Airdate: 2/10/77
John-Boy wins a
newspaper contest and the grand prize: an all-expense paid trip to Lakehurst,
NJ, to witness the arrival of a German, hydrogen-fuelled airship named the
Hindenburg (you might have heard of it). John-Boy is uber-excited to go –
everything goes as planned until (spoiler alert) the Hindenburg explodes,
turning euphoria to carnage in mere seconds. When John-Boy returns to Waltons Mountain,
his trauma over witnessing the incident gives him severe writer’s block,
curable only with a woodcutting-induced fulmination of vivid memories… and
emotions.
Side story: Curt
isn’t getting enough alone time with Mary Ellen, until Olivia suggests the ol’
geranium trick (oh come on, you know it).
A rare
intersection of story and history here as John-Boy plays Forrest Gump and sees
history in the making – or at least stock footage of it. In fact, these scenes
are nearly undone by how obvious it
is that the actors are merely reacting to rear-projected newsreel footage. Now
I know the Waltons crew had a limited budget, but c’mon, this really is Ed Wood
time. Maybe 70s TV audiences were less media savvy, I don’t know.
Cheap effects
aside, some good acting here, although the slow-motion tree chopping scene was
a bit freaky. Splintered family is now Grandma and Mary Ellen-less. Thank
goodness for holidays!
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