Sylvia 3/10

Mr. Webb is rocking out 19th century style (in his rocking chair) when he hears a thud outside the front door. It’s Sylvia and she looks roughed up. “Help me, Papa,” she whimpers. He shows almost no emotion at this, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise since it is nighttime and he apparently isn’t too concerned with the whereabouts of his daughter if he is rocking out in the living room. He helps her up and carries her to the bedroom. He asks what happened as he covers her with a blanket. She tells him someone grabbed her, pulled her down, and starts to cry before finishing the gruesome tale. Mr. Webb reels back, horrified at what happened to his daughter. He looks in the mirror, turns back to his daughter and asks who did it. She cries that she doesn’t know because he wore a party mask. “The clown face. The clown face.” Mr. Webb slowly exits, but before he leaves he tells Sylvia that she is not to tell anyone what happened. “No one must know of this disgrace, do you understand?” Boo!

The next day at school, all the kids are playing outside including Albert’s friends who are running around chasing Willie. Sylvia is sitting on the swing when Willie comes around, grabs the swing and she unwillingly gets in the middle of a tug-of-war. To be fair, I don’t think they were targeting Sylvia, but she starts to freak out and starts flailing and hitting and screaming no. Her rage starts to focus on Willie and the other boys try to calm her down to no avail. Laura and Albert run outside to check on the commotion and rush over to help. Laura puts her lack of Special Victims training to good use as she slaps Sylvia across the face to calm her down. Surprisingly, this works. Laura takes Sylvia away as Willie claims innocence.

Over at Doc Baker’s Laura is pacing while Sylvia is examined. Doc Baker doesn’t know what’s up because Sylvia is not talking. Laura relates what happened to the doc, but he seems puzzled that Sylvia was hitting the boys even though the boys didn’t hit her. He mentions that there is some bruising on Sylvia, but then Mr. Webb barges in. Doc Baker tries to both give and receive information, but Mr. Webb isn’t interested. He uses the “fell down the stairs” excuse and accuses Doc Baker of calling him a liar when told that the bruises aren’t consistent with that type of injury. Doc Baker is absolutely baffled by Webb’s behavior and Laura agrees that something is amiss.

At the homestead, Albert tells Ma and Pa what happened. Apparently the incident scared Carrie, which is why it is dessert conversation. Albert promises his parents that he is going to protect Sylvia from any teasing. Pa thinks it’s a good idea then sends Albert to bed. Not much going on in this scene.

Willie and his porn buddies spot Sylvia sitting on the schoolhouse steps before class. They run towards Sylvia, stopping in front of her, Willie screaming “No! No!” as the other boys pretend to slap him silly. The Olesons really aren’t doing much to curry my favor this episode. Sylvia doesn’t even get offended at this display as she just sighs in a resigned fashion. Albert walks over and tells Willie to stop, first by asking, then by pulling him away. The pranksters ask what the problem is and Albert says he told them to stop. “Yeah, well make me,” Willie sneers. So Albert slugs him right in the face. Yeah, that’s good for two points. Go Albert! Willie runs home to mother to take care of his bloody nose. The other boys walk away, disappointed that their fun is over. Albert tells Sylvia that they probably won’t bother her anymore, says see ya, and walks away. She smiles as he leaves. Awww.

Later that day Sylvia is walking home and Albert runs up to her. They talk about that day’s test and how they did. She thanks him for his intervention earlier and the awesomeness of punching Willie’s face in. I like this girl. Albert jokes that he learned it all from Laura and they share a laugh. Albert offers to carry Sylvia’s books, but she politely refuses. “I’m trying to be a gentleman, but you have to give me a chance,” he lectures and she gives in.