"SOLDIER'S RETURN"

I liked how it showed addiction to drugs, even those given for pain, was a problem back then as it is now. War is always a sad thing and this show had different subjects to ponder on the results of those wars.

That war was particularly horrible. I read last month that they recently revised the death toll of the Civil War to 750,000. I lived in Richmond, Va. and right down the road from me was Chancellorvile. Over 22,000 killed or wounded in ONE battle.....unreal!

Don't care much for this episode. It's creepy when they show Granville laying there dead.

Real life stuff!

I'd much rather see Granville showing the effects of war and drugs than a masked man chasing a girl around the prairie to rape her. That was more creepy to me.
I think in some ways shows like this educate, if you research it, many soldiers went through what Granville did and there weren't the rehabs and help we have now. It was a lonely pain, sad and although I hated seeing his mother have more hurt, it wouldn't have been as realistic if he just got better.
I was surprised how morphine was abused back then but I suppose I shouldn't have been.

The drug abuse continues today. That's all they had back then and it was extremely addictve. Sad.....Very sad

littlehouselover wrote:

I'd much rather see Granville showing the effects of war and drugs than a masked man chasing a girl around the prairie to rape her. That was more creepy to me.
I think in some ways shows like this educate, if you research it, many soldiers went through what Granville did and there weren't the rehabs and help we have now. It was a lonely pain, sad and although I hated seeing his mother have more hurt, it wouldn't have been as realistic if he just got better.
I was surprised how morphine was abused back then but I suppose I shouldn't have been.

I don't watch the episode Sylvia that much. Very creepy episode. That poor girl getting raped and her father not showing any sympathy. Sad that Granville and later Albert became addicted to morphine. Albert was lucky to have survived his addiction. Poor Mrs.Whipple loosing her son in a tragic way.

Davetucson wrote:

The drug abuse continues today. That's all they had back then and it was extremely addictve. Sad.....Very sad    

I agree,Dave. It is very sad.

This was a good episode, although I didn't care for the last half or so when Granville took a quick turn for the worse. It was just too dark of an ending for my liking. But I thought that the first part was great... When Granville comes home and is all happy... Mrs. Whipple was so happy that he finally came home. It is too bad it had to end so quickly in his death. I am sure that they wanted the story to convey a very strong anti drug addiction message.

I love the scene where Granville and Mrs. Whipple are over at the Ingalls house for dinner. Where Pa is playing the fiddle, and Granville is playing the banjo (I think?). That was a great scene with the girls having a great time as well.

The scene when Laura has history homework was really funny... Pa tells her that she has history homework to finish, and Laura quickly points out that Mary is using the book... Mary then closes the book and tells her that she is all finished. Then Laura sighs and says under her breath "Thanks Mary." Then Pa asks her what she is studying in history right now. Laura replies "Same old thing.. dead people." Then Mary and Pa laugh!  

I also loved the scene when Mrs. Oleson is having Nellie and Willie practice playing their music as Granville is coming into the store.... their playing sounded terrible!!! Willie's trumpet playing sounded like the lake kezia monster from season 5. After that Willie comments that he "didn't want to play this dumb old horn anyway!"

Michael approached the subject of drug addiction many times. Soldiers Return, Child Of Pain, Promise To Keep and of course Home Again. And he continued to do it in a subtle manner throughout the series. It was obvious that the character Charles Ingalls despised alcohol and everything that was connected with it such as saloons and gambling........Many times he was offered a drink and flatly turned it down....That was the one constant that never changed. Except for a taste of wine in a few episodes.

It always surprised me that he had a sip of cider in "The Richest Man In Walnut Grove" very early on in Season 1. The one thing he did do was approached the subject with understanding and compassion.

bethandmanly wrote:

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.

Doc. Baker plays the accordian? Which episode is that?

I didn't like this episode very much because of the ending. It was pretty good at the start. I liked the part where Granville and Charles were both playing their instruments. Everyone was really happy at that point.

