View source for The Thorn Birds/YMMV

{{work}}
* [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]: 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 [[Calling the Old Man Out]], 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''." 
* [[Values Dissonance]]: 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 [[I Gave My Word|vow]] to stay away from women they knew when they were children.
** Most people would instantly be suspicious of a grown man spending so much time with a little girl. But because Ralph is a priest everyone puts aside those suspicions (except for Mary Carson who senses Ralph's attraction to Meggie from the get-go). He only starts to avoid her as she grows up because he knows he can no longer hide his feelings and that people will no longer find their relationship so innocent. Nowadays, the reverse is true.
** 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.
*** 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.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Thorn Birds]]
[[Category:YMMV]]