Reviews

They definitely reused the idea from a previous episode for this one. This one hits closer to home though, since it involves Albert.

Albert wants to commit to being a doctor.. Once Charles find out how much it costs, he says to the recruiter that it's beyond his means. The recruiter tells him that since Albert's grades are so good, he may be eligible for a paid scholarship. Charles tells him they are definitely interested.

During all this, Albert has been suffering fatigue and nose bleeds. Early on, theyre not too concerned about it.. But after being back in Walnut grove for a while, the bleeding & fatigue became more frequent. After collapsing during a baseball game, the Dr. Examined him and suggested he be tested in Mankato. They find out Albert has Leukemia. The rest of the episode focuses on Albert living out the rest of his life doing what makes him happy. This is one of the times I am annoyed with Laura. She's being very bossy and selfish to Albert, telling him he should get into bed and rest. Finally, Charles sits her down and sets her straight. He tells her to let Albert do what he wants with the rest of his life. Laura said, Albert should rest. Charles said "for who? For you (Laura) or Albert?" Then Charles finally convinces Laura to admit "My brother is going to die".

I'm surprised they didn't have more episodes featuring Willie. He was a fine actor, as proven in this episode. He finally graduated and ready to go out in the world. But the path he wants to take differs from the one his mother wants. Willie wants to marry a classmate by the name of Rachel and run the restaurant. Harriet wants him to go to college. Knowing it will cause problems at home, Willie still goes with his dreams, deliberately failing his entrance exam to college. After a preliminary argument, Willie asks Rachel's father for her hand (which he allows) and starts making arrangements for the wedding. Which includes reserving a room at Laura and Almonzo's new boarding house they inherited. While going to deliver invitations, Rachel over hears Harriet complaining how she was thinking Willie was throwing away his life marrying Rachel and she accuses her of convincing Willie to fail his entrance exam. Rachel ran off, dropping all the invitations. Willie confronts Rachel and asks her what's wrong. She tells Willie what happened. He's finally had enough and confronts Harriet. He unloads on her and blames her for ruining his life and that Rachel made him happy and made his life better. As he stormed off, he tells her that he's having Mr. Edwards as his best man. Talk about a major burn! Willie definitely had the last word. Nels was astonished and proud of him for standing up to her finally.

Anyway, they wed and Harriet snuck in to the wedding wearing a dark veil. Nels went up to her afterwards and congratulated her for attending. Later on, during the reception, Nels went home to a sad and lonely Harriet. Nels remind her how before they were married, how his mother disapproved of him leaving college to marry her. He told Harriet that was the best thing he had ever done and that he would do it all over again. She was overjoyed hearing that. He then asked her for a dance, which they did.

The only thing I had a problem with is that girl looked a bit too old for Willie. I looked both him and her up and she is in fact 7 years older. They shouldve chosen a girl closer to his age.

Sadly in this one, another baby dies. This time it's Laura's.. SID was around even then, but understood even less. Because of this many blamed the Dr. As did Laura, Harriet Olsen and later most of the others in Walnut grove.

Many commentors are complaining about Harriet's behavior. But she's a mother and something like this hits them harder. Nels shouldve been more understanding and sympathetic to his wife. I applauded Harriet when she threw that towel in Nel's face. Not that I thought Dr. Baker was to blame. But like I said, things couldve been handled much better at the Olsen's. Anyway, Out of nowhere, poor Rose contracted small pox and they had no other choice but to trust Dr. Baker to help her through it. With much help and many prayers, Rose got through it. Eventually, Laura came to her senses and realized Dr. Baker had nothing to do with the baby dying. After everyone expressed their feeling towards Dr. Baker and Laura apologized for her behavior and pleaded with him to stay, he agreed to. On a side note, you'll find the arguments between Edwards and Harriet quite amusing. Made me laugh out loud.

...and I'll meet you at the station!

The railroad wants to go through Walnut Grove. At first, it looked very promising for the people there. They were looking forward to all the money it would bring to the town. But they soon find out it would be at a cost. Several of the families would have to sell their property to the railroad. They werent too happy about that. John Carter's land was the key property they were after, being that it was the first one the train rails had to go through. They first tried to buy him off. Didn't work. Then one night, some hooded men tried to scare him off by beating him up. Then finally, Almonzo came up with an idea to hold up construction for a few days, while the surveyor surveyed an alternate path through a neighboring town (which wanted the rail road to begin with). After succeeding to delay the construction, the surveyor was able to convince the railroad to take the alternate path.

The acting in the season is more like a night time soap opera, than a comedy/drama as it used to be. I'm guessing they brought in some out of work soap opera writer to save money. I know Stan Ivar (John Carter) used to be a soap opera star.

