Monday, 30 May 2011
Today we walked to Mississippi Market for dinner. They have a dining area there and we seem to able to eat quite healthy and cheaply. This is a great combination, only exceeded, in fact, by the combination of great tasting + free.
The wind was particularly obnoxious today, though during the time of our walk it had abated somewhat. The real problem, though, was the ticks who decided to hitch a ride on us.
Owen noticed the first tick right as he took off his knee pads in the garage (he rode his bike). He immediately set to panicking, claiming there was a bug on his knee. At first, I thought it was just his temporary tattoo, but it turned out it was actually a tick. All told, I think he had three ticks. I had one as well, and so did Jennifer. Isla appeared to come out of the event unscathed.
Next time we go for a walk, I’m gonna suggest we walk down the middle of the road so as to maximize our distance from foliage.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Last night, Jennifer and I watched the Little House on the Prairie episode “He Was Only Twelve, part one.” This evening, we watched part two. I realize that 2 out of my 3 readers here probably don’t care one bit for that show, but if you just stick with me here, I think you’ll find I have something interesting to say. For once.
I had seen this two-part episode before. In fact, just seeing the episode title on the Netflix sleeve brought back the memories. The two parts form the final two episodes of season eight which is, arguably, the final season of the show.
Here’s the thing: these are two really strange episodes. I’m not sure exactly when Little House jumped the shark, but surely if it hadn’t already, then this is the moment when it did. (And you really should click on the “shark” link above and let me know if you can spot the connection between that clip and this Little House episode I’m discussing.)
Now for the basic story (SPOILER ALERT!): While on a business trip to Sleepy Eye with his father Charles Ingalls, young James enters a bank to deposit money he just received for his birthday. (Guess how old he turned?) Alas, a bank robbery was in progress, and James became part of the collateral damage. The bullet lodged near his spine, causing massive blood loss and a grim prognosis. This sets in motion two threads of the story:
1) Those robbers need to be brought to justice!
2) Will James survive his injury?
The two parts answer the two questions, respectively. In part two, Charles and his wife Caroline care for their invalid son (he’s now in a coma – ’cause that’s what happens when you have a spinal cord injury), they carefully feed him broth via a pipette, and periodically bathe him. Charles continually tells himself that James is getting better, and even lashes out at Dr. Baker when he says that there’s no change in James’ condition. Later, Charles has a crisis of faith – he wonders why God doesn’t either heal James or let him die so he can be in heaven. Charles becomes convinced that God will perform a miracle and heal his son, provided he bring James near a mountain and pray like the dickens. The local reverend tries to reason with Charles, and even admits that, in his 30+ years of being a preacher, he has never witnessed a miracle. Even a psychiatrist pays Charles a visit and tries to politely explain that he’s going crazy (therapy was still in its infancy in the 1880s).
All of this is pretty standard fair for Little House, really. The main characters are devoutly religious and, even though I am not, I can sympathize with them. The grief, the denial, the desire to try even the most far-fetched idea all make sense in the context of a dying child. I can’t fault Charles for his emotions of his subsequent actions – especially considering that his god actually does perform miracles. Miracles, incidentally, had been implied before on the show: Laura requested her brother be resurrected (God said no), Adam was saved from certain death by a fortuitous fire, and Almanzo’s paralysis went away once he stopped being an asshole. However, this episode marked the first time I can recall a miracle being explicitly, unequivocally performed for a character.
But, you might be asking, what happened in part one? Ah, yes, there’s the oddness. What would you do if you were hours from home and your child lie dying? Well, if it was me, I would first ensure they had the best medical help I could find. Then, I would stay by their side. Charles does the first item, but not the second. Almost immediately after the doctor provides Charles with a prognosis, he decides the best thing he can do is bring the criminals to justice. He leaves his older son Albert some cash and tells him to get a hotel room (!), then rounds up some of the local citizens in an attempt to form a posse (!!). When Charles becomes exasperated that no one will help him, the local lawman speaks up and says that the sheriff has jurisdiction over the area and that Charles should defer to him. Charles ignores this and continues to plead with the crowd, who all turn away, explaining that they do not wish to go up against armed professional criminals.
So Charles heads out (with no clues) in search of the four men. His best friend Isaiah accompanies him even though he has made it clear he does not agree with Charles.
