May We Make Them Proud

I agree, I don't know about a baby for Mary, he had her marry, but didn't seem to want to go that route, but show them or have their voice on the phone saying hello...but Albert, being gone, no mention of him, his grave, anything was a greater omission for me.. Even when in the little house, they could have mentioned in passing, the children and time there, Albert loving it there, etc. I always felt it was hurried.

I just saw an episode of the Waltons, "The Burnout" and their house burns either by John Boys' pipe or a heater (don't know whether this helped the Little House writers think of it, was 1976 vs 1980 for LHouse) and they left it up to the viewer to decide who did it. I think that might have been better, no direct blame but just one of those things.

I lot of similar episodes with Bonanza and Waltons, interesting to see how they handle it the subject on each show.

OMG, this board is wonderful! I left imdb's LH board because of all the character bashing...and bashing of each other! They especially love to bash Albert, and they call him evil, etc..mostly because of this episode! It's nice to see everyone here is a lot more understanding!

This episode is so sad, and it's hard for me to watch. However, the end, when Charles yells "I love you" to Albert was really touching.

Just watched this episode...I've been preparing myself for weeks, I got my favorite robe, favorite blanket, and my stuffed animal that I sleep with every night to comfort me....That was the most depressing thing I have ever seen! I have to say it wasn't so much the fire that scared me, but watching Mary flip out all of those times...

A very well done episode though!

sunnydayz5 wrote:

Just watched this episode...I've been preparing myself for weeks, I got my favorite robe, favorite blanket, and my stuffed animal that I sleep with every night to comfort me....That was the most depressing thing I have ever seen! I have to say it wasn't so much the fire that scared me, but watching Mary flip out all of those times...

A very well done episode though!

Yes....It was somewhat disturbing to see Mary almost crazy about her baby diying in the fire. But I suppose that if my own little son would die in such a way, I'll be REALLY crazy. At least for some years, I think...

Vanesa.

That was a nice ending but I liked the Walton's ending better too as mentioned above. I didn't like Albert being blamed for it, yes people do things that have consequences but that was a huge cross to bear.

Davetucson wrote:

Vanesa wrote:

sunnydayz5 wrote:

Just watched this episode...I've been preparing myself for weeks, I got my favorite robe, favorite blanket, and my stuffed animal that I sleep with every night to comfort me....That was the most depressing thing I have ever seen! I have to say it wasn't so much the fire that scared me, but watching Mary flip out all of those times...

A very well done episode though!

Yes....It was somewhat disturbing to see Mary almost crazy about her baby diying in the fire. But I suppose that if my own little son would die in such a way, I'll be REALLY crazy. At least for some years, I think...

Vanesa.

As depressing as it was, you gotta admit one thing Vanesa, it did have a great ending!

It had a prodigal son ending

I never really got the feeling that anyone blamed Albert. He blamed himself which is probably worse than anybody else blaming him. When you get right down to it, Clay was the real culprit for starting the whole pipe smoking thing anyway.

I'm just glad for one thing, and that is that Jeremy Quinn had passed away before Albert got to him. If he saw that Albert wasn't really blind, that would have opened up a new can of worms!

I agree Dave, I always thought Clay was really the one to blame. Over on the imdb board, the main reason they hate Albert so much is because of this episode. One person over there goes as far as to call him the "demon child." Ooooh, that burns me up!

I loved the ending too...it reminded me so much of Charles & Laura in "The Lord is my Shephard." It was very similar...Albert blamed himself for Adam Jr & Alice Garvey's deaths; Laura blamed herself for her baby brother's death (because she had bad thoughts). The end results were the same. Michael Landon was a genius!

One last thing Dave...your latest picture of Matt...Oh...My...God! Drooling & melting over here...

I know I am probably in the minority here but this is the worst form of parenting I have ever seen!!! Mary was with the baby when the fire broke out and everyone was told to get out. What does she do... she leaves the baby in his crib and leaves the room, then the floor, then the house with her husband.

The entire episode is just proof that they were all on crack...

