Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Waltons 8.18: “The Inspiration”


Airdate: 1/31/80

Mamie Badwin is dropping antiques, misidentified Jason Walton and now she’s f***ed up the recipe! A doctor diagnoses that she has cataracts, and will go blind without an operation. She’s entirely against the idea, as she had vowed never to undergo surgery as that’s how father died. John is brought in to change her mind, but he realizes bigger guns are needed – in the form of grandma. Ellen Corby returns in a guest spot as the only one stubborner than Mamie, and it works: both Baldwins realize that surgery is for the best, as father would have wanted the sisters to look after each other. Subplot: Elizabeth carries a torch for a boy in class, even creating a system to get him to go out with her. After that fails, he goes to the dance with another guy, Drew Cutler, who would become a featured player on the show.


Grandma returns from visiting relatives in Buckingham County for a good reason – Mamie is an MVP, if for no other reason than she’s one of two people who can make the recipe. This is sort of a standard Waltons health-crisis episode, and the drama comes from her refusal to have sight-preserving surgery. Not bad, but a few too many corny, clichéd scenes, including one in which Grandma tricks Emily into playing Blindman’s Bluff – to show her what it’s like being blind.

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