Chicago

I was just wondering - do you think Radames Pera posed for that portrait we see of John at the boarding house? I heard he happened to show up on the set while they were filming this episode. Or maybe it was just drawn by an artist who knew how to make him look a little older than he did when he was on the show (subtle changes in skin tone, facial muscles just a fraction longer, etc..).

Good way to subtly introduce that kid who would play the role of a "Father Murphy" orphan in Season 2. He was cool.

It was a sad but great episode. The bad thing of it was that John Jr. was murdered. I don't think it was a great idea to end with his life this way...

Vanesa.

Yeah..It is a very sad one.....

I wish John Jnr. was in a few more episodes..

I liked the whole Sanderson bunch. That was a good way to bring a couple of orphans on the scene. Patricia Neal was awesome in Remember Me. John was a good first beau for Mary, although that didn't work out. I wish too John had been able to complete his dreams as a writer. OR at least have something published that he had written.
I also wish they had more storyline written for Carl. Brian Part was wonderful in this character.
I never liked how Isaiah and Grace broke up. They found each other later in life , had a family waiting for them so I just fill they should have been past all the drinking etc.
Mr. Edwards had already lost his first wife and daughter, so this was his second chance. Guess I just always want a happy ending....

Gin wrote:

I liked the whole Sanderson bunch. That was a good way to bring a couple of orphans on the scene. Patricia Neal was awesome in Remember Me. John was a good first beau for Mary, although that didn't work out. I wish too John had been able to complete his dreams as a writer. OR at least have something published that he had written.
I also wish they had more storyline written for Carl. Brian Part was wonderful in this character.
I never liked how Isaiah and Grace broke up. They found each other later in life , had a family waiting for them so I just fill they should have been past all the drinking etc.
Mr. Edwards had already lost his first wife and daughter, so this was his second chance. Guess I just always want a happy ending....

I agree

Was there an episode where he and Grace broke up? I don't remember it

They had Mr. Edwards drink again after John dies and Grace (played by a different person later) didn't understand and had enough. They had her meet and marry a man pretty quickly after he went back to Walnut Grove it seemed. So sad his character lost a wife and child to disease, he met Grace, they adopted 3 children and they had them break up and then he meets "Jane" and it can't work out with her and Matthew, the mute boy, goes back with his Dad. A lot of heartache for one person.

One thing I will also remember about Victor French and Matthew, is that speech Edwards gave in Church when they were going to send Matthew back to the orphanage. In my opinion, that was one of Victor French's finest acting performances. It blew me away! I know its off subject, but when you mentioned Matthew above, it brought back that memory.

I hated to see Radames get killed off. I always thought he was a pretty good actor, and had some great moments with Mary and Isaiah.

I did too...in an interview he said he was shocked he was to be killed also, but ratings were ratings. It was bad enough he had to cheat on Mary, but I thought he could have been attacked or whatever but lived. He had some good scenes with Victor French who is a wonderful character actor. I loved him in Highway to Heaven later also.
I don't believe his character meant to hurt Mary but he was in a different world, growing up more and his love of books, etc. would never have taken him back to Walnut Grove.

In some way, this episode could almost be seen as a way of redeeming John Jr. for the way he treated Mary. He was tracking down a story, hoping to expose evil men when he was killed. That makes him sympathetic to the viewer and not such a cad.

I wonder how much MSA's supposed dislike for Radames played into what they ended up doing with his character. Would things have been different if the actors had gotten along? Would Mary and John Jr. have ended up married? That would have meant no Adam, which would have made me sad.

Hmmm you make me think Cheryl. I believe the writers had this one right. Mary really did go blind and she did go to college. SO, they needed a reason to write more into her story other than just adjusting to her disability and learning how to take care of herself again. Meeting Adam worked and we all know Mary wanted to be a teacher. I just don't think Melissa and Radames had the chemistry at all on camera, and it showed.
Although, in the episode where they are engaged Melissa's tearful speech to Mr. Edwards in the field was A+.

Radames was a good actor, but in this role he just couldn't really go anywhere but to college.

bethandmanly wrote:

In some way, this episode could almost be seen as a way of redeeming John Jr. for the way he treated Mary. He was tracking down a story, hoping to expose evil men when he was killed. That makes him sympathetic to the viewer and not such a cad.

