User Reviews

This is the story of Bart Slater, a real problem child. After being kicked out of countless other schools, he would be attending the one in Walnut Grove, and he made quite an impression on his first day. After claiming a desk as his own and pushing the other kid out, Bart sat back as Miss Wilder began teaching the kids about what effects a full moon can have on people's brains, hence the term "lunatic," and even mentions the origins of the werewolf. She shows the class the book Werewolf, written by the same guy who wrote Onward Christian Soldiers, that song they sing in every church scene. After that, Clarence shows off his talents in paper mache and when Bart is asked to help in the demonstration, he makes a real mess, particularly of Clarence. However, when he is ordered to apologize to the boy, Bart offers him $1.00 to make some paper mache animals for him. After school, Bart harassed Laura and Albert, and when young Mr. Ingalls referred to the bully by his full name, he punched him. What a punk. Fortunately, Almanzo saw the fight and broke it up, probably because he saw Laura was involved, if not, he might not have paid it any mind. So what did Big Bad Bart do? He went and told his daddy on him! So Bart Sr. came riding into town, and right away the fat bastard got in Almanzo's face and threatened Eliza Jane's job... I can see where Bart learned to be such a douche. Speaking of whom, the pleasant young fellow continued harassing and bullying the other students and Miss Wilder finally sent him to the corner. He wouldn't have it, he challenged the teacher right in front of the class, reducing Eliza Jane to a sobbing mess because she has no backbone.

Once again, it was Charles Ingalls to the rescue (honestly, how did Walnut Grove ever survive without him?) He confronted Bart Sr., who believed his son's false alibi, because he's an idiot. Almanzo wanted to solve this problem with raw aggression, but Eliza Jane suggested they call Bart Sr.'s bluff and bring this matter before the school board, and as you may have guessed, Harriet sided with him because he tossed a few bucks their way. So, the vote for Bart's expulsion was tied, Charles and Doc Baker voting for, Harriet and Nellie... WHY is Nellie on the school board? They voted against and because of that, Bart stayed in school. Never have I wanted to throw Harriet through a window as much as I do now. Hope comes in the form of Albert, however, having borrowed Eliza Jane's werewolf book and devising a little scheme to make ol' Bart crap his pants in fear. Albert tended to building a fake rock, while Laura went out and stole a man's beard (I'm serious). Oh and in case you were wondering, Bart stiffed Clarence out of his dollar. Okay, episode, we get it, he's a deplorable piece of human garbage. What's he going to do next, kick a puppy? So as Eliza Jane prepared to leave town, Laura, Albert and Clarence began preparations for Operation: Full Moon. The plan took off without a hitch...and sadly, it didn't work. Oh, Albert was magnificent as a werewolf, very convincing, as were Laura and Clarence, they exposed Bart's true cowardice as he begged for his life and everything was going fine, UNTIL that little mistake Carrie came out and exposed the entire hoax! Hate Carrie, hate Carrie, I hate Carrie! So Albert got his ass kicked again. With no other alternative, Laura hit upon a great idea! Time to use the odds to their advantage and team up against that bully. And so they all ganged up on Bart and jumped him, giving him a good, sound beating. Afterwords, he apologized to Eliza Jane and asked her to stay on, and so all was well again.

Remember the Galendars from Season 3's "The Bully Boys"? They seemed like nice guys compared to Bart and his father. This episode is very frustrating to watch, I must say. Not much to like about it, but plenty to hate. You'll hate Bart, you'll hate his father, you'll hate Mrs. Oleson, and you'll hate Carrie, though you will feel bad for Albert, even if you don't like him. I also felt bad fro Eliza Jane, a character I normally despise, but she looked so vulnerable when that toe-headed rat was pushing her around. Todd Thompson was great as Bart, Sandy Ward was great as Bart Sr., two characters we never see or hear from again, thank God! Mathew Laborteaux was great as Albert, and Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush sucked as Carrie, just like always. This episode is anger inducing from start to finish. There have been some horrible characters on this show before, but... man, these guys can get you riled up! I love to hate Harriet, and here I did it more than ever, and why was that bitch Nellie on the school board? Well there was a scene explaining it that syndication raped out of it. I wouldn't really recommend this one, but Albert's werewolf prank is definitely worth seeing at least once. Make of it what you will, but don't watch it if you're looking for a pick-me-up.

We've had our share of bullies on LHOTP, including perennial bully Harriet Olson, but one thing I liked about this episode is it sets up watchers to believe that Laura and Albert's werewolf ploy is going to work, ala The Lake Kezia Monster. But not this time! Now, I felt it was unrealistic and lazy writing to have Carrie come up (disobeying instructions, and just conveniently spilling the beans) when there were plenty of other much more creative ways to allow Bart to find out the truth (Albert tripping and the rock accidentally hitting Bart for instance) but I still liked that it didn't end up working.

It appears that some elements that explained Nellie's presence were taken out in syndication. You can catch the full aired episode on Amazon Prime and DVD rentals, where you'll see the scene where Harriet throws Nels off the school board and replaces him with Nellie in order to have her way. This still doesn't make much sense (why wouldn't the ENTIRE board be people that would vote her way??) but at least there's some reason for Nellie's sudden appearance.

It was sad to see Eliza Jane so powerless due to the failure of the school board, and sadly this kind of situation can still sometimes take place today. My own sister was bullied by a school principal to such an extreme as a new teacher (in special ed no less) she quit the teaching profession altogether. When I did student teaching I often experienced parents that would blame me for their child's failure to do well (it being common for a lot of kids to not work as hard as they would for their regular teacher). So a lesson for parents here as well.

Ultimately a good lesson again about strength in numbers and standing up to bullies.

This is a good episode highlighting the misbehavior and bullying by an older boy of a female teacher. Then he is "taught a lesson" in good behavior by his fellow students when they "beat him up". It is also very familiar. It took me awhile, but I found the previous episodes of this TV show that have very similar elements to this one.

S02E17 "Troublemaker", where older boys misbehave in school, causing the teacher to be fired. Then the boys are ultimately shamed into good behavior by the other students.

S03E09 "The Bully Boys", where the youngest of three bully brothers, bullies several children, then gets "beat up" by all of the children.

We continue with the repetitions. This chapter, starring Bart, is a copy or repetition of the Galendars bullies' chapter of "The Bully Boys", and ends in the same way: with all the other students uniting against the aggressor bully. With some different characteristics, the argument is the same, and the moral message too: It is impossible to control the strongest except through a union of all the weak.- The chapter bored me, it's like one already knew what its development and culmination were going to be like.- Repeat, it's a copy or repetition of the Galendars bullies' chapter of "The Bully Boys" And the parody of the werewolf played by Albert seemed stupid to me.