Why do all of the Walton family's faults turn out to be virtues under the pen of Earl Hamner Jr? The lesson of this story, summed up by the voice-over of writer Hamner (played by John-Boy) at the end, is that he and the family were just too generous for their own good. (Except for Grandpa Walton, apparently the only one with the sense he was born with. You would never know the others in the family were scratching for survival during the Great Depression the way they give away their last dime to a total stranger.) I waited for years for the Walton family to show a single serious character flaw. Now in a matter of two or three episodes there has been John-Boy not owning up to the family that he burnt the house down with the pipe he left lit -- and instead is consoled by Grandpa; and his responsibiiity here of bringing this thieving -- but very appealing -- waif into the family home. John-Boy and the rest of the family write it all off to experience (in contrast to how they treated their old friend Clancy for innocent misdeeds) and John-Boy bathes in the glow of being helplessly virtuous as a "big brother" to all and sundry forever.
Review of The Big Brother
