Little House on the Prairie Soldier's Return (1974–1983) Online

Richard Mulligan guest stars in this gripping episode about a Civil War "hero" who returns to Walnut Grove after living in Philadelphia for the past twelve years after the war. Granville Whipple seems like a mild-mannered man ready to set up a music teaching business for himself, but it is clear very early that the demons of battle still haunt him. That, and an obvious addiction to morphine. Granville's mother, the local seamstress, finds a small package of the addictive substance in his things and asks if his leg is still bothering him. Granville denies that he still uses the stuff and hasn't touched it in nine months. His bugle from the war hangs over his bedpost, and just looking at it brings back some painful war memories.

In public, Granville Whipple puts on a happy face and seems to be in control. He quickly gets several local kids to come over for lessons, and even hires Mary Ingalls to create sheet music for him. Alas, the painful war memories combined with his longing for morphine soon reduce him to acting like an angry junkie. He angrily rejects Mary's work in one scene, then finds out to his dismay that the Olesons' store does not stock opiate painkillers anymore. Doctor Baker knows what Granville is up to and wont prescribe him any morphine, either. Later that night, Granville breaks into Dr. Baker's office and steals all of his morphine. The conclusion of this story is harrowing, and not uplifting as so many endings were on this show.

One subplot reveals that Granville was actually a coward in battle. In flashbacks, we see him running from enemy fire and leaving a friend to die on the battlefield. In town, he meets this man's son, and that is what seems to help push him over the edge. Later, he tearfully admits to his mother that he was in fact a coward at Shiloh where he was awarded a medal. This episode may have been very timely due to many American soldiers returning from Vietnam at the time with perhaps similar demons and afflictions. Overall, this is a somber episode made at a time when the series was firing on all cylinders. 10 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

We've met Mrs. Whipple and know she's a widow, but today we discover that she also has a son. Granville Whipple fought in the Civil War. Unfortunately, he was wounded and as common knowledge tells you, the war doctors gave the wounded w wonder drug called morphine. It did wonders for the pain, but what they didn't know was that it caused a dependence on it.

Granville is a musician and has returned home to reunite with his mother and teach music. That gets Laura to asking her Pa to teach her the fiddle. Nellie and Willie became his first pupils. And even Mary started to learn the mini-piano in exchange for copying music.

We find out almost right off that he had become addicted to the white powder. His mother had been aware of it and became frightened when she discovered he still had some morphine on him. He assured her that he wasn't using it anymore. And at first, perhaps he wasn't. But the longer he stayed around Walnut Grove, the more he became haunted by the memories of what really happened in the battle he won the medal in. People hailed him a hero, but the memories he had assured the viewers that he was anything but a hero.

As the memories taunt him, things get worse. And then he meets the son of his best friend who was killed in the war. Seeing the son tormented him with the truth all over again. He began taking the morphine. Classic symptoms of drug abuse began and soon he was no longer the nice war hero, but an angry, bitter man who snapped at everyone.

The ending of this episode chills you to the bone. I'm afraid his life ended in tragedy, and though I've seen this episode many, many times I never could figure out what happened to him exactly...

By the way, this isn't the only time the issue of morphine addiction is mentioned in this show. Michael Landon was a very big advocate against drug abuse and often delved into the topic on his shows. We'll see a member from his family deal with this issue in the last season.

While walking home from school one afternoon, Mary and Laura encountered a charming man named Granville who was returning to Walnut Grove after a 12 year absence, and was looking for Mrs. Whipple. See, he's the long-lost son Mrs. Whipple always talked about and yet never mentioned. So Granville was happily reunited with his mother and taken upstairs to his old room. Granville was a decorated war hero after receiving a medal in the battle of Shiloh, and he'd been with the Philadelphia philharmonic, as Mary explains to us. Granville is also a recovering morphine addict, as he was wounded in battle and they put him on the stuff to ease the pain, but ever since, Granville's been getting those old, familiar urges. The next day, Mrs. Whipple and her son venture into town, where he plans to give music lessons to the folks who wanted them, and to his (mis)fortune, Harriet points him in the direction of his first two students, Nellie and Willie, but hope came in the form of Mary, whom he noted as very disciplined and learned quickly. He offered her free lessons provided she print music sheets for him. It was a deal, and so Granville introduced Mary Ingalls to the tiny piano, and while she caught on pretty quick, Laura struggled to play the fiddle like Charles. That night, Granville brought over his banjo and they had themselves a good old jam session, 1870s style! And with Mary on the toy piano, if we could just get Edwards on drums and Nels on bass, they could form a band.

