The Godsister

Season 5, Episode 14, Aired

Episode Summary

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2.5
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Terrible
134 votes
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Charles and Jonathan take a job on a telephone crew that is working in southern Minnesota, which requires them to be away from home for several weeks. As they gain success and earn more money than expected, they must decide if the job is worth keeping for the long term. Back in Walnut Grove, little Carrie, who misses her father and craves attention, creates an imaginary friend to pass the time.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (12)

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  • Carrie eats some magic 'shrooms when Ma tells her to go play in the woods

    3.5
    "Bad"
    By millerem99, Mar 22, 2012
    Little House on the Prairie meets Land of the Lost.
    Haha, this episode isn't just bad. It's bizarre. Little Carrie is in everyone's way, and with Pa off on a get-rich trip, she enters a world that is Alice in Wonderland-esque. Giant spiders, giant berries, and an ethereal girl that bears a striking likeness to her named "Alissa" becomes her companion.
    The subplot with Pa and Mr. Garvey on a trip at least are standard Little House, but Carrie's story line just doesn't even fit the series, it's so strange. A minor point, but I didn't like how impatient Ma got with Carrie when she tried to help her with the laundry. Certainly she had lost her cool a bit with Carrie's carelessness, but the tone in which she tells her to "go fishing, Carrie," reminds me more of the mother in the horror film Carrie than sweet Ma Ingalls.
    While this episode was painful, there are other ones in the series I ranked as guiltier than this of wasting a perfectly good hour of one's life:moreless

  • As per main summary (4.5 out of 10)

    4.5
    "Poor"
    By DonnyDonson, Dec 10, 2011
    This episode could have been a lot worse but at least had the redeeming feature of a good second plot of Charles' and and Garvey's venture into the world of telecoms, unlike 'The hunters' which just had one tedious main plot from which there was no respite. Their part was quite interesting and funny at times such as the old Irishman Shaughnessy blowing up his 'whiskey factory'.

    All Sidney (or whichever of the twins it was) did was run around shouting Alissa over and over and over. Her acting wasn't that bad given monotonous dialogue. A bit of a bizarre one directed by Landon.moreless

  • Lindsay and Sidney on screen together!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By nbrownfzi, Dec 10, 2011
    Wow! I read a lot of negative reviews here on this episode and, for the life of me, I can't figure out why. I'd like to contribute a positive review if I may. This is the episode where we get to see both Lindsay and Sidney on screen at the same time. It has been a while since I've seen it so my memory does not have all the details. I have to say I do remember the episode as being very heart warming. While most episodes are from Laura's perspective, this one was from Carrie's. I wish there were more.

    I liked the dialog between Caroline and Charles at the beginning where he says he'll stay home if it means that much to her. Then Ma says he can go. ... I know how he feels.

    As soon as I get a copy of season 5, I intend to watch this episode again.moreless

  • For some reason, someone thought it might be entertaining to examine the psychedelia that ensues when Carrie gets a little lonely.

    1.0
    "Abysmal"
    By DrCook920, Dec 10, 2011
    My original plan was not to be too critical of the Greenbush twins in this review. I mean, really, they didn't come up with the ridiculous concept, or write the silly script or design the laughable fantasy sets, right? But see, my memory of this episode was a little fuzzy on the details and rewatching it today, I was reminded just how Godawful "The Godsister" is. So I'm scrapping the original plan and telling like it is. First of all, the episode starts off normally and all seems right with our LH world. Jonathan and Charles have an opportunity of go off somewhere and make money. The scene where Charles tells Caroline that he'll be going is actually quite good. In a move that is just slightly bold for her, Caroline tells Charles off a little bit when he suggests that his going away is as hard for him as it is on her. They share a cute and sweet scene at the creek where he apologizes and she gives him permission to go. It's another example of how well ML and KG worked together; great chemistry providing us with simple, lovely moments. But it pretty much goes south from here.
    While everyone gets to work to make up for Pa being gone, Carrie gets lonely. And I guess the only way LSG could convey lonely was by sounding whiney and pathetic. When she's getting ready to go berry picking, but is sad that she has nobody to go with her, her 'sad' lines would have been cute if she didn't sound like she was dying of some terminal illness. Beyond the whining, her delivery is so flat. The lines she says to herself just before Alyssa 'arrives' are almost lost because she's using no inflection whatsoever. In fact, throughout the episode the tempo and inflection of the lines of both LSG characters is so OFF it's maddening. Run-on sentences and lack of emotion or facial expression left me sitting there scratching my head.
    And then there's bad acting and bad directing working together such as in the spider scene. Giant spider appears, Carrie runs away screaming the same two lines over and over again, and then she wakes suddenly without even appearing distressed or disoriented. Terrible on all counts.
    I'm beginning to think that this episode is the sole reason that Carrie didn't get much screen time for the rest of the series. Sort of a litmus test for her abilities, if you will. "See, we tried it, she sucked, end of story".
    LSG used this horrid creepy grin at several points throughout the episode that freaked me out a little and I felt my ears would bleed and my head would split open if I had to listen to her scream "Alyssa!" one more time. Not to mention that the storyline itself just gets weirder and weirder. They go to HEAVEN?? Whose idea was THIS? I really had a hard time with that. I mean, I know it's a dream, but seriously? Heaven?
    The whole thing was absurd.
    The best thing about the episode is the B story with Charles and Jonathan working on the telephone lines.
    I liked the friction between Jonathan and the foreman and the way it was resolved in the end. That was classic LH material, as was the scene where the men pull the wrecked wagon. Did 2 different people write this episode? Makes you wonder.....
    I'm sorry folks. This one is just dreadful, and I will never watch it again. If you have never seen it before,I strongly recommend passing it by on your way through Season 5.moreless

