Reviews

Laura is doing odd jobs for neighboring farmers, the Parsons. In lieu of the agreed upon cash payment for services rendered, Laura adopts a goat that an exasperated Mr Parsons has marked for execution. Giving him the name, Fred, she brings home her new friend and convinces Caroline to let her keep him in the barn.

Well, Fred quickly wears out his welcome at the Ingalls by sending a very tired Charles flying with a head butt to his derrière and eating a bunch of bulrushes Charles worked hard to gather from the swamp for a buyer. Animal lover Laura tries to keep finding the troublesome goat a new home, but his need to head-butt the backside of anyone who unwittingly bends over in his view (Mrs Olsen, Doc Baker, Reverend Alden) as well as getting plastered on Mr Edwards' secret "turpentine" experiment makes Fred public enemy number one in Walnut Grove. Laura is left with no choice but to set Fred free to fend for himself.

Fred and his bottomless stomach stumble upon that supply of bulrushes again, now in possession of the buyer who shafted Charles on their agreed-upon price. Fred's consumption leaves the buyer desperate for a new supply and gives Charles the upper hand to negotiate a higher price (and payment upfront this time). Fred's actions make him welcome back at the Ingalls, but when Laura goes to search for him, she happily discovers he's already been welcomed into a wild herd of his own kind.

This was a lighthearted episode full of goofy fun and physical comedy. It was a nice decompression from the heavy drama of the previous two-part episode, "Journey in the Spring", which dealt with the visit of melancholy grandpa Ingalls following the passing of Charles' mother.

Chrissy's minister father is coming to town for a visit. Chrissy is in a bit of a panic because she hasn't told him their former roommate Eleanor has been replaced by Jack. Well, the reverend isn't going to approve of his daughter sharing an apartment with a man no matter how strictly platonic they profess it is. I mean, they could never convince even non-clerics like Mr Roper (and later, Mr Furley) there's no "hanky panky" without Jack pretending to be gay. Anyway, the solution is to pretend Jack and Janet are husband and wife and all the usual hilarity that ensues whenever the trio try to play out a ruse. Reverend Snow can handle his daughter living with a married couple, but he isn't thrilled their marriage was at city hall and not by a man of the cloth. Well, he offers to perform the ceremony himself. Eventually it all comes out and daddy is pissed and demands his little girl move back home immediately. Luckily some words by Jack convince the reverend all is well here and daddy gives his "okay" to Chrissy's current living arrangement.

What's fascinating is the view of an unmarried adult woman living on her own, working, paying her bills is still a novelty and not considered an appropriate lifestyle...Mary Tyler Moore be damned. Chrissy is seriously concerned if her father finds out about her living situation, she will have to abide by his orders to return home as if she is still a child. Now one can say "he's a minister, of course he's ultra conservative". However, this scenario played out again in season five when Janet's parents come to visit. She led them to believe she was married to Jack, otherwise she was going to be expected to come back home. In spite of all the envelope pushing sex jokes and innuendo on this show, Chrissy and Janet were still just their "daddy's little girl".

Rose's eldest daughter Kirsten and granddaughter come for a visit. Rose is making Kirsten executor of her will and wants to have her review the documents. Rose always led her kids to believe their father was very successful as a traveling salesman and that he left them a sizable estate upon his passing. Kirsten is shocked to discover there is little left and tears into her mother, accusing Rose of squandering his hard-earned fortune. Rose just takes the abuse and offers no defense. Knowing Rose to be responsible with money, Blanche and Dorothy have a hard time believing she lost it all on bad investment choices, but Rose doubles down. What is Rose hiding about the money and her dear departed husband, Charlie? Not wanting Kirsten to leave angry, Rose finally comes clean and reveals Charlie was, of course, a wonderful husband, father and very generous to all who needed help. Where he was lacking was his skills in money management and she somewhat embellished his financial successes. Since his work had him away from her and the kids often, Rose didn't want her children growing up with a negative image of their father. Kirsten understands her mother's noble motives for lying and they make peace.

