‘The Larkins’ Recap: ‘In Which Pop and Ma Go on Holiday’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Three of ‘The Larkins’.
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One particular aspect of our health that we all tend to neglect and rarely admit to overlooking, is our mental health. For there is a prevailing belief in our world that we can just forge ahead and push through any mental fatigue or distress, and we are now learning, that is simply not the case in the slightest. For our minds require rest and nurturing and acts that keep it healthy and going and our mental health is something we can no longer ignore. But while we are making great strides in mental health care in the 21st Century, seventy years ago… how we handled such matters was vastly different, as evidenced by the next episode of The Larkins.

For when we catch up with the family in ‘In Which Pop and Ma Go on Holiday’, Pop is uh… doing a poor job of taking care of his mental and physical health, plain and simple. For Ma has taken notice of the fact that he is constantly up early and constantly working on the farm and that does leave her to worry about how it is impacting his mind and his body. A thought that quite frankly, is progressive in nature given the era the show is set within and well… that motivates Ma to pull Pop away for a holiday. Wherein he can relax and recharge and that of course… turns into a bevy of hijinks. For not only does Pop struggle with taking it easy, but he also decides to take on a new task whilst on vacation.

In that, he and Ma ran into a loving couple that was dealing with a sour family life. One where everyone else around them was making demands of how their love and their wedding should go. And rather than sit back and watch a couple of lovebirds struggle like this when they clearly needed space and time to process their love, Pop felt the need to step in and help them at every turn. A move that is indeed classic Larkin, since they always have everyone’s back, but also spoke volumes to how hard it was for folks in the 1950s to really do what was right for their mental health, regardless of the situation. Since the times clearly called for people to be in constant motion and dealing with something. But all commentary and slice of life from the era aside, make no mistake about it… it was sweet to see Pop and Ma be so kind to others.

Yet as this series is wont to do, it had more slice of life moments to offer us. For while Pop and Ma were away, Charley and Mariette were in charge and that went about as well as expected. Since Charley was ill prepared for the collective intelligence and drive of the Larkin kids, since they played him like a fiddle, and Mariette… well she was further driven toward her decision to leave home. Since a date with Tom and an encounter with Pauline, only left her feeling more trapped at home and in need of culture and really, this was quite the lovely sequence for certain. Since it helped us to get to know what makes Charley and Mariette tick, and it also led to some wonderfully comical sequences involving humanity’s emerging love affair with the television. 

If anything, all of these elements made for a fascinating and heartwarming tale. One that found a unique way to ask the audience to take part in self-care of the mind… by showing us how we look when we ignore it and forge ahead. Which really did serve as a fine reminder that just because this has been the status quo for far longer than we know… it doesn’t have to be the way forward from here on out. Plus, it was equally as wonderful to see life in the 1950s through the Larkins’ eyes once again and now that this charming adventure has come to a close, it will be quite fascinating to see what other lessons this show is going to teach us by way of history and what other kind and incredible gestures the Larkins will take part in as this wonderful inaugural season of this refreshing show continues along. Until next time.

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