  • While it was great that Carrie had an episode to herself and excellent that the Greenbush twins got to work together, it remains possibly the worst episode of the show I have seen. Huge flowers, massive strawberries and other horrors to cope with.moreless

    2.5
    "Terrible"
    By Lady_Lancaster, Dec 10, 2011
    Let me start by saying that I am very much in favour of little Carrie getting a Carrie-centric episode to herself. It was a terrific idea to do this. Unfortunately, that's where it ends ...

    I don't know what possessed Michael Landon and his team to allow this episode to go to air. Carrie being lonely and feeling left out is perfectly understandable, as is having an imaginary friend but for goodness sake, WHY did we need the whole "Alice In Wonderland"-type scenario with huge fruit, flowers and coins, weird looking rainbows and an assortment of other 'horrors' that I can't bear to mention. This was terrible and, as I said, the only good thing was that the little girls were on screen together and Carrie actually had an episode for once. The rest, I can't bear to think about.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • E.J Andre, who played the angel also was in Season 2's His Father's Son and Going Home, and Season 3's Gold Country, Parts 1 and 2 Later he plays James and Cassandra's Uncle Jed in Season 7's The Lost Ones and Season 8's Uncle Jed. So he has played five different characters and was in seven episodes total.
    • The giant berries for Carrie's dream sequences were made by tying red balloons together and putting a dish of juice behind them. Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush would dip the balloons in the juice, smear it on their faces, and then say their lines, so it looked like they were eating them.
    • Carrie was about the age of a first grader in this episode, and yet it appears that every time she asks to help, Caroline turns her away and tells her to just go play. A child that age is certainly old enough to help out around the farm, and in that time period, it was important for all the adults and children to do their share. It's unrealistic, then, that Carrie would still be portrayed as too young to help with chores, especially in light of the fact that Charles was gone, and Caroline could have really used an extra pair of hands. And didn't Caroline just say in an earlier scene that when Charles was away, she got so tired with all the extra work she had to take on? Why, then, couln't she find something for the child to do?

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Carrie: Don't let it catch us, don't let it, don't let it catch us, don't let it, don't let it catch us, don't let it, don't let it catch us, don't let it, don't let it catch us, don't let it, don't let it catch us, don't let it, don't let it catch us, don't let it.
    • Carrie: Mrs. Garvey? Alice: Carrie, how are you? Carrie: Awful. Alice: Are you sick? Carrie: No, just in the way.
    • Charles: I'm sorry, Caroline. I shouldn't have said that. I don't know why I said it. Caroline: (in tears) It's just that when you're away, I get so tired.......and at night, I'm......(cries harder) lonely. Charles: Come on, come on, it's all right. If it means that much to you, I won't go. I'll tell Jonathan. Caroline: You will? Charles: Of course I will. Do you feel better now? Caroline: (smiles) Yeah. Charles, you can go. Charles: But you just said-- Caroline: I know what I just said, but now that I know you'd give it up, you can go. Charles: Now that you know I'd give it up, I can go? Caroline: Mm-hmm. Charles: Caroline, I don't understand you. Caroline: I know. Come on, supper's ready. (gets up and leaves) Charles: (to himself) Now I can go. Before, I couldn't go. I just don't get it.

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • This is the worst rated Little House on the Prairie episode, based on tv.com votes. It is also the episode for which Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush have received the harshest criticism for their acting performances as Carrie.
    • Sidney Greenbush, one of the twin girls who played Carrie, credits this as her favorite episode. "We finally got to prove to Michael Landon that we were every bit as good and talented as anyone else on the show," she has said.
    • This is the first and only episode where Carrie has multiple one-on-one scenes with each of her parents.

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