"Welcome Home, Part 1"

Oh gosh, this episode, well, this two-parter.  Now I have to say, at least after watching this again almost 38 years after it aired (and probably not that often in between), I do recall not knowing how to process Richie's suppressed rage and frustration.  Now, shrug, well, it makes all too much sense, the way you have to compromise and give things up and yet still want to dream as you get older.  Ron Howard plays all that well, and there were moments, not simply nostalgia, where I teared up, like when the four "boys" sing "Blueberry Hill" to Ralph's piano accompaniment.  I don't think it's a great episode, but it's definitely a good one.  The timeline is in shambles of course, but I expected that.  Let's say a B.

Many notes:

• Bo Sharon would return as Richie, Jr. in Part Two.
• Richie and Ralph have been in the Army for three years.  This would make Little Richie under two, but he's pretty articulate.
• Ralph has given up becoming a comic and is letting his dad pay for optometry school, which is sad in a different way.  This episode isn't about Ralph, but he gets both poignant and funny moments.  And, yes, he hits on twentyish Joanie!
• It's a little pathetic that Potsie is unchanged after all this time, maybe because he stayed in Milwaukee, or maybe because he is Potsie and hasn't had any depth since maybe Season Two.  Still, it's good to see him with his best friends again.
• Of course Lori Beth has almost nothing to do but be pregnant again, sigh.
• Fonzie clearly missed Richie and has a hard time letting him go again.
• I like the little twist of Richie's Army training meaning he's the one to beat up a creep at the pool hall.
• Yes, those look like real teaers in Erin Moran's eyes when Ron Howard enters the old living room set.
• They've redecorated Richie's bedroom, but maybe the Cunninghams would after three years.
• It feels a little lampshady that Roger doesn't recognize his own cousin, but Ralph admittedly does have redder hair than Richie.
• Richie wants to move out to California to become a screenwriter.  Confusingly, I think on a Christmas episode, he, LB, and the baby were already in Cali, but maybe he was stationed in San Diego or something.  (Although that's more of a Navy thing, right?)
• Ralph refers to Korea, but not Vietnam.  It must be '64 by now/still, right?
• I'll have more to say about Ralph on Part 2....