Five Hardest to Watch Little House on the Prairie Episodes

Little House on the Prairie remains one of the most popular family dramas of our generation. Michael Landon's knack for delivering consistent dramatic storytelling is a good part of why the show is still popular today. 

Some episodes are simply too hard for me to watch, even now. I'm not talking sad, though there are some sad episodes of Little House on the Prairie. These episodes challenged the characters and viewers in such a way that I now choose not to watch them or choose not to watch certain scenes from them. Here is my list of ...

Five Hardest to Watch Little House on the Prairie Episodes

Number 5 - "A Promise to Keep" (Season 8, Episode 19)

The death of John Jr. in Chicago fractured the Edwards family beyond repair. A year later, Isaiah is drinking his grief away while he reads the final letter John wrote to them before his death. That night, a drunken Isaiah ruins Carl's birthday, which prompts Grace to ask him to leave. Months later, Isaiah receives a letter from Grace telling him she is sending him papers to dissolve their marriage. 

The end of Grace and Isaiah's marriage is so heartbreaking that I can't watch the opening scenes of this episode. Isaiah has already clawed his way out of the clutches of grief and loss in the past to find a new relationship with Grace and the Edwards children. Now, the loss of another child drives him back to the grief he attempts to relieve with whiskey. The final interaction between Grace and Isaiah is so unsettling that I skip over it and pick up this episode once Isaiah is back in Walnut Grove.

Number 4 - "Soldier's Return" (Season 2, Episode 21)

Mrs. Whipple's only son, Granville, returns to Walnut Grove to restart his job as a music teacher. Injured in the Civil War, Granville is haunted by the memories of being the only surviving member of his regiment. When the son of his best friend wants to connect with him and talk more about the father he never met, Granville's mental health continues to deteriorate, and his morphine addiction proves fatal. 

This episode and Graville's suffering frightened me as a child. It's barely less disturbing to watch as an adult. 

Number 3 - "Gold Country, Parts 1 & 2" (Season 3, Episodes 21 & 22)

When months of rain prevent farmers from planting in Walnut Grove, making it impossible for Isaiah and Charles to find work in the surrounding towns, the Ingalls and Edwards families travel west to Dakota's Gold Country to try their hands at panning. While there, Carl and Laura stumble upon Zachariah, an old miner, who warns them that people change as they search for gold. Laura sharing Zachariah's story leads to unexpected consequences that prove deadly. 

This two-parter was never one of my favorites, so I don't feel bad about skipping it. As the viewer watches the realization on Laura's face, they know nothing good is going to come out of her revealing Zachariah's story. When Laura races out to check on him, I was not prepared for the agony and despair on Zachariah's face or how he screams at Laura to get out. I certainly wasn't expecting the fire. These last few scenes before Charles decides to take his family home are what nightmares are made of. 

Number 2 - "Sylvia, Parts 1 & 2" (Season 7, Episodes 17 & 18)

"Sylvia" could have been a great opportunity to explore romance for Albert Ingalls. It appears he simply wasn't meant to have a long-lasting, happy relationship. Sylvia is a girl in town who lives with her abusive father. When she is assaulted and becomes pregnant, her father blames her and wants to move away, but she and Albert are in love, so they make plans to run off. While waiting for Albert in an abandoned barn, the guy with the creepy clown mask shows up to assault her again. She falls as she tries to escape and ends up dying.

This is one of those episodes I recall being traumatized by when it first aired. There aren't many of those, but even when I think about it now, my pulse races. I am not afraid of clowns, but if you look up photos from this episode, tell me that isn't one of the creepiest clown masks you have ever seen. How this guy skulks toward Syliva, how he grabs her from behind, dressed in all black with those nasty black eyeballs and rosy cheeks painted on the mask, and how even when the mask is knocked off his face and lying in the straw, it gives me goosebumps, make this an episode I don't watch.

