SPOILER ALERT There's no way to review this episode without revealing a key element. I think viewers of the series know the future episodes well enough that what I reveal will not be a surprise.
It deals with John-Boy –in Richard Thomas's final appearance on the series, not counting reunion movies--dealing with two big issues while in New York. First is his editor telling him about a new assignment that would take him to England, where the war was already underway. The length of this assignment was undetermined. Second was that this assignment that John-Boy had to accept or decline soon, came up just after he got engaged to Daisy. Daisy was introduced to John-Boy, and to the viewers in the episode where she was his partner in the dance marathon (Season 3, Episode 9).
In that episode, Daisy, although interested in John-Boy romantically, did not become his girlfriend because she was pursuing a career on the stage. She wound up getting together with John-Boy after he moved to New York and this was the fourth time she appeared on the series. Ironically, for actress Deirdre Lenihan, she played Daisy in two additional episodes back in Virginia after Richard Thomas's last appearance.
John-Boy comes home with Daisy, so his family can get to know her. Everyone likes her and the couple appear to really be in love. We did get some reluctance from Daisy at first, but there were only vague references to John-Boy not knowing about her life before he met her.
Hearing that her only family was her mother, living in Lynchburg—a drive of just a couple of hours, we guess—John-Boy is distressed to hear that Daisy had a big fight with her mother and doesn't plan to invite her to the wedding. Encouraged by his parents, he decides to pay a call on Mrs. Garner, unbeknownst to Daisy. Mrs. Garner shows an interest in Daisy but admits the fight was big. She tells him that she'd be glad to talk to her if Daisy wants to pay a visit.
That visit is arranged, but it leads to a broken engagement. They still are in love, but headed in separate directions. Daisy doesn't want to interfere in John-Boy's chance at a prime European assignment. She has also decided to move back to Virginia, which will prevent them going back to New York together, even if he turns down the assignment to England.
The subplot deals with Elizabeth and a friend selling lemonade outside Godsey's store. Poor sales are vastly improved by Grandpa, who adds some of the Baldwin's recipe to one of the two varieties of lemonade the kids offer, after encouraging them to reduce the price on the pink lemonade, directing that version to all women and children. We get good humor of a long line of men waiting for the regular lemonade, while almost nobody seems to want the cheaper pink stuff. The whole subplot, led by Grandpa's chicanery, were among the funnier plot lines in the series.
It was a good episode to give a reason for John-Boy not getting married until the series was off the air. As expressed in the final scenes, he carried Daisy's memory with him as he saw the cities of Europe over the years. It's easy to see why this episode gets lower ratings from IMDb's users. People got enthused thinking the former series star was going to get married, and then he didn't. In a lot of series, an episode with that occurring would trouble me. I'd be thinking, why bother to have an engagement if we don't get the character married? But it made sense to me. So much of this series was about John-Boy. Seeing his career and personal life achieve big highlights are important to viewers. I'm sure lots of viewers were unhappy with how this one ended. I note that IMDb informs that Earl Hamner, Jr. was somewhat like John-Boy in that he did not marry until over a dozen years passed since he graduated high school.
It deals with John-Boy –in Richard Thomas's final appearance on the series, not counting reunion movies--dealing with two big issues while in New York. First is his editor telling him about a new assignment that would take him to England, where the war was already underway. The length of this assignment was undetermined. Second was that this assignment that John-Boy had to accept or decline soon, came up just after he got engaged to Daisy. Daisy was introduced to John-Boy, and to the viewers in the episode where she was his partner in the dance marathon (Season 3, Episode 9).
In that episode, Daisy, although interested in John-Boy romantically, did not become his girlfriend because she was pursuing a career on the stage. She wound up getting together with John-Boy after he moved to New York and this was the fourth time she appeared on the series. Ironically, for actress Deirdre Lenihan, she played Daisy in two additional episodes back in Virginia after Richard Thomas's last appearance.
John-Boy comes home with Daisy, so his family can get to know her. Everyone likes her and the couple appear to really be in love. We did get some reluctance from Daisy at first, but there were only vague references to John-Boy not knowing about her life before he met her.
Hearing that her only family was her mother, living in Lynchburg—a drive of just a couple of hours, we guess—John-Boy is distressed to hear that Daisy had a big fight with her mother and doesn't plan to invite her to the wedding. Encouraged by his parents, he decides to pay a call on Mrs. Garner, unbeknownst to Daisy. Mrs. Garner shows an interest in Daisy but admits the fight was big. She tells him that she'd be glad to talk to her if Daisy wants to pay a visit.
That visit is arranged, but it leads to a broken engagement. They still are in love, but headed in separate directions. Daisy doesn't want to interfere in John-Boy's chance at a prime European assignment. She has also decided to move back to Virginia, which will prevent them going back to New York together, even if he turns down the assignment to England.
The subplot deals with Elizabeth and a friend selling lemonade outside Godsey's store. Poor sales are vastly improved by Grandpa, who adds some of the Baldwin's recipe to one of the two varieties of lemonade the kids offer, after encouraging them to reduce the price on the pink lemonade, directing that version to all women and children. We get good humor of a long line of men waiting for the regular lemonade, while almost nobody seems to want the cheaper pink stuff. The whole subplot, led by Grandpa's chicanery, were among the funnier plot lines in the series.
It was a good episode to give a reason for John-Boy not getting married until the series was off the air. As expressed in the final scenes, he carried Daisy's memory with him as he saw the cities of Europe over the years. It's easy to see why this episode gets lower ratings from IMDb's users. People got enthused thinking the former series star was going to get married, and then he didn't. In a lot of series, an episode with that occurring would trouble me. I'd be thinking, why bother to have an engagement if we don't get the character married? But it made sense to me. So much of this series was about John-Boy. Seeing his career and personal life achieve big highlights are important to viewers. I'm sure lots of viewers were unhappy with how this one ended. I note that IMDb informs that Earl Hamner, Jr. was somewhat like John-Boy in that he did not marry until over a dozen years passed since he graduated high school.
