Airdate: 9/30/76
John-Boy wants
to do a story for his paper on Dr. Vance, the local doctor who says he needs to
leave Waltons Mountain for a big city, where he’s paid with money and not
chickens, eggs and roof shingles. Meanwhile, Grandma becomes gravely ill with
stomach pains, which aspiring nurse Mary Ellen diagnoses as stomach flu. When
it turns out to be appendicitis, which escalates to peritonitis and now
requires surgery, Mary Ellen is now wracked with guilt and feels that she has
failed in her profession. Grandma pulls through and asks Mary Ellen’s
forgiveness in putting too much pressure on her nascent yet still untrained
nursing skills, Dr. Vance decides to stay, and Erin saves the day by summoning
Sheriff Bridges on her first day as a telephone operator.
Another tearjerker
that goes beyond the standard-issue illness formula with the Mary-Ellen plot
arm. Both she and Grandpa have uber-emotional scenes toward the end, but I
resented Dr. Vance’s tongue lashing at her for her misdiagnosis; after all, he
was MIA and Mary Ellen had to do something! Boo, Dr. Vance – I was actually
hoping you’d leave Walton’s Mountain and make room for someone with a better
bedside manner (and a less-grousy wife).
1 comment:
Is it too late to interact with Chris Collins?
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