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?
