This episode of the Jones family series focuses on younger son Billy Mahan who befriends a troubled kid (Marvin Stephens) home Jed Prouty believes is responsible for the robbery of his drug store. But of course as usual, pops is wrong and there's more to the story, this time surrounding Stephens' older brother and a gang of thugs. While Prouty doesn't believe that there's any good in Stevens, mom Spring Byington and Grandma Floremfe Roberts do, which Roberts giving Stevens a valuable lesson in stealing and how stolen cookies in a pocket can crumble.
There's also a subplot involving a family wedding, and a Chase sequence that comes out of it. There's not much comedy in this episode, and the focus on drama makes it touching. The ending with the wedding going on in the back of a car with a Justice of the Peace as the bad guys are pursued is quite amusing. Unlike the Hardy series which began the same year ironically with Spring Byington playing Ma Hardy (basically the same role), what is interesting is that the patriarchy isn't a wise, sensible man like Lewis Stone (replacing Lionel Barrymore), but a quick-tempered one who often needs a lesson like this to come to his senses.
There's also a subplot involving a family wedding, and a Chase sequence that comes out of it. There's not much comedy in this episode, and the focus on drama makes it touching. The ending with the wedding going on in the back of a car with a Justice of the Peace as the bad guys are pursued is quite amusing. Unlike the Hardy series which began the same year ironically with Spring Byington playing Ma Hardy (basically the same role), what is interesting is that the patriarchy isn't a wise, sensible man like Lewis Stone (replacing Lionel Barrymore), but a quick-tempered one who often needs a lesson like this to come to his senses.
