I really enjoyed this story. But I'll also admit this particular episode might not be everybody's cup of tea. The characters in this episode are very southern. So that might turn a lot of people off if you're sitting there thinking "Nobody's that much of a hick. Nobody." But I'm southern so the talking and mannerisms didn't bother me any. Nor was I offended.
It's never really explained how or why this family has isolated themselves as much as they have. The father is a bit of a drama queen so it might be a case of always having a story to tell if anybody in the family wanted to branch out on their own. This is a family that keeps to themselves and they don't really interact with outsiders until Flint shows up.
Boy, did this family win the jackpot. It bothered me the mother always referring to her husband as being a southern gentleman. Flint's the gentleman. Flint's also a man. Let me explain that last part. Just because you have the right equipment doesn't mean you're a man. Would I say the father is a man in this story? No. He laid his butt down on the hammock and let the rest of the family work their butts off and the girls do work hard. Flint pitched in and helped the girls out. Man, I thought Charles Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie was lazy but he doesn't have anything on Jess MacAbee!
So let's get to the guts of this story. I'm sure everybody can predict it. The girls go into heat over Flint. The only exception at this time is Junior. Junior's upset at everything changing because he's shown up. More on Junior later. The mother can see her daughters have fallen in love with Flint and she asks him to let them down easy. This ties in with another part of the story where the father want's Flint to pick one of his daughters and marry her. I don't even think she needed to say a word about letting the girls down easy. Flint's a nice guy. He's not gonna suddenly become a jerk. He goes up to each daughter and is a true gentleman. He makes it a point to highlight the strengths of each girl. Again, Flint's a class act.
Turns out the MacAbees have some neighbors nearby. I'm sure everybody knows where this is headed. The actor that played Sheriff Coffee on Bonanza plays a character in this episode and his character has 6 sons. The end shows practically each daughter having a good time talking, playing, laughing with one of the sons. Only exception is Junior. Junior has now fallen in love with Flint. Flint has a talk with her and mentions her growing up. I wasn't really fond of the open ended ending about Flint riding back through when Junior's 17. Yeah, a lot of viewers might write if off as Junior won't even be able to remember Flint's name by the time she's 17 because it looks like the door might finally be opening up for this family when it concerns meeting people, doing what they want to do, etc. I still can't help but think of Junior being 17 and still having the hots for Flint. Girl's gonna be disappointed unless one of the writers remembered this episode and mentioned Flint visiting the MacAbee family during an episode that didn't have Robert Horton in it at all.
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