Lately, I've been enjoying my grandma's collection of Little House on the Prairie
episodes, which she purchased in sets of two several years ago. I've
enjoyed the show for years, but until now I'd never seen how the series
started. There was the movie chronicling the Ingalls family's year
roughing it out on the Kansas prairie, and I'd seen bits of pieces of
that before watching it again recently, but I wasn't familiar with the
first chapter in the family's history in Walnut Grove.
As in the premiere movie, in Harvest of Friends,
we hear little Laura (Melissa Gilbert) in a voice-over noting what she
would preserve if she had "a book of remembrances". There are many
moments to recollect in this crucial beginning for hard-working Charles
in a new home, complete with a unique set of comforts and challenges.
The house he builds for his family is larger than their last abode, with
plenty of open space downstairs and a bedroom in the loft for Laura and
Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson). It's a cozy home, but completing its
construction is only the beginning of Charles' immediate worries.
He has a field to plow, and in order to have seed for a crop, he needs
to earn some money. He's already working for congenial Lars Hanson (Karl
Swenson), working off the lumber for his house; in addition, he strikes
a bargain with shifty Feed and Seed manager Liam O'Neill (Ramon Bieri),
promising to fix the roof on his shed and stack all his grain in the
next three weeks. This means six hours at the mill, six hours at the
Feed and Seed and several more hours working the farm with his two oxen -
which he has reluctantly offered as collateral to O'Neill should he
fail to uphold his end of the bargain. The result of this is an
extremely overworked Charles who is cranky and rarely home, much to the
disappointment of his girls and his wife Caroline (Karen Grassle), whose
patience with this arrangement is wearing thin.
This episode
showcases Charles' resolve, his willingness to work himself half to
death in the hopes of providing a better life for his family. It also
shows that Caroline can be stubborn too, chastising Charles for skipping
out on church to plow the field - and then refusing to comply when he
asks her to stop plowing the field for him when an injury prevents him
from working. We also see their lighter side, particularly when Charles
has a revelation that his workaholism has taken a great toll on his
family and he proposes a day-long picnic. Unfortunately, this joyous
outing is cut short by the aforementioned injury, incurred when he falls
out of a tree while attempting to retrieve a kite. Not a very smart
move, Charles - but then I guess he was trying to prove he could still
be fun.
This episode offers the first glimpse of several
important townspeople. Not only do we meet Karl, who is an incredibly
decent, generous employer and a fine neighbor, we are introduced to Dr.
Hiram Baker (Kevin Hagen), the easy-going town doctor; Nels Oleson
(Richard Bull), the practical shopkeeper; and Harriet (Katherine
MacGregor), his conniving wife. While Nels, Dr. Baker and Karl see that
Charles will most likely be a valuable asset to the community and
welcome him with various degrees of warmth, Harriet receives him icily
and Liam does his best to take advantage of his rather desperate
situation. When the broken ribs prevent Charles from finishing on time,
Liam comes calling. How will Charles ever manage to keep his oxen - and
if he can't, how will his family survive in this new land?
The
Ingallses still have some settling in to do after this episode. We've
yet to meet Reverend Alden, though Caroline and the girls do attend
church and discuss his sermon, and there's been no mention so far of
school. Of course, this episode's focus is on Charles, and Laura and
Mary don't come into it all that much. There's plenty of time for that
later. This first episode is about switching from an isolated, purely
pioneering lifestyle to an existence in a town, as a part of a
community. The transition isn't easy. But it's well worth the
perseverance, for Charles and his family and for viewers, who would have
many more years of these new friends to enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment