Finding the Words is the twenty-second episode of the second season of Family Matters, which aired on ABC on March 22, 1991. It was directed by Richard Correll and written by Fred Fox Jr.
Synopsis[]
Jimmy Holmes claiming to be a long-lost family friend of the Winslows turns out to be much closer when Jimmy tells Carl that his name is Jimmy Baines, Harriette and Rachel's father, who walked out on them years earlier.
Plot[]
Jimmy Holmes (Paul Winfield), claiming to be a long-lost family friend of the Winslows turns out to be Jimmy Baines, Harriette and Rachel's long lost father, who walked out on them years earlier. Their mother had denounced Jimmy by telling him that she had told their daughters that he died in Korea. Since then, Jimmy changed his last name to Holmes in order to see his grandchildren in secret. When the truth comes out, Harriette is unsure if she could forgive Jimmy and admits her resentment for his actions in leaving their family. Rachel counsels her that if they don't take the opportunity and reconcile with their father, then they'd make the same mistake as their mother did.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Reginald VelJohnson as Carl Winslow
- Jo Marie Payton as Harriette Winslow (credited as Jo Marie Payton-France)
- Rosetta LeNoire as Estelle Winslow
- Darius McCrary as Eddie Winslow
- Kellie Shanygne Williams as Laura Winslow
- Jaimee Foxworth as Judy Winslow
- Bryton James as Richie Crawford (credited as Bryton McClure)
- Jaleel White as Steve Urkel
- Telma Hopkins as Rachel Crawford
Guest[]
- Paul Winfield as Jimmy Baines
Trivia[]
- It is revealed that Harriette is two years older than her sister, Rachel. In reality, Jo Marie Payton is two years younger than Telma Hopkins.
- Despite Harriette and Rachel's father returning to their lives after nearly 40 years, promising to be there now for them, he never appears in the series again.
- Telma Hopkins has said that this was her favorite episode since she did not have a father in her life.[citation needed]
- The episode’s ending was a long discussion between the producers and writer Fred Fox Jr. Jimmy Baines was intended to be a recurring character and was written with Paul Winfield in mind. However, when Winfield only agreed to the single episode, producers asked for the ending to be changed due to the character being a one-off appearance. After many discussions, the original ending remained intact.[citation needed]
Quotes[]
- Jimmy: I'm telling you the truth. I'm their father.
- Carl: News flash, buddy boy. Their father is dead. He was killed in the Korean War.
- Carl: Let's say for the sake of argument that somehow, you are Harriette and Rachel's father. Why do they think that you're dead?
- Jimmy: I was, uh... I was only eighteen when I married Darlene... and, man, we had problems from the get-go. She thought it might help if we had kids. But in lots of ways, it just made things worse. I stuck it out for five years... but when Harriette was three and Rachel was one, I... I bailed out.
- Carl: You abandoned them?
- Jimmy: I sent money, and I called. But one day, Darlene told me to stop calling. She said she had told Harriette and Rachel that their father had been shot down over Korea.
- Carl: Well, why did she do that?
- Jimmy: She said she didn't want her little girls to grow up thinking that their father had run out on them.