After school, when Albert borrows Willie's football, he and the little kids go running off to play. when you see them run off, there are seven little kids and Albert. But when they are getting their picture taken, there are only six little kids and Albert. What happened to the other little kid, the seventh one?
Most people did not have a picture of themselves and almost never had copies made of the one picture they might have had. The Bartons may seem well-off, but even wealthy people didn't typically have copies made. It is less realistic, then, that Leslie would be able to send a copy of a picture to Albert, or that Albert would be able to afford a picture of his "team" to send to her. Not only that, but since when does Walnut Grove have a resident professional photographer?
Though Albert and Leslie declare their love for each other in the final scenes, Leslie and the budding romance are, oddly, never mentioned again. We know that the relationship doesn't last long, though, because just a few episodes later, Albert falls head over heels for Sylvia.
In this episode, the newly-married Laura becomes Walnut Grove's latest teacher. However, women in that time were generally barred from teaching after marriage and in fact, the real Laura Ingalls Wilder never taught school again after marrying Almanzo on August 25, 1885. This TV series inaccurately depicted many married women teaching: Laura, Alice Garvey, and even Harriet and Caroline for temporary periods of time. Miss Beadle, too, kept teaching for a while after she was married and got pregnant.
Goof: This episode is set in the 1880's, and Leslie is apparently playing basketball, but James Naismith didn't invent the sport until 1893, when the real-life Laura Ingalls Wilder was 26 years old.
Carrie: I want to stay little forever, so you'll always tell me bedtime stories. Charles: Well, I'll always tell you a bedtime story as long as you want to hear one, and as long as you go to sleep as soon as I'm finished.
Caroline: Charles? Charles: Mmmhmm? Caroline: What's a murder of crows? Charles: Oh, it means a whole bunch, like a bevvy of quail or a flock of sheep. Caroline: Landsakes! Why would somebody call it a murder? Charles: It was probably a farmer after they ruined his corn crop.
Actress Suzy Gilstrap, who plays Albert's wheelchair-confined pen pal, is a real life paraplegic.
This is one of the very few episodes in the series in which young Carrie Ingalls actually has a fairly large role. She appears in more scenes and has more speaking lines than perhaps any other episode (not including, of course, the infamous Season 5 episode "The Godsister"). This episode is the most we see of the character for the remainder of the series.
If the doctor's office in this episode looks familiar, it should, because it also served as the office of Dr. Burke, Mary's loyal eye doctor from when she got her first pair of glasses in Season 2, to when she went blind in Season 4.
Featured character: Albert Ingalls
The story is set in Walnut Grove and Minneapolis. As town credits, only Albert and Willie are here, the rest being supplied as Minneapolis residents or other irregular Walnut Grove folk.
A story about untruths and love.
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