Next day in town, Granville meets his war buddy Roy Collins' wife, Vera and her son, Roy Jr., whom Granville seemed very tense around, especially when the boy showed an interest in playing the bugle and mentioned how much his father loved having him as a friend. Seems there's some things ol' Granville hasn't told us yet. That night, he learned a very powerful lesson in that old habits are hard to break, because he went right for his morphine stash and come morning, he was very irritable to both his mother and kind Mary who brought over the music sheets. He acted like a creep and walked out. He went down to Oleson's to see about getting some morphine, but they no longer carried it, but pointed him in the direction of Doc Baker's office. The doctor examined Granville's wounded leg and could tell right off the bat that the man was a morphine addict, despite his denial. Granville wouldn't take no for an answer, because that night he broke into Doc Baker's office and stole his whole supply or morphine, and then he had himself a nightmare about Shiloh, featuring the late Roy Collins, who knew Granville's other deep, dark secret. In the morning, Mrs. Whipple learned of her son's addiction starting up again and confronted him on it, where he admits that during Shiloh, he displayed cowardice and Roy Collins ended up dying because of it. Granville blamed himself. However, his mother told him to man up and face his problems, and the first thing Granville decided to do was tell Roy Jr. the truth about the friendship his pa had with him. Meanwhile, Doc Baker discovered his office vandalized and his morphine gone, so he rode out with Charles to the Whipple place to confront Granville, only he was gone and his mother was very worried. When going out to search for him, Charles found his horse, and then just up the trail, he saw Granville's body half-buried under a pile of leaves and a few empty morphine packets beside him. Well, at least now he was truly out of his pain.

Quite a downbeat ending and a tragic end for such a man, and Granville Whipple was a good man, albeit somewhat misguided, impulsive and, you know, a drug addict. Richard Mulligan was really good as Granville, Queenie Smith was also wonderful as Mrs. Whipple, and Melissa Sue Anderson was very good as Mary. B.W. Sandefur turned in a great script and Bill Claxton directed it to perfection. I like how this starts out as a bit of a fun episode what with the musical hijinks, then when Granville starts up his morphine addiction again, it quickly turns dramatic. Such a premise would be repeated in Season 9's "Home Again" where Albert becomes a morphine addict. Pretty intense stuff. I'd say Soldier's Return is definitely worth checking out. If someone you know is struggling with an addiction, tell'em about Granville and let them know they're not alone.

Although over the top sometimes (David Rose's soundtrack is the main culprit--this composer never, ever learned anything about subtlety, and that lack of nuance is blatant here; in one particular scene, as Granville Whipple sinks into the abyss, the music sounds like that of the twister scene in the Wizard of Oz), this episode is a well-intentioned portrait of how the trauma of war haunts a soldier years after the last shots are fired. In 1975, this subject was still small in the public consciousness, so "Little House..." deserves some credit for covering it.

On the minus side is the simplistic portrayal of morphine addiction. The victim goes from using for the first time in months to acute withdrawals within a matter of hours. But, that's television.

This is a excellent episode and the second of many that deals with the seriousness that is drug and alcohol abuse. This episode explains it perfectly and it shows all the nightmares you get when you stop taking it. It also shows that you can be clean for years but a relapse can happen anytime. Sometimes you don't have control over it. Mrs Whipple's son Granville has returned home. And he is trying to set up a musical business. He still gets a lot of nightmares.He still carries morphine with him just so that he knows its there. That's the first problem. Get rid of it therefor when you need or crave it and theirs nothing more then you most likely won't go into a relapse.

This episode ends tragic but sends a strong message through Give this a definite look.