Laura (Half Pint) wrote:

bethandmanly wrote:

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.

Doc. Baker plays the accordian? Which episode is that?

Times Are Changing Part 1 - Season 9 - Episode 1

He looks really funny in that picture! Look at his face!

In a very sad or bittersweet way, I do really like this episode. It is so powerful. It seemed like Granville was going to be able to turn the corner, come clean with the truth to Roy's family, and maybe even get help for the morphine addiction. But sadly (and perhaps a bit more realistically), that was not to be. I think Rev. Alden's words are so sweet (but sad) at the funeral, when he talks about Granville searching for peace and how the soldier has come home and asking God to welcome him into his arms.

I watched this one tonight on COZI-TV, and because they cut out a lot, maybe they cut this part out.....I was thinking in my head from earlier viewing of this episode that we saw Granville had shot himself, but in what I just watched, all we saw was that he was sort of under a tree with morphine packets around him. So did he fall off his horse under the influence of the morphine and die that way, did he overdose, or did he kill himself in some way with a gun? Maybe I'll find the answer as I look back at previous posts.

It was sad to see Granville struggle so much. I think if more people had known what he was going through, such as Charles, they would have wanted to help him in any way they could. Just a season earlier, Charles helped the father overcome his addictions in "Child of Pain" and I think he would have been right there to do the same thing for Granville.

On a lighter note, Mrs. Oleson showed how devoted but also oblivious to her children she was when she thought they both had great musical talent. They were terrible! But being her typical self, Harriet could not see the obvious faults in her spoiled children.

Your comments about Charles made me realize that he was an "overcoming addiction expert" in his time - both with the man in CHILD OF PAIN and then again with Albert in the morphine episode! Anyone with an addiction they wanted to overcome should just have gone to Charles for help.

Someone else surely noticed this, Granville wasn’t easily resting under that tree, he was actually under that tree. It honestly looked like the tree fell on him, the wind was blowing because it blew the morphine from Charles hands. He had dirt and leaves on his body, and only left home an hour or two before he was found OD’D. I’m confused, did he burrow himself in so he’d be hidden? Or did he stop for a hit of the powder and a tree fell on him? I remember thinking it was weird even when I was younger watching it the first time. My mom and I even discussed it. I don’t remember much anymore but I remember my little house!

I read someone's comment on another website wondering if perhaps he had hung himself? If so, then did the branch fall down? I don't know, but I also do feel like I remember that it seemed he was sort of under a tree branch or log. This is not one that I see that much (and probably not one that I want to just watch in passing, but only if I can really concentrate on it, since it is so heavy). I don't feel like it is one that is talked about a lot. I listen a lot to "WalnutGrove Cast" and I don't even know if they have done a show on this one. Maybe I'll try to find it on there if they have. Perhaps they will enlighten us on the ending.

Someone answering a question about the ending of this episode on a Reddit website had the impression that Granville had sort of buried himself under that tree log and leaves, and that it was related to him doing the same thing when he had hidden himself when his friend got killed in the war. I don't remember the flashback to the war scene well enough, but apparently he also had told his mother that he had buried himself in leaves to hide.

That theory seems plausible to me. Maybe we are supposed to be left wondering without any real closure.

That seems plausible Amy, sorta putting himself in the mindset of when he spiritually died I guess. There’s no doubt he would of been suffering, but back then you didn’t go to someone with PTSD and get help, you put it all behind you like he tried to do and get on with life. I believe just knowing the guys son was alive and a constant reminder was more than he could handle.

It is really a very sobering episode. I think sometimes people think only more modern movies and TV shows deal with such heavy topics, but I think Little House (among others) did a very good job at tackling difficult issues. It is not like you can really wrap everything up about suicide in a one-hour TV show but I think they handled this pretty well.

While this episode is so sad, I'm actually kind of glad Granville did not just kick the morphine habit, confess his guilt, and then everything was hunky-dory. I think real life is usually a lot more complicated than that.