S02.E21: Soldier's Return

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

Coming home after 12 years of performing with a busy Philadelphia orchestra, Mrs. Whipple's troubled son, Granville, hopes that the peace of Walnut Grove will help him shake the nightmares and morphine addiction that resulted from an incident during the Civil War Battle of Shiloh.

[Mr. Sparkle]

This is one of the episodes I remember the best. Scared the crap out of me. 

[Blergh]

23 hours ago, Superclam said:

This is one of the episodes I remember the best. Scared the crap out of me. 

    Same here!

  This was one of the few truly dramatic roles the late Richard Mulligan played and he was outstanding playing this tortured soul!  I thought it was telling that they never showed exactly what fate had befallen Granville (e.g. whether he hung himself in that tree or simply OD'd on morphine).

   Seeing him virtually chase Mary out of the house for asking for music lessons when he was coming down from his latest fix was a bit chilling (and one of the few times I felt genuinely sorry for her).

Of course, this episode raised many questions that never got answered. Such as how or when did his mother Mrs. Whipple settle in Walnut Grove. She lived in a comfortable, well-furnished cottage which makes it likely  that her late husband had been prosperous but evidently was currently cash-poor since she had to take in sewing to earn day-to-day expenses and with virtually all women in Walnut Grove being able sewers this was at best spotty income. It didn't seem Granville had contributed to her support since he seemed to expect her to take care of HIM!  And where did she get the name of Granville from? Was is a family name (perhaps even her own maiden name)?  This was the only episode that went into any detail about the comic background character's life and while she lived  to appear in Season Four, her fate afterwards is a mystery.

   Also,  while the soldier in Granville's unit who died was able to sire the boy before his death since the boy's grandmother was raising him does this mean that the soldier's wife herself died (perhaps  in childbirth)? Of course no word on either fate of these one-shots after he blew the bugle at Granville's funeral.

23 hours ago, Superclam said:

[Mr. Sparkle]

11 minutes ago, Blergh said:

 This was one of the few truly dramatic roles the late Richard Mulligan played and he was outstanding playing this tortured soul! 

I agree. I remember him as goofy on "Soap," but he was really good in this role. 

[Primetimer]

Walnut Grove is not really ready for an intervention.

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[Kerfuffler]

According to Ken Burns' Vietnam documentary, they were aware of PTSD after the Civil War and called it "Soldier's Heart."

[Primetimer]

Walnut Grove is not really ready for an intervention.

View the full article