Yet another episode where no one appreciates poor Nancy. Nelli comes to town and everyone stops the well deserved attention Nancy usually gets (which she deserves getting of course!). Anyway, after Hariett selfishly refuses to do Nancy's essay, in order to plan and prepare a birthday party for that nothing burger Nelli. At the birthday party, everyone was rude to Nancy by focusing their attention on Nelli (How dare they!). Rightfully, Nancy left. She went home and completed her essay on how everyone hates her. At that time, she decided she had enough abuse and was running away. She left with her essentials: Her dolly. After trekking a while, she found an old broke down barn and decided to take a little nappy. She was awakened by a mean doggy who wanted to eat her. In her haste, she left her dolly and ran off. Now she's wandering aimlessly, calling out to mommy and daddy. Nelli and the others see the essay and realized that Nancy go bye bye! They all went looking for her. Eventually, Nelli and Nels find the barn with the dolly. Since there was no blood, they knew Nancy was ok. After searching a while. Nelli found Nancy. After convincing her that everyone in Walnut Grove loved her most of all, Nancy decided to give all the people there a second chance. The End.

They changed yet another part of Walnut Grove history. The Lars Hanson house which was converted into the school for the blind has miraculously reappeared. A few seasons earlier, it burned down. Anyway, in this episode, Harriett Olsen had purchased the house and was refurbishing it for resale. While cleaning it, she found a bond worth after interest, around $14,000. Instead of cashing it in, she decided to use it as leverage in renaming Walnut Grove into Olsenville. After being disturbed by someone riding their wagon on the street her house is on after 10pm, she decided to have Nels run as Mayor, so he can enforce city ordinances; Such as no driving after 10pm. Anyway, at one point, Almonzo was going to run against Nels, then decided against it because his lack of political experience. Lem McCary then decided to run instead. He won the election and as expected, Hariett Olsen decided to cash her bond in, which would bankrupt the town. Then out of the shadows, Jess Moffet appeared. He pointed out to Harriett how there was a #2 on her bond. Jess had a same bond at home, but with a #1 on it. If he decided to cash it in, his would have to be paid first. Then Jess asked the new mayor if it was ok to pay him $1 a year. He agreed, making Hariett's bond worthless. Hariett storms off, throwing her bond to the street. The end.

If you're expecting the same quality as the first 8 seasons, think again. This is at least two notches below, and I am being generous. The script, story and acting is overly pretentious. It's like watching a play of people over acting their parts. If you can see beyond those flaws, it's better than no Little house... Anyway, a quick summary... Charles and family move to the big city so he can get gainful employment in a clothing store. Laura quits teaching to raise Rose. Zalzamo's brother "Royal" comes to town. But this time he's a widower and has a daughter. 2 seasons earlier, he had a wife and 2 boys. Anyway, he's in poor health and has yet to let everyone know the extent of his health problem. As for the new school teacher, her name is Miss Etta Plum, who is acted by Michael Landon's real daughter. That's the gist part 1 of the 2 parter. I left out some details, but theyre not important. The only saving grace of the series, the olssens and Mr Edwards are still in town. The friction between Mr. Edwards and Hariett Olssen is enough to keep me watching.

I believe this was intended to be the last 2 part episode of not only the season, but the series as well. But as we all know, they extended the series 1 more season. Anyway, this was very well written. It focused around a 12 year old James having a birthday party with the Ingalls family. He received a bank note for $15 from his grand uncle. Charles offered to take James and his check to the big city to deposit it in a bank there, since it paid more interest. Things took a turn for the worst and James and Albert walked in on a bank robbery in progress. One of the robbers shot James by mistake. Leaving him in the care of the town's physician, Charles, Isaiah and Albert go to hunt down the ones responsible.

Very good 2 part episode. It starts out with Charles and Zalzamo returning after Zal purchased 5 new horses. He bought them on credit, which Charles wasn't too happy about. Anyway, after showing them to Beth and being lectured by her about getting too far in debt, he put them in the corral. They break to Zalzamo plowing the field. The second time they did that, it was in the pouring rain. At dinner that night, Beth scolded him for doing so and getting sick. He assured her he just had a cold and he was going to be alright. Then Zal apologized. They then show him plowing the field again, but he looked much worse. After resting his head on the plow, Zalzamo went back to the house and then collapsed. Dr Baker checked him out and told Laura that hi had diphtheria, a very contagious disease. Much to everyone's disagreement, a pregnant Laura insisted that she was going to take care of him. That night Zalzamo was awakened by hail on the roof. He screamed "the crop" and ran out the house, withe LAura chasing him. He then collapsed shortly after leaving the house. The next scene, Dr Baker was there at bed side. Zalzamo woke up with a stroke. The rest of the episode focuses on Zalzamo giving up on everything and unwilling to take matters in getting back his mobility Eliza came back to Walnut grove to baby Zalzamo, to Laura's dismay. She wanted him to be strong and fight through it. Eliza wants Zalzamo and family to move to Minneapolis and get a desk job. Eliza and Laura fight it out over this. During all this, Laura gives birth to a healthy baby girl. She named her "Rose".

