User Reviews

Glad he is now big. But he needed a big start. As the older brother of the two kids James his name on the show and Cassandra played by former Fox News anchor, Melissa Francis.

They are orphaned due to their birth parents dying. And temporary Charles and Caroline take them in as the kind hearted Rev gives them to a family. As the father is beyond abusive and cold. Son is also a scumbag

When James and Cassandra was worked to the bone, and James get whipped over stealing that the brother framed him to there.

That is the final straw and both run away and the cold hearted father would not look for them. As Charles knew there were red flags but tried to give the abusive father and son, not really the mother but she really did not stand up to them as she may have been abused too. The benefit of the doubt.

Not looking for the kids proves the father is nothing but a cold hearted SOB. But when James hurts or breaks his leg, they go to the kindly Doc Baker. Finally Charles and Caroline adopt them and they are once again happy.

Really there are special places in h*ll for an abusive father like Tomkins and his son Seth. Sad but great episode.

Previously on Little House, Alvin and Sarah Cooper were killed in a horrific wagon incident, making their two young children James and Cassandra orphans. Charles took it upon himself to take the children in until a more permanent home could be found. Now, the Ingalls' little house was pretty crowded with their new house guests, but the more the merrier. Cassandra became very clingy to Caroline because she looked so much like her Ma, and so while James accompanied Albert and Carrie to school, little Cassandra went with Caroline to the restaurant to watch her work. It was only until the mention of the aspect of school everyone hates (homework) that got the little girl's interest peaked and so she hurried out to join her new classmates. Yep, things were going great for the Cooper children thus far. As the weeks passed, they became more and more like family, yet Charles was still determined to find them another home....why? Well, one fateful night, a couple by the name of Isaiah and Beth Tompkins came by to see the children and considered adopting them, and what a greeting they gave: saying they had a daughter who had she not died would now be Cassandra's age and have the same color hair too. Well, they made up their minds surprisingly quick and wanted both children. Now, Isaiah seemed to be a cold man with whom Charles was not too impressed, and even though the Cooper children were perfectly happy with the Ingalls' and surely Charles and Caroline make more money now than at the beginning of the series, surely they could just keep them, right? Why break up a happy household? Because Charles Ingalls is a sanctimonious idiot, that's why.

Our suspicions were right: Isaiah Tompkins was a horrible man who, if he wasn't taking a swig from the bottle, was administering beatings, and their son Seth was a regular creep himself. As the weeks passed, Laura began to notice a significant change in James and Cassandra's behavior at school. They were not the once happy, spiritual children they were in they first arrived and worse of all, they're failing. Reason being they can't find the time to do homework with Isaiah working them to death. That night, he found his newly earned dollar gone missing and it somehow ended up in James' pocket. I'll bet that no-good Seth planted it there. Well, poor James got whipped for it. Yeah, I really hate these Tompkins people too. You know, I'm starting to understand just how their daughter might have died. Maybe Isaiah killed her. Who knows? Becoming fed up with their new family, James and Cassandra decided to run away. They felt they had no other choice. When hearing this and seeing Isaiah didn't care enough to look for his own children, Charles set out with Almanzo and Adam to locate the wayward orphans. They didn't get far when James got his foot caught in a bear trap. Frantically, Cassandra ran for help and to her extreme good fortune, she found Charles. After James was rushed to Doc Baker, Charles realized it was wrong to try and break up that happy household in the first place, and so he decreed that James and Cassandra would be coming home and home they went to the little house on the prairie, which was now very full...of love. James and Cassandra officially became members of the Ingalls family; Isaiah Tompkins suffered a crippling stroke while plowing the field one afternoon and is being looked after by Beth. Young Seth ran away to the city and was killed by hooligans...that's MY ending.

"The Lost Ones" Parts 1 and 2 is a dramatic, emotional roller-coaster that may be hard to watch, but it is still very good. Props to Michael Landon's directing, Don Balluck's writing, and most of all, the performances of young Missy Francis and Jason Bateman. A special shout-out to Len Wayland as that creepy Mr. Tompkins. He really added a coldness to that character that made you hate him right from the start. That scene of James getting whipped is one of the more gut-wrenching moments, and Tompkins is one of the nastiest characters in the series. Anybody who would abuse a child for any reason is the slimiest scum of the earth. While it's very dramatic, sad and often hard to watch, "The Lost Ones" is a fantastic two-parter with a terrific happy ending that rounds out the story nicely. I recommend them both. James and Cassandra, welcome home.