SPOILER ALERT: The following reveals key plot points from Wednesday night’s episode of The Wonder Years.
ABC’s The Wonder Years has a connection to the original ’90s series revealed in tonight’s episode entitled Love & War and it was poignant. The scene can be seen above.
Anthony Jenkins, Yvonne Orji, Spence Moore II, Saycon Sengbloh, Dulé Hill, Mathew Miller/ABC
In the episode, Dean’s (EJ Williams) big brother Bruce (Spence Moore II) is injured and has returned home from Vietnam with a secret – he has a girlfriend and she is an elderly woman. While recovering at home, the family wanted to know everything about Tammy (Yvonne Orji), who later turns out to be a divorced single mother.
Things move quickly between Bruce and Tammy, much to the chagrin of his mother Lilian (Saycon Sengbloh) and Deans. Dean isn’t quite ready to share his brother with Tammy’s son, Joey, and he’s even less excited about being his babysitter.
Bruce, a former sports star, is trying to put his life in order and is left with few options. A black veteran in 1960s Alabama, his best job opportunity is as a janitor, leaving Bruce frustrated.
It was casually revealed during dinner that Bruce had been awarded the Bronze Star for bravery in battle, a fact he preferred to keep in a drawer. Currently, his challenges and the guilt of survivors convinced him that he needed to quickly get back to work raising his own family with Tammy.
Saycon Sengbloh, Yvonne Orji, Spence Moore II, Erika Doss/ABC
When Bruce proposes, Tammy graciously declines, but they agree to continue dating.
Returning home, Bruce finally finds the courage to tell his family what happened in Vietnam and got him the medal. He and his men were on the receiving end of enemy fire, three already down. He and his friend Brian went back to rescue her, leaving Bruce injured and Brian dead.
Bruce revealed that if anything happened, they had promised each other that they would write to each other’s family. When he finally sits down to correspond with Brian’s family, it turns out that Brian is the older brother of Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar), who died in Vietnam in the original series.
Series creator and executive producer Saladin K. Patterson spoke to Deadline about the big reveal, how executive producer Fred Savage felt about it, and whether or not McKellar is aware of the expansion of her character Winnie’s story.
DEADLINE: What insight can you provide into the decision to give Bruce this impactful storyline?
SALADIN K. PATTERSON: When Lee Daniels, Mark Velez and I first spoke about who the Williams family should be and how we wanted them to be different from the Arnold family, we decided that we really wanted to shed some light on what influences black families would have a unique way.
We knew we wanted to tackle things like civil rights and the Vietnam War. We decided early on that Bruce would come back, but we wanted to show how difficult it was for black soldiers and all the extra baggage they were carrying. Bruce says he felt more racism here at home than in the military abroad, which is why he came back.
But we also wanted to talk about the sacrifices that all soldiers make for their minds and bodies.
Danica McKeller Everett Collection
DEADLINE: And there’s the element of survivor’s guilt for Bruce that leads to a powerful revelation.
PATTERSON: Yes, the episode’s big reveal is when Bruce reveals to his family that he’s been dealing with a survivor’s guilt. This helps the family understand why he’s making what seems like a drastic decision, like jumping into a relationship.
The connection to the original with the Brian Cooper character, that’s what I suggested to ABC when we originally pitched the show for the pilot. That was something I said I’d like to have as part of the Bruce character’s backstory and as a homage to the original series in a very respectful way.
If there were any overlaps or easter eggs between our two shows, I figured that would be a really respectful way of tipping my hat to the original. It also makes a statement for the characters in our world because Vietnam was the first war in which black soldiers served as leaders of white troops.
DEADLINE: Do you have any plans to continue Brian’s story?
PATTERSON: For now, the plan is to only have it as a nod. We don’t have any plans for the overlap, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be. We want this to live in and for itself for the time being.
DEADLINE: How did Fred Savage feel about you merging the two shows?
PATTERSON: He thought it was a very powerful and respectful way of overlapping the lineage. Fred and I have both taken great care to ensure that this reinterpretation of The Wonder Years has its own narrative and can stand on its own two feet. Fred also didn’t want to feel like we were going over things he’d done before. But we both also recognize that we’re taking a lot of the tone and the feel and the greatness of the original and we wanted to show respect for that.
We decided early on that there wouldn’t be any crossover guest stars and stuff like that because it felt like it didn’t fit our world.
DEADLINE: Did you let Danica know?
PATTERSON: Yes we have got that. Danica has been supporting us since day one. She has previously reached out to Milan Ray, who plays Keisa, to metaphorically pass the baton.
So once we knew we were going to make this Easter egg, we reached out to her to make sure she was okay with it. She immediately said she thought the idea was a wonderful idea and was very supportive and was more than happy we got to use her photo.
DEADLINE: Yvonne Orji did such a wonderful job as Bruce’s girlfriend Tammy. Will we see more of her this season?
PATTERSON: It was great to have Yvonne on the show, she’s a great actress. She can handle both the grounded reality, the drama, and the humor. We really wanted to give her a chance to show off all the tools and skills that she brings. We would like to have them again.
The Tammy character is mentioned again later in the season but due to time constraints we couldn’t have her back but we left her open on purpose. You are still in a relationship. We would love for Yvonne to come back and play with us again in Season 2.
The interview has been edited and abridged for length and clarity.