My Thoughts - The Andy Griffith Show: Ellie Comes to Town (1960)

Synopsis: A new pharmacist, Ellie Walker (Elinor Donahue), comes to Mayberry to help out her uncle. She makes immediate friends with Opie (Ron Howard) but winds up butting heads with Andy (Andy Griffith) and other townspeople after she refuses to refill pills for Emma Brand (Cheerio Meredith) without a prescription.

My Thoughts -

It's interesting Elinor Donahue got her name mentioned ahead of Don Knotts in the opening sequence. Sure, it's only the third episode of the series, but Knotts' Barney Fife had been part of the show from the beginning, and it wasn't as though he wasn't already just as established as a star as she was.

I never realized how much of a role the character Emma Brand had in these early episodes. She was the catalyst for the main conflict between Ellie and Andy and, in Manhunt, was taken hostage. It's sad she only had three more episodes after this one because she is such a funny, colorful character.

I blame Ellie's uncle for a lot of it though. Ellie probably could have handled things a bit better and been more understanding, but her uncle could have left her a note explaining some of the little things he did for the citizens of Mayberry that weren't necessarily procedurally correct but also not harmful (such as giving Emma sugar pills for a dime).

In fact, I'm a bit surprised nobody thought to reach out to the uncle. He was sick, not dead, and was still the one who owned the pharmacy. It seems like a phone call to get things straightened out would have been the logical thing.

The scene between Ellie and Opie is a classic one that makes this episode. The thing I like about it is how it gives the audience a chance to see Ellie in a good light to counter the negativity that otherwise surrounds her character. She's clearly a good person who like people but is (correctly) taking her job as a pharmacist seriously.

I'm not so certain this episode paints Andy in a good light at all though. The way he takes Emma's side rather than trying to see things from Ellie's point of view isn't great to begin with but the scene where he does the whole "you should smile more" thing was kind of creepy, including how he had her cornered when he did it. It really puts their future relationship into a whole new, not so good, perspective.

I had mixed feelings about the ending too. Emma got her pills and Ellie got to make her point about her vow as a pharmacist, but Andy still clearly didn't respect her because he dismissed her reasons for doing what she did and gave her a bit of a lecture instead. I'm sorry, Andy, you weren't in the right here.

Final Opinion: It's a good introduction to a vital, albeit short-lived character on the series but based solely on this episode, I would have advised Ellie not to date the sheriff.

My Grade: B+

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Here are my thoughts from other Andy Griffith Show episodes: 

My Thoughts - The Andy Griffith Show: Manhunt (1960)

My Thoughts - The Andy Griffith Show: Citizen's Arrest (1963)

My Thoughts - The Andy Griffith Show: Opie and his Merry Men (1963)

My Thoughts - The Andy Griffith Show: Andy and the Woman Speeder (1961)