The episode devolves from there. In what is usually touted as a family show, we see a dead body being carelessly dumped into a grave, then dug back up later when Isaiah rifles through his pockets. One of the criminals goes half-insane claiming that the dead man is staring at him. Yikes! Brutal stuff for a family show.
Later, Charles holds a gun point blank towards one bandit, then gets his hands (literally) on the lead bandit and chokes him with his bare hands. Charles – the same devout Christian who only a few minutes later will be fervently praying to God for a miracle – has every intention of killing this unarmed man and is only stopped when Isaiah (an alcoholic with anger management issues) screams at him to stop. Did I mention Charles does this in front of his teenage son Albert?
The whole time I was wondering: Why don’t you just let the law handle this? More importantly, why don’t you go be with your dying son? Or at least get him and your other son back home to mom before you go out vigilante-ing all over Hero Township.
Funny thing, despite Charles’ uncharacteristic behavior, tv.com users give part one a rating of 7.0, while they assign part two an aggregate score of 3.5 – the lowest ranked episode of the season by a margin of 0.4 points. In fact, I could only find five episode from the entire series (of 10 seasons!) that ranked lower than Part Two.
Yes, I am one of your readers that watched Little House, and I’m proud to say it.
I remember watching show when James was shot, but I must of only seen part one because I thought he died on the show. I probably thought he died because James and Cassandra were not shown in the last couple of seasons. I never saw part two of this episode until a few years ago. And wow, the whole thing with Charles growing a beard and building the teepee in the woods was surreal.
You are correct that Charles Ingalls was always a religious man, praying to God, and singing loudly in the front row at church*. But the show really went over the top with the miraculous healing of James. Especially when the show had so much death in it previously: Ingalls baby boys dying, Mary’s baby burning to death, half of the town dying from mountain fever or typuhus from rats in the grain.
What makes James so special to deserve a miracle? When Albert Ingalls is dying from the nosebleeds, why doesn’t Charles pray to save him? Why didn’t Charles build a teepee in the woods for that other 12 year old boy that was dying from leukemia instead of taking him to the ocean?
Little House was always about overcoming hardships, not divine intervention. I think keeping James alive was less about not killing him off than to demonstrate the power of faith on the part of Charles Ingalls. When Michael Landon viewed himself as a Christ-like savior on this show, they “jumped the shark” with this episode and they knew it.
The Ingalls moved to the city after this season and a new family moved into the house in an attempt to bring fresh life into the series. The new family didn’t work out too well and the Ingalls came back for the last episode, just in time to blow up the whole town.
I need to go talk to Reverend Alden now.
*bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we will go rejoicing bringing in the sheaves!
Yes, James definitely lives but I can see how you could’ve forgotten that – I’m pretty sure his character never appeared again. He was, eventually, adopted by the Bluth family.
Even if we accept that prayer ‘works’, it was its inconsistent nature that bothered me back when I was a Christian. I remember interviews at conventions when people said how they prayed that god make it possible for them to get the day off work for a convention and – viola! – god miraculously gave them the day off. All I could think was, “Wow, what a waste. If I could get the almighty to do my bidding then I would say, ‘the heck with miraculously giving me the day off work, how about instead you cure that sister’s depression or undue that family’s house fire.'”
In Little House’s defense however, Charles’ desire for a miracle in this instance was somewhat explained. The reverend reminded Charles that he had lost children before (his son Charles, jr.) and asked him why he felt no miracle was needed then. Charles said that his other son had just died, without suffering. James, on the other hand, was in a kind of limbo – he was alive but unable to do anything. Therefore, he could neither enjoy his earthly life or his heavenly life. It seems Charles viewed earth as a testing ground where some people, such as Albert with his nosebleeds and Mary with her blindness, are tested for decades, while others, such as Chuck, jr., are tested for only a few weeks. I guess this kind of made sense to me, as long as we discount all the suffering taking place all over the world (which might have been easier for Charles to do – what with his not having TV, radio, or internet).
When I read Melissa Gilbert’s autobiography she said that Michael Landon cheated on his wife before the 8th season and then left her for a younger woman that worked on the show. I guess it destroyed his image at the time of a wholesome Christian man who always did the right thing. So, she said his heart was not in the show for that last season and he wanted out. And the actress who played Caroline didn’t want to return either. So, it seemed it was planed that the Ingalls would not return. Knowing that it seems strange they decided to have such an idiotic show as their last little goodbye.
Maybe this episode was Landon’s way of saying, “Sorry, I made a mistake, but I still AM a very Christian person.”