"HIS FATHER'S SON"

Mr. and Mrs. Edwards adopt John Sanderson. John is a lot more interested in books than farming or hunting. Mr. Edwards tries to make him different and buys him a gun for his birthday. John, not wanting to hurt Mr. Edwards' feelings, gives him a letter explaining why he didn't want to hunt. Mr. Edwards says nothing about what is written and John thinks it is because he is not loved. They go hunting and encounter a bear. Isaiah is hurt when John freezes up and is unable to shoot the bear. He goes and gets help for Mr. Edwards. Later, John finds out that Isaiah can't read and thus was unable to read his letter about his feelings on hunting.



This is a sad episode. There are a lot of emotions in this one. Mr. Edwards wanting to bond with John gets him a rifle thinking that will make him share an experience he likes…
Then poor Mr. Edwards can’t read the letter making John think what he wrote was not an ounce of importance… then when the bear attacked Mr. Edwards John froze… I don’t know what I would do in that situation… it is easy to SAY that you will react in a certain manner but once you find yourself in something like that… your nerves can do tricks on you… poor John

Not my Fav. My brothers are always scared when the bears attack Edwards. They make me fast-foward through it, even after I told them it was just ML dressed up! I did feel sorry for John, though.

Well, I tried to merge these two topics together being they all had to do with the episode... but am having trouble... so I'm using the quotes feature for now...

(Comments re: his fathers son - topic started by charles ingalls)

charles ingalls wrote:

ok where john jr and isaiah were hunting and the bear
attacking isaiah... i think there'd been more damage to
isaiah look like the bear was smacking him

Vanesa wrote:

Yep. The first time I watched it, I believed the bear had killed him. The worst injures bears does are in the neck, and when you are hurt in the neck...ugh...It's pretty bad, since we have lots of blood there..

Vanesa.

charles ingalls wrote:

we all know it was a trained bear

Rhonda wrote:

Some trivia for you on this episode.........

Trivia note: The livestock company brought up the horses, and along with them, a deer and black bear for location shots at Basin Creek. When the bear seen in the close-ups attacks Mr. Edwards, it's not stunt coordinator Hal Burton in the costume. Michael Landon decided he would wear the bear costume himself for the mauling of Mr. Edwards!!

charles ingalls wrote:

I bet michael was hot in the costume

ChristinaAL wrote:

Rhonda wrote:

Some trivia for you on this episode.........

Trivia note: The livestock company brought up the horses, and along with them, a deer and black bear for location shots at Basin Creek. When the bear seen in the close-ups attacks Mr. Edwards, it's not stunt coordinator Hal Burton in the costume. Michael Landon decided he would wear the bear costume himself for the mauling of Mr. Edwards!!

I bet that was a fun scene for him - it must have been hard to concentrate on it being so serious.

Farmer Girl wrote:

Wow! I never knew that! Well, I guess you learn something new everyday! How interesting! Rhonda, where do you get all these things?!?!

Rhonda wrote:

From one of my most favorite information sites......

Little House

I had a favorite for information on the Real Laura, but it has disappeared.....Does anyone know where it might have gone?? It was known as Frontier Girl.
http://webpages.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/frames.html

charles Ingalls wrote:

i was a member there as charles ingalls42
the owner must of closed it

Vanesa wrote:

I didn't know this, Rhonda...1000 thanks! Yes! It must have been a very funny scene for both of them.

Vanesa.

Farmer Girl wrote:

Thanks, Rhonda! I have a feeling I'll be spending alot of time at that website.....

Toby wrote:

Try this. http://frodo.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/frames.html

Rhonda wrote:

YES TOBY!!!! That's it......Wonder why they changed the url.... :think:

Toby wrote:

That is weird that they changed the url without notifying anybody, especially since they are still on the marshall.edu domain. I just did a quick Google search of frontier girl and the new url popped up at the top of the list. I was looking at the family section and I never knew that two pairs of Charles and Caroline's siblings got married.

charles Ingalls wrote:

yep laura nad mary did
laura to almonzo and mary to adam

Savannah wrote:

Well, that, too, Gary. But, in real life, Caroline's younger sister Eliza married Charles's older brother Peter. Plus Caroline's older brother Henry married Charles's younger sister, Polly. There were a lot of double cousins in that family! LOL!

charles Ingalls wrote:

talk about all in the family

Vanesa wrote:

Savannah wrote:

Well, that, too, Gary. But, in real life, Caroline's younger sister Eliza married Charles's older brother Peter. Plus Caroline's older brother Henry married Charles's younger sister, Polly. There were a lot of double cousins in that family! LOL!

I think it was a rather common thing back them. This happened in my family too: there were a lot of double cousins. It was a consequence of growing up together.

Vanesa.

I enjoyed this episode because we learn alot about Isaiah and about how a father can connect with a son. but I honestly can't show any sympathy for John after watching the episode from season 4 when he breaks off the engagement with Mary!

