Little House on the Prairie

I loved this show until this episode - at which point Michael Landon completely destroyed the show's credibility and I never watched another episode. I remember, the first time I saw it, wondering why Charles - who was never the religious rock of the Ingalls family in previous episodes - was suddenly willing to believe in miracles. Where was the altar when he was told his own daughter was going blind? This was completely out of character for Charles Ingalls.



And, while I'm the first to admit that miracles DO occur, this one just wasn't plausible to me. This episode's second half would have been much more meaningful if the boy (who was shortly going to be off the show anyway) had died. Michael Landon (complete with the whole Moses beard and moustache look) really blew it with this one.

This episode made me begin to question whether or not Michael Landon had lost his marbles.(Just check out the beard and you'll know what I mean) I still cannot accept that after all the adversity he had faced in the past (Mary went blind for crying out loud) he's going to fall apart now over a child that's not even his!! He's only known him for a year!

OK, Freddie died, Laura ran away, Mary had an operation, Ma nearly died, Mary went blind, etc, etc, etc...And through it all Charles had his faith to comfort him. Think of the lovely scene in Part one of "The Lord is My Shepard" when he and Ma say the Lord's Prayer together. His faith was there to help him get through the tough times, not to circumvent them.

I never liked the addition of James and Cassandra in the first place, so I don't think I would have cared for this episode even if Charles' behavior wasn't so radical. Why couldn't it have been Albert? There is nothing here that makes any sense or adds to the series as a whole.

Dreadful.

His character's facial growth isn't the only frightening thing about this episode. The plotline combined with Charles' slightly mystic religious connotations take the viewer on a surreal experience out of Walnut Grove and into The Twilight Zone. Charles professes that he's heard a message from God that his son, James - who is in a coma - will be healed. The whole family flips out under the stress of being told James is bound to die, but Charles' insistence that he'll live. In a bizarre coincidence, Doc Baker happens to have a buddy who is a psychologist who happens to be in Walnut Grove (even though personal psychology was a relatively new phenomenon in the United States in the 1800's) who stops by to psychoanalyze Charles after Doc Baker happens to overhear in the mercantile Charles' plans to take James away for a miraculous healing. Charles gives the docs the brush-off, packs up comatose James in his wagon, and goes off to set up camp, nurse James, and build an altar. In the process, he grows a beard that would terrorize small children, coaxes James into moving his eyes, and meets a strange man who is of course some sort of an angelic figure. Miracles do happen and people I know have been suddenly healed, but this plot was just too gimmicky. Charles' theology comes off more as quirky than touching, and that beard just enhanced the sentiment. Charles has never been known not to be perfectly clean-shaven throughout the worst of the prairie epidemcis. Couldn't he have packed a razor on this trip?

James is in a coma and Charles keeps on insisting that he's going to live. Cassandra is hurt by seeing her brother like this and them hearing Charles talk anout it. She begs to go stay with Laura. Charles insists that god has told him that James will live/survive. He starts telling eople about it and Doctor Baker over hears charles talking and his coincdentally in town phsychaiatrist friend is in town. And then he tries to talk to charles about this. Charles then leaves with James and the family is at home with out those two. Mean while, while out with James in his camp, Charles adds new thingss An alter to heal James and a big ol'beard. (He looks as the real Charles would have.) The alter works as a "light beam" thing goes through the alter and heals James. Caroline Coincidently happens to be looking for them the same time and She sees them and that James actually survived. Wow that is A LOT of cheese.

Everyone else seems to hate this episeode, but for some reason I find these God episodes great. Im not religious by any means, but I enjoy watching Charles test his faith, esp when it pays off BIG TIME. Another great God episode was that one where their son dies and Laura goes to the mountain to talk with God and to trade her life for that of her brothers. I also like this episode because you get to see Charles dispense some "Prairie Justice" on the hooligans that shot up his son James. Charles nearly strangles the gunman to death, but comes to his senses without killing the man. Maybe that was in part one....

The Engel's young son is shot accidentally in a hold-up. Though doctors can patch him up, it soon becomes evident that he may not survive.Michael, though, holds on to his faith when all around him have seemingly abandoned theirs in favor of more "in-the-worldly evidence.The family is in turmoil over the pending death of James, and equally concerned about Michael's refusal to realize that the boy is dying. There is an unexpected twist when Michael has a vision while he awaits the Miracle needed to cure his son....a vision soon shared by Mr. Edwards.This episode is true Little House at it's best!

After a serious gunshot wound, James Cooper (Ingalls) recovers from a coma-like state after Charles takes him to the wilderness and builds a monument to a higher power, and is guided by an angelic character.



This episode is certainly memorable, especially coming on the heels of part 1, a story of Charles, Edwards, and Albert tracking the outlaws who had shot James in a very "western"-like story. Honestly, whether you believe in a higher power or not, Charles's actions are seemingly out of character for the eight year run on Little House episodes that preceed this episode. Many previous storylines focus on spiritual power being important for helping people find the inner strength to COPE with situations. Here, the focus is on the granting of a miraculous wish through single-minded faith and the direct intervention of a higher power to CHANGE a situation. It seemed specifically overdone when the angelic character appears to Edwards (after calming the wind) and warns him not to seek Charles until after the "miracle" has taken place. There are some similarities in this episode to "The Lord is My Shepard" (even down to re-cycled music scoring), but the strength in that episode lay in better ambiguity in the Jonathan character and the fact that the message focused more on learning one's worth through personal spiritual examination and strength.



Little House on the Prairie never apologized for religious aspects during its run, and whether this appeals or not, I found the approach here too specific, too different, and too focused on a rather narrow view.

This was a very powerful episode, although it crossed a line of surrealism that "Little House" never really went down before. Sure, this show has always exhibited a sense of faith and belief in good things happening--that is for certain. But this episode focuses on a specific lack of realism--almost like a fantasy that shows there is indeed a fine line between optimism and going overboard. Still, it is a fine episode, an indicator that God is out there and indeed performs miracles when the faith is strong enough to permit.