I get why this episode rates lower. Not a lot of huge laughs here. Kirsten comes off as a typical shallow, greedy and entitled offspring expecting a big payout when daddy and mommy die. Her anger at Rose basically reads as: "How dare you spend MY inheritance!!". The fact that all Kirsten's child seems to know about grandpa Charlie is that "he was very rich" is troubling.

The casting of Christine Belford as Kirsten didn't help. Her personality is too icy...more believable as a Carrington or Ewing than a Nylund.

Laura Ingalls and Nellie Olsen are two of television's greatest feuding females. We've seen them lock horns many times over previous seasons, but they're growing up and their reasons for feuding are as well.

It's a new school year and Walnut Grove is getting a new teacher in Miss Eliza Jane Wilder. Teenager Albert is hoping the new teacher is the prairie era equivalent of a centerfold, but those hopes are dashed when Miss Wilder's looks fall short of conventional physical beauty.

However, Miss Wilder didn't come to town alone. She brought with her a younger brother definitely not lacking in the looks department, much to Laura's delight. Dashing Almonzo Wilder with his shaggy golden locks and megawatt smile has Laura all starry-eyed, but he's ten years her senior and doesn't see Laura as anything more than a sweet kid. This sends Laura into teenage rebellion mode, shedding her trademark pigtails for a long flowing hairstyle to get Almonzo to see the woman emerging and not Pa's beloved Half-Pint.

The first day of school for Miss Wilder and the town children begins (i.e interrupted) with a Harriet-organized mini graduation ceremony for Nellie and forced-attendance unveiling of her graduation present, the new Nellie's restaurant and hotel. Nellie is pretty ambivalent about the extravagant gift when she learns it involves hard work, especially in the restaurant kitchen where she definitely lacks skills. Luckily for Nellie, Caroline Ingalls comes seeking some temporary employment after Charles is injured in a bizarre runaway millstone accident. Caroline, of course, knows her way around a kitchen being a wife and mother and having managed a much larger restaurant during their brief time living in Winoka. Exasperated Harriet happily hires Caroline on the spot and even agrees to Caroline's salary and work schedule demands. However, much to Laura's chagrin, Harriet also notices the hunky Almonzo and decides he could be a proper suitor and future husband for her pride and joy. Harriet gets Nellie to invite Almonzo to the restaurant for a romantic Sunday dinner for two, but one of Caroline's demands was Sundays off. Well who is going to prepare the romantic dinner of cinnamon chicken?? Laura "happily" offers to cook for Nellie's candlelight dinner. Of course, Laura is channeling her own inner Nellie and sabotages the evening by substituting the cinnamon with a whole lot of cayenne pepper, leaving Nellie and Almonzo gasping for water.

After being forced by Ma to apologize to Nellie for her deceit, Laura unwittingly accepts Nellie's olive branch of advice concerning the exam Laura is about to take for her certification to be a teacher: she assures Laura the exam won't contain any history questions. Of course, Laura should know well enough by now to take any help from Nellie with a grain of salt. Laura ends up failing the exam and with her building frustration from everyone continually treating her like a little girl, hits Defcon 1-level fury when she encounters Nellie. They have their most epic knock-down brawl in the muddy creek, which is witnessed and broken up by Almonzo.

Laura had fired the first shot in this particular conflict with Nellie, so she can't really be seen as the innocent victim this time. Anyway, she is growing up and we all know her future does involve becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Can't feel bad for Nellie, either. There is real happiness coming soon for her as well.

I can't remember at the time, but I'm guessing that's how NBC promoted this episode prior to its original airing. "Very Special Episode" was a big marketing tool in the 80's when a sitcom tackled controversial or darker (for a sitcom) subject matter.

