User Reviews

One thing I liked about this episode is that I actually didn't expect what happened. So it sure deserves some credit for providing me the element of surprise. This usually doesn't happen in sitcoms. Especially not in a family sitcom.

It is again not a very funny episode, but it seems to me that this show does especially well with more dramatic stories.

They sure had great acting again. Besides the regulars Paul Winfield also did an excellent job and got us to sympathize with him regardless of the fact that he abandoned his kids in the past.

Of course it is a very simple ending as well, due to amount of time in the episode, one could do so much more with it.

In this episode we have a strange man appearing at Carl's front door, claiming to be Jimmy Holmes, dad of one of Carl's friends in their childhood, the only problem is that Carl doesn't remember anything, but pretends to do so. I found this episode very good, first of all let's give props to the aura of mistery that surrounds Jimmy's character, the show does a very good job of holding the mistery of who he is and makes you wonder if he really is a dad of an old friend of Carl. We soon find the twist, and it's a very well done twist, he is the father of Rachel and Harriet, I hope we can see more of him, because if we don't it kind of fails the purpose of the episode, Paul Winfield and Reginald do a very good job in this more dramatic episode. But the real star for me in this episode is Jo Marie Peyton , Harriet is given a lot of dramatic tension to release, and she does a wonderful job. Steve Urkel and the rest of the young gang kind of stayed in the sideline (but it suits the episode) and Steve still delivers the most funny scenes, specially the bear scene , hilarious. What prevents me from giving it a higher rating is actually the running time, I usually don't enjoy two part episodes, because normally it feels forced , mainly because they are the season finale, but with this kind of story, it was totally earned , this episode being split into two parts, they could've even made the identity of the man a mistery until the end of the first part, and then the second episode being only about him telling them and their reaction, as it was , it felt very rushed. Still a good episode. 8/10 ******** Peter Shelby

In this episode a stranger who claims to be a long lost friend played by Paul Winfield ends up confessing that he's Harriet and Rachel's father. The acting in this episode is very realistic. I truly feel sorry for those who have went through a similar situation like this episode. In the end it took a lot of courage for Harriet and Rachel to give their father a second chance. I wish they would have made Paul Winfield's character either a regular part of the show or have him appear in a few episodes like where he stops by to visit once in a while. Every time I watch this episode I literally can't help but bawl my eyes out at the end.

Very heartbreaking and (by the end) heartwarming episode that had me in tears for several minutes. Good on Rachel and Harriette for letting their misguided father back into their lives.