Little House on the Prairie

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The Godsister ranks 271,334 out of all 118,440 episodes (of all shows) on TV.com.

Little House on the Prairie fans have written a total of 9 reviews of The Godsister.

Air Date

Monday December 18, 1978

Production Code

5006

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  7 Good

  Poor Carrie is in everyone's hair. They want her outta there and do everything they can to shoo her away. The little girl's loneliness causes her to see another little ghostly girl (played by her twin). hide show

  Why such a low rating for this ep? I just saw "The Godsister" a couple of weeks ago and braced myself for its supposed wretchedness and guess what? It's decent! And I am critical of lousy writing! I thought it was a solid effort. Yeah, it has its surreal moments but so what? It never veers into any kind of illogical behavior because the viewer knows that Carrie may be dreaming all this. We know she is alone/lonely, we know she is young and prone to "seeing things," and yet there is still this possibility that magic does exist, which touches me. I don't need linear ideas 24/7.

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    2 6

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  walnutgrove Added Jan 6, 2009 All my reviews
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  4.5 Poor

  As per main summary (4.5 out of 10) hide show

  This episode could have been a lot worse but at least had the redeeming feature of a good second plot of Charles' and and Garvey's venture into the world of telecoms, unlike 'The hunters' which just had one tedious main plot from which there was no respite. Their part was quite interesting and funny at times such as the old Irishman Shaughnessy blowing up his 'whiskey factory'.
  
  All Sidney (or whichever of the twins it was) did was run around shouting Alissa over and over and over. Her acting wasn't that bad given monotonous dialogue. A bit of a bizarre one directed by Landon.

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  DonnyDonson Added Aug 19, 2008 All my reviews
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  10 Perfect

  Lindsay and Sidney on screen together! hide show

  Wow! I read a lot of negative reviews here on this episode and, for the life of me, I can't figure out why. I'd like to contribute a positive review if I may. This is the episode where we get to see both Lindsay and Sidney on screen at the same time. It has been a while since I've seen it so my memory does not have all the details. I have to say I do remember the episode as being very heart warming. While most episodes are from Laura's perspective, this one was from Carrie's. I wish there were more.
  
  I liked the dialog between Caroline and Charles at the beginning where he says he'll stay home if it means that much to her. Then Ma says he can go. ... I know how he feels.
  
  As soon as I get a copy of season 5, I intend to watch this episode again.

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  nbrownfzi Added Jun 11, 2008 All my reviews
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  10 Perfect

  Wonderful to see an episode that focuses on the part of Carrie, played by Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush. This episode has always been my favourite! hide show

  The Godsister has been my favourite episode ever since I was little. As a child this episode was so magical! It was lovely to get to see the world through the imagination of Carrie, and bringing the "Godsister" into her world was a clever way to let us see both twins - Lindsay and Sidney - together! The girls played the part of Carrie perfectly, and really made her a wonderful character, even though the part was often very small. When seeing them in their later works (Matt Houston for Lindsay & Hambone and Hillie for Sidney) it makes me almost sad, as their acting talent is really amazing, and it's a tragedy it wasn't put to better use as the girls got older on Little House. Still today, I really love this episode! It's wonderful to finally get a real Carrie-focused episode! (the only other is "Little Girl Lost", where Carrie's part is a lot smaller than in this episode).

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  gbtwins Added Jun 11, 2008 All my reviews
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  10 Perfect

  Regarding the episode "The Godsister", is one of my favorites. It was wonderful to have both of the Sidney and Rachel in the same episode. This was a very touching, and heart warming episode. I totally loved it.
  Marilyn hide show

  This was outstanding, especially because we had the honor of having both of the Greenbush twins together in the same episode. The writers did a fantastic job with this episode.
  I loved all the tenderness of Carrie missing her Daddy.
  The twins did a great acting job, especially because they were so young. Such great talent. This is a definate must see episode.
  Thanks Sidney and Lindsey for a fantastic job. I only wish there could have been more episodes that featured the twins, they were so cute, and always had a smile on their faces. I love them both. There great.

