Airdate: 2/9/78
Verdie Wilson,
having just lost her father, is starting to feel “adrift” when she can’t trace
her family history beyond her parents. Enlisting Jason’s help, she does some
detective work to discover her genealogy, despite her husband’s warnings that
the further back she goes, the uglier it could get. She discovers that her
grandfather was born a slave on the plantation currently owned by a bitter,
possessive old woman. When Zeb talks some sense into her, she allows Jason and
Verdie access to her attic, where they discover color sketches of the entire
antebellum family, including Verdie’s grandfather, as a baby, and his father,
wearing the African talisman that incited Verdie’s curiosity in the first
place.
Another Verdie Wilson-centered episode is clearly inspired by the Roots phenomenon of the previous year (complete with finale in
which Verdie vows to “cross the ocean” to find even deeper roots). Given the
changing roles of African-Americans and the topic of race on television, some
of the material seems a bit dated (including he most awkward scene: a
discussion between Jason and Verdie in which they speculate that in previous
times, he could buy and sell her), but props to the show for even entertaining
the subject matter for the third time this season.
Speaking of
contemporary issues: Elizabeth lies about her age in a pen-pal correspondence
with a soldier stationed at Fort Lee, and even sends him Erin’s picture. When
the soldier arrives, it’s all for the best as the family invites him to a
sit-down supper just like he had before being deployed, but this subplot has
haunting current-day parallels given the number of tragedies resulting from
identity lies in chat room, text and email conversations. Who knew then the way
this episode could take on a totally different tenor in 2012?
PS: This is on
the Waltons Wki by anonymous:
I was intrigued to read that Lynn
Hamilton actually visited her ancestral home of Africa some time ago, to try to
understand just how her family had come to America and the conditions that they
endured when they were first taken as slaves to the Slave Castle.
(Lynn Hamilton
plays Verdie Wilson.) If true, this is true devotion to a role!
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