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Little House on the Prairie

Journey In The Spring (2)

Season 3, Episode 8, Aired Nov 22, 1976

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8.6

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Although he is still struggling with his wife's death, Lansford adjusts well in Walnut Grove and bonds with everyone in the family, especially Laura. Unfortunately, another tragedy threatens to tear them all apart just when things are really starting to look up.moreless

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Arthur Hill

Lansford Ingalls
GUEST STAR
Robert Gibbons

Clerk
GUEST STAR
Jim Boles

Brewster

Melissa Gilbert

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls/Wilder
Melissa Sue Anderson

Mary Amelia Ingalls/Kendall (1974 - 1981)
Michael Landon

Charles Ingalls (1974 - 1982)
Karen Grassle

Caroline Quiner Holbrook Ingalls (1974 - 1982)
Lindsay Greenbush

Carrie Ingalls (1974 - 1982)
Sidney Greenbush

Carrie Ingalls (1974 - 1982)

Fan Episode Reviews (2)

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Lansford settles in with the family while he continues to grieve for his lost wife. Meanwhile, Laura misbehaves quite badly a number of times and appears to get away with it, and we see a side to Lansford which doesn't paint hi in a very good light.moreless

6.5

"Fair"

By Lady_Lancaster, Apr 14, 2011

Being with the family in Walnut Grove is clearly good for the elderly Lansford Ingalls and he becomes especially close to Laura, who spends a lot of time with him during his grieving and healing process.

Things start to become unstuck, however, when Laura's horse, Bunny gets trapped in a barbed wire fence and whilst Grandpa tells her the horse will be fine, Charles knows the beloved pet will have to be destroyed.

Things go more than a little pear-shaped from here as Grandpa runs away and Laura attempts to follow him. Falling out of the carriage of a freight train, Lansford is mildly injured but refuses to come home until Laura threatens to catch a train to Boston with stolen money. The old man goes back to the farm with her and stays for the winter before heading back to Wisconsin.

Not a terrible episode, but one which could have been handled much better than it was with regard to scripts and moral outcomes. Having said that, this show is usually right on the money in that department so I'm not going to complain too much.moreless
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Half Pint and Grandpa both try to outdo one other with blubbering and tears and threats of running away, all at the small expense of the rest of the family.

4.5

"Poor"

By millerem99, Apr 14, 2011

This episode just grates me, from nearly the time it begins until the last scene in which Laura sits pouting by the brook instead of spending her last few minutes with her grandpa. Here's the plot: mealy-mouth Gramps has problems telling the truth and keeping his word - the audience witnesses him flip and flop, this elderly man who supposedly raised Charles to be the man he is and still hasn't learned his lesson even after he promised his wife something, didn't keep it, then she croaked. So when Laura accidentally runs her horse into some barbed wire, causing fatal injury to the animal, Grandpa assures her the felled beast will be just fine. Naturally, it is not and instead needs to be shot. When Pa comes running to assess the damage, Laura throws a fit and openly defies his instructions to go home...several times. (This is one of the times we see that quality in Laura that goes beyond spunk and that made me really think of her as a perpetual brat). When she continued to tell Pa "No" and appeal to her grandfather, I really was hoping that just maybe, Pa would put ol' Half Pint out of her misery instead of the horse. The episode goes on and on, with Laura hating Grandpa, Grandpa hating himself, Laura feeling sorry for herself, Grandpa feeling sorry for himself, Laura getting sense talked into her by Mr. Edwards, Grandpa trying to hop a freight train and nearly biting the dust, Laura running off without telling a soul in the world where she's going and stealing the family money as well. Did this noodlehead ever think to tell an adult first, or ask for some basic help? No, that would be too sensible. Finally, Laura finds Grandpa lying on a cot, supposedly all banged up from his futile train-hitching attempt. She manipulates him with threats to buy a ticket to Boston (and do what pray tell?) with her stolen dollars and Gramps overhears it, rushes off his cot to stop her, and suddenly he's healed, he's repentant of being a liar all his life, and the two walk all the back towards Walnut Grove. Pa and Mr. Edwards find them and it's all smiles. Laura doesn't even get in the least bit of trouble for raiding the family money pot and taking off without a word to who-knows-where. In the final scene Half Pint sulks by a stream until Grandpa explains he's gotta vamoose before he bites the dust, and then she's suddenly okay with it. Again, one of my least favorite episodes.moreless
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- Laura (voiceover): Grandpa stayed with us through the long winter, he laughed and sang and told stories about when Pa was little. I hoped he would stay with us forever, but when spring came Grandpa said he had to journey home. No one wanted him to go, especially me, because I loved him so.
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- Lansford:Your Pa is a pretty smart man Laura: Oh I know that, but you just said Pa's aren't right all of the time, didn't you? Lansford: Yeah, but right or wrong a bodies got to do what their Pa says. Laura: I suppose, wait a minute! That's it! Lansford: What child? Laura: Well, you just said, "a bodies got to do whatever their Pa says". Lansford: Uh huh Laura: Well if I told you the problem, maybe you could think of a better idea. One that's more right then Pa's. Lansford: Oh, hold on now, your Pa has already made a decision. Laura: Oh, I know that, but you're Pa's Pa, he has to do what you tell him to besides, if Pa's are smart, then Pa's Pa's are even smarter. Lansford: Well I...
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- Laura: Bunny's gonna be all right, isn't she, Grandpa? Lansford: I, uh.....I'm afraid she....I'm afraid she's worse off than I figured. Laura: It'll just take her longer to mend, then. Lansford: No, child. She won't mend. Laura: But you promised. You said you'd make her better. Lansford: I wanted her to get well. I.... Charles: Half-Pint, you go home now. Go home with your grandpa. Laura: No. I won't go with him. He lied. He promised me, and he just lied.
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- Lansford: What are you doing? Laura: I'm going to Boston. Lansford: You are not! Laura: I am too. I was going to run away from home, anyway. The only reason I was staying was because of you and Bunny. Now you're both gone.....so I'll just be on my way. Lansford: You're not talking sense! Laura: Neither are you. And I'm supposed to understand. Lansford: Now, you listen to me-- Laura: No, I won't! That's the trouble. I have to listen to everybody. Go to school when I don't want to....chores all the time....Mary bossing me around, and Carrie just doing what she pleases. Well, no more. Lansford: Laura, your family loves you. Laura: Don't matter. I'm gonna be like you. People love you, but you just don't care. You're just too busy thinking about your own self. Well, why can't I? You think I'm like Grandma, but I'm not. I'm like you. I love you, and....(hugs him)
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