Wilder And Wilder

But I still think Laura's expectations of a husband would be quite high. I think Almanzo lived up to them, though. :)

He did.He worked really hard

bethers wrote:

I love this episode for a lot reasons. There is a lot of good humor in it. I really like all the episodes where there is comedic tension between Charles and Almonzo. It's pretty funny when they're arm-wrestling and Laura is cheering for "Manley!" until Pa gives her the death look and she changes her tune for a brief moment and yells "Go, Pa!"

Did anyone else find it a bit odd that Dr. Baker was going to wager $50 without even the blink of an eye? He seems like a pretty level-headed guy. $50 was A LOT of money back then. I'm not saying it's completely implausible, but it was a bit odd to me.

Oh my gosh....I loved the part when she was cheering for Almanzo...and then Pa

Going to write my comments about this one and then go back and read what others have posted....I love this one. But something seems strange to me about the horse race. How could Almanzo originally have been planning to be in the race at the same time he would be competing in the arm wrestling? And why on earth would they schedule the race during the arm wrestling? It's not like this is a large fair where everyone is doing different things at the same time. I would think the race would be quite the highlight of the picnic so they would not have other competitions during it.

But of course, they do that because it's the only way they can figure out the plot twist of having Perly Day show up to race Barnum behind Almanzo's back.

Still, I do love how we see Laura tame Barnum and I love the way Charles tries to play matchmaker between Laura and Perly Day. I also really love how Laura is yelling "Go Manley!" over and over until Pa looks at her and how she switched to "Go Pa!" Funny!

Edited to add: I didn't even know I had commented on this one....but these comments were made after just watching the episode tonight!

Guest wrote:

I love this episode for a lot reasons. There is a lot of good humor in it. I really like all the episodes where there is comedic tension between Charles and Almonzo. It's pretty funny when they're arm-wrestling and Laura is cheering for "Manley!" until Pa gives her the death look and she changes her tune for a brief moment and yells "Go, Pa!"

Did anyone else find it a bit odd that Dr. Baker was going to wager $50 without even the blink of an eye? He seems like a pretty level-headed guy. $50 was A LOT of money back then. I'm not saying it's completely implausible, but it was a bit odd to me.

Wasn't it actually $20? Or was it $50? I think even $20 would be quite a bit, especially since it seems like poor Doc Baker usually only gets paid with produce or something like that!

Prairie Wind wrote:

Yes and I love the little look between Pa and Ma when Laura and Almanzo have that hug at the end.

And Laura did seem immature when she ran off like that but someimes I still act like a school girl. too!  It keeps life fun!

I think it was kind of appropriate for her to run off like that, because she is so giddy in love with Almanzo and so excited to have him coming into the Ingalls house for a meal. Is this the first time he will even have been inside the house? Shoot, I got married for the first time when I was 49 years old, and I was kind of giddy myself especially right after my now-husband proposed to me. It was like I was walking around in a dream or some kind of surreal experience!

I'm glad the writers (or whoever) didn't just immediately turn Laura from a girl to a woman but let her go through some of those awkward moments of the in-between stage. I think it's kind of cute. And I do like how we get to see Almanzo also come to see Laura as a woman, more so in SWEET SIXTEEN, but I think it starts in this episode. And I like how we see Charles also come to see the possibilities between Laura and Almanzo and gradually accept them as a romantic couple. Meanwhile, I also like how they wrote Ma's character. I always have the feeling that she understands how Laura feels and is supportive, but she also will not go against Charles. However, I think she helps Charles come to see that Almanzo is a good man and that is her role in helping to bring Laura and Almanzo together.

Kristina wrote:

a good episode! a little away from the Laura-Almanzo track, I thought the situation between Albert, Andy, and the new student Penelope was kind of funny. I have to agree with Andy, Penelope did seem sort of stuck up, and I had to laugh when Albert put the pig on her lap and then Andy shoved the slice of watermelon in her face!

Oh, I forgot that I was going to comment about this.....isn't this episode after "May We Make Them Proud?" If so, I thought that Albert would have felt strange to get so angry with Andy and fight with him.....I mean, if I had recently been a factor that led to the death of my friend's mom, I think I would just be like "okay, if he likes Penelope [even though Andy didn't], I'm just going to let him have her." I thought it was very inappropriate for Penelope to slap Andy like that, but also for Andy to shove the watermelon in her face. Anyway, I did not really care at all for the Penelope character and am not too disappointed that we never see her again, to my knowledge.