The Waltons: Season 3
The Waltons: The Complete Third Seasonfinds series creator Earl Hamner's running story about the proud, Depression-era family living and working on Walton's Mountain going through some changes. The big news is that oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas) is now a freshman at Boatwright University, pursuing his dream of becoming a writer but encountering a lot of tough challenges and distractions. Still living at home but driving to classes every day, John-Boy gets an unpleasant taste of hazing from arrogant upperclassmen, grief from impatient professors, insecurity in a competitive writing class, and an ever-broadening sense of how the other half lives through exotic, quirky, yet sometimes sweet and attractive young women he meets on campus.Meanwhile, John-Boy's father, John Walton (Ralph Waite), nurses a dream of opening a father-and-son-operated lumber mill, knowing full well that the very busy John-Boy can't do much without sacrificing his education. (John also discovers next-in-line son Jason (Jon Walmsley) is already dreaming about his own career beyond the mountain.) Walton mom Olivia (Michael Learned) looks wistful over the speed with which her children are growing up, and Grandpa (Will Geer) tries to do his part for the family's well-being within the limits of his age and rocky health.The Complete Third Seasonstarts powerfully with a story about Walton kin, living elsewhere on the mountain, who refuse to leave their generations-long home in an eminent domain struggle with the government. Glimpses of the world Grandpa grew up in--full of moonshine, guns, and hardheaded men and women--abound in this fascinating episode. Other dramas concern heart problems for Grandpa; a runaway crisis when Jim-Bob (David W. Harper) bolts from home; a proper (and long-delayed) wedding for formerly eloped couple John and Olivia; a horse race that's supposed to be fun but takes on greater dimension; and troubles for John-Boy with a femme fatale and Boatwright's flawed honor code.--Tom Keogh