Whisper Country

RE-watching this. You really need to stand up for ones self.This lady was pure evil.The town was scared and did and believed everything that women said. I think they had fear that if they didnt go along with her.She do something to them. I guess ya it wasn't common for women to speake up like that.But i respect mary for doing that.She did a good job.

sweetkrissy2011 wrote:

RE-watching this. You really need to stand up for ones self.This lady was pure evil.The town was scared and did and believed everything that women said. I think they had fear that if they didnt go along with her.She do something to them. I guess ya it wasn't common for women to speake up like that.But i respect mary for doing that.She did a good job.

Poor Miss Peel was not "pure evil" as you've said. She was a not very bright person and translated her own fears to people from her town. She was manipulating them, but I think she was a mild mentally sick woman.

Vanesa.

Vanesa wrote:

sweetkrissy2011 wrote:

RE-watching this. You really need to stand up for ones self.This lady was pure evil.The town was scared and did and believed everything that women said. I think they had fear that if they didnt go along with her.She do something to them. I guess ya it wasn't common for women to speake up like that.But i respect mary for doing that.She did a good job.

Poor Miss Peel was not "pure evil" as you've said. She was a not very bright person and translated her own fears to people from her town. She was manipulating them, but I think she was a mild mentally sick woman.

Vanesa.

Ya,maybe evil wasn't the right world.I agree

Vanesa wrote:

She was a not very bright person and translated her own fears to people from her town. She was manipulating them, but I think she was a mild mentally sick woman.

But the people need to take some responsibility too. How did she become such a leader? Why did they listen to her? How did she, and not a minister like Reverend Alden end up presiding over the congregation? Where did these superstitions get started and by whom? It's like all these people disengaged their brains and didn't give any thought to what they were being told.

bethandmanly wrote:

Vanesa wrote:

She was a not very bright person and translated her own fears to people from her town. She was manipulating them, but I think she was a mild mentally sick woman.

But the people need to take some responsibility too. How did she become such a leader? Why did they listen to her? How did she, and not a minister like Reverend Alden end up presiding over the congregation? Where did these superstitions get started and by whom? It's like all these people disengaged their brains and didn't give any thought to what they were being told.

Good points.wounder the same.

I just watched this episode again last night. I think Melissa nailed her scenes! I don't think she was over-the-top at all! Mary did eventually get through to Miss Peel. Great episode!

I agree Melissa Sue did great and I love this episode. I remember when I watched this episode for the first time that Miss Peel giving me the creeps!

One of my favorite TV quotes is when Miss Peel says that Mary is "a sinful stench in the nostrils of the righteous." That woman gave an amazing performance.

I actuallly kind of think Miss Peel reminds me of Fred Phelps with her hatful preaching.

I found this one kind of creepy! Note I said kind of!!!

I watched the showdown between Mary and Miss Peel at the end. This is how I see it.

Mary lays out the facts, but Miss Peel digs in and gets very defensive. The verbal sparring continues until Mary tells Miss Peel to look up the Ten Commandments in Exodus. It is then revealed that Miss Peel can't read. The truth is out. Miss Peel gets very defensive now and threatens them by raising her Bible in the air. Mary is undeterred. "Call down the lightening, do it Miss Peel do it!"
No lightening comes. The Fishers look astoundished. Miss Peel can't cast spells. Now, the Bond family tells them the truth of what happened earlier in the day. Miss Peel hangs her head down. She knows she is defeated.
Here is an important point. The townspeople could have turned on Miss Peel and said, "We want you out of here by sundown." For all the mean things she did to them and keeping them in ignorance and superstition.
But Mary who is now in total control of the confrontation says: "On the way over here, I looked for proof of God's love for man", then quotes from Psalm 133, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is for bretheren to dwell together in unity."
She took control of the situation, broke down Miss Peel's defenses, got the townpeople on her side, then offered her hand in reconciliation.

Beautiful! Typical Little House ending!

I had wondered about why they didn't get a more experienced teacher or a male teacher for this town.

I love this episode. I didn't think the ending scene was too over the top, but I was a bit surprised that Mary got so angry with the boy who ate the apple and sent him home for that. I thought she could have taken that incident and turned it into a subtraction problem, using it as a learning experience for the whole class. But I watch on COZI-TV and they apparently cut some things out, so maybe there was something I missed in all of this.

But I love the ending scene so much. Perhaps my favorite part about it is that you can see Mary who is very angry turn towards Mrs. Peal with compassion. I think Mary realized that Mrs. Peal is actually someone in need of love. Perhaps Mrs. Peal was raised with very judgmental people and only learned to liver by "the letter of the Law" and never really learned about God's grace. Anyway, I like to think that Mrs. Peal and also the mother who Mary stayed with in their home both showed up at the school to learn to read, and that opened up a whole new world to them.

P.S. It seems like Laura is absent or barely in multiple season 4 episodes.....was there something going on with MSG that she could not be in the show so much during this season?