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  palmermarilyn Added Jun 11, 2008 All my reviews

• Guest Cast

  • Lindsay Greenbush Alyssa (uncredited as)
  • Sidney Greenbush Alyssa (uncredited as)
  • Patrick Sullivan Burke Head Angel
  • Dolph Sweet Swaggart
  • George Wallace Perkins
  • Burke Byrnes Watkins
  • William Wintersole Henderson
  • Tom Clancy (II) Shaughnessy

• Stars

  • Melissa Gilbert Laura Elizabeth Ingalls/Wilder
  • Wendi Turnbaugh baby Grace Ingalls (shared) (1978-82)
  • Patrick Labyorteaux Andrew 'Andy' Garvey (1977 - 1981) (as Patrick Laborteaux)
  • Matthew Laborteaux Albert Quinn Ingalls (1978 -1982)
  • Michael Landon Charles Ingalls (1974 - 1982)
  • Karen Grassle Caroline Quiner Holbrook Ingalls (1974 - 1982)
  • Lindsay Greenbush Carrie Ingalls (1974 - 1982)
More Episode Cast and Crew »

• The giant berries for Carrie's dream sequences were made by tying red balloons together and putting a dish of juice behind them. Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush would dip the balloons in the juice, smear it on their faces, and then say their lines, so it looked like they were eating them. [edit]
• Carrie was about the age of a first grader in this episode, and yet it appears that every time she asks to help, Caroline turns her away and tells her to just go play. A child that age is certainly old enough to help out around the farm, and in that time period, it was important for all the adults and children to do their share. It's unrealistic, then, that Carrie would still be portrayed as too young to help with chores, especially in light of the fact that Charles was gone, and Caroline could have really used an extra pair of hands. And didn't Caroline just say in an earlier scene that when Charles was away, she got so tired with all the extra work she had to take on? Why, then, couln't she find something for the child to do? [edit]
• This is the worst rated Little House on the Prairie episode, based on tv.com votes. It is also the episode for which Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush have received the harshest criticism for their acting performances as Carrie. [edit]

• Sidney Greenbush, one of the twin girls who played Carrie, credits this as her favorite episode. "We finally got to prove to Michael Landon that we were every bit as good and talented as anyone else on the show," she has said. [edit]
• This is the first and only episode where Carrie has multiple one-on-one scenes with each of her parents. [edit]
• Lindsay Greenbush played Carrie in the scene where she was kicking her legs and waking up from her dream, yelling "Don't let it catch you! Don't let it!" over and over. Lindsay says that this is one of the scenes she remembers vividly and is most proud of. [edit]

• Carrie: Mrs. Garvey?
  Alice: Carrie, how are you?
  Carrie: Awful.
  Alice: Are you sick?
  Carrie: No, just in a way. [edit]
• Charles: I'm sorry, Caroline. I shouldn't have said that. I don't know why I said it.
  Caroline: (in tears) It's just that when you're away, I get so tired.......and at night, I'm......(cries harder) lonely.
  Charles: Come on, come on, it's all right. If it means that much to you, I won't go. I'll tell Jonathan.
  Caroline: You will?
  Charles: Of course I will. Do you feel better now?
  Caroline: (smiles) Yeah. Charles, you can go.
  Charles: But you just said--
  Caroline: I know what I just said, but now that I know you'd give it up, you can go.
  Charles: Now that you know I'd give it up, I can go?
  Caroline: Mm-hmm.
  Charles: Caroline, I don't understand you.
  Caroline: I know. Come on, supper's ready. (gets up and leaves)
  Charles: (to himself) Now I can go. Before, I couldn't go. I just don't get it. [edit]
• Charles: (wants to take a business trip with Jonathan) Come on, Caroline, it's just one month. Thirty days, and I'll make fifty dollars! With that kind of money, Jonathan and I can fix up that mill like new.
  Caroline: Charles, we have enough to eat, and we have a roof over our heads! We're getting along just fine.
  Charles: Come on, Caroline, don't make this any harder on me than it already is.
  Caroline: Why does it always have to be hard on you? Did you ever stop to think that it's hard on me? (storms out) [edit]

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