Daddy Long Legs 40 (the final episode), finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

 

       This episode picks up with Judy being taken by Walter Griggs to see John Smith (daddy), Judy tells herself that she must go see daddy before she thinks about her desire to rush to Jervis’s side. As Mr Griggs is driving Judy to daddy’s house she is bombarded by her conflicting emotions and loyalties between daddy and Jervis.

        As their car enters New York city they are caught in a traffic jam caused by bad weather and accidents, Judy seeing that they’ll be stuck for a long time asks Mr Griggs how far away is daddy’s house? He tells her that it’s close by. So Judy has him draw her a map and she heads off on foot. While Judy is traveling on foot she encounters many interesting things, and finally she makes her way to daddy’s house. Judy in frantic rush, searches the house for daddy until she finds a room with a cane propped up by the door. Judy enter the room looking  for daddy but sees that no one is inside the room, then a figure enters the room, at first Judy can’t see who it is because of the bright sunlight bathing the room.

         Once Judy is finally able to see daddy clearly, she is shocked to see that daddy long legs is Jervis. At first, Judy is speechless, then Jervis tells Judy that he just couldn’t bring himself to tell her that he was John Smith. Jervis then asks Judy if she can every forgive him? After a split second delay, Judy tells Jervis that there’s nothing to forgive and she rushes into Jervis’s arms.

         As Jervis and Judy are embracing, Judy tells Jervis that she won’t let go of him again, and Jervis tells Judy that he also won’t let go of her. Jervis then falls to the floor, as Judy is rushing to Jervis’s aid Walter Griggs walks in and sees the situation and tells Judy that he’ll get a doctor for Jervis.

           As Judy is waiting in the front room, Walter Griggs gives Judy a coffee and a scrapbook and he tells her to read the book. The book contains pictures from the time that Jervis spent with Judy and the other girls, and the book also contains all of the letters the Judy sent Jervis and John Smith. As Judy is reading through the scrapbook, a unsent letter addressed to Judy falls out of the book, and Judy decides to open the letter. The letter is from John Smith explaining to Judy that he John Smith is really Jervis, it also explains to Judy how he first got interested in her because of her essay from the orphanage, and how he over time came to love her. Jervis also explains that he felt that he couldn’t reveal his identity to her until after he finished his job as her guardian then he could finally come to her as just a man and tell her that he loves her. He also tells her that he had hoped that she would build up her courage until she could tell him about her real background. Finally, Walter Griggs tells Judy that Jervis is calling for her, Judy enters his room and takes his outstretched hand and stays by his bedside.

          As the dawn breaks over the city, Jervis’s fever has broken and he awakens to see Judy at his bedside. The series then moves forward four years into the future with Judy writing her final letter to daddy long legs. Judy and Jervis were married at the Lock Willow church, with all of Judy and Jervis’s family and friends in attendance. Julia and Jimmy are now engaged to be married after Jimmy finishes his post graduate degree, Sallie has left school and is now involved in the family business and she is still seeing Bob, and Judy says that she’s now a college student and Jervis’s wife at the same time. Well, that’s all for this episode and the series.

        Well, this episode wraps everything up quite nicely for the three girls. Judy had finally gotten to meet her “daddy long legs” for the first time, and she got to resolve her feelings for Jervis in a most satisfying way. Julia and Jimmy seem to be very happy as a couple with a wedding in their near future. Sallie seems to be happy with her role in her family’s business, but it still looks like she still is wishy washy about her relationship with Bob (that’s the same old Sallie).

       This episode also did a nice job of explaining why Jervis felt that he couldn’t just come out and tell Judy that he was John Smith. The unsent letter to Judy also did a nice job explaining how Jervis’s interest in Judy as innocent young girl slowly turned to romantic love as the years passed.

      Overall, this series was a great example of how good plot and character development can create an intriguing and engrossing anime series. In a few days I’ll write a post explaining why I feel that this series in many ways surpasses and exceeds many of the newer anime that cover the same territories.