History YMMV / TheThornBirds

* ValuesDissonance: Many Catholics were up in arms about Ralph, a priest, falling in love with Meggie and ultimately consummating his relationship with her. Oddly enough, the fact that this man had fallen in love with a woman he'd known since she was a ''child'' seemed to escape their notice.
** Priests don't just [[IGaveMyWord vow]] to stay away from women they knew when they were children.

* AwardSnub: The miniseries won 6 Emmys, including one for Creator/BarbaraStanwyck[[note]]She also got one of the Golden Globes it won[[/note]] Music/HenryMancini's score was overlooked - [[Series/PeterGunn Not his only Emmy snub either]].

* AwardSnub: The miniseries won 6 Emmys, including one for Creator/BarbaraStanwyck[[note]]She also got one of the Golden Globes it won[[/note]] Music/HenryMancini's score was over looked [[Series/PeterGunn Note his only Emmy snub either]].

* {{Squick}}: Mary Carson's fly-blown corpse that begins rapidly decaying as soon as she dies. (She's that evil). Stephen King claimed this was his favorite part of the book.
* {{Tearjerker}}: Meggie and Fee finally ending years of estrangement and embracing.

* {{Squick}}: Mary Carson's fly-blown corpse that begins rapidly decaying as soon as she dies. (She's that evil). Stephen King claimed this was the only part of the book he liked.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: When Meggie ''finally'' decides to leave Luke, and tells him ''exactly'' what she thinks of him. In the book she lays into him after they have sex for the last time and is pretty cutting, but in the mini-series it's even more delicious. She deliberately confronts him in front of his mates and then proceeds to perform a marital version of CallingTheOldManOut. She emphasises his neglect of her and his disinterest in their daughter, mocks his obessession with proving his manhood, outright states that he'd be of more use to other men than to her, and then rounds it all up with the ultimate blow to his pride: "''You'' can't make love for ''toffee''."
** Also when Meggie [[CallingTheOldManOut calls the old WOMAN out]]. After she gives birth to Dane, her mother Fee instantly knows that the boy is Ralph's and starts lecturing her. Meggie shuts her up by informing her, "If you tell Ralph, I'll be as miserable to you as you've always been to me!", finally blasting Fee for what a negligent mother she was.

“Aaaaaaah!” he cried, understanding.

He was hardly conscious of the pain, intent only on Meggie’s arms around him, the way his head sank against her. But he managed to turn until he could see her eyes, and looked at her. He tried to say, Forgive me, and saw she had forgiven him long ago. She knew she had got the best of it. Then he wanted to say something so perfect she would be eternally consoled, and realized that wasn’t necessary, either. Whatever she was, she could bear anything. Anything! So he closed his eyes and let himself feel, that last time, forgetfulness in Meggie.

** Also when Meggie does [[CallingTheOldManOut call the old WOMAN out]]. After she gives birth to Dane, her mother Fee instantly knows that the boy is Ralph's and starts lecturing her. Meggie shuts her up by informing her, "If you tell Ralph, I'll be as miserable to you as you've always been to me!", finally blasting Fee for what a negligent mother she was.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Meggie and Fee finally ending years of estrangement and embracing.

** Apparently - and ironically, considering the scandal surrounding the Catholic Church now - some merely shrugged and said "At least it was with a woman."

** Here's a good one--Meggie is aghast at the notion of officially divorcing Luke even though she left him years ago because she's a good Catholic. A good Catholic who wanted a priest to abandon his vows to be with her and ultimately committed adultery with said priest, had his child, and has passed the child off as her husband's. Once again, it's Fee to call her out on her hypocrisy.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Because of the juicy, scandalous premise of the book (priest and beautiful woman have an affair), a lot of people think it's a discussion about chastity, or God, or the nature of priestly vows. The driving arc for Ralph, however, is his letting go of the prideful idea of being the "perfect priest" (which really only strokes his own ego) and through making mistakes and self-awareness, eventually becomes a good priest. Of course, as always, {{YMMV}}.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Meggie and Fee finally ending years of estrangement and embracing.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Meggie and Fee finally ending years of estrangement and embracing.
* {{CompletelyMissingThePoint}}: Because of the juicy, scandalous premise of the book (priest and beautiful woman have an affair), a lot of people think it's a discussion about chastity, or God, or the nature of priestly vows. The driving arc for Ralph, however, is his letting go of the prideful idea of being the "perfect priest" (which really only strokes his own ego) and through making mistakes and self-awareness, eventually becomes a good priest. Of course, as always, {{YMMV}}.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Meggie and Fee finally ending years of estrangement and embracing.

*** Which, at first glance, might be hypocritical irony. Fee herself had a child by a married man when she was young. Her father married her off to Paddy, her husband, in disgrace and the oldest son Frank grew up not knowing who his real father was. Mind you, Fee shows a great deal of remorse for keeping the secret from her son and is devastated when he leaves, so Fee is most likely trying to warn Meggie not to repeat her mistakes.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: When Meggie ''finally'' decides to leave Luke, and tells him ''exactly'' what she thinks of him. In the book she lays into him after they have sex for the last time and is pretty cutting, but in the mini-series it's even more delicious. She deliberately confronts him in front of his mates and then proceeds to perform a marital version of CallingTheOldManOut, emphasising his neglect of her and his disinterest in their daughter, mocking his obessession with proving his manhood, outright stating that he'd be of more use to other men than to her, and then rounding it all up with the ultimate blow to his pride: "''You'' can't make love for ''toffee''."