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\n Netflix\u2019s adaptation of a children\u2019s classic is full of joy and hope, but don\u2019t expect to be spared from the brutality of life on the Western frontier.
\n Photo: ERIC ZACHANOWICH\/NETFLIX\n <\/p>\n
Hey, no one ever said pioneering was easy. While Charles and Caroline Ingalls were surely aware that deciding to move their little family from the Big Woods of Wisconsin to the prairies of Kansas in the years following the Civil War would be physically taxing, perhaps they could not have imagined it would be this physically taxing. And in no way could they have been prepared for the mental and emotional strain of this situation in which they\u2019ve put themselves and their young daughters, Mary and Laura. But we all should be prepared.<\/p>\n
Gird your loins, my little Prairie folk! While this adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder\u2019s book series \u2014 season one is inspired by the third book out of the nine, Little House on the Prairie, and isn\u2019t necessarily a reboot of the Michael Landon series, just FYI \u2014 gives us plenty of idyllic shots of grass and sky and is imbued with hope and moments of joy, it doesn\u2019t ignore some of the more harrowing details of life on the frontier. For all the whimsical flower crowns and family fiddle dance parties, there are wolves and broken bones, there are the realities of living in poverty and sad men grappling with their demons. So, so many sad men. (This is complimentary.)<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll get to those sad men in a bit, but first, if anyone on this show understands harrowing, it\u2019s Caroline Ingalls. Honestly, this poor woman. Sure, Charles is clearly a hottie with a body and is extremely good at chopping wood, which makes him ideal husband material then and now, but dang, Caroline gets put through it. First of all, it becomes quite clear that Caroline and Charles\u2019s families weren\u2019t supportive of their leaving. Caroline says her sister called her a fool for following Charles \u201cinto the dark,\u201d when Charles is asked why he has no other family with him his response is a mysterious \u201cit didn\u2019t work out,\u201d and don\u2019t even get me started on how devastating it is when Laura and Mary finally break down about how confused and hurt they are by the fact that no one in their family came to say good-bye when they left. These emotions, and perhaps some questioning of her decision-making skills, are all surely swirling around Caroline\u2019s head during this journey to Kansas.<\/p>\n
And then they have to ford the river.<\/p>\n
Even if you don\u2019t know the Little House story, if you\u2019ve played Oregon Trail even once, you know how risky it is to ford a river, okay? And when the Ingalls do it, it does not go well. Caught in chutes, the wagon almost capsizes with Mary and Laura in it, and it\u2019s Caroline who holds onto the reins for dear life while Charles gets in the river to try to lead the horses safely to the other side. Everyone survives \u2014 although sweet pup Jack is lost \u2014 but Caroline is left with a nasty cut across her hand and probably some rampant PTSD, although who is getting out of frontier living without trauma, let\u2019s be real. She proceeds to vomit her guts up because she is all of us.<\/p>\n
That ordeal is immediately followed by some good ol\u2019 fashioned humiliation once the Ingalls reach the small town of Independence, Kansas, and Caroline realizes they can\u2019t afford half the supplies on her list. Though, to be clear, Emily Henderson, who runs the General Store, could not be nicer. You can tell Caroline is both humiliated and mentally confronting their financial situation nonetheless. Then, when Charles goes off to find a piece of land to call home, Caroline is left alone at camp with the girls overnight and has to shoot off wolves who want to eat Laura. On the plus side, this incident does give Caroline a real \u201cnot my daughter, you bitch\u201d moment, and honestly, good for her. AND THEN \u2014 yeah, there\u2019s more \u2014 while Charles and Caroline are building their house, she drops a log right on her foot and breaks that baby into a million pieces. I\u2019d ask if this woman has suffered enough, but immediately following the broken foot incident, we learn that, oh yeah, she\u2019s pregnant, too. Pregnant and terrified. Caroline confides in Dr. Tann that she\u2019s had a lot of miscarriages, and now she\u2019s supposed to have a baby out in the middle of nowhere? Okay, fine, I\u2019m asking: Hasn\u2019t this woman suffered enough?<\/p>\n
Thank all the prairie gods for Dr. George Tann. Not only has he already patched Caroline up twice and lent her a kind ear, but he\u2019s not afraid to talk some sense into Charles. It\u2019s not that Charles is oblivious to what he\u2019s putting his wife through \u2014 he\u2019s already asked for forgiveness once \u2014 but he is a man hellbent on making this big dream he has for his family work, no matter what. Dr. Tann brings him back to earth by dropping the baby news on him and making clear that not only can Caroline not help with physical activities like, you know, building a log cabin, but also that if Charles doesn\u2019t go find some real help, he\u2019s putting his family\u2019s lives at stake. Charles has no money left after the journey, and he\u2019s still waiting for money from mortgage payments on his Wisconsin home \u2014 he can\u2019t hire help. But Dr. Tann tells him it is dire that he figures something out. \u201cIt\u2019s a myth that men can make it out here alone,\u201d he tells Charles, \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty story, nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enter Mr. John Edwards. Mr. Edwards is sad and broken, and frankly, I would die for this man. Broken men are my kink, leave me alone! Charles arrives at Edwards\u2019s little shed, not too far from the land the Ingalls are building on, to ask him to trade \u2014 they can help one another build each other\u2019s homes \u2014 but what he finds is not someone willing or able to be of any assistance. Edwards is drunk, and the moment Charles brings up the two little girls in the family picture Edwards has on the wall and how they look to be of similar age as his Laura and Mary, Edwards pulls a rifle on him.<\/p>\n