A very sad episode. I felt sorry for both John and Mr.Edwards

I don't really like this one..very sad esp..Don't really like mr edwards in this esp

I don't like this Episode.

Strange how many people seem to not like this episode. I really liked it! Yes, it was sad....but I feel like it was a good kind of sad episode. Mr. Edwards was quite gruff and insistent about John going hunting with him, but I do think it was because he was so hurt that John was not bonding with him, so I can accept that from him.

I think if John had actually tried to shoot the bear, it could have been worse because he may have accidentally shot Mr. Edwards. However, he could at least have shot the gun into the air to try to frighten the bear away. But who knows what any of us would do in such a situation? Maybe I would just stand there in shock, too.

Anyway, I love it when John reads the letter to Mr. Edwards and we finally get to find out what it said. Really touching.

And the ending is cute too, with Mr. Edwards trying to teach himself to read.

I also like that there is continuity with recurring characters....except why was Alicia sitting there so sullen during John's birthday party? That was strange to me. I did like that we got to see "Mine" apparently grown up now.

I always liked this one too, because it shows how different individuals can learn to love and appreciate each other. We see a much softer side to Isaiah than usual, which is a treat.

Ya. People should learn to love and accpect people for who they are.& Talking out problems and telling ppl how they feel is a good thing.

I didn't like John.....not manly enough for me. And the way he cheated on Mary and then had the nerve to ask Charles to tell Mary the engagement was off.....geeez

I loved the character of Mr Edwards as much as anyone else, but in this one, he showed just how ignorant he really was.
Anyone that couldn't see that John was not a hunter, had to be pretty dense.

sweetkrissy2011 wrote:

Davetucson wrote:

I loved the character of Mr Edwards as much as anyone else, but in this one, he showed just how ignorant he really was.
Anyone that couldn't see that John was not a hunter, had to be pretty dense.

Yes. He was you could say that. Maybe he just wished john was like him.

OF COURSE HE DID, THAT WAS THE PROBLEM...........

He had Carl though that wanted so much to be like his "Pa", it wasn't like he didn't have another son to fill his shoes.

I have seen this in my life with different people and I think that is why it made me uncomfortable, parents that push kids that aren't athletic to be sports stars and they just fail and hate it, parents that push their kids to be nerdy when they aren't, boys that are picked on for liking to read and write (still today) It might seem harmless but I've watched adults still talk with pain about experiences trying to be something they weren't to please a parent.

John Jr. seemed so obviously not a hunter, they did make Mr.Edward's a bit dense.

I watched this tonight, it was hard for me for a few reasons, but I wondered what others thought of it? The plot was:
Trying to interest his newly adopted son in more "manly" pursuits than reading and writing poetry, Isaiah Edwards buys a rifle for John Jr.'s birthday and stubbornly insists that the two of them go turkey hunting, even though the sensitive teenager has made it plain that he doesn't want to go. But a life-threatening situation during the hunt and a secret revealed afterward, result in a life changing event for both.

I felt sorry for John, it was obvious he was so different than Mr. Edward's and he didn't have a clue when he wrote that letter, Mr. Edward's couldn't read. I thought they made Mr. Edward's kind of mean in taking him despite what he was told, but many parents try to fit their children into their dreams.
I understood not killing the deer, etc. but the bear, was it fear or just not wanting to kill it? If he froze fine, but protecting someone, I would think, would rise above it.

I was glad when John read him the letter at the end and teared up a bit with them.


SORRY, just saw the other post on this episode, don't know why I missed it before.

This was a difficult episode to watch when John Jr. and Mr. Edwards were not getting along, and thinking they had disappointed the other. It was so nice to see Isaiah in the treehouse at the end of the episode, learning how to read because he knew it would make John happy. I think both John and Isaiah learned an important lesson that even if you are not like someone, or if they are not like the way you want them to be, you can still get along.

After watching this tonight, I have sort of mixed feelings about this one. Maybe because COZI-TV cuts things out, but I don't understand why Isaiah changed his mind about taking Carl instead of John on the hunting trip. He seemed to agree to that, but then he insisted that John go. Also, I do think it would have been unusual for boys in that type of community and in that time to grow up not hunting or at least that they would have been taught to use a rifle, if not for hunting, then at least perhaps for protection.

I do think it was neat at the end that Isaiah is trying to learn how to read, but I think it would have been even sweeter if he was having John teach him to read. That could have been a bonding activity for them.

I really would like to know why Alicia seemed sad or jealous or whatever at John, Jr's birthday party!

Also, Charles was really touching Grace a lot, comforting her. I know they are good friends, but I still wonder if a married man back then would be touching the wife of another man quite so much.

Its a good episode. However, its imposing modern ideals on old settlers... John doesnt want to kill, but im sure he eats meat making him a hypocrite if he does.