I wonder how much MSA's supposed dislike for Radames played into what they ended up doing with his character. Would things have been different if the actors had gotten along? Would Mary and John Jr. have ended up married? That would have meant no Adam, which would have made me sad.

Radames blamed it on the fact that Victor French irritated Michael when he took another acting part without telling him. You never know........

Davetucson wrote:

bethandmanly wrote:

In some way, this episode could almost be seen as a way of redeeming John Jr. for the way he treated Mary. He was tracking down a story, hoping to expose evil men when he was killed. That makes him sympathetic to the viewer and not such a cad.

I wonder how much MSA's supposed dislike for Radames played into what they ended up doing with his character. Would things have been different if the actors had gotten along? Would Mary and John Jr. have ended up married? That would have meant no Adam, which would have made me sad.

Radames blamed it on the fact that Victor French irritated Michael when he took another acting part without telling him. You never know........

Yes, I remember that. I still think they could have worked around it if they were interested in keeping the John Jr./Mary storyline. John was almost an adult. Gin could be right, that they were moving Mary in a different direction and John Jr. just didn't fit into that mold.

Guest wrote:

I was just wondering - do you think Radames Pera posed for that portrait we see of John at the boarding house? I heard he happened to show up on the set while they were filming this episode. Or maybe it was just drawn by an artist who knew how to make him look a little older than he did when he was on the show (subtle changes in skin tone, facial muscles just a fraction longer, etc..).

I doubt very much he showed up on the set. He had returned to New York to attend acting classes in 1979. He was there for three years. Proved to be one of the biggest mistakes of his career. When he returned, had great difficulty getting parts and eventually left acting.

Yes, I was reading that in an interview. You never know really what to do. He wasn't a seasoned actor, had limited time on Little House but he should have stayed in California for contacts.
It's too bad a supposed quarrel with Victor French had repercussions with his TV family, but that's show-biz. They were good friends otherwise.

Well, at least his Mother was still left to do one episode in 1978.

I don't even know if I ever watched this one all the way through before. Well, watched it tonight, but it was recorded from COZI-TV so I know I must have missed some things. I didn't really like this episode. I hate seeing Mr. Edwards drink so much to drown his pain, especially knowing what that is going to lead to later on. And I also hated all the rainy scenes. The sound effects for the rain were so loud that I had a hard time hearing clearly what was being said.

That said, I never really understood why Mr. Edwards and Charles would be thinking that this was anything more than an accident, until of course much later on. They themselves nearly got run over one time in the daylight, so I felt if I had been there, I would have just accepted it as an accident. It really didn't even come out that it was anything other than an accident except for them just "happening" to see John, Jr.'s watch at the pawn shop and then finding the boy who sold the watch.

I was actually kind of suspicious of the newspaperman, as it seemed he went way above and beyond in paying for everything. But I guess he was just a nice guy who did really like John. I also think it a bit strange that Charles and Isaiah never went to talk to any of John's college classmates about anything. It's like they knew from the start that John's death was not just an accident and that it had something to do with the newspaper.

There was a lot going on in this episode and it was a sad one to watch. I hated to find out the way John Jr. really died, I don't think it was fair to his character to write him off in such a violent way. At the same time, he would have had a hard time redeeming himself for me after the way things ended between him and Mary in season 4. I wish Mary had still been a regular part of the show at this point, because it would have been interesting to see her reaction to the news of John Jr.'s passing.

I wish Mary had been a regular part of the show up through the ending of it. I wish the blind school had stayed in Walnut Grove. I think there could have been a lot more interesting story lines involving Mary and Adam, students at the blind school, Hester Sue, etc. Also would have been interesting to see more interaction between Laura and Mary as more adult women. I think they should not have had Adam regain his sight. I think that was kind of hokey and somewhat unbelievable, especially the way it happened.

While I don't like the way that John, Jr. and Mary split up (because of his behavior), I am glad that Mary ended up with Adam. But they didn't have to kill John, Jr. off. And yes, it would have been interesting to see Mary's reaction. Even though he did her wrong, I am sure she would not have wished that kind of death upon him.