[Note from Carol regarding Editing]
Since I do the Episode Reviews, I have been given acces in the Episode Reviews forum to edit, move posts so that all posts regarding an episode stay together. If I post an episode review that has some post already started.... instead of me using the quotes feature... I will just edit the first post of whoever started the thread about that episode to include the pictures of the episodes at the top of the thread. That way, all comments and posts remain in their original form. [End of Carol's Note]



Mary and John have fallen deeply in love and want to get married, but John has a problem. He must decide if he will accept a scholarship and go to college or stay with Mary. At first Mary doesn't want him to go until she and John both realize that he must take the scholarship to try to make his dreams of becoming a writer a reality.



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(starmonkey said....)

I'm sitting here watching this episode now on Hallmark and I had to do a quick calculation in my mind when Charles tells John in a year and half when Mary is 15 she's his. I'm thinking "wow! she's only 13 1/2 and engaged". It just seems so young even for back in those days.

(Kalin said...)
I was thinking the exact same thing while I was watching it. It was way to young to be engaged, at least I thought so. I mean, he made Laura wait till she was seventeen, he almost made her wait till she was eighteen. I guess them being around the same age had something to do with it, but when Charles told John he had to wait he looked suprised, like it was no big deal she was only 13.

Being engaged at 13 1/2 back in the Prairie Days was not unusual...nobody expected women to do much besides get married and have children in those days...and people didn't live as long...so you got married early..

That's one thing i don't understand Why did Laura have to wait so long and mary was engaged 13 1/2 already and got married when she was 16 and Laura have to wait till 17

Well I guess it had something to do with Mary's first engagement to fail. I guess Charles had learned through bitter experience that it was too early to get engaged. Furthermore it came ahrder on him to let Laura go. I thiknk it was about the personality of the two girls. Laura always appeared a bit younger than Mary when she was her age. Actually that was what Laura had to struggle wit quite a long time: To make clear that she also had grown up, even if she had a different way than Mary.

I think this epie was made to show that we must not rush into a thing, but think a lot about it. Evidently John Jr. was not the man for Mary, and John wouldn't deserve a girl as good as her, LOL.... He was a womanizer and a liar...Poor Mary was not lucky with men, as you may notice: she had more suitors than Laura and she couldn't marry any of them! Poor thing....And she wasn't lucky with her babies either: at first moment, she suffered a miscarriage and after having a beatiful baby boy, he was dead among the fire...Mary has the sadest storylines of the show...She was a kinda of tear-jerker.... :think:

Vanesa.

I just saw this one again yesterday after not having seen it in a while. This is a great episode. There's a lot in it -- the difficult decision John had to make, the tension between him and Isiah, and Mary growing up and realizing the right thing to do was to tell John to go to college. This episode is good with continuity, which as we know is quite lacking in other episodes. It continues the John/Isiah dynamic from His Father's Son and sets up the breakup of John and Mary in Times of Change. I can't help but wonder how things would have turned out if John had turned down the scholarship, married Mary, and become a farmer. Would he have been satisfied? Would he always have wondered "what if"? Would he have cheated on Mary? How would he have handled Mary's blindness? Interesting things to think about. I also can't help but feel sorry for Mary.

I don't go out of my way to watch this episode because I know that John Jr. will later be made into a bad guy and is killed off in Season 8 without getting a chance to redeem himself. That's why my first fanfiction, "Second Chance" was about John returning to WG after finding out Mary was going blind and admitting that he realized his mistake and wanted to beg her forgiveness but felt he didn't deserve it.

All the things you mention, John, are great parts of this episode, as is the way Grace realizes that no matter how much Isaiah and John love each other, they are destined to live very different lives. Mary is forced to grow up very quickly in this episode, as she is forced to do in Times of Change. And actually, I spend a lot of the series feeling bad for Mary because she deals with so many illnesses and disappointments in life that it is good to find her in love with Adam. But the hard times continue to plague her: almost not marrying Adam because of her fears of the future, the closing of the blind school in Winoka, her miscarriage, the loss of Baby Adam and the fire at the blind school in WG, hoping she would regain her sight but having to stand by as Adam regains his sight and goes on to live his dream of becoming a lawyer, and finally being taken away from her family so that Adam can pursue his career. Mary must have had the strength of Job not to let some of those things break her.

I thought this was a sad episode. Mr. Edwards and John are so different. The look Mr. Edwards gives John at the beginning of the episode when John is talking about wondering what the eagle thought about them is kind of funny.
Anyway, I felt so bad for Mary. It showed how much she loved John... I mean, she was willing to let him go so that he could be happy. It's too bad they drifted apart... well HE did... Mary remained faithful which is something John didn't do.

13 1/2 was really young to be engaged! though I have to say I'm glad Mary and John didn't get married, because then Mary wouldn't of had a close relationship with Adam, and I liked Adam's character

I remember watching this episode when I was little and thinking that Mary seemed old enough. Now I think, "She's just a kid! No one should be engaged at thirteen!"

I do like how this episode continued the tension that would flair up between John and Mr. Edwards.
I'm also glad that John did end up taking the scholarship as that definitely was the correct choice.

I, personally, don't care for John, but this is one episode that I don't mind him in.

Haven't seen it but all I'd say is, "Poor Mary."

Wow, only 13 1/2 years old in engaged. Things has change over the years. I like this episode. I didn't know, Mary was engaged to John.


It's a good thing, I'm re-watching LHOTP Some of the episodes, I remember & others I totally forgot about.

I'am so glad that times has changed. It's so nice that the society accpects more from women then just getting married and giving birth.Cooking and cleaning. I don't think I"d be happy with that type of life.

I'am glad they didn't get married either. I'am glad mary gets married to adam latter on.They suited eacher better.

I guess Mary was a little more mature than Laura..That's probably why.

I never thought Mary would end up with John when I watched this years ago, not because she becomes blind but I knew he would change and she would hate the city and he would not be able to survive in a place like Walnut Grove.
I liked the Sanderson children, if they stayed in Walnut Grove, I don't think the Cooper children would have been necessary.