1: They are wondering what smells of smoke... so Hester Sue goes to see if she left the coffee pot on the stove...
2: Apparently the thousand pound stove is on the second floor, as she is fixing to go up the stairs when she notices the smoke billowing from the basement door.
3: She opens the door with the said smoke billowing from it and[il*e*a*v*e*s i*t o*p*e*n !!![/i]... while she calls for help.
4: Mensa President Alice is all "we need buckets, when it is OBVIOUSLY too late for water.
5: They go up the stairs to notify everyone upstairs... um, they are blind, their other senses are now heightened because their sight is out of commission. They probably would have smelled the smoke, heard the crackeling or felt the floorboards cooking before the other sighted people there.
6: Adam goes to his room where Mary is with their son. He grabs her and yanks her out telling her how the place is on fire. They both leave thir infant son to apparently douce the flames with nature's hydrant.
7: Alice is helping the blind children out of the house when she goes to get the baby... but first she is pre-empted by calls of help coming from the commode. Apparently a blind kid is locked in there and stuck. Any reason WHY a blind school would have a lock installed on the bogs door???
8: Alice is using all of her strength to save this blind kid from a fate of death and when he is FINALLY out she goes to see about getting little baby Kendall.
9: In the time frame of literal seconds, she goes from having a way out to having no way out. The she sends the kid downstairs to safety and in the time it takes her to get the baby all wrapped nice in a warm blanket her exit is blocked off, apparently. She goes back into the bedroom and just starts to panic.
10: So the kid makes it out and then Hester sue is all shaking him to find out where he was and where Mrs Garvey was... Hester sue THEN goes back into the house and makes it all the way up to the second floor. Here we see the stairs connecting the first floor to the second floor being perfectly fine. There is even enough air inside for Hester Sue to call for Alice a couple of times. Alice doesn't answer for some bizzare reason.
11: Hester sue can't find them so she goes back downstairs... now we see the stairs begin to be on fire a little. Just the bannester part, the actual stairs are fine.
12: (here is where Alice is obviously Mensa Matterial) Alice uses the baby to try to break the glass in the window. Why not just put the baby down on the big bed, pick up the baby's crip or something else hefty, and throw it through the window to break it open... then toss the baby out to Hester Sue, and then possibly herself.
13: Adam wonders................ off the top of his head.................................. about his offspring.
"..............................Hester sue.............................................Where are Alice and the baby?........................"
Um, doesn't you son have a name????
14: Here is that Motherly intuition that we all know and love... NOW Mary is wondering about her baby...



The upshot... no one would have died if they would have just taken the baby with them when they left.

One thing to differ with, she really wasn't using the baby as a battering ram, it just looks like that...not that it makes it any better overall.

You make some valid points, the writers weren't as much into what was happening as the bottom line, the baby and Alice die and Albert and Clay started it.

I'm in the minority, that I just didn't like it, the fact Mary had to lose another baby, lose the school/home, etc. was over the top and an obvious tool to up the ratings. I remember being shocked then and most people not liking it in my family. Mary, (Melissa) did a great job with her nervous breakdown and Albert with his, but the feeling you got watching LHOP, was muted out with episodes like this.

I thought Caroline and the others were expecting a lot of Mary, she lost her son, her home, the children's home, almost died, Alice died, she was just supposed to get up, bury them and carry on. They were tough back then, but give me a break!

If Hester Sue would have just closed that door back up, they would have had time to get them all out. You are both right, not written well, but its easy to criticize after 32 years has passed. Thank goodness the good outweighed the bad in the entire series.

Yes, it did. Sometimes it seemed like the writers, included Michael got amnesia or were on vacation and writing it on the plane, but other times, many times, it was perfect.
You have for instance, "May we Make Them Proud" but then "We'll be Waving as you drive away"....a wonderful 2 part episode to counter it. Many more like that.

I think the issue isn't what happened, that is the writer/producer's call, even how they did it, but making it "real". I'm surprised that Mr Landon made his characters act in the manner they did with the fire. It's not what he would have done with his family, ignoring his baby, but it is what it is. I know from interviews I've read that you didn't question or give suggestions to him, so it was his call. When he tries to pull tears, I don't like it, when it feels natural I do.

The one with Albert coming to live with them and him being his son, Mary going blind, was "real", this wasn't, it seemed contrived and a horrible way to write out the baby and Alice.

Yeah,I agree with what your saying.

Can anyone tell me what happened to the blind children after the fire? I think I was so upset I didn't here.

maybe they went back home with there parents?

I just remember them on the grass and then Mary in the hotel, I really don't remember what happened to them, where did they sleep? I hope they didn't ignore that, it would have been quite an omission even if Mary was the focus.


The parents, if most had them, wouldn't have been close to Walnut Grove.

Foster homes perhaps?

I'm really surprised Charles didn't pile them all in the soddy.......

Davetucson wrote:

I never really got the feeling that anyone blamed Albert. He blamed himself which is probably worse than anybody else blaming him. When you get right down to it, Clay was the real culprit for starting the whole pipe smoking thing anyway.

I'm just glad for one thing, and that is that Jeremy Quinn had passed away before Albert got to him. If he saw that Albert wasn't really blind, that would have opened up a new can of worms!

Yes, David. The end was great...And I also agree with you that Albert blamed himself more than his family and friends could have blamed him. He was his own conscience the one torturing him for days. Generally, people who blames him/herself of doing somethin so awfully wrong , are somewhat guilty, but not so much as they believe they are...

Vanesa.

Davetucson wrote:

I'm really surprised Charles didn't pile them all in the soddy.......

And then, he adopted them all...

Vanesa.

Vanesa wrote:

Davetucson wrote:

I'm really surprised Charles didn't pile them all in the soddy.......

And then, he adopted them all...

Vanesa.

Every one of them! The Lord Will Provide!