Number 1 - "May We Make Them Proud, Parts 1 & 2" (Season 6, Episodes 18 & 19)

There are entire scenes in this two-part episode that I can't watch: Albert and Clay going down to the basement with the pipe (beacause we know what happens); Alice Garvey and the Kendalls' baby being trapped in the school; Mary breaking her hand through the hotel window, screaming Adam is lying to her about the fire and the baby; Albert's realization that he and Clay started the fire; Albert and Mary's scenes with the music box; and how Jonathan disengages from his son, Andy, as he grieves the loss of his wife, Alice. That doesn't even cover Albert's decision to run away because of the guilt he feels over the accident.

This entire episode is hard. That anyone comes away from this episode without being scarred amazes me. I would rather watch Mary cry, "I can't see!" a thousand times in "I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away," than watch this episode in its entirety.  And it's odd because I have brief recollections of watching the fire scene when it first aired on television, and then the ending scene where they unveil the plaque, but not so much the middle of the episode. 

What do you think of these five hardest to watch Little House on the Prairie episodes? Do you share the same as me? Are there others you would add to this list? 

Actor/Character Matches That Likely Wouldn't Happen Today

I've been watching/listening to the Little House on the Prairie 50 Podcast--which seems to be on hiatus as cast appearances have ramped up--and a GenX podcast that is now defunct. Both podcasts discussed character matches where there were age differences between the actors and how that wouldn't happen today. 

Let's take a peek at a few of these matches. 

Dean Butler and Melissa Gilbert

Dean Butler and Melissa Gilbert have spoken about the challenges of working alongside each other on Little House on the Prairie in their memoirs. Gilbert expected they would cast one of her contemporaries. Butler's Almanzo was romancing a character several years his junior, played by an actor who was eight years younger than him and hadn't started dating yet. While everyone has stated they felt safe on the Little House set, not sure how eager casting directors would be these days to have a minor and an adult courting.

Alison Arngrim and Bob Marsic

Alison Argrim, who played the girl we all loved to hate, Nellie Oleson, had an episode where she was also paired with an adult actor who played her romantic lead. Bob Marsic portrayed Luke Simms in the episode, "Here Come the Brides." Luke and his father are pig farmers who have moved to Walnut Grove. Luke starts school, and Nellie is instantly taken with him. Despite Harriet's objections, a budding romance ensues, ending in Luke and Nellie running off to get married. Luckily, Harriet and Nels find them and make the justice of the peace void their marriage. Marsic was 22 in this episode. Arngrim talks about how she was 15 at the time, and Nellie was supposed to be 13. I always liked how they handled this episode because it is the first time Nellie falls in love. You can read an article where the actors talk about this episode here. 

Mitch Vogel, Melissa Gilbert & Melissa Sue Anderson

Mitch Vogel portrayed Johnny Johnson in two Season 1 episodes: "The Love of Johnny Johnson" and "To See the World." Johnny is a historical figure who knew the real Ingalls family and helped them on the farm. In Little House on the Prairie, he is a new boy at the Walnut Grove school. In "The Love of Johnny Johnson," Laura develops a crush on him, but Johnny only has eyes for Mary. Vogel was 18 at the time. Gilbert was 10, and Anderson was 12. This storyline and the actor/character ages seemed totally plausible to me, and since it was a schoolgirl crush, there really wasn't a romantic element to it. The episode focused more on how it divided the two oldest Ingalls sisters. Side note: Michael Landon and Vogel worked on Bonanza together. 

Linwood Boomer and Melissa Sue Anderson

Linwood Boomer was 23 years old when he portrayed Adam Kendall, the teacher Mary Ingalls meets while she is studying at school for the blind in Season 4. Mary was almost 16 at the time. She would celebrate her sixteenth birthday in Winoka, where she and Adam had gone to open a new blind school. Anderson was 16 in the first episode where Adam appears, "I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away." Anderson has spoken fondly of acting alongside Boomer in interviews. 

As a Gen Xer, I honestly thought nothing of the ages of the characters and actors when I watched the original run of Little House on the Prairie. How the stories tugged at the heartstrings was what I focused on. Having loved the show all these years, I can't imagine other actors in these roles. Did you pick up on that during the show's original run, or did it come to mind later in reruns? As the actors have stated, they all felt safe on the set. They speak about how there were tons of kids on set, so the adults really looked after them.