Little Girl Lost

Season 3, Episode 5, Aired

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6.8
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Frustrated that Carrie has insisted on tagging along for a school assignment, Mary and Laura fail to keep a close eye on her. They live to regret this when the little girl wanders off and falls into an underground mine shaft. Despite the frantic efforts of everyone in town, the only person who can really help is the knowledgeable Mr. Laudy, an alcoholic ex-miner who may finally have a shot at redemption.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

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  • Little Carrie Ingalls falls down a disused mine shaft and the whole town turns out in an attempt to help rescue her. Quite frankly, I was bored, in spite of the drama.moreless

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By Lady_Lancaster, May 05, 2011
    Carrie Ingalls is a little girl who wants to keep up with her sisters and, in joining in with them one day, falls down an old, abandoned mineshaft. The townsfolk have mixed feelings about whether or not Carrie can survive, but Charles, Caroline and Mr. Edwards refuse to give up hope.

    It falls to an alcoholic former miner to give them the assistance they need, in spite of Mr. Hansen's insistence that he has no idea what he is talking about due to an old grudge between them.

    After much standing around and digging and most of the episode shot in the dark, an unharmed Carrie is rescued, thanks to this alcoholic who knew a lot more than everybody gave him credit for.moreless

  • Carrie falls down a mine shaft, and death seems imminent until an alcoholic former miner comes to the rescue.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By ceosmom, Aug 10, 2010
    This is a classic near death experience LHOTP episode where the viewer is left wondering if someone will die right up to the very end. When Carrie Ingalls falls deep into a narrow, abandoned mineshaft, an alcoholic social outcast and former miner seems to be the only person in town who knows how to attempt a rescue that won't kill the young girl. A subplot involving Lars Hansen, whose former love ended up leaving him for the alcoholic miner many years earlier, adds to the tension. As a mother, I literally feel Caroline Ingalls' anguish as she waits in a near-catatonic state, rocking back and forth on her knees and exhausted, by the tiny opening in the earth where her baby disappeared. Riveting, powerful, and probably too intense for the seven-and-under set.moreless

  • In this episode "Caroline Ingall"'s role is amazing.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By crittercove, Aug 10, 2010
    In so many other episodes, Caroline's character is sweet, faithful, kind, caring, etc. She plays a great and important role, but there isn't always a lot of depth. Once in a while she loses her composure a bit with Mrs. Oleson, but it isn't as though she really goes off on her. This episode, however, we really get to see the actress' ability. She portrayed the role so intensely, I felt like it was really happening. She goes through so many emotions,unfairly blaming Miss Beadle to immediately turning her anger back onto herself. Watching her, exhausted, calling to Carrie, so desperate for an answer...seeing her working the billows when she was so tired she could scarcely move...hearing her declare Carrie was sleeping, that's why she wasn't answering. The emotions were raw and very real. When she learns the hole caved in and it was hopeless, watching her collapse to the ground, spreading herself out at the spot Carrie fell, as though she could somehow "hug" the ground and, thus Carrie, it was very, very moving. I cried and cried because I could feel her anguish. Kudos to Karen for her portrayal.moreless
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  • TRIVIA (5)

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    • In this episode, a Walnut Grove townperson (in this case, Mr. Hanson) holds a grudge against someone else, and that person ends up being the only one able to help when a child falls into a hole. In Season 9's Little Lou, there was a similar plot. Harriet Oleson was prejudice against the title character, who ended up being the only one capable of saving Harriet's daughter from a hole she fell into.

    • Emotionally unstable after her little daughter has fallen down the mine shaft, Caroline Ingalls does what many mothers in her situation tend to do: she blames someone else (in this case, Miss Beadle). Even considering the gravity of the situation, this was incredibly out of character for Caroline, and she never did such a thing again for the rest of the series.

    • When Carrie is stuck in the well and appears to be in a position to die, Caroline openly blames Miss Beadle for the whole thing. Similarly, in Season 9's A Child With No Name, Laura blamed another townsperson--Doc Baker--for the death of her infant son. These are the only two Ingalls members to blame another person for a tragedy involving one of their children. Even Mary didn't do that when her two babies--her only children--died in Seasons 5 and 6.

    • Right after Carrie falls and Jack runs to see her, you can see the hole that she "fell" through. This hole is way too small for a child Carrie's age to have fallen in, even if she was wedged tightly.

    • The drama is heightened when Laudy discovers a lump of coal and guesses that the hole is actually an air vent for an abandoned mine. However, there have never been any coal mines in Minnesota and there are no coal deposits in the state.

  • QUOTES (1)

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    • Carrie: (about her sisters) I want to go with them. Caroline: Don't you want to go into town with me? Carrie: No. I wanna catch bugs! Caroline: (laughs) All right. Mary: Oh Ma, does she have to come? You have to be really quiet to catch bugs. Carrie: I'll be quiet. I promise. Caroline: She wants to go so bad. Mary: (sighs) All right. If we don't catch any bugs, you'll know why.

  • NOTES (2)

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    • John Ireland's Character is credited as "Wendell Loudy"

    • One of the few episodes that centers on Carrie (though she doesn't appear in many scenes). By the end of the following season (1977-1978), Carrie only appears in a few supporting-role scenes in occassional episodes, mainly those centering on the Ingalls family, thereafter, and will disappear completely following the 1981-1982 season (when she and her family move to Burr Oak, Iowa).

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