Airdate: 2/21/80
John Boy gets released from the hospital (assumedly, Olivia
is sticking with her Red Cross job), but memories of the crash, in bits and
pieces, along with an unknown girl’s name, still haunt him. As such his
homecoming is joyful, but tinged with agitation and uncertainty. When he hears
Jason play a particular song, his mind unblocks a vivid link to the past – his
pilot on his ill-fated flight, Stewart, kept him alive by singing, while he
himself died in the ocean – the girl’s name was the name of the plane. And Ike
is arrested for draft evasion when the government misidentifies his age.
Classic psychological blocking device creates suspense here,
but if anything this one shows how irreplaceable Richard Thomas is as John-Boy.
The reunion scenes just don’t feel authentic (and it is reflecting in the other
actors’ performances) – it’s like an understudy stepped in mid-show and expects
business as usual. Robert Wightman has mammoth boots to fill, and it just
doesn’t work, his mole notwithstanding.
Flashback scenes in the water are climactic enough, but
don’t they more than a little resemble those in Ordinary People?
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