This episode was over the top in fat shaming. Nancy was the worst of all. She was exploiting poor Elmer every time she didn't get her way and when she needed something from him. Whether it be homework, chores done, a school project or even a laugh at his expense. Elmer was so desperate for anyone's attention, that he tolerated the abuse for the most part. He tried losing weight and was being successful. After losing 12 pounds, he rejoiced and shared his successful results with Nancy, who responded "So, you'll need to lose 100 pounds before anyone will notice", leaving him more sad than ever. Writing an essay about what a friend is, Elmer reveals to the student how saddened he is by how he's treated and that he's not going to take it any more and he was quitting school. He then ran home. After breaking the news to his parents, scolded his mother for doing the same thing to his little brother about his eating and that he should eat more like Elmer. Elmer tells her, "why? So he can be big and fat like me and have to put up with the same things he has to?" Then stormed off. Anyway, the kids from the class came to his house, apologized and persuaded Elmer to go back to school. After brushing off Nancy when she was trying to get Elmer to force the other kids to let her play with them, Nancy cried "mother" and ran home and they zoomed in on Elmer giving a big smile.

Sadly, this is the only episode Elmer is in. It wouldve been great had they kept him on as a regular. He was a great actor and the character was really well written.

When it first starts, I was like "Oh boy, not one of these episodes". They show the 2 main characters of the episode trying to rob a bank and walk right in a police wagon, like in an old Charlie Chaplin movie. They jump to 12 years later where the 2 are riding a donkey in search of a mine in Walnut Grove. Anyway, skipping the details, they kidnap Nels, HArriet refuses to pony up the $100 ransom, Nels gets angry and agrees to help the kidnappers achieve their goal. But that proves to be unsuccessful as well. Finally, after capturing too many hostages to feed, the kidnappers free them and then they run off. While Hariet, Willy and Nancy morn the loss of Nels, he appears from the other room. Harriet and Nancy faint and with a big grin, Willy asks Nels if he wants to go fishing. He agrees... The End.

In the beginning, Albert devotes all his time to watch over Mary. She is still catatonic. Charles convinces Albert to go to the city with him to keep him company on long trip. When there, Charles finishes up business and stares out the door to see a depressed Albert. Charles offers Albert a hunting rifle as a gift for having good grades in school. Albert sees a music box which played the lullaby tune in the window. He asks Charles if he can have that instead and that he wanted to give it to Mary. Charles agreed. Once back, Albert asks Caroline if he can go visit Mary instead because he had a present for her. She agreed. For the 1st time in a long time, Albert cracks a smile. Once at MAry's, Albert gives Mary the music box. After listening to it for a little bit, may began screaming "My baby!" over and over again, shocking Albert. Be busts out in tears and pleads with her that he didnt mean it and that it was an accident. Then ran out. At this point, Albert goes looking for his real father, getting the location for the lawyer that handled his adoption. After Charles found out through Mary that Albert's guilt was the cause of his depression, he asked Jonathan to help him find Albert. Earlier, Charles helped Jonathan get through his depression. Anyway, they Tracked down Albert at his real father's farm, where he had passed away and was buried at. Jonthan convinced Albert that it wasn't his fault. They went back to Walnut grove, where Adam told every one his father agreed to finance the new school and sent a plaque which read The Alice Garvey Adam Kendall Jr. School for the blind.

I am not going to get into the motive of this episode, as many have here did. Just going to get into the meat and potatoes. What started the whole thing was a picnic outside the blind school. Albert's friend stole a pipe from an old guy who was bragging to Doc Baker about how chewing garlic helped him retain his teeth. Albert and his friend went in the basement to fire up the pipe and take a few puffs off it. Their coughs caught Hester-Sue's attention. She went down in the basement and startled the kids. Albert threw the lit pipe on what looked like an old American flag. Anyway, Hester-Sue told Albert to go outside because they were about to serve dessert. So both Albert and his friend ran up the stairs and out of the basement, leaving the lit pipe and now smoldering flag.

