Waltons 9.5: “The Premonition”

Airdate: 12/25/80

John-Boy falls in love with Simone, a beautiful French woman, while in Paris after the German surrender. She coaxes him to write an article about the lingering threat of unexploded land mines in France, an in so doing, causes Jason’s squad to be retained in Europe for bomb-squad duty. John-Boy’s plans to stay in Paris, however, get changed when he decides to return home to Virginia after hearing that his brother Ben had been captured by the Japanese as a prisoner of war, something Cindy had premonitions about.

Another sturdy war-based set of stories – clearly the onus is on the scriptwritersto come up with story ideas after the war is half-over, but the concept of alerting the press about land mines is a unique and credible one, and creates a nail-biter of a moment when John-Boy must diffuse one (that turns out to be a dummy – both he and the mine).  Anita Jodelson is both ravishing and winsome as Chloe, and any couple that will “always have Paris” must be ill-fated, right?

At the end of this episode, Ben is still a Japanese POW, and Robert Wightman is a home and appears to be a fixated cast member as John-Boy now.

Was this really broadcast Christmas Day? Not so apropos.