#6: "The Play-From the Heart (Episode 25)" AND "A Mother for Peppermint Patty (Episode 33)"

Linus: Two episodes? Isn't that cheating?

HPDrummerman: No, not really. These two episodes from Season 2 share the Number 6 spot because they both deal with the vulnerable side of Peppermint Patty. Now "The Play-From the Heart" is the second episode in the series to deal with someone's death (we'll get to the first later in this countdown). As you recall, Linus, this was the episode that Peppermint Patty and Marcie met former child star Penelope Hawkins who was originally from Sparkyville but moved to Hollywood to star in her own sitcom Sandra On the Side.

Linus: Oh yeah. That show was a favorite for a lot of us.

HPDrummerman: Well, you remember your old friend Janice, who had leukemia?

Linus: I do. I still keep in touch with her. I even told her about Eudora and I dating. She's doing way much better these days.

HPDrummerman: Well if you recall in "From the Heart" Penelope had an even stronger strain of leukemia and because she lost nearly all her money to a greedy manager, they couldn't give her the treatment she needed. And during a fundraiser car wash at Joe's to get her and her parents some money to help them out, you may recall this happening…

1st Clip from "The Play-From the Heart"

As the day progressed, the kids had a few more cars to go before end time. They were just a few dollars away from their goal. As the last car pulled out of Joe's, Peppermint Patty and Franco tallied the rest of the money and added it to the total. "With the last few cars we washed," Patty announced, "we actually went over our goal! We made $5043!"

All of the kids cheered. Charlie Brown and Frieda kissed each other, as did Lucy and Schroeder. Linus and Eudora hugged one another. Sally and Michael danced around with Snoopy and his brothers and the birds. Peppermint Patty and Marcie walked the money up to Penelope, who was sitting in a chair with Charlie Brown and Frieda, and presented the money to her.

"Here you go, Penelope," said Peppermint Patty, with a smile. "Something to start on, just for you."

Penelope started crying. All of the kids wondered what was wrong. "Marcie," Patty whispered. "Did I say the wrong thing?"

"I think she's crying out of happiness, sir," Marcie whispered back.

"Oh thank you all so much!" Penelope finally said. "This means so much to me and my family. Peppermint Patty, I want to thank you for organizing this. And Charlie Brown, for your father helping my father out! I know we have friends here in Sparkyville that do care! You don't know how… much… oh!"

The kids all of the sudden grew worried. "Penelope, are you all right?" asked Charlie Brown.

"I feel a little… dizzy, that's… all…" And before she could say anything else, Penelope collapsed on the ground.

"GOOD GRIEF!" exclaimed Charlie Brown. "SOMEONE CALL 911!" Charlie Brown, Frieda, and Peppermint Patty checked on Penelope to see if she was conscience.

"Patty, you may want to get a hold of her parents," said Frieda.

"Right!" And Peppermint Patty pulled out her cell phone and called Penelope's parents. They had received a welfare phone so they could make phone calls. Penelope had given Patty the number if she wanted to get a hold of her. The ambulance arrived and took Penelope to the hospital.

2nd Clip from "The Play-From the Heart"

The kids walked up to Patty, still sitting in the chair. She turned around to see her friends standing there. She knew they were worried about her. Marcie was the first one to speak.

"Sir, we're not going to ask if you're okay," she started. "We know you're not and that you are upset about this. We all are and we understand. We just want you to know that you're not alone in this."

"We share in your sadness, fraulein," said her boyfriend Franco. "I want to be here for you. We all want to be here."

"Franco's right, Patty," added Charlie Brown. "We're your friends. We know you probably are too proud to say so, but we can be some comfort to you in this. As Marcie said, we were all devastated by the sudden passing of Penelope."

"We want to be here for you, hun," said Frieda. "Let us comfort you." Then, a teary-eyed Peppermint Patty looked at her friends and knew that she wasn't alone in her grief. Finally, without saying a word (a rarity for her) she hugged all of them and started bawling. Her friends and boyfriend all comforted her. It was something she needed at that time. It was then that she realized that after this, things would be all right.

End of Clips

HPDrummerman: Well in the episode "A Mother for Peppermint Patty", Patty's father finally got back in the dating game since the death of Patty's mother, Marie. While I covered Marie's death already in the One-Shot "freckles", here was the first time we see Patty herself talk about her mother at length. And for the first time, she had her friends, Marcie and Claudia visit her mother's grave with her. I have to admit, I almost got a little teary when I originally wrote this, myself.

Clip from "A Mother for Peppermint Patty"

Later that weekend, Patty was with Marcie and Claudia at a familiar cemetery. Marcie was curious. "Isn't this the same cemetery that Lucille's friend, Python, is buried, sir?" she asked.

"It is, Marcie," Patty responded. "But we're not here to visit her. We're here for someone else." And the girls kept walking. Then they stopped at a huge gravestone. On it read:

Here lies

Marie Ann Reichardt

Loving Daughter, Wife, and Mother

It was Patty's mother gravesite. She never told anybody about where her mother was buried. Not even Charlie Brown, Roy, Franklin, or Franco. And yet, during Python's funeral, only she knew that they were mere yards away from where Marie was buried.

"This is my mother's grave," said Patty somberly. "Not too many folks know about this place. She was just a few yards away from where Python is now. I don't usually share this part of me with anyone. Not even Franco, but I may bring him here one day when I'm ready."

"W-we understand, Patty," said Claudia.

"Absolutely, sir," added Marcie.

The girls looked at the grave for a while. Marcie and Claudia decided to give Patty some space so she and her mother could visit. Patty kneeled down in front of her mother's marker. She placed a stone on top of it. She felt tears coming to her eyes, so she wiped them away, and sighed deep.

"I'm thinking of you, mom."

End of Clip

UP NEXT: NUMBER 5