Country Girls 1/5

This episode opens with Jack getting a drink of water from the river. Charles whistles for the dog and he scampers toward the house. Inside, Caroline grabs Carrie to give her a hug and calls up for Mary and Laura to come to breakfast. She says it with a weird inflection, as if she was unsure that “Mary” and “Laura” were the names of her daughters. This was one of the first episodes of the series, but you’d think committing your fellow main characters to memory would rank high on the “to do” list. Of course, when I was in the Wizard of Oz in high school some people, such as the director, kept referring to me as the Scarecrow, despite my silver makeup and the straw coming out of Jordan’s shirt, so perhaps my priorities were misplaced.

Where was I? Mary is brushing her hair in the loft. Once done, she walks over to the bed to wake up her sister. “Laura. Hurry up! You heard Ma. DON’T YOU DARE MAKE US LATE FOR SCHOOL.” There is a certain clunkiness to early episodes of shows that makes them so enjoyable. Characters and relationships have to be spelled out in bold, underlined letters so that the audience can be brought up to speed. In this case, we get a nice Mary Ingalls Ludicrous Freakout that stays consistent with her character throughout the series. And then we see Laura with her usual reaction to MILFs: she pulls the covers over her head and calmly says she isn’t going. Mary heads downstairs.

Pa enters the house just as breakfast is served. Caroline asks Mary if Laura is ready and is informed that the younger daughter is not going to school. Caroline heaves a sigh and looks over at Charles. He tells her not to worry and heads up to the loft. Once upstairs, Pa takes a seat on the bed and asks “What’s the matter half-pint?” Laura quietly says “I don’t wanna go,” through the covers. Pa suppresses a chuckle as he moves to pull the covers from Laura’s face. Laura repeats her assertion. Pa tells his daughter that he made a promise to Ma that if they ended up somewhere with a school nearby the girls would go. Laura says they need her at the homestead to take care of the fish traps and the dog. Pa tells her she can do those things and go to school and that he doesn’t want to break his promise. Laura finally agrees and starts to get out of bed to get dressed. As he heads back downstairs, Pa tells Laura that she’s going to like school.

After breakfast, Mary asks Ma if the kids at school will like them. Caroline reassures her daughters that the kids will like them and instructs them to be friendly and have good manners. Ma steps back so she can get a better look at how her girls look for the first day of school. Hmm, fall fashions for 1874 are something to be desired. Carrie looks like she has no neck, Laura looks like she’s hiding a baby bump, and the way Mary’s skirt cuts off at the knee makes it look like she is about to go wading. Caroline: You’re out. Auf wiedersehen. I think Caroline agrees, since she says “Well, you’re fresh and clean,” as if two out of three ain’t bad. Laura asks her Ma how long “learning” is going to take. Ma chuckles, saying that you start to learn when you are born and those who are wise learn until “the Lord calls us home.” So…God is the Chinese version of Google? Laura is unsatisfied with this answer the way that any eight-year-old is unsatisfied with the “are we there yet?” answer.

Caroline takes the girls to her bedroom to share a surprise with them. She pulls out a wooden trunk and removes a set of books. She gives them to Mary and tells both girls that the books are theirs now. Ma gives Laura the lunch pail and escorts them outside. Pa is chopping wood in front of the house and stops to join in on the send-off, telling the girls not to dawdle. Laura and Mary start to walk away, but after about ten paces Laura runs back to give her Ma and Pa a hug. She gives Carrie a hug and in response Carrie has a look on her face that reads “girl, it’s school, not war. Get a grip.” Even Pa chuckles, commenting on how lengthy the goodbye is for someone who will be back home in a few hours. Carrie starts to run off to follow her sisters but Charles grabs her and holds her in his arms as they watch the other two girls run up the hill into town. Laura turns to wave back.