Charles has another new friend to thank for saving his ass: William Mitchell shows up at the exact right time to help Charles disarm and knock out Edwards. Mitchell is an Osage man Charles and the Ingalls have run into a few times by this point, who lives with his wife, White Sun, and daughter, Good Eagle, not too far from where the Ingalls are. Little House seems to be setting up the Mitchells as almost mirror images of the Ingalls family, giving us another perspective on this Westward expansion of the United States. It won\u2019t be long until Charles learns that he\u2019s been lied to about the area being abundant with free land for the taking \u2014 he\u2019s settled on Osage land. The white men who have arrived here because of railroad expansion are simply hoping the government intervenes and forces the Osage out, and in the meantime, acting like this land is for the taking. It\u2019s no wonder that when Charles, full of sincerity and friendliness, tells Mitchell, Oh, hey, they must be neighbors, Mitchell looks like he\u2019s holding back a whole lot of words he\u2019d like to unleash, in order to keep the peace. (And it\u2019s true \u2014 in a scene at the Mitchell house, he tells his wife, who wants nothing to do with the people invading their land, that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to make enemies.\u201d) So, add political and ethical turmoil to the list of items the Ingalls were unprepared for when they set out on this journey.<\/p>\n
For now, however, Charles is simply trying to find someone to help put a roof over his family\u2019s heads. With Edwards a dead end, he has failed. But it\u2019s when he returns home and finds Laura crying over feeling to blame for losing Jack, over realizing he\u2019ll never come back, that really breaks Charles. Even Laura, his half pint, his bright star, has given up hope, and it guts the guy. He begs her not to give up on it \u2014 \u201chope is everything. It\u2019s the only thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet, it doesn\u2019t seem like Charles has it in him to hold on to hope anymore. Weepy-eyed, he goes to Caroline to tell her that if she wants to go back home, they\u2019ll go back. And so, on top of everything else, it turns out it\u2019s Caroline who is going to keep this dream of a new, better life alive. She reminds him of how they met, how he could have chosen any girl, they were all so in love with him, but he chose her. \u201cAnd I knew, in that moment, I would follow you anywhere,\u201d she says. Yes, of course she\u2019s scared, but this was her choice, and she believes in him. He still has his doubts \u2014 what if he was wrong about all of this? Her response? \u201cWhat if this is where we finally become who we were meant to be?\u201d She\u2019s crying. He\u2019s crying. And this, this is the moment that I knew I would follow these two hottie dreamers and their incredible 19th-century tent lighting anywhere.<\/p>\n
So, hope is alive! And in the sunrise of the next morning, there are even more signs that the Ingalls can do this. Mr. Edwards appears with Jack at his side. Did I let out a truly ugly sob as Laura reunites with her dog and tells Mary that she always had hope that he\u2019d return to them? Yes! Of course! This is who I am!<\/p>\n
Edwards apologizes to Charles. He wants to make things right, and he wants to help Charles give his family somewhere safe to live. He doesn\u2019t get into details, but he talks in the past tense about his two daughters, one named Laura, and how they would\u2019ve loved it here, and Charles (and we) get that this is a man being pummeled by grief. Charles wants to give him a second chance, and so they agree to help one another.<\/p>\n
In what I suspect will be a recurring theme on Little House, the end of this episode delivers a special emotional blend of equal parts hope and uneasiness. Things are looking up for the Ingalls personally, but Edwards informs Charles that currently the Osage are away on a hunt and they\u2019ll be back home soon. The tensions building on this land in Kansas will have to be confronted eventually. Laura might be sure that the prairie is her family\u2019s \u201cforever,\u201d but Charles knows nothing is settled just yet.<\/p>\n
\u2022 I\u2019m deeply into how Little House clearly respects Laura and Mary as full-fledged, well-developed characters and has such a reverence for the nuance of sisterhood. Yes, they make each other mad \u2014 Mary teases Laura for not being able to read well, Laura makes fun of Mary for crushing on General Store clerk Caleb \u2014 but when they\u2019re scared or sad, they hold on to each other for comfort.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Laura and Good Eagle desperately want to be friends despite what society and their mothers tell them. Please let this happen sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The music on this show is gorgeous. If you, too, are enjoying Dan Romer\u2019s work here, he also scored Station Eleven and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, FYI.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Okay, I\u2019m sorry, but when Emily tells the Ingalls that George Tann is \u201ca fine doctor,\u201d does she mean he\u2019s a good doctor or a fine doctor? I need more kissing on this show!!<\/p>\n
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