AllMovie

The opening two-part episode of The Waltons' seventh season (originally telecast in a single two-hour timeslot) is dedicated to the memory of Will Geer, who had died in the summer of 1978. Also conspicuous by her absence is semi-regular Nora Marlowe, who had also passed away, as neighbor Flossie Brimmer. The loss of both Grandpa and Mrs. Brimmer is duly acknowledged as the Walton family leaves 1940 behind and enters 1941, a year that will yield many dramatic changes in their lives. For starters, John Walton (Ralph Waite) is faced with a choice between remaining with his struggling lumber business on Waltons' Mountain or accepting a more lucrative job out of town; and John's daughters Erin (Mary Elizabeth McDonough) and Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) follow the lead of their brother John-Boy , moving out of the family home and into their own apartment. Peggy Rea, who would later join the series' cast as the Waltons' cousin Rose Burton, is here seen as the girls' landlady Mrs. Boren.