S03.E07: Journey In The Spring, Part 2

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

Life in Walnut Grove with Charles, Caroline, and three active grandchildren seems to be just the tonic Grandpa Ingalls needs to help him recover from his wife's death -- until a broken promise after a terrible accident reopens an old wound, and drives a wedge between him and Laura.

[Primetimer]

Laura loses trust in her grandfather, then finds a way to repair their relationship. Plus! A dead horse and a failed train hopping!

View the full article

[Narla]

Ha! This episode lives in infamy in my mind, because it's the one that led my (single) mother to ban LHOTP from our house for several months. My brother and I were watching a rerun while my mother made dinner and right as Pa shot Laura's horse my mother called us to the table. My brother and were both wracked with sobs, absolutely hysterical, about the dead horse. My mother was so infuriated that she had to deal with two devastated children at dinner time that she just flat out banned Little House, full stop. It was only listening to this episode that I found out how things ended!

[Kerfuffler]

Thanks, Little House, for teaching young Kerfuffler about the concept of mercy killing! This episode did a good job tackling a lot of emotionally complicated material.

Would anyone have noticed if Carrie just disappeared and was never mentioned again?

[TimeyWimey52]

I think I missed something (may have zoned out thinking about the horse). Did grandpa really just walk away and was never seen again?? Pa wasn't concerned about that? He just lost his mother, he just let his father disappear too?