A Matter Of Faith

Season 2, Episode 15, Aired

Episode Summary

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Caroline decides to stay home while Charles takes the kids on a trip. She thinks she is going to have some peaceful time to herself until a minor scratch on her leg flares into a major infection. Alone and with no immediate help available, Caroline turns to the Bible for comfort, only to stumble across the words "If thy leg offends thee, cut it off..."moreless
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  • With Charles and the children away, a minor scratch on Caroline's leg leads to major trouble.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Lady_Lancaster, Jul 03, 2011
    Caroline is looking forward to the peace and quiet of having the house to herself for a couple of days, just doing some baking and other general odds and ends, however, things don't go as planned when a small scratch on her leg leads to a massive infection which causes her great pain and gives her a raging fever.

    Alone, and with no help close by, Caroline has to decide what to do. Bravely, she opens up the huge wound on her leg to allow the infection to escape and, by doing so, saves her own life. Even Doc Baker is impressed!

    Terrific episode all round.moreless

  • A small scratch becomes a raging infection that nearly kills Caroline--all while the rest of the family is out of town.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By ceosmom, Nov 15, 2010
    I enjoy this episode for two reasons: it focuses on Caroline and allows her character to shine, and it cleverly incorporates religion into the story several times in one episode. Faith, after all, is supposed to be one of the central tenets of the LHOTP series. Caroline scratches herself on a wire just before the family is scheduled to take a brief out-of-town trip. Just before departure, Reverend Alden asks Caroline to make some pies for a church auction, resulting in her staying behind, alone. Her leg becomes infected, and shortly after leaving the pies out for the Reverend to pick up, she takes ill. She collapses while reading her bible, and comes to only when she hears the Reverend arrive to retrieve the pies. To weak to summon him for help, she collapses on the floor and eventually contemplates cutting off her leg. She succeeds only in opening the wound before fainting. When Charles arrives home, he of course summons Dr. Baker and Reverend Alden, who quips that "God alone must have told her to open that wound". A classic episode that I'm surprised is not rated higher here. Don't miss it when it airs!moreless

  • Plastic on Little house windows/Penicillin

    7.0
    "Good"
    By antihotmail, Jul 21, 2009
    Right at the beginning when the opening title of the
    episode is shown, you can see plastic sheets on the bedroom windows of their house. When all of the them go into the house, the parents bedroom window is closed due to the wooden shutters. I doubt that they had sheets of plastic in the late eighteen hundreds. You have to look quick to see the plastic
    but you can see it moving because of the wind.
    I suspect that maybe one of the glass windows was broken and this was a quick fix to protect the interior from damage. By the way Penicillin was Invented in 1928, by Sir Alexander Fleming so Caroline
    was out of luck when it came to getting medication. It
    was either your bodies immune system took care of
    infection or you died a very painful death. If she
    cut off her leg, she would have bleed to death. Either
    way if she listened to the bible, she was dead and if she did nothing she would died in excruciating pain from the infection.moreless
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  • TRIVIA (6)

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    • Karen Grassle only had just about mid-neck to shoulder length hair in real life. If you look real carefully the long hair for the show doesnt match her real hair. Its a piece wig. Her real hair in the front is a little highlighted and lighter than the wig. This is standard with a lot of the actresses on the show.

    • A Matter Of Faith is Karen Grassle's (Caroline "Ma" Ingalls) favorite episode from season two.

    • Notice Reverend Alden's expression near the end of the episode, while Doc Baker is tending to a very sick Caroline, and Charles has just walked in after being outside with Mary and Laura. Reverend Alden is sitting in the rocking chair, holding little Carrie as she sleeps, and the way he looks up at Charles, it's almost like he's saying, "I've been holding this baby for hours; are you going to take her now?" Then, when Charles shows no signs of doing so, the Reverend kind of just sighs and continues rocking back and forth. It's an interesting moment, and very well-acted to depict the passage of time as everyone awaited Caroline's fate.

    • When Charles, Mary and Laura are swimming near the end of the episode, you can totally tell that they are at the lake in Walnut Grove, even though they're supposed to be out of town.

    • Watch closely in the scene where Charles is swimming and rope-swinging with Mary and Laura. After Mary jumps in, Laura gets ready to swing and jump in for the second time (after already jumping previously and getting all wet), and you will notice that her hair and clothes are suddenly all dry.

    • In a nice bit of continuity, Mrs. Foster smells Caroline's pies and mentions that she should win the prize at the upcoming Founder's Day celebration. Both Caroline and Mrs. Oleson were runners up in the pie contest the previous year -- as shown in the season 1 episode "Founder's Day."

  • QUOTES (3)

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    • Doc Baker: (to Charles about Caroline) The fever's broken! Courageous woman--if she hadn't opened the infection when she did, she would have lost her leg, and probably her life. But now, with rest, she's going to be just fine.

    • Doc Baker: (about how Caroline cut open her infected leg just in time) You know, Reverend, a doctor would have a hard time making the decision Caroline did. How she picked exactly the right moment....only God knows. Rev. Alden: I'm sure He does, Hiram. I'm sure He does.

    • Laura: I've never seen Ma so sick before. Charles: Neither have I, darling, but....your Ma's real strong, and Doctor Baker's doing everything he can. Mary: She's not going to die, is she Pa? Charles: Come on, it's no time to be talking like that. God takes care of those who love Him. Laura: Then he has to let Ma live. He just has to. Charles: He will, darling, you wait and see. Laura: We'll just have to pray with all our hearts. Charles: That's right. With all our hearts.

  • NOTES (5)

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    • Filming Locations: Filmed at Big Sky Ranch, Simi Valley, Golden Oak Ranch, Newhall and Paramount Studios, Hollywood, California.

    • The Cullers home may look familiar because it also served as the home of the Boultons in Season 1's Plague.

    • Featured character: Caroline Ingalls (this is easily Karen Grassle's largest role in any episode of the series).

    • Nitpick: Caroline bakes the pies, then puts them on the shelves outside the front door to cool, covering them with cheesecloth. The pies get left out all night, in a thunderstorm with so much wind that we actually see the rain blowing almost sideways. With just a small roof covering the porch, how is it possible that the pies aren't soaked the next day when the Rev. Alden and Mrs. Foster pick them up?

    • This is a remake of a Bonanza episode entitled A Matter of Circumstance, originally telecast April 19, 1970. In that episode, Michael Landon's character Little Joe battled a rapidly spreading infection in his arm after being injured by a horse.

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