To Soar and Never Falter

Miss Grant enlists Bruno's help to write an original piece of music for Kathy Murphy. Kathy is one of Lydia's best dancers and has an audition for the Ran Tyler dance Troupe. Initially Bruno and Kathy clash on their approach to the number but they soon fall in love.

 After falling in dance class it soon becomes known that Kathy is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and won't have much of a future as a dancer.

 Meanwhile Danny and Julie are having difficulties with a drama scene due to the differences in their heights.

To me this is a very different type of episode to the previous 4 that we've seen. For the first time we are predominately dealing with a story line for a guest star. I'm not sure it was a good idea to do this episode so early in the series particularly when some cast members haven't yet had a proper story of their own. With all the emphasis on Kathy quite a few of the cast do seem pretty ignored and I think the episode suffers slightly because of that, maybe it should have fell later in the series.

We don't see Doris and Montgomery for the first 20 minutes or so and Coco having been a main focus of all the previous episodes is in a scene dancing at the beginning and gets a line of dialogue at the end but that's it. Also Bruno had a main storyline in the previous episode so it seems strange that he is the main focus in this episode too.

All that said I do like the episode. It's the first time the show is really dealing with an issue and to link that issue to the arts world is very good. Executive producer William Blinn is also writing this episode and Debbie is quoted as saying in the reunion that he wrote stories “with such heart”.

As the episode starts Bruno is on the piano in the dance class so he is obviously over his fear of playing in public from the previous episode. Lydia asks him how he likes his first dance class but why doesn't he do the hour of movement that all the other students are supposed to do as highlighted in "Tomorrows Farewell"?

This is the first of many doomed love stories that the show does and this is one of the better ones. The emotions build nicely and the scene where Lydia is with Sherwood and trying not to cry is great. Also the scene where Doris hears the tape of the meeting is excellent. I like the way there are no words but Valerie conveys the emotion of the situation brilliantly.

There's only one actual song this episode although there is the instrumental music that Kathy dances too and there isn't the hi energy feel good feel that the previous episodes have. However the song "Be My Music" is one of the best that Lee wrote on the show. It's been awhile since I heard Lee's solo and he does seem to struggle with it a little which is presumably why it was rerecorded for the album to include Val, Erica and Gene.

One thing that strikes me about this episode is how much the teachers are involved with all the major decisions. Why would a music teacher spend 3 hours on the phone with an insurance company to sort out the policy? Surely that would be done by admin officials at the board of Ed or at least the schools admin staff. Same as the meeting as to what to do with Kathy I can't see that in reality the teachers would be left to deal with the situation.

The subplot with Danny, Julie and teachers is quite funny although one thing I didn't understand was when Danny tried to get Sherwood involved and he says she knows him better than Mr Crandall. Surely if Danny is a drama major he would spend more time with Crandall than any of the other teachers? This particularly stuck out as Crandall becomes Danny's favourite teacher.

Another thing I found confusing was that Kathy was allowed to audition with the Tyler Ran touring company as I thought students weren't allowed to audition professionally but here the teachers are setting up the audition?

The end is also a little confusing to me as it's unclear if Kathy actually got the part or not. Even if she did and left the school that doesn't mean that she and Bruno would have to end their relationship. However he seems to think that everything is over between them and sadly walks off alone.

Original  air date in U.S.A.  04th February 1982

Original  air date in U.K. 15th July 1982,  BBC repeat 01st  August 1986,  The Children's Channel  Autumn 1992, NOW 80s 14th & 18th November 2021

Original air date  in France  03rd April 1982

Original Air date in Australia (Melbourne)  16th May 1982

Original air date in The Netherlands 22nd January 1983     

Original air date in Italy 29th January 1983

Original air date in Spain 20th March 1983

Original  air date in West Germany 30th January 1985

Original air date in Belgium 13th  August 1987