In this case, it was teen sex and birth control as eldest daughter Katie ends up in the hospital for complications from an IUD. Katie was fine, but the real issue was daddy Carl learning his teenage daughter is sexually active. Another shocker for the Chief was learning that it was his deceased wife Margaret who discussed sex and birth control with their daughter and provided her with the IUD. Anyway, after some yelling and tears, father and daughter make peace. The Chief tries to accept that she's becoming a woman and while he still doesn't approve of her having sex at a young age, he lets her know he still loves and will always be there for her.

Controversial for the time? Definitely. This was the start of the Regan era and the Moral Majority and their "abstinence only" crap when it came to teenage/pre-marital sex. Also, the sexually active teen being a female I'm sure ruffled even more feathers.

Nancy was a pretty shameless way recapture the glory years of LHOTP by recreating one of television's most iconic lovetohate characters. Nancy is the over-the-top cartoon version of Nellie. Michael Landon must have made little Allison Balson watch hours of Nellie's greatest hits and told her "Do what she did, but multiply it by a million".

Standout moments: Laura's hilarious look of disbelief and horror when she meets Nancy. You can see in her eyes years of Nellie trauma replaying in her brain in that one moment.

Katherine MacGregor always shines when she gets to have one of those "human Harriet" moments. Here she wins over Nancy with her monologue telling how she always knew what a nasty spoiled brat Nellie was, because she was the same way and she enabled Nellie's behavior.

Atonement for past sins? Not really, but it's Harriet showing she really is capable of love...in her own unique way.

This was always one of my favorite HBO/The Movie Channel late-night offerings when I was a kid in the early eighties. It's definitely a slasher movie, but it has the atmosphere of a classic haunted house flick. Hell Night takes a break from drunken, oversexed camp counselors being hacked up by a deranged, deformed hillbilly living in a decrepit shack deep in the woods. Instead we have a deranged, deformed, would-be heir killing drunken, oversexed fellow silver spoon kids in costume finery who dared to enter his sprawling Gothic estate (Love that house, by-the-way).

Like an old haunted house movie, it relies more on tension and suspense for the chills. There are a few brutal slayings that are light on gore. The psycho-at-large is fairly chilling since he spends most of the film in the shadows (or under the floor as in one very creepy scene). I don't mind gore at all but when I want to feel chills and goosebumps from a movie an atmosphere of heightening tension and a mostly unseen killer will always do it.

As others have said on here, I found the heroes/victims to be pretty likable and their acting above-average for this kind of film. Quaalude-popping party girl (Suki Goodwin) is actually a fun character and Vincent (son of Dick) Van Patten's hunky surfer boy is a little more than one-note. I felt bad when he died because he DID come back to help the others even when he was free and safe and couldn't get the cops to go back with him (he was also kinda hot, lol). Peter (Matthew Star) Barton played the sensitive nice guy and bourgeoning love interest to Linda Blair's final girl and I felt really bad when he died (because he was really HOT).

Blair, of course, is best known for appearances on a few 'Circus of the Stars' episodes and some Ellen Burstyn flick when she was a kid. You know she makes it because she's the virgin girl and she has top billing. It was nice to see her character's backstory didn't make her out to be connected to the psycho in some manner or recovering from an emotionally traumatic event in her past. She simply is a good girl from a poor background running with the rich and beautiful. Yes, she survives the night because she is poor (and she also knows her way around a car engine). She screams a lot and occasionally runs in the wrong direction like most slasher film girls but she's not so-dumb-you hope-he-gets-her type; you want her to make it. Also, don't get me wrong, I like strong female characters but in this type of movie she played it right. Her job is to run from a practically unstoppable ghoul or die, not to stop and decide to channel Sigourney Weaver. I feel the psycho already loses some of his menace when he steps into the light--having the heroine face him in hand to hand combat would only diminish him further. The goal of the movie should be to keep the fear of him strong and the upper hand his until the last moment. The film did that here, Blair just ran and when a chance to take him out for good presented itself she took it. I thought was a pretty original and satisfying finish at that. *** out of ****.