In this movie Melora Hardin plays, Michele Pierson (Albert's love interest), who has supposedly lived in Walnut Grove for years but we had never seen her before, however in the season eight, two-part episode The Reincarnation of Nellie, Melora played Belinda Stevens...I don't understand why they didn't just bring her back as Belinda Stevens.

Although well done, this story is unnecessarily bleak and somber. Albert is diagnosed with an incurable blood disorder, and has only a short time left to live. If this situation had come up earlier in the series, it would have been a way of writing Albert out of the show. At this point, the series was ending, anyway. There was no need to "write off" any character. In any case, note that Albert's disease is never identified. I guess one life-threatening illness is as good as another. Albert's reaction is to do "as much as he can" before his time ends. A commendable outlook, but not entirely believable. Charles is initially devastated, but later pulls it together. Laura's reaction is another matter. She takes it bad. Really bad. Charles tells her that she has to be strong, and she tries to be. However, Laura has limited control of her emotions. What's inside her will eventually come to the surface. Watching Laura and Albert together here, something occurred to me. Laura's feelings for Albert seemed to go beyond a brother-sister relationship. Remember, Albert was adopted. He and Laura weren't related biologically. Who knows what Laura was really feeling? Overall, this is a pretty downbeat story, but it's made watchable by good performances. Melissa Gilbert was particularly effective.

The Laura and Albert dynamic was my favorite on LHOP, and while Charles is featured prominently, I loved how the climactic scene at the end was between Laura and Albert. Frankly, I felt that Melissa Gilbert and Matthew Laborteaux had a strong chemistry that worked very well during the series. The scene, which to me is now iconic, at the top of the mountain, with everyone holding hands and forming a circle, was beautifully done.

I remember seeing this TV movie when it had aired. You have to realize that back then, it wasn't common at all for a major character to die/be killed off. So, you can imagine how stunned I was when the doctor gives Charles the diagnosis. I was like, "What?!" I couldn't believe it was happening. And I kept waiting for a, "Okay, he's going to survive somehow" moment, which of course, never came.

Besides, "I Remember, I Remember" this is my favorite LHOP feature. The story was touching, heartfelt, and inspirational which fit perfectly with the other LHOP storylines. I adore Michael Landon for not being afraid to give us sentimental and loving stories. Perhaps nobody else was better at tugging at your heart-strings and making you feel that it was perfectly all right. And nobody has done it as well since either. Maybe that is why his shows (especially LHOP and Highway to Heaven) are so beloved by fans all over the world.

I have noticed that there is a lot of debate about the contradiction between "Home Again," where Laura narrates that Albert came back years later to become the town doctor, and this episode. There are quite a few continuity contradictions throughout the series that are quite evident. You have to realize that this series was done when storylines were episodic. In other words, they only lasted one-two episodes. This is a formula that is unlike today's shows that more often feature a central plot that runs throughout one or even multiple seasons. Clearly, the writers and producers, at the time "Home Again" was done, had no plans for Albert's demise at that point in time.