looks very believable in his accordion performance. Could he play it in real life?

Vanesa.

Holding the fiddle way low is a Cajun thing......if you ever see any Cajun entertainers, you will see them holding it low....almost to their stomachs.......
Watch Doug Kershaw singing "Diggy Liggy Lo"

Rhonda wrote:

Holding the fiddle way low is a Cajun thing......if you ever see any Cajun entertainers, you will see them holding it low....almost to their stomachs.......
Watch Doug Kershaw singing "Diggy Liggy Lo"

Yeah. but Charles was suposed to be a real "Yankee", so he couldn't play the fiddle in the Cajun way...

P.S: Love "Diggy, Liggy Lo"

Vanesa.

It is hard to say that this is an episode that I really like, but in a way I do really like it. By that I mean that it is a very moving episode (I was crying at the end) and a very powerful episode, but because it is so heavy it is not one that I think we necessarily should really "like" - I think it is one that we should be touched by, though, and for me it really does that. In my opinion, this is a much better episode about drug addiction than Albert's morphine addiction. It is about so much more than just Granville's drug addiction. And it is really a surprising episode for a LHOTP episode, to me. It seemed that once Granville admitted his cowardice to Mrs. Whipple that everything really would turn out okay, he would go and talk about everything with Roy, Jr. and his ma, he would beat the morphine addiction, etc. So it is shocking to find out what happened to him, but I think that makes the point so much better than if everything just turned out all rosy. I really love Granville's funeral, too, with Revd. Alden commenting that Granville was searching for God's peace all these years, etc. It is just so sad that he could not find that peace.

I re-watched this episode this afternoon. I also think it is supposed to be a story about the Vietnam veterans in the USA in the 1970's and not just about a Civil War veteran. I guess it can apply to anyone who has been involved in a war. So sad but really an excellent episode.

amyk wrote:

I re-watched this episode this afternoon. I also think it is supposed to be a story about the Vietnam veterans in the USA in the 1970's and not just about a Civil War veteran. I guess it can apply to anyone who has been involved in a war. So sad but really an excellent episode.

You've made the point. I think that Michael Landon thought of all people who is involved in a war. This was my fist idea about this episode when I watched it for the first time.

Vanesa.

I also liked that Mrs. Whipple got a big part in this episode. She was such a cute little old lady and I thought she was a good actress, too. It would have been nice to see her under happier circumstances in a later episode.

This was ok, episode. I didn't know, the guy from Empty Nest was guest on LOTHP.

Ya,That's him. It was a good esp to do.It's just not one you can watch over and over again ya know.

I've never been able to watch this episode all the way through, too scary and a little depressing. For some reason I can watch Home Again but not this one, probably because Albert lives and I know Granville Whipple doesn't in this episode.

littlehousefan200 wrote:

I've never been able to watch this episode all the way through, too scary and a little depressing. For some reason I can watch Home Again but not this one, probably because Albert lives and I know Granville Whipple doesn't in this episode.

yes,It's very depressing.

But I actually feel like this one affects me more than HOME AGAIN and really shows a big reality about drug abuse and how it is not always so easy to just "kick the habit". I really think this is a powerful episode and I therefore really like it even if it may be depressing.

Not my favorite episode....but the addiction after Civil Wartime was true. Very sad