Scene jumped to the evening, were blind kids were bedding down and Mary, Adam, Alice and Hester-Sue were in the kitchen having tea. Adam smelt smoke. Hester-Sue first thought it was the tea kettle, then notice smoke coming from underneath the basement door. She opened the door and there were flames everywhere. In their haste, they all went upstairs to get all the blind kids up and out of there. They past Mary's baby's crib and Alice told them to get out and that she would grab the baby. Most people are saying this is a flaw in the writing. But think about it. Would you trust a blind woman with a baby in a burning house? I wouldnt. Anyway, Mary and Adam got out and Alice went to grab the baby, then heard a cry for help by James who was trapped in the bathroom behind a stuck door. Alice set the baby down in the crib, then went to the bathroom to help James get out. After freeing him and sending him out, Alice proceeded to the crib, at which point there were flames everywhere. Alice rapped the baby up in blankets and frantically started running and screaming for help, trying to avoid the flames. The door was engulfed in flames, so she ran to the window. But they were on the 2nd floor, way above the ground. Alice broke the window, just as the flames engulfed her and the baby. Everyone was looking up in horror.

It jumps to the next scene, where Charles has the baby's remains, Mary insists on holding and Andy and Jonathan Garvey are with Alice's remains. Dr. Baker is rummaging through the debris and finds the pipe Albert dropped. Charles walked up and Dr. Baker told Charles he found what caused the fire. Dr Baker told him that they just threw it away.

Next scene, Charles is in the kitchen with Laura and Albert. Charles tells Albert to close the blind in his bedroom so Caroline wouldn't get disturbed by the sunrise. While doing so, Laura asked "why pa" Charles replied he didnt know . But added he knew what caused it. He told her it was a pipe. Overhearing it, Albert was shocked. He just stood there. Charles asked if he was alright. Albert replied that he was tired and was going to sleep.

Throughout the rest of the episode, Albert became more and more depressed. He got to the point where he just couldn't bring himself to go to the baby's funeral. So Charles let him stay home.

In the last scene of the episode, Albert offered to watch over Mary as Caroline went to run an errand. Albert sat and began reading a book by 1 of Mary's favorite authors. Soon after he began reading, Mary began humming a lullaby. Albert just stared at Mary, as his eyes began to tear up. The episode ends.

The episode starts out with a telegram to Caroline informing her that her parents are coming to town for a visit. Sadly, when Charles goes to the train station, he finds out that Caroline's mother passed away on the train. Of course, Caroline is devastated. But Charles helped her through it. Her father wasn't so fortunate, at first. He was depressed and had very little will to live. But, Albert changed that by convincing him to share some of his memories of happier times. In no time, he broke out of the depression. He joined the rest of the family for dinner. Albert mentions how Caroline's father shared some very amusing memories from the past. They convinced him to write them down and maybe write a book. He agreed enthusiastically. Upon finishing it, Caroline and Charles read it and were both so impressed by it, Charles suggested they see if they could get a publisher interested in publishing it. He sent off a copy of it to a publisher who later sent a reply showing interested in it and said they would be sending a contract that needed to be signed, along with more information. Overjoyed by this, Charles showed the letter to Caroline's father, who also became overjoyed. A short time later, they received the promised information from the publisher. Along with the contracts, there was a letter requesting around $32 to publish the book. The place ended up being a scam publish company that took advantage of new and desperate authors. Anyway, Charles didnt have the heart to tell Caroline's father about this. He ended up going to mancato with Laura and Albert to sell Charles' new plow, to try and scrape up the money to Publish the book. Coming up short, Laura and Albert decided to panhandle for some money. They ended up having enough with $0.50 to spare. They received the books and with the help of Albert's help again, Mrs Olsen agreed to take all the books to sell in the mercantile and give Charles the money in advance. Albert told Harriet that there was some juicy info on Caroline. Harriet just had to read it. Anyway, Caroline's father returned to the big woods a happy man and passed away 2 years later. Below his name, his tombstone read "Author".

Now for the odd part... Mary is pregnant in this episode and had a baby boy towards the end of the episode. It was like it was an after thought when they wrote the script. They had time to spare and shoehorned this in.

The Edwards family have plans to visit the Ingalls family. But an accident happens to Mr. Edwards which seems to have crippled him. Although they don't out right say he was crippled. You can assume he is by his behavior throughout the episode. As mentioned by others, Carl doesnt appear in this episode. Alicia is though and is pretty much the cause of the accident. Anyway, it was great seeing Mr Edwards again. Wish he wouldve been in more episodes though. It looks like this is the only episode he's in for the 6th season and won't appear again until the 8th season. This was a great episode and a must see. I left out a lot so you should really enjoy it!