J.J.'s Fiancée: Part 2

"JJ's Fiancée" concludes with JJ and fiancée Diana Buchanan (Debbie Allen, making her television debut) impulsively running off to Indiana to get married, the helpful motel clerk (Philip Baker Hall) used to having teenagers cross the border for quickie weddings. Meanwhile, Edgar (Sonny Jim Gaines) and Lucille (Marie Moore), Diana's parents, discover that they have more to worry about than just a disobedient daughter, because a mix up results in her having Thelma's purse, leaving hers behind, containing evidence of Diana's dangerous heroin addiction. A phone number is summarily dialed, with the dealer arriving in the familiar person of a pint sized kid (Edward Crawford, previously seen in "Cousin Cleatus"), who quickly exasperates Edgar with a devastating putdown: "what did you expect Popeye, the French Connection?" It gets worse for Diana, who soon discovers JJ's mistake and has to decide what's more important, her fiancée or the dreaded needle. It would be difficult to imagine a better balance between comedy and tragedy